Well. It is 13.27pm. I have done a grand total of 45 minutes of revision this fine day and I am already contemplating a nap. I did wake up at 10am, but then I obviously had to shower, eat bacon and go on skype for an hour or so before I could bring myself to open any of my books. I have read through my American Lit notes twice so far and I have discovered that they are boring. I think I know quite a lot of the stuff, but I also think that this may just be a lie that I am telling myself so that I don't feel like I have to revise as much. I also have spent quite a lot of my revision time trying to work out what my notes mean. Every term I write little abbreviations and codes to mean things and always when it comes to revision time I have literally no idea what any of them mean. Apparently I though SoS was pretty self-explanatory at the time, but alas I just spent 5 minutes staring at it blankly.
I am also very aware that my exams start in 3 days. This is a somewhat horrifying thought, but I figure that denial is the key to success. I also saw that my 9am exam on Wednesday is in the Field House. I can only assume that they have laid on a chauffeur for me, because the chances of me being able to drag myself over to the Field House at 8.30 are pretty slim. I haven't seen 8.30 in a long, long time, but my memories of it are less than stellar. On Wednesday I will only have 2 weeks left in Canada which seems kind of obscene. I am in a sort of strange state where I'd like to be able to see/do more and am a bit overwhelmed by the fact that it is all over already, but on the other hand I am really looking forward to going home (or to Charles's home) and feel like it isn't soon enough. The moral of the story is that I will never be happy - I'm so human it's insane.
Education aside, life has been pretty good as of late. I, like the groundhogs, have come out of hibernation and have seen the outside world on a fairly regular basis. It is pretty nice actually. It makes me regret having so much time hibernating, but you know...at least it meant I got my terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE essays in on time so that my profs can mock them and tear them to pieces with their red pens and hand them back to me as I go into the exam and kick the confidence out of me so I cry into the exam paper for 3 hours etc etc.
On Friday I had to go straight into revision mode which was a little bit on the grim side. I went through my American Lit notes and found EVERY page number I have heard him say this semester. It was such a long and tedious exercise it sort of made me question the point of a university education and made me think that there was more to life, but then I finished and I was pretty much indifferent again because I was going out for Pizza with my dad. It was a nice meal and on the way to meeting him I am pretty sure I also met every homeless person in Ottawa. One guy tapped it on the shoulder and I turned and said "Hi! There you are..." thinking it was going to be my Dad. It was somewhat awkward.
Yesterday, I ticked another thing off the Canada bucket list and hit up Gatineau Park. It took me about an hour to work out how to get there as on the STO website Gatineau Park is not listed as a Park but as a "Tourist Attraction". I thought that perhaps as a fucking massive PARK it could be placed in both categories. My Dad also tried to find out some info at the Ottawa transport place. Their advice was "It's nice there. You should take a car." Real helpful. With my insane googlemaps skills I finally managed to find a way into the mysteriously undersignposted park. We walked up..and up..aaaand up to Pink Lake and had a picnic at the lookout point. It was pleasant, although the experience was somewhat tainted by horrible skateboarders. Canadians talk more loudly than British people on the whole, which I accept, but you know..I really do not want to hear a discussion about whether you use the same wad of toilet paper when you have a wank then do a poo on the same toilet trip. Sadly, they didn't stay around too long to debate life's unanswered questions for too long. I assume they were off to a MENSA meeting or something. On the way out of the park I saw a grass snake too which was cool. It kind of looked like the love child of a worm and shoelace, but I've never seen any snake in the wild so it still made me happy.
After the 10 mile walk my feet felt a little bit sad, but I got to have my 3rd bath of the year at my Dad's hotel room which felt like bliss..after my feet had their initial cry. Afterwards we went to a nice Steak restaurant. It was at the lower end of the expensive range, but still I place I would never have gone to on my own because I am stingy. But as I wasn't paying I 'reluctantly' ordered a steak with various add ons and a cocktail. After only having had cafeteria steak this year...it felt a little bit like heaven. Two nights in a row when I have gone to a restaurant with my Dad they have lowered the lighting shortly after our arrival, I guess they wanted to hide me from the view of the other customers in order stop this reaction:
Anyway, that was all good and everyone was friendly (lol. of course they were. we in canada, eh?) I was a little taken aback at the end of the meal when the waitress said to me
"Do they have Easter in England?"
I was thrown a little off guard by the question, but I told her that we did.
She replied: "Oh yeah...I thought they probably did..but Easter is a religious holiday so I wasn't sure..."
Yes. Because Religion has not yet reached England and with the Puritans came over to North America they did so because they were avid atheists. Oh dear Canada..oh dear.
I guess, even if it isn't always positive, at least you never fail to surprise me.
I am also very aware that my exams start in 3 days. This is a somewhat horrifying thought, but I figure that denial is the key to success. I also saw that my 9am exam on Wednesday is in the Field House. I can only assume that they have laid on a chauffeur for me, because the chances of me being able to drag myself over to the Field House at 8.30 are pretty slim. I haven't seen 8.30 in a long, long time, but my memories of it are less than stellar. On Wednesday I will only have 2 weeks left in Canada which seems kind of obscene. I am in a sort of strange state where I'd like to be able to see/do more and am a bit overwhelmed by the fact that it is all over already, but on the other hand I am really looking forward to going home (or to Charles's home) and feel like it isn't soon enough. The moral of the story is that I will never be happy - I'm so human it's insane.
Education aside, life has been pretty good as of late. I, like the groundhogs, have come out of hibernation and have seen the outside world on a fairly regular basis. It is pretty nice actually. It makes me regret having so much time hibernating, but you know...at least it meant I got my terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE essays in on time so that my profs can mock them and tear them to pieces with their red pens and hand them back to me as I go into the exam and kick the confidence out of me so I cry into the exam paper for 3 hours etc etc.
On Friday I had to go straight into revision mode which was a little bit on the grim side. I went through my American Lit notes and found EVERY page number I have heard him say this semester. It was such a long and tedious exercise it sort of made me question the point of a university education and made me think that there was more to life, but then I finished and I was pretty much indifferent again because I was going out for Pizza with my dad. It was a nice meal and on the way to meeting him I am pretty sure I also met every homeless person in Ottawa. One guy tapped it on the shoulder and I turned and said "Hi! There you are..." thinking it was going to be my Dad. It was somewhat awkward.
Yesterday, I ticked another thing off the Canada bucket list and hit up Gatineau Park. It took me about an hour to work out how to get there as on the STO website Gatineau Park is not listed as a Park but as a "Tourist Attraction". I thought that perhaps as a fucking massive PARK it could be placed in both categories. My Dad also tried to find out some info at the Ottawa transport place. Their advice was "It's nice there. You should take a car." Real helpful. With my insane googlemaps skills I finally managed to find a way into the mysteriously undersignposted park. We walked up..and up..aaaand up to Pink Lake and had a picnic at the lookout point. It was pleasant, although the experience was somewhat tainted by horrible skateboarders. Canadians talk more loudly than British people on the whole, which I accept, but you know..I really do not want to hear a discussion about whether you use the same wad of toilet paper when you have a wank then do a poo on the same toilet trip. Sadly, they didn't stay around too long to debate life's unanswered questions for too long. I assume they were off to a MENSA meeting or something. On the way out of the park I saw a grass snake too which was cool. It kind of looked like the love child of a worm and shoelace, but I've never seen any snake in the wild so it still made me happy.
After the 10 mile walk my feet felt a little bit sad, but I got to have my 3rd bath of the year at my Dad's hotel room which felt like bliss..after my feet had their initial cry. Afterwards we went to a nice Steak restaurant. It was at the lower end of the expensive range, but still I place I would never have gone to on my own because I am stingy. But as I wasn't paying I 'reluctantly' ordered a steak with various add ons and a cocktail. After only having had cafeteria steak this year...it felt a little bit like heaven. Two nights in a row when I have gone to a restaurant with my Dad they have lowered the lighting shortly after our arrival, I guess they wanted to hide me from the view of the other customers in order stop this reaction:
"Do they have Easter in England?"
I was thrown a little off guard by the question, but I told her that we did.
She replied: "Oh yeah...I thought they probably did..but Easter is a religious holiday so I wasn't sure..."
Yes. Because Religion has not yet reached England and with the Puritans came over to North America they did so because they were avid atheists. Oh dear Canada..oh dear.
I guess, even if it isn't always positive, at least you never fail to surprise me.
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