Study Abroad - Finishing Up

After over 100 days, my time in Newfoundland is drawing to a close.  At the time I write this, I have little over two weeks to go before I start my 24 hour journey home. It has been a very interesting term in Memorial Universtiy, Newfoundland, with more highs and lows than you’d get in a typical term in UL.

Starting off was incredibly rough. My flight from New York to Newfoundland was cancelled, Continental Airlines lost my bags and I was hauled into interrogation because border patrol was suspicious of me for whatever reason. It was clear from the start that it was going to be an interesting semester.

If I had to pick one thing that absolutely defined my time in St John’s, it has to be the weather. The snow was one of the reasons I came here. I loved snow and after years of going through green Christmases, I thought that this year was going to be different. I can tell you, the novelty wears of very fast when you’re up to your knees in flour-fine snow and listen to snow ploughs going all night. Nevertheless, it’s all part of what makes Newfoundland so special. The scenes of snow-peaked mountains around Pippy Park and Signal Hill, which is one of the few places on land where one can see where the Titanic sunk, defines the St John’s landscape and is truly beautiful.

Of course, I can’t forget the lovely people that I met in St John’s. These people really showed me what it’s like to live in a different culture. They showed my the initiation ritual for people coming to Newfoundland as well as being just as funny and kind as my friends back home. The people will probably be what I miss most about St John’s.

One of the most important things it thought me though is how good I have it back home. I was surprised by how much I missed my friends and family. I am very much looking forward to my first pint of Bulmers in UL with my buddies. UL Abu!

Study Abroad - Finishing Up

Study Abroad - One month to go

How did people on Erasmus get along without Facebook? My friends will know that I was a Facebook fanatic who could easily waste away hours chatting and poking friends and posting the most irreverent tripe before I touched down in Canada. Now, I’m worse than ever.

One of the disadvantages of the Newfoundland weather is the very common flu that has already swept through campus. I was hit particularly hard and have been bedbound longer than I would have liked. This has lead to my laptop getting more use in a day than it would in a week.

This is a bit of a mixed blessing. I get to keep in contact with my friends, which makes me feel that I’m right back in UL and it keeps me up to date with the news. Unfortunately, it also leads people to believe that I had absolutely no life here whatsoever.

Fortunately, when I do get to venture of my quarantined bedroom, I have lot to be doing. We’re currently in the second busiest time of assignment hand-up. I’ve already handed up one genealogy and a research paper on the Thirty Tyrants of Ancient Greece. Next up is a paper on the popularity and decline of doo wop and a recorded interview of an international student. Yep, I am talking the most fitting exchange student classes going.

I’m also involved in the Students’ Union elections here, helping the incumbent CSO get re-election. It’s amazing the difference between their elections and ours. For one, they don’t allow penny sweets. I’d say that if penny sweets weren’t allowed over here, the voting numbers would be halved.  There are no t-shirt wearing campaigners going around the place, nor any blogs anonymously posting venomous and nasty comments. The SU give around $200 dollars to candidates to spend on their campaigns and students are not allowed to go above it. The candidates don’t seem to mind, but it seems to diminish the buzz and atmosphere that you get around SU Election Week. Let’s hope there’s more excitement in store for the ULSU candidates.

Study Abroad - One month to go

Study Abroad - Interesting Characters

You meet all kinds of people when your abroad. I came across a lovely bunch of folk soon after I arrived in St John’s. They’re just about as quirky as my chums in UL and nearly as fond of drink. I knew I’d fallen in with a pretty decent crowd. It’s not until recently that I found out just how quirky they are.

They’re all member of Memorial University Oxfam, which is a society that helps promote women’s rights and global equality. I bumped into them randomly when exploring all the societies that MUN has to offer. I’ve decided that MUN Anarchists (organised chaos?) probably isn’t my thing nor was the Christian Youth society, but the bunch of people I met in the Oxfam office were warm, inviting, energetic and good fun.

During the week, I found out one of my new buddies, Meaggy, is in face descended from a piracy and royalty. A gand of pirates kidnapped royalty and made them slaves. Of course, one of the pirates fell in love with a slave. He started a mutiny and escaped with the princess slave. They escaped to Newfoundland and got married. I told her she’s like Johnny Depp and Kiera Knightley. I started calling her Johnny Knightley, before I realised it sounds like a 70s porn star name.

Another new buddy, Jeremy, is a quite the Newfoundland hero. He’s a  human rights champion and came to a lot of people’s attention last year, when he refused to shake hands with Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. Jeremy is no fan of most of Harper’s policies. This was a big deal in St John’s, and Jeremy was declared a local hero.

In other news, I’ve been pretty vocal lately about not being able to vote in the general election. I was in a few newspapers and on TV3. At the time I write this, I’m not sure of the result, but I hope when I return to Ireland, it will be a better place than when I left it.

Study Abroad - Interesting Characters

Study Abroad - Irish abroad

After spending some time in a foreign land, people start to develop the native accent. To my horror, it happened to me after my co-op placement in Cork, but it’s not going to happen in Newfoundland. I’m going to come home from here with the strongest, most exaggerated Irish accent imaginable. It really is a joy being a proper Paddy in an Island full of fifth and sixth generation Irish.

My big culchie accent, which is mocked by friends in Dublin and Cork, is cooed at over here. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve been asked to talk more during nights out.  It’s a great talking point. Most of the people go on to say that they’re part Ireland and how they’d love to go back to Ireland, talking as if they’re bona fide Irish. I’m still getting a kick out of it and I don’t think the novelty value will go any time soon.

One night I met a lad who claims he’s a proud Limerick man, despite the fact he never left Newfoundland in his life. He almost cried when I told him that I study in Limerick and demanded I tell him every detail about the Treaty City. He told me that his father moved from Limerick because it was too dangerous, which I didn’t buy for a second. I chatted to him for a total of five minutes before he asked me if I wanted to buy some Grade A drugs. It was around that time that I faked a call and left him. Every proper Irish person I’ve met since has offered me the same. It’s slightly suspicious.

The best thing I’ve encountered so far is, of course, in the pubs around St John’s. In my first month here, I’ve been given four free double whiskeys from friendly bartenders, just because I’m a proper Irish person. This is something that I could get used to.  It’s all part of some of the bizarre initiation ceremonies that take place in Newfoundland.

All I can say is roll on Paddy’s Day!

Study Abroad - Irish abroad

Study abroad - Weather

Remember how a little bit of snow and ice brought Dublin to a standstill a few months ago. If that much snow landed in Newfoundland, people would still be out in shorts and t-shirts. When it comes to weather, these people are some of the toughest I’ve ever seen.

In my first few days here, the weather was fine. There was no snow, no ice and certainly no wind.  This was surprising, because one month before I left Ireland, Newfoundland was hit by a major hurricane. The hurricane closed down the campus for a few days, but nothing that these hardy Newfies couldn’t shrug off.  However, it was the winter season they were dreading, and winter is only just starting here.

The first major snowstorm came out of nowhere and covered the city within minutes. I’m around 5foot6 and the snow easily engulfed my feel and, in parts, nearly reached my knees. I learned very fast to use the university’s underground tunnels.

I can deal with the major snow. It’s still a novelty to me and makes the city look stunning. What I hate is the icy snow. You see, when heavy amounts of snow gets trampled on, rained on and then frozen, it turns into this evil, horribly slippery substance. I’ve fell over multiple times on it and it doesn’t cushion a fall like snow.

The wind here is also the strongest I’ve ever felt. It’s like walking straight into a tornado. The only benefit to it is how nice it is to listen to when wrapped up in bed. Trying to get to class in strong winds, and -24 degrees chill does not make a particularly enjoyable experience.

It’s all something I have to get used to. The winter season isn’t over here by a long shot. Global warming, my arse!

As printed in An Focal

Study abroad - Weather

Study Abroad - Moving

THERE are some things that you pray will never happen to you when you move country. You pray that the flights will be peaceful and that everything will run smoothly. Well, that’s what I did, but it seems the fates had different plans for me. My four month stay in Newfoundland, Canada, where I am currently studying arts kicked off with proving Murphy’s Law correct. Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
Well, the start was actually quite pleasant. Continental Airlines managed to accidentally book me into first class, where I enjoyed an eight hour flight with delicious food, new movies and reclining seats. That’s where the daydream stopped.
Once we arrived in Newark, I found that my connecting flight kept getting delayed, until it was ultimately cancelled. I rushed over to get in front of the line for free accommodation in New York for the night, so I could wake up fresh for the new flight in the morning.
Luckily, the rescheduled flight went ahead. Unluckily, all my bags and the bags of all the flyers, were left in Newark. It took four days to get all my bags sent to me, and I was in first class.. Then the worst thing happened. I got stopped at customs and questioned over the validity of my stay.
I was hauled into interrogation, where I was locked into a room with a policewoman, who asked for proof of my intention to study. Thank God for my iPhone. I managed to email all I needed to her from my phone and went on my less-than-merry way.
They say that bad things come in threes, and with cancelled flights, lost luggage and angry guards, I’m inclined to believe them. But things can only get better, right?

Printed in An Focal - January 2011

Study Abroad - Moving