Spring has Sprung

Coming from Toronto, I find Waterloo to be a perfect sized city. Despite what some people claim about Waterloo, it's a fair sized city. I spent a workterm in Goderich, Ontario, and I did not take well to the lack of everything. I expect there to be sushi places, and yarn stores within the city, even if not in walking distance. So living somewhere with public transit, and wide selection in restaurants and stores is a lot more comfortable for me.

I do, however, also enjoy the fact that Waterloo is actually smaller than Toronto. It's possible to WALK out of the city, from campus, out to where there's cornfields on either side of the road. I've done it once, when I needed to go to market and wasn't able to bike. Actually there's also at least one cornfield in the city itself, which is another thing I like. There's also more wildlife. Not that I didn't have geese and ducks and groundhogs and rabbits around in Toronto, but I'm used to seeing them mostly in parks. Well... parks and in traps that the annoyed gardeners leave out. (Just as an aside for anyone from the country reading this: in the city you don't kill the critters that attack the garden, you trap them and take them to a park).

The other day, for example, I watched a duck fly across a major road, and then come in for a landing on the green strip next to the parking lot at a local business. To me, that's really cool. If I wanted to see ducks back home I had to pack up and go out to the park. Here, I walk to the uptown business park and they're just there on the way.

Even around campus there's some places that are more like parks. Around engineering it isn't bad - I've run halfway across in about two minues (we had a project due), but if you walk around other parts of campus - say over the creek by the church colleges, or around the Physical Activites Complex - you're pretty likely to scare a groundhog which is trying to tell if it's safe to come out. Or get stopped by a goose while the goslings cross the pathway.

All in all, it's quite a nice change. I'm going to be sticking around Waterloo for a while longer and get my Master's degree, but I'm going to miss this place when I leave.

Engineering Jazz Band

If you've been following this blog, you've probably noticed that we all keep up a ton of hobbies that are not engineering related at all.  For me, one of my favourite hobbies is playing jazz music.  I started playing trombone in highschool and I expected to stop when I came to university.   At the end of my 1B term, I was walking through the student life centre when I heard a band practicing.  I was curious, so I barged into the practice and was met with an entire band.  It blew me away and I ended up joining a term later. Four terms later, I'm still a part of the band and still loving it.  I have met some really good friends and have had tons of fun.  The band is completely student run.  We are funded by the student run Engineering Society, our conductor is a student, our website was made by a member of the band and everyone that plays is a student (and not just undergrad, we sometimes have grad students too!).  Tonight, we are performing at our termly End of Term Charity Show.  We're playing with another student run choir (Accent Choir) and all our proceeds are going to Habitat for Humanity.  Wish us luck! 

Here is a video of the band in action:

Thoughts of Summer

The recent warm and sunny weather has made me think of nothing but this upcoming summer term. Last summer I was in school so I am really looking forward to being on a work-term this summer and I am planning to enjoy my free-time and the sunshine to the fullest.
The past few days I’ve been daydreaming of all the things that I am going to do this summer:

-Go camping and enjoy the outdoors – I’m not much of an outdoorsy person but much to my surprise I actually love camping (as long as there are decent washrooms and showers... I know some may not consider this to be real camping but for me it is a must!) So I am definitely looking forward to a weekend of campfires in the bush.

-Make a long overdue trip to the rock store in uptown Waterloo – Uptown Waterloo has so many awesome little stores like the rock store in the Valu-mart plaza. I swore I was going to bring my friends to see the rock store over the last work term and this just never happened – probably because of the prospect of walking to uptown waterloo in freezing cold weather. (Other notably awesome places in uptown waterloo: Yukiko’s cafe, Gen X movie rental and Whole lotta gelata)

-Use the other side of my brain – Over the work term I am taking two night classes, Intro to Psychology and Macroeconomics. Even though it is more school I am definitely looking forward to classes focused on something completely different.

-Read a book – I love to read but somehow I can never fit it into school terms so this summer I am going to force myself to take some time to relax and enjoy a good book.

-Enjoy smoothies in the sun – no explaination needed on this one!

-Visit the clay and glass gallery – The clay and glass gallery is such a short walk from my place and I pass by it all the time. Ever since I moved into my place about 3 years ago I’ve been planning to visit the gallery. This summer I am definitely going!

-Relish in the ability to say “I graduate in less than a year!” – This is probably one of the most exciting prospects of this summer!

-Learn a ton at my co-op job – I’ll dedicate a whole post to this later in the term...

I’m sure this summer is going to be amazing!