Student Exchange Diaries: A Bittersweet Goodbye
27/12/24 21:46 PM MST
There are always pros and cons to every situation you may be in, and this was the case during my semester abroad. We always tend to focus on the downside or negative aspects of things and fail to realise the beauty of it all simultaneously. My last day at Western University was on the 19th of December, leaving the place I called home for the past four months and knowing that I would not be coming back was such a bittersweet moment.
Firstly, let’s rewind.
The past two months have been a whirlwind, full of assignments, exam prep, and travelling, which kept me booked and busy! My friends and I decided to book a day trip to Stratford, Ontario, about a 50-minute drive there and back. Nestled in this small town is an abundance of cute little shops and cafes that capture the essence of Gilmore Girls, making it quite cozy to experience. From bookshops to Christmas shops to tea shops and eateries, it had been such a cute and wholesome day to spend with the girls. There was also a cute little garden called Shakespearean Gardens, filled with an array of different plants, flowers and Gazebos. We also booked a gin-tasting tour within the town, in which we got to taste various types of gins, vodka and whiskey made right in the factory straight out of Stratford, which was definitely an experience worth taking up! Spending a whole day at Stratford was beautiful, and a bonus is that everything is pretty much walkable and there is always something to do!
Another little trip I took was a cute overnight trip to Toronto at the weekend! Jhene Aiko has been one of my favourite artists growing up and finding out that she was coming to Toronto was a fleeting feeling, and I HAD to get tickets. Going to a concert by myself was something I had not done since I was 15, and I guess this was a time to experience it again as going alone to a concert was not something I would do anymore, so I took this opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and try again. I arrived early on the Friday of the concert and decided to do a little exploring in downtown Toronto. I first went to the Distillery District Christmas Market, which was absolutely beautiful and had an enormous Dior Christmas tree in the centre with various different stalls scattered around the market. Afterwards, I took a little trip down to St. Lawrence Market which also showcased various foods from all across the world, which was all indoor. On my way to The Well (another 3 story indoor/outdoor mall) I took in the beautiful city landscape of Toronto and it hit me then how grateful I was to be there as coming from a small country, let alone a small city, seeing how it differentiates from Toronto city was vast and this did make me fall in love with Toronto more and more! The Well is another beautiful area to visit and is definitely a must go when in Toronto as there is a food court on the ground floor with a range of different shops and eateries scattered around, all decorated for Christmas. Exploring downtown was an amazing experience while waiting for the concert to start and best believe I did go back to explore more times afterwards as I am very fortunate to have a family member living in Toronto so accomodation was no problem at all for me.
I also decided to take a long weekend trip down to Montreal a couple weeks before my first exams (which I’ll be getting into later on). I visited Montreal last year around July and thought it was so beautiful. Conveniently, my sister lives there, so I fortunately stayed at her place while I was there. I did lots of exploring downtown, going to different cafes like Osmo X Marusan, trying out different matcha’s, and having lunch at the Hiatus restaurant up on the 46th floor, which had insane views of Montreal city. I also caught up with another girl I met during the pre-departure session as she was also studying in Canada and was attending McGill, so we decided to grab hotpot and catch up on our life abroad and how schooling was for us which was such a lovely experience to have! I also went to one of the Christmas markets running called Le Grand Marché de Noël. A must-see is definitely The Montreal Museum of Fine arts, has so many different levels with different types of art which you can easily spend hours in!
Back to Western! Something I found really interesting is how close exams finish to Christmas. Being in New Zealand and having our summer at the end of the year means our semesters end in November, having at least a month off to shop for gifts, decorate and have Christmas feel like a holiday, compared to the Northern Hemisphere, where to me, the holiday did not feel much of a holiday as my exams ended on the 18th of December! Some of my friends I made in Canada finished at the latest on the 23rd, which was crazy to me! Fortunately enough, I only had two exams, one on the 9th and one on the 18th of December, which allowed me more flexibility in travelling to Canada. Something else I found interesting is how quick they mark assignments and exams here. The majority of the time, I’d only have to wait a couple days to at least a week or at most 2 weeks to get my results back, while back home at UOA, I would generally wait about a month or so for my grades. All my exams were multiple choice instead of the essays and short answers I was used to which was nice for a change.
Overall, the past couple weeks before leaving Western were all a blur with studying late at night and catching up with friends I would not see for a long time and packing up my things had been such a bittersweet feeling. This semester abroad was definitely an experience I will never forget and I am extremely grateful I got to have this opportunity!
All good things to come to an end, friendships, growth, and experiences will always be apart of me.
Till next time,
Breanna xx