I was going to start this post by bitching about how horrible my flight experience up to Thunder Bay was, reflecting on how the bad start was likely an omen to how the rest of my nine weeks here were going to be equally as bad. However, just as I started to write a depressing title for the post, I realized that if I stayed in the mindset that the next nine weeks are going to be hell, they will be hell. I'm a fairly firm believer in the idea that life is what you make it. If you go into something thinking it is going to suck, it IS going to suck. However, if you go in with even a shred of hope that it will be fun, then it will likely be fun. So, with that in mind, I have decided that I am not going to go into this semester with a negative mindset. It's the home stretch, as my pal Andie said. I can do this. In fact, it won't even be that bad. I like to think that I'm a pretty strong willed person. I can put up with a lot of crap, without outwardly complaining (though I will inwardly complain here, and maybe to a few close friends. Everyone needs a vent!). So I can plow through these nine weeks, with a smile of my face!
Now, onward!
As you probably gathered, I am now in Thunder Bay. I arrived last night, 2 hours after my flight was scheduled to get in. Obviously, that was not a pleasant experience. However, I've decided not to bore anyone with my whining about how shitty the situation was. It was craptastic, and that's all you need to know. The important thing is that I am here, safe and sound.
It was really interesting landing in Thunder Bay. I was trying to look out the window, to see how much snow was on the ground. However, I had the seat right over the wing, so it was kind of hard to see the ground. Plus it was midnight, so it wasn't exactly light out. What I could see didn't look much different than what I could see in Toronto. This was promising. Upon walking out of the Thunder Bay airport, I was struck with how different the air quality is up here. I'd heard a lot about how it's a much drier cold, but I wasn't sure what to expect. Well...it was exactly that. It was a very crisp, dry cold air that greeted me. It wasn't the kind of cold you experience in the South, where you can feel the air slap your face. It was more like a sucking cold air. That sounds weird, but if you ever experience it, I think you would agree with me.
The car ride back to my house was kind of surreal. We drove past the University, and as I was looking at the buildings, it made me feel like I hadn't left at all. It was as if no time had passed. It was kind of depressing, in a sense, because I felt like I had accomplished nothing since I left. This is, of course, entirely false. But that's neither here nor there. The point is the time I spent down South felt like it was nothing. In a sense, this is also kinda heartening, because if 7 weeks can feel like nothing, than so can 9. Hopefully when I return back home in March I will get that same feeling of having never left.
Well, I think I better go do something productive. I've got a lot of cleaning and re-arranging to do.
Cheers!
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