This Summer [1/4] - UBC

SUMMER SCHOOL @ UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

VANCOUVER 

Vancouver was a cool place to start with. I met many many friendly, genuine, and affectionate people from all over the world, such as Hong Kong, Switzerland, Japan, and the UK. We had many adventures together, and some memorable moments were sports and hiking and cooking ☺️ 

I realized I really enjoyed cooking and sharing and eating food with my friends!! We would crash each other's kitchen and fridge with extra utensils and ingredients, or bring what we cooked to a common room to share :) Also, I'm very grateful to have friends who are confident in cooking, (because they can help to salvage my disasters) 🌝 The experience of preparing food to be eaten together was truly a heartwarming one. It feels like a love language unlocked 😋 (Not to forget our grocery runs - we always walk out of the supermarket with 17493619374 more items than what we originally intended to get :3)

The nature places in Vancouver were fantastic too! We went to places like Jericho Beach, Lynn Canyon, Whistler, Nitobe Garden, Rose Garden, and Stanley Park. The atmosphere and energy at Whistler and Lynn Canyon were particularly 🔥🔥🔥

For Lynn Canyon, I loved the  sunshine+cool temperature. The air was super refreshing as well. The tall trees, moss, fallen wood and greens were glowing under the sunlight, encapsulating the essence of a gentle existence. It reminds me of the word "forest bathing" ☺️ 

The views of the mountains and lakes at Whistler were magical. The lakes were in such a magnificent shade of blue and the camo patterns on the mountains were awe-strucking. I love to see the silhouettes of the mountains in the distance too! They were in different opacities :) The trail we hiked unexpectedly brought us to the peak (worth missing that last gondola). And, it was my first time seeing and touching snow ❄️ It was heatwave week so we were amazed there was still snow! The loose rocks made the climb more challenging but I'm glad we were going up an incline. (It feels more secure to defy gravity :)) And the moral support from one another helped too! Also, the cold wind at the peak was threatening to my sensitive teeth ahahah so I had to stop "wow-ing" and shut up :x The chairlift down the mountain was thrilling 😁 I love how long the rides were. My eyes tried their best to scan for black bears but we didn't spot any. I thought it made sense because the sun was scorching - I wouldn't want to come out if I were a bear ʕ⁠ ⁠º⁠ ⁠ᴥ⁠ ⁠º⁠ʔ

The sports that we played include ice-skating, soccer, captain's ball, basketball, badminton and monkey :D I love how crazy we were when we played together. Sometimes, we just played with whoever was on the court, including people we didn't know :)

Also!!!! I watched Something's Rotten by Theatres Under The Stars and it was super good. I love the musical & its references to Shakespeare and other musicals :) Other than that!! We travelled to places like Richmond Night Market, Granville Island, and Victoria. I also joined my friends for budget shopping at Metrotown and updated my closet :) One thing I discovered is that shopping is a mentally draining activity because I take super long to decide on clothes and it's just sensory overload. 3000% will choose hiking over shopping! (Unless it's groceries) xD  I also took a solo trip to Vancouver Art Gallery and a children's bookstore that featured super cool collections that I doubt would appear in SG anytime soon. 

Next,, what's summer school without school 🤪 I'm very grateful to have so many site visits to different early years centres/spaces. The opportunity to understand the challenges faced in the Canadian landscape was a meaningful one too. We compared the programmes and environment offered by each organisation with each other and that of Singapore. The experience made me more curious to know what the landscape looks like in other countries --- especially those that are known for high-quality early education. #gettingGreedy Will probably consolidate my nerdy gains in another blog post!!!

Another part of school was my 3am online lectures (SGT 7pm SUSS evening lectures & SUSS assignments deadlines to meet). It was rather epic because when I finally could wake up in time for the classes, my mind couldn't process the content - I eventually gave up on the live lectures #blessLectureRecordings. Funny thing when reviewing the recordings in SG: hearing myself contributing to the lectures but having minimal recollection that I attended them XD #justYPthings

Ft. That one brain cell:

The academic part was cool too. Our prof gave us a lot of movement breaks which I felt really helped to keep my jet-lagged soul awake in the afternoon. Faculty-planned activities were considered non-existent (#salty) but that highlighted the extra effort put in by our prof. She took it upon herself to return with standing fans from her house when the site we visited was stuffy and warm. She also prepared Canadian food for us to try ;_; 

We had people from different majors and countries, but I'm glad we were able to exchange so many perspectives and have so much fun together ☺️

Also, according to my professor, we experienced all the uncommon occurrences during our time here: gang-related & targeted shootings (we received presidential alerts for that), rodents, heatwaves, and mosquitoes.

Bonus feature: "I woke up like this" (Actually just a selfie with... I'm calling it the "In-your-face alarm clock"): My room is facing the east and the sunrise is 4AM - and the curtains had one job

Bonus feature: Lim's Experimental Kitchen (my apartment mates burned a pot on their first day but I took it to the next level by burning another on my very last day - super aesthetic 2nd last pic) Side note, the chef's recommendation (+1 positive review) is guacamole toast with ham & eggs (collage top right) :9