Grace's Exchange to University of Victoria | Canada
I have always loved to travel even though I
started quite late. I moved to England when I was 18 with two of my best
friends and did a decent chunk of the UK and Europe while I was living there.
When I came home, I was faced with three very long years (at least) of
university in the same place. This for me was one of the major drawbacks to uni.
However, in my very first semester I met one of my best friends, who just
happened to be on exchange from Savannah Georgia. This sparked my interest in
the idea of exchange and straight away I knew I wanted to participate. Everyone
I talked to about exchange unanimously vocalised how fantastic it was and that
not going was a massive mistake.
Second year rolled around, and I started
the long process of organisation, paper work, credit transcript forms and of
course, deciding where to go. I had always wanted to go to Canada and was lucky
enough to be one of the two people who got into the University of Victoria (UVic)
located on Vancouver Island. To say Vancouver Island is beautiful is an
understatement. It has everything you could ask for; a great night life,
stunning natural wonders for the many hikes and outdoor activities you will no
doubt undertake, and amazing people.
When I first got to Victoria, I stayed in a
hostel as I had not yet organised housing (yikes I know), and immediately met
two girls, one from Germany and one from Denmark. They were both going to be
studying at UVic that semester. What a welcoming and reassuring way to begin.
Before semester even started, I had a large
group of international friends from all over the world. We went on many trips
form hiking day trips; getting up at 6 am after a 3am bedtime due to some
housewarming party shenanigans. A grand total of twenty-four of us piling onto
and off of two busses to get to Goldstream Provincial Park, for an all-day
hike.
And including a week-long trip to Mexico
over the study break.
We went surfing in negative one conditions,
camping in the rain, day trips to nearby islands, bike rides, hiking, skiing,
nights out that turned into morning brunches. There were simply to many
different, challenging, hilarious, exhausting stories to tell, the only way to
know what it’s really like is to (and in danger of being cheesy) take the plunge
and go on exchange as soon and for as long as possible.
- Grace studied abroad at the University of Victoria in Canada
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