Hi, my name is Charlotte and i’m currently studying at Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, Canada!
So, i’ve been here for just over a month now and thus far have adjusted extremely well to living in another country. Surprisingly, the winter in Toronto has been very ‘mild’ this year. I was told before I came that I should be expecting temperatures of around -30 but it has barely gone below -10. Don’t get me wrong, it is still very cold but just not as extreme as I thought it would be.
OCADU does not have any halls of residence so I am living in a shared house with four other students from both OCADU and the University of Toronto. I was lucky enough to find somewhere central and close to OCADU meaning it is only a 10 minute walk to get to uni. I love living with other local students as not only do I now have four great new Canadian friends but also because I don’t get homesick as much as I thought I would. I always have somebody to talk too and they have taken me too places that I probably would never have even heard of. An example would be when a couple of weeks ago one of my housemates took me to where she grew up in Hamilton, a half hour journey away from Toronto. She took me to see one of the many natural waterfalls there (warm up for my trip to Niagara Falls in two weeks time).
Mount Albion Falls, Hamilton.Â
I have done a lot of the touristy stuff within this first month like going up the CN tower to look out across across Toronto. Also, just this week me and a couple of friends went to watch an ice hockey match which was great fun!
Views from the CN Tower
As for the university itself, I am currently taking four classes at OCAD, each three hours a week. These are in photography and lighting , film making, photo based print making and a photographic theory class. I have set assignments to complete in all of these and the three hours of contact time with each professor means that I am constantly learning. Back at WSA, I only have one lecture a week and set my own briefs for the work I submit so there is a definite difference in learning styles!
So overall this first month has been pretty great and I absolutely have no regrets! See you in a month for my next update!
Charlotte Marchant, Fine Art, Winchester School of Art.