Living in Nova Scotia

Introduction
My name is Corinne, and I studied for a year in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Dalhousie University.

Living
I was lucky enough to have the Campus be only a 5 minute walk away from my accommodation, which was dorms holding over 300 students. Being surrounded by university students 24/7 took getting used to: the bathrooms were shared, the kitchens only provided fridges and microwaves because we had a dining hall where you’d eat all three meals. And many students, including me, had a roommate. Going from living in a house with my friends to sharing a room with a stranger was definitely a big adjustment. But soon we adjusted into a routine, and sharing that space with someone allowed me to form a close bond that I’d never have gotten otherwise, and I am very thankful for that.

Lectures

My classes were also a new experience, especially “Reading and Writing Stories”. This was an immersive class that had us write and read our work out loud; from fictional to personal. Adjusting to having a large group of people listen to you read your work strengthened my public speaking, and I loved learning about others through their style of writing. On the opposite side of my education at Dalhousie, I had “An Introduction to Film Studies”. This class was about the Quebecois director Xavier Dolan, and had us debating the pros and cons of nationalism, film genre and the idea of an “auteur”. Reviewing filmmaking in a style outside of essay writing made watching films so much more enjoyable, and allowed me to work collaboratively with my peers throughout the course. 

Mealtimes

Dining Hall was the biggest change I had to adjust to. Not doing a ‘weekly food shop’ arguably one of the most fun parts of adulthood was at first a strange adjustment, but I was lucky enough to have a cafeteria that had such a wide variety of food that it made much less of a difference. I got to try new foods: perogies, poutine, meatloaf, beavertails. My friends and I all had our favourites, and sometimes seeing one of those on the daily menu would bring our day from 0 to 100. It was where I met so many other exchange students, where new favourites were made out of the options we were given (namely bagels and strawberry cream cheese).

Environment

Whenever I was asked what it was like to live in Nova Scotia, the first thing I always said was; “Cold”. From November to March it was a constant cycle of black ice or slush, and the small journey from dorms to class felt closer to snowboarding than walking. But the views were worth it. Halifax is full of wonderful nature that looks and feels welcoming no matter the season. 

Conclusion
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from my time in Dalhousie, is that there’s nothing more important than finding of community wherever you are. Having those people that become part of your routine made moving alone to another continent so much more manageable. Although many of the people around me where younger than me, going abroad meant I learnt so much about places I’d never stepped foot in; the bars in Alberta, the wild foxes in Ontario, the Brown bears in PEI. Seeing the rest of Canada through the words of other students made me feel welcome and made my trip so much better.