Last Visit to Calgary

Hello! I know it’s been a ridiculously long time since I’ve written here. This is not because I have had nothing to say; it has more to do with the fact that I’ve been so busy, there’s been no time to write anything. That said, expect a few catch-up entries. Since I last wrote here, I spent my last week in Kananaskis, spent a couple weeks with some of you in Montreal, visited my friends Brandon and Sarah in Ottawa for a night, officially moved into my apartment in London, and officially started my life as a grad student at the University of Western Ontario. Because it would be insanity to attempt to fit all this into one post, I will attempt to break it up into several smaller, but probably still long, entries. This first one will be about my last week in Kananaskis.

This particular week began on a Friday, when Nikhil, Crisia, and I had to drive in to help pick up the students for our supervisor Jack’s field course. Jack had flown in the previous morning. Nikhil was supposed to pick him up while Crisia and I entertained 13-14 year old Girl Guides with live and origami mice. However, Jack and Nikhil ended up waiting for each other at opposite ends of terminal, so Jack rented a car and drove himself back, while Nikhil waited for a long time until he called the field station to find out that Jack had called and said that he was renting a car and driving back. Jack was given a Cadillac as a rental car, so he was quite happy, especially since he had something with which to make fun of Nikhil.

The first thing we had to do that day was pick up Brent, who was the other professor of the field course. He is a young professor from New Zealand, is very sarcastic, and is an all-around cool guy. We waited where Jack told us we should wait, which was where Nikhil should have gone the day before. Jack went to find Brent inside to make sure he knew where to go. However, a guy from Air Canada, whose English was not very good, told us that since we were not waiting for an Air Canada Flight, we would have to go somewhere else, so we let Crisia out to find Jack to tell him the change of plan and went to the WestJet terminal, where Nikhil had actually waited the day before.

As soon as we got there, we noticed a guy matching Brent’s description, standing by himself with his luggage. It turns out that Brent didn’t understand Jack’s instructions either, and we weren’t sure what exactly had happened to Jack, who was supposed to find him. I don’t think I ever found out since Tracy and I were unceremoniously dumped off to wait at the airport because the car would have been crowded otherwise. After maybe 45 minutes, we were picked up again by Crisia. Jack had rented another car and had gone back to the field station to await the van in order to pick up the second batch of students, while Nikhil went in the van with Brent to direct him back to the field station after they picked up the first batch of students.

This was all done by late morning, so this left us girls to do whatever we wanted to do before having to go back to set that evening. Our first stop was a Best Buy, so that I could pick up a case for my laptop. We took a wrong turn getting there and happened to find a sign for a used book sale. Being the nerds that we are, we became very excited and immediately followed the signs until we found the book sale. It was much bigger than we thought it would be, and we ended up staying there for 2 hours. Those of you who know me well enough will be surprised to know that I only came out with 3 books. Yes, 3 is a lot considering that I already have a stack of books that I own that I haven’t read, and I would be taking a plane back to Montreal in a week with much less room for all my stuff than is needed. However, 3 is not a lot considering that Crisia walked away with more than 10, and Tracy came out with a box full of books.

We did eventually find our way to the Best Buy, and I really like my laptop sleeve. What was interesting was that we had been to this Best Buy before but had never walked into the giant shoe store right next to it. I think the reason for this is that we are always with Nikhil and, therefore, feel obligated to not be the girls that we undoubtedly are. Nikhil made fun of us quite a bit when we got back.

The three of us ended up buying very similar shoes. Tracy’s and mine are identical except for the size, pattern, and colour. The most amusing part about all of this was that Tracy, the least girly of the three of us, had been going on about why anyone would want to buy these flat ballet-like shoes that appear to be everywhere. Since I actually wear shoes like this on occasion when I’m not in the forest, I explained to her that these shoes are useful when one wants to wear somewhat nice shoes but does not want the heel. Some of you may have seen the shoes I bought, which are green.

After our little shopping spree, we went for Vietnamese soup and bubble tea, and then did our practical shopping by stocking up on groceries. All in all, I had a lot of fun on our girls day out, which actually had never happened before this point, and was happy with my last day in Calgary before I had to come back for my flight.