being Canadian

So I have now been in Canada for over two weeks. I could regale you with a list of "things that are different in the Canada than in the US" but such lists are usually fairly boring, so really, all you need to know is that cheese is REALLY expensive here. Or at least it feels very expensive for something that is so delicious and useful. Ah well, I suppose living abroad involves such sacrifices. I'll manage somehow. :)
In any case, Vancouver more than makes up for its other minor flaws by giving me a marvelous public transportation system. I'm living on two useful bus lines (one to UBC, one to downtown via Kitsilano) and have come to realize that waiting for more than 10 minutes is something to be complained about. After living in DC, land of the wayward bus, this is nothing short of a miracle. Sorry DC, you lose on this one.

I've spent most of this week going to new student orientation. All of the presenters kept apologizing for the length of orientation and the amount of information being thrown at us, but after LVC orientation last year (which was longer in terms of both days and hours per day), I thought it wasn't so bad. In fact, I thought orientation was well planned and executed. Almost all of the talks and presentations were helpful (even necessary!) and the days were nicely paced in terms of information and student attention spans.
For me, hearing again about Regent's vision, short interviews with several profs, and meeting other students really helped me mentally "move in" to Vancouver, to Regent and to the work that I'll be doing next year. I'm looking forward to the beginning of classes on Monday. That's when the real work will begin.

One of the presentations on our last day of orientation was the most perfect "Canada in a nutshell" that I've ever heard. Granted, I have no basis for comparison, this being the only lecture I've ever heard about Canada, but it was brilliant. Prof. Stackhouse introduced Canada by saying that the best way to get a first grasp of Canada is to understand its geography (as opposed to say, its history or culture).
I think Canada and I have that in common. I have often felt that the best way to describe myself (and my history) is in terms of locations and where I have been geographically. I have lots of interests, experiences, and traits. But who I AM, is maybe someone who's been a little bit of everywhere and found a home and a family. I hope that happens here too.