First Impressions

These last few days have been jam packed. You really forget how much you assume or take for granted when you're at home, or at least in your own country. In addition to getting the regular student things taken care of (id cards, registration schedules, etc) I have also been scrambling to get a Canadian cell phone and bank account, transfer money around several places so I can pay my rent tomorrow, and other things, mostly in a different language. I'm lucky in that most people in Montreal can speak at least some English, but I find it pretty embarrassing to walk up to someone without a word of French. I registered for lessons, though, and I'm trying to watch French speakers interact as much as possible so I can pick up phrases quickly.

Aside from those little quirks i LOVE it here. The weather is georgeous, the city is beautiful, my apartment is in a great location and I've been walking everywhere, my roommates are very kind.. it's great. I was warned by a faculty at the MSW program that I may feel isolated because most of the students in my program were here together last year. Actually, she more than warned me, she practically told me to forget about having friends. But I attended the MSW orientation yesterday followed by a PGSS (post-doctoral and graduate student services) social event, and everyone was SO friendly! They were very engaging in conversation, offered a lot of advice, and didn't make me feel like an outsider at all. I was even invited to a party someone in the department was throwing! I went and brought Islam and it was pretty cool. It was an interesting crowd but again everyone was so welcoming to me and said things like ''we're glad you came" and "see you in class". I was as happy as a clam.

School starts tomorrow. Although I still don't have a field placement I'm not concerned - everything will fall into place soon enough. For now I'm excited to meet more people in my program and learn. Wish me luck!