C'mon, Move to Canada!

As I was looking at election coverage I came across this video. It's a pretty entertaining parody of left wing Americans threatening to move to Canada if the Republicans win again. For those who don't know, after the 2004 election, the number of Americans visiting the Canadian Immigration website skyrocketed, and there were even arguments made against moving to Canada.

Global Warming

In one of Mount Allison's newest classes, Science 1001, we are being taught about global warming. But, as a class created specifically for non-science students, it emphasizes more of the big picture, what the conclusion of all the scientific work has been, rather than the calculations themselves. One of the major topics in that class has been on the topic of global warming. We looked at the scientific evidence for human-caused global warming, but we also discussed public policy. In order to look the bigger picture he had us watch the following video:



We went from the framework that even if we had no idea whether global warming was happening we should still act, to reviewing the validity of arguments for and against it. We discussed how in science there are not absolute certainties, but given the evidence that global warming is not caused by humans, or that it will not have a large impact is overshadowed tremendous amount of evidence that it is caused by humans and it will have a giant impact on our daily lives.

Barack Obama

I'm just sitting down to watch Barack Obama's 30-minute advertisement. During the last few weeks people have asked me if I'm excited about and if I've voted in the American election. I'm very excited about Barack Obama (I called registered democrats in Nevada and South Carolina to urge them to vote for him during the primaries, voted for him when I lived in Illinois, donated to his campaign twice, stayed up all night just to see him speak in Beliot, WI, and voted for him on my absentee ballot two weeks ago). I'm optimistic about what will happen on Tuesday because I think Obama is the best chance the US has to help the middle class during this economic crisis, end the war in Iraq, and restore America's image around the world.

"Positive Space" at Mount Allison University

I just got back from Campbell Hall's first Positive Space meeting. Positive Space is a new initiative by members of our residence to make all students feel comfortable and welcome in Campbell Hall. This group seeks to build upon Mount Allison's Official Policy and the work of Catalyst (a campus GLBTQ issues group) to proactively support all students regardless of sexual orientation, disability, national, socioeconomic, or religious background. The group is new this year, so it doesn't have a fully formed plan for activities, but the fact that a group like this has wide support is indicative of the encouraging and positive environment at Mount Allison.

Crazy Season (Midterms at Mount Allison)

Now that I've established why I chose to come to Mount A and why I'm writing this blog, I'll be posting shorter posts more often.

Now that it is well into October midterms have begun. During this time of the year there are students students scrambling around to get the notes for classes they've skipped, trying to read and memorize half the textbook for every class and generally trying to learn half a semester's worth of information.

If you haven't been on top of all of your assignments, reading and notes you'll be playing a lot of catch up. You'll find out that when the professors write what chapters in the text to read they actually mean it. If you haven't been doing things on your own. I myself had fallen behind on my economics reading, but caught up before the midterm. Some of the questions were directly from the book and nowhere else. I was lucky, but some people did not come to class enough or pay attention, or read the book for their classes and well....it's not pretty.

This week I'll be busy staying on top of my reading for all of my classes...because spending hours catching up days before the exam is not something I want to repeat.

Why I chose Mount Allison

Hello Again,

If you've read my first post, you know what this blog is about(notes on life at Mount Allison) and why I'm writing it (to tell you, the prospective student, what being at Mount A is about in and out of classes), but I didn't go into much detail about why I chose to come here.

I first heard of Mount Allison because my Dad who went here suggested I take a look at it. For some background: I graduated from a high school in the US, and so I was applying to some American schools (which require taking standardized tests, writing personal statements and essays, and in some cases an interview). They have thousands more applicants than they have room for, so most everybody applies to more than 4. American schools have much earlier deadlines to apply for admission, so it was after applying to those schools that I looked at Mount A. From looking at the website it seemed really nice...but I wasn't convinced it was for me. As time went on I decided that I didn't want to go to any of the bigger schools I had applied to, and took a closer look at Mount Allison. I had been living in the US for a long time and wasn't very well informed about Canadian schools, so the consistently high ratings by Macleans and the Globe and Mail reassured me it was one of the best schools in Canada (Did I mention the #1 ranking in Macleans...you'll be hearing about that a lot).

I applied to a few other liberal arts schools in the US and Canada, and by January I had

been accepted to over half a dozen schools. A few of them were small, liberal arts schools and they offered large scholarships (Private American Universities generally cost $40,000-$55,000 a year..and they were offering to pay almost all of it in grants and loans). I felt like I could go to just about any of them and be alright. They had the type of programs I was looking for and were fairly reputable, but there was nothing that jumped out at me to convince me to go to one instead of another. In February my I decided to take a trip Mount Allison and one of my other top choices to try and make up my mind. After hours of driving through heavy snow my Dad I got to Sackville.

The campus was covered in snow and it must have be about negative 10 degrees C (about 14 degrees F...I still haven't quite adjusted to using metric), but I still went out nice and early for a campus tour. Walking through campus and seeing the few people who were brave enough to be outside actually smiling enjoying being there, taking a look at the residences and walking the path I would walk to class, I felt oddly at home.


After that tour and seeing and feeling what Mount A would be like, I was unimpressed by the visit to what used to be my first choice school.

When I got back home I was all too eager to get the admissions decision. When I got the acceptance letter in the mail, I was ecstatic. I called and talked to a professor, and read everything I could about Mount A. I looked at the majors and was really impressed with the International Relations program. Everything made sense: Mount A is a well established small liberal arts school Mount A, it offers my major, I could move back to Canada, and most importantly: I felt at home there...that I would be happy living there so I accepted their offer of admission.

That probably sounds very corny, but it's true. I think if you're unsure about coming here you should visit. There's really no substitute for actually seeing campus: looking at where you'd be sleeping, and eating, and sometimes even studying for the next four (maybe even 5) years of your life.