Woodside Word 1
The Adjustment - Blog #1
I suppose since this is the first entry in my blog I should introduce myself. My name is Mitchell Woodside and I hail from Clyde River, Prince Edward Island. Only a few hundred people live in Clyde River. It’s about a twenty minute drive west of Charlottetown, or simply “Town”.
I am eighteen, in my first year of mechanical engineering here at U of T and play volleyball for the Varsity Blues. I have been to Toronto before on two occasions, once when I was six and once again four years ago. I have spent less than a week here in total. Needless to say, I’m fairly new to this place.
The buildings here are a bit taller than the buildings in Clyde River. The tallest building on the entire island is about ten stories. Every time the team bus goes downtown here, I just stare out the window, watch the city go by, count the stories in skyscrapers, and be thankful that I’m not driving (you people are crazy out here). Right now, the size of this place hasn’t really dawned on me yet, I think. This is probably because I spend most of my time here on campus in our own sort of university “community”. That is to say I haven’t left campus very many times so far.
The main differences between here and home are the little things. It’s the things you don’t expect to see, and small cultural differences. For example, how we talk and what we talk about. Nobody here talks about the weather. Home, many conversations start with a remark about the weather. That doesn’t really happen here. Also when I meet someone new back home, they will ask me my last name, who my parents are, then try to guess where I’m from. Often they’re right. There’s none of that here.
Apparently, I have an accent. People from Ontario don’t sound different to me, but I sound different to them. Words like tomorrow, alright, ham, and bad usually evoke the strongest reactions.
So that is a little bit about me and where I’m from. I would encourage anybody to spend a couple of weeks of their summer on the east coast.
The change in school was/is much more of a shock than the relocation. I guess engineering is a tough program. I believe it. In high school, I knocked down nineties for fun. In university, I’m working my butt off for seventy-fives. It feels weird at first but I guess all first-years go through it. If you’re a first-year and you don’t feel a bit crazy, give me a call so I can copy your homework.
I get asked a lot if I find playing varsity sports overwhelming. I definitely don’t. Playing volleyball is what I would want to be doing with my spare time anyway. You have to love the sport though. It keeps you busy too. It’s not that you wouldn’t be busy if you weren’t playing sports, but I find it helps keep me organized and on task with the rest of the aspects of school. It has a sort of trickle-down effect.
Being in residence is definitely a bonus as well. I’m no more than a ten minute walk max from any of my classes. New College, the residence I am in, has a good cafeteria, and is right beside the athletic centre too. There are always various events put on by residence that you can attend if you are so inclined. Sometimes they come up with some pretty good stuff.
As for volleyball, we’re two and two going into York tomorrow. Coach says we can go eight and two before Christmas so that’s kind of our long-term goal for the semester. Definitely doable.
Woodside out.
