Canadian Mall – Installment 18: North Hill Centre
HELLO FOOLS!
Today I walked to North Hill Centre, a small little mall on 16th Avenue, sorta by SAIT.
Mileage from home to mall (one way):
Pros:
- Close to home. Takes about a half hour to get there.
- It’s small. Kinda cozy. It’s like the Palouse Mall sawed in half.
- There’s a WIG SHOP!
- The C-Train runs right behind it.
- There’s a moderate-sized branch of the public library behind it.
- There’s a store in there called Alchemy Apparel which sells all this funky pop culture stuff. Looks interesting.
Cons:
- Not a whole ton of variety if you’re looking for that.
- I put this in the “pros” list but I guess it could be a “con” as well: it’s small. If you like to walk the mall, you’d be done in like 4 minutes.
- I was there like half an hour before it closed on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, but I would guess that it gets a lot of C-Train traffic during peak hours.
And yeah, I know it was only like 2 miles from home; I made up for that by walking to campus, then going back to 14th street, walking up to 64th Avenue, over to Centre St., then home. 16 mile loop!
Walk the Walk
So I’ve been here a month now* and I’ve walked 231.4 miles around the city (488,593 steps).
Plot of walks over the last 30 days!
I think my goal shall be at least 50 miles per week. Not sure how that will go, especially once I get busier at school (and once the temperature dives), but we’ll see.
YAY BIG CITIES!
*I’m not counting the first week, from September 1st to the 7th. That week sucked and I’m treating it as if it never happened. So there.
I’ve got Macho Man stuck in my head MAKE IT STOP
While I was waiting for the bus this morning, this lady who’d seen me on campus yesterday (“you dress like an art student”) started talking to me because the bus was like 10 minutes late and there was nothing else to do.
I was telling her that I’d only been in Calgary for a few weeks and she starts raving about Nenshi and how he’s such a great mayor and how practically everyone loves him. It was awesome. I hope I get to meet him while I’m up here! Wonder if they need a statistician at City Hall…
Anyway, have some Nenshi awesomeness (mostly tweets), courtesy of Tumblr.
(His shirt says “Straight, Not Narrow” in case you can’t read it. He was the first mayor to lead the city’s Pride Parade)
Hmm…
So I really like Calgary.
I can’t compare it to Vancouver yet since I walked practically that whole city and have hardly walked like 2% of the city here.
But I really like Calgary. I can’t wait to explore more of it.
Canadian Mall – Installment 15: Market Mall
It’s walkin’ time!
Today I went west—a little bit past campus—to Market Mall.
Mileage from home to mall (one way):
Pros:
- This mall is circular! It’s actually quite cool. It’s also got like 20 entrances.
- It’s also just one floor, so no getting lost on the upper levels.
- APPLE STORE!
- Huge H&M.
Cons:
- No drinking fountains. What the hell, where am I supposed to refill my water bottle for the walk back? I was going to just fill it from one of the the bathroom sinks, but they all jet out hot water automatically. BAH.
- APPLE STORE was super crowded due to the iPhone 6 release.
- It’s close to campus, so there were students everywhere and it was quite crowded.
So since this mall was not that far away, on my walk back I decided to go the long way up 14th street. Whoever* said Calgary was flat is a LIAR. That street is like a mile of steep hill. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d been on mile 2 of my walk, but I was on mile 12 so it wasn’t the most enjoyable little trek. Got a good pic of downtown though:
*Haha, it was me.
Canadian Mall – Installment 14: Southridge Mall
It’s the weekend, the weather’s good, and I’m in a big city that needs exploring.
YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?
It’s Canadian Mall time!
Because I’m me, I chose a mall that’s pretty far away as my first destination: Southridge Mall!
Mileage from home to mall (one way):
Pros:
- If you don’t feel like shopping at the mall itself, there are a lot of other big stores around, such as Walmart, Bulk Barn, Home Depot, and a giant Safeway.
- It’s not too big, so you won’t get lost in it.
- Want some high-end stuff? This is the mall for you!
- You can get to this mall using two buses from my house, which is pretty impressive given how far away it is.
Cons:
- Almost EVERYTHING is fairly high-end, so if you’re looking for cheap shopping, don’t go here.
- It’s only open until 5 on the weekends. WTF?
- Their online mall directory is terrible.
DONE! I’ve missed walking in a big city, yo.
Edit:
I got a massive sunburn in the shape of the Canadian Tire logo on my chest. I look like a retail superhero. Wear sunscreen, kids.
Is it December?
JUST A LITTLE BIT OF SNOW:
Holy hell, I stood out at that bus stop for an HOUR this morning. Why? Because right before my bus stop is the super busy intersection of 4th street and 16th avenue. The snow storm had knocked out the power to the lights and so it was being treated like a four-way stop.
During morning rush-hour.
It’s a damn good thing I like to get to campus early, ‘cause if I’d been waiting for the next #19 bus I wouldn’t have made it in time.
I would have just freaking walked to campus, but I don’t know how to walk there yet. It’s not a straight shot and you have to go some weird way to get there.
Edit:
Holy crap, so the snow has pretty much decimated all of Calgary’s trees, or their branches at the very least. There is debris EVERYWHERE. They’re saying it’ll take at least two weeks to clean everything up.
(More of) Claudia’s Canadian Adventures…Continued!
YAY I’M HERE!
My “apartment” is a basement, but I guess that’s what I deserve. And at least it’s something. Once I get internet it (and all my crap put away) it should be tolerable. Hopefully.
Sorry, I kind of had a freak out this morning and don’t feel much like blogging.
Bye.
(More of) Claudia’s Canadian Adventures
IT’S CALGARY TIME!!
We left around noon today with the U-Haul. After getting through the border crossing in record time (there were NO other cars there and they didn’t even ask us to stop and come inside), we stopped in Cranbrook for the night. Hopefully we’ll get to Calgary around noon tomorrow.
EXCITED/SCARED/NERVOUS/FREAKING OUT/REALLY COLD IN THIS HOTEL.
Do Narcissistic Bookshelves post Shelfies?
I FINALLY have an apartment in Calgary now! I shall post piccys when I move in at the beginning of September.
UGH this process has been obnoxious.
Here are more Canada pics.
(Only in Canada, man.)
*more noises of frustration*
WHY IS IT SO HARD TO FIND HOUSING IN CALGARY?
Seriously, I’m really, really starting to freak out about this. I might have to actually road trip up there to get an apartment in person, ‘cause this is ridiculous. Almost had to go to the hospital again ‘cause I was in full panic attack mode.
FINALLY
I’ve decided. Have a look at where I’ll be living in a few months.
I’mma go throw up from anxiety now.
List Time!
So I’m trying to make this Calgary vs. Ottawa decision as objectively as possible, but I’m still having a lot of trouble with it. You might be thinking, “hey, you idiot, it’s not that hard of a decision.”
Well, it is for me, okay?
So let me look at the pros and cons for both choices and see if that helps me decide.
Calgary PROs:
- University of Calgary is a research university and it’s ranked fairly high in Canada.
- I’m already in love with the city, even after just watching some walking tours on YouTube.
- I’d be about the same distance away from Moscow as I was in Vancouver, which was a pretty ideal distance.
- The move up there won’t be too expensive and will only take a day (or two).
- Mayor Nenshi!
Calgary CONs:
- Monthly rent is approximately the same as in Vancouver (i.e., expensive).
- Since my original supervisor is leaving, I’m basically going to get stuck with someone who didn’t originally want me. That’s really stressful to me, especially given my last supervisor/student relationship and how horrible that whole thing was.
- I’m scared of the city flooding as badly as it did last summer.
Ottawa PROs:
- My supervisor who’s moving there seems like a really nice and genuine person and really wants me to work with him.
- I’d get more money there, especially if I decided to be a TA.
- Lower cost of living than Calgary.
- It’s the capital of Canada! How cool?
- Carleton University (where my supervisor’s headed) has a math department that does a lot of things jointly with the University of Ottawa, which means a more diverse offering of classes.
Ottawa CONs:
- I’d have to move all the freaking way across the continent again. Expensive and time-consuming and stressful.
- I’m not “feeling” the city of Ottawa the same way as Calgary.
- Carleton isn’t a research university. It’s actually the level below a true university, which is a bit concerning to me (it’s on the same level as Simon-Fraser University, which is a “comprehensive university” and not a research university).
- I already have my study permit for Calgary; I’d have to get that changed if I go to a different school. PLUS I’d have to get all sorts of new paperwork showing that Carleton “accepted” me.
- If I end up going for a PhD, one of the requirements that must be fulfilled is that I’d have to be fluent in another language enough so that I could read and comprehend a mathematical paper in said other language. While that’s a good skill to have, obviously, I am about as unilingual as a person can get and I don’t know if I even have the capacity to learn another language. Y’know, ‘cause I’m an idiot.
- I’m scared of Quebec.
THAT DIDN’T HELP AT ALL.
In This Blog: The Mayor of Calgary is a BAMF
Meet Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary.
This dude is awesome.
- He’s an alumnus of both University of Calgary and Harvard and was elected mayor in 2010. In 2013, he was ranked as the second most important person in Canada, after the Prime Minister.
- It seems like the vast majority of Calgarians (and even people outside of Calgary) really like him.
- Check out what he’s done.
- Plus, he’s freaking hilarious:
- And his handling of the recent city flooding
- I particularly like this one:
How to Travel from Moscow to Calgary: An Illustrated Adventure
So here’s Calgary, right?
Here’s how far Calgary is from Moscow.
How do you think I would fly from Moscow to Calgary?
Well, the nearest international airport is in Spokane, which is here:
Reasonable route:
Would you agree?
Well, here’s how you actually get from Moscow to Calgary:
Dafuq, Alaska Airlines?
Also, all the layovers in SeaTac are like SIX HOURS LONG. Like I haven’t spent enough time in that airport.
(I know, I know, pointless complaining.)
I HAVE NEWS!
So guess where my crazy life adventures are taking me next?
CALGARY!
I got accepted by the University of Calgary will be starting my Masters in statistics in September.
I am SUPER FREAKING EXCITED!
Here are some facts about Calgary/U of C:
- Population: 1,096,833 (third highest in Canada after Toronto and Montreal)
- Hosted the Olympic Winter Games in 1988 (Jamaican bobsled team!)
- It’s one of the sunniest cities in Canada, with about 332 days of sun every year.
- U of C has about 25,000 undergraduates and 6,000 postgraduates
- U of C is ranked as one of the best universities in Canada (6th – 8th, depending on the ranking)
- The university library is the sixth largest library in the country.
- YOU CAN TAKE PROFESSIONAL SPEED SKATING LESSONS AT THE OLYMPIC OVAL ON CAMPUS I AM SO DOING THAT
I reiterate: I am SUPER FREAKING EXCITED!
Claudia’s Trans-Canadian Adventures: Day 1
So here’s an important question that’s been bothering me since I got off the plane.
There’s skiing and downhill stuff in the winter Olympics, right? Duh.
So where in the hell for the 1988 Calgary Olympics did they actually have that stuff? ‘Cause all I’m seeing is this:
Either they built fake mountains or they made it all up, one of the two.
We also flew through some badass lenticular clouds, but I couldn’t get my camera out in time to catch them.
Anyway.
You may be saying “wait, hold on, back up, what the hell were you doing on a plane and why were you in Calgary?”
An excellent question.
I wasn’t exactly in Calgary, it was just a stop on the way to London, Ontario to check out the University of Western Ontario, who happens to have a tier 2 philosophy of science program and who happens to have accepted me into the MA/PhD program.
Cool stuff, huh?
So now I’m sitting in a creepy little motel room with a pita, Futurama, and no internet, waiting for the campus tour tomorrow.
It’s also 1 degree Fahrenheit outside.
But it’s not raining.
Rock ON.
Eigenblogger 
