August 25th McGill Mania

I have been having an amazing time at McGill these past couple of days!

On Saturday mum and I went to explore the campus, and I had an info session. The info session was lame, the speaker asked "who is going to be wanting a monthly metro pass?", the few students who were in the know put up their hands, and then she ended that spark of hopeful knowledge with a "good". Thanks lady! So I'm the one that is going to have to put in the hard yards on that one. Then she shooed us all out of the lecture theater, so no contact with the international student kind. We were all scared and confused, and had all brought parents. A memo I missed, so mum had to wait around campus, and then I had to find her around campus when the meeting finished about 1 hour and 10 minutes early!

We then went into the glory that was the McGill parents tent! This was heaven on Earth. They served FREE starbucks coffee, and low fat zucchini bread (for the modern parent). Mum signed a form, then she was laden with a goody bag, which included a wanky "McGill Parent" tag! All the other parents didn't seem to think this was a wank, and were strutting aroung McGill with pride wearing these huge tags. Mum had to wear hers to blend into the crowd. We went to the McGill gift shop, and after a lot of deliberation I settled on a McGill hoodie! There was a lot of choice, but in the end, the classic seemed the right thing to do! I can't wait until it's cold enough for me to wear it!

TODAY was even more McGill glory. At its prime, if you will!!! It felt reminiscent of a clockwork orange. We were made to watch an hour of McGill propaganda. An HOUR! Of all these shorts (which were funny, as they were done by students - but the message was still the same) and some longs, about McGill and its services. The shorts were so funny, they were "ads" for McGill. But scary in that everyone subtly or not so subtly put down the surrounding universities in the area, mainly Concordia (the other English uni in Montreal). We then heard speeches (yes this was a WHOLE orientation day), and were made to chant! I kid you not. We were all chanting "GO-MCGILL-GO-YAY", I know, catchy right! And every person that got up on stage - congratulations you are all so wonderful, we are sooo selective, ego boost, ego boost! Then the principle started telling us about all the influential people that try and blackmail her so that their kids would get in, but no she can't take their kids, we are all just too much better than the rich peoples kids! And the self indulgence went on for the better part of the morning. I was sitting next to two anti-friends. One girl Onya, she was from Toronto, and when I first met her, I thought she was a bit cool, a bit alternative - but then she got too alternative for me, when she whipped out her notepad and started writing NOTE TO SELF's, she made many notes to self over the course of the morning. We bonded over bands we like and stuff, but she just wasn't a winner. And the boy I was sitting next too! Jeez, he wanted to be a neurosurgeon and I guess figured social interaction would get in the way of his ambition. I introduced myself, we had a few brief words (of course when necessary) then when people tried to approach him for a chat while we were walking around the campus, he would speed up or slow down, and he would always just walk like 10 meters from the entire group! But during the walking tours I did also meet some really good people. Friends, or potential friends! So all is good! We hung out all day. Well, part of it was forced but the rest was voluntary. After the campus tour we all had pizza lunch (mandatory) and then had to hear another two hours of speeches (again mandatory). But then there was McGill's equivalent of Market day! Street Festival! We hung out enjoying the festival, listening to the street performers, and grabbed some free BBQ! It was amazing and has restored my faith in people and friend making! It was lots of fun! The BEST ever, and I mean best ever club I joined was ....
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the McGill Quidditch team!
Thats right!
Ok, unless it is a scam! We all get to ride around on broom sticks, and there is a human snitch painted in gold and he/she runs around campus and we pretty much have to chase him down! I think, I mean that's what the guys were telling us, but they did also use the words spam email. So we'll see. I guess it was free, so no harm!

Tomorrow is my Frosh! I am a bit excited, and hopefully there will be a happy blog about that one!