Tim Hortons & 'Godfather' Marvin

Second blog. Third day in Canaidia! Things are all still new. I have finished my two days of orientations now. I have international orientation on monday (30th), so yet more admin. Last night there was a Physical Education & Recreation Graduate Student (PERGS) meal down Whyte Avenue. It was a nice italian resturant, that was reasonably priced. Really nice and diverse bunch of guys consising of fire fighter trainers, yoga instructors, economists and rural landscape phd students, along with a couple of sports management guys (self-included). I sampled a typical canadian beer, my plan by the time I leave canada is to try every beer possible. I am currently on two and counting. The meal was short but sweet. Met a really cool girl called jenny, a fellow english(person), she was from Bath, she was bubbly and full of banter. She pronounced bath properly (as in bbaaarrrth), yet said bathroom (in a northern town), this led to Bethan, one of the girls on our table to state the quote of the night "you say barrrtth, but you say BATHroom?". It was perfectly delivered and had me in stitches. After I headed back to the youth hostel, I walked by a coffee shop called 'Tim Horton's', I couldnt resist and decided to go in for an XL hot chocolate. Their hot chocolate can only be described as 'divine'. So so awesome. I have to tell you a little about Tim Hortons.Its basically the equivilent of costa combined with the bakers oven or greggs. Its very cheap and seems quite a popular novelty in canada. On my very first day on the way to orientation, I had some time to kill, and coincidently their is a Tim Horton's on route to the general services building. Everymorning since, I have gone via Tim Hortons (aka my little morning sanctuary) for a plain, buttered bagel and a large hot chocolate. (There is an x-large, but I only get that if I just get a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate itself, I swear is genuinely addictive. It doesnt have an ingredients label on it, but if it did, if it said "cocaine 25g: 300% of your GDA", I would not be in the least surprised. The sugar levels I swear are somewhat enviable at minimum. Anyways, enough about my rant of Tim Horton;s.

After I got my hot chocolate, one of my room mates from the youth hostel coincidently caught me in the window whilst walking by, we walked back and I proposed a game of pool as it was his last day in edomonton. He was from Dubai, about 35 years old , clever and looking for a job in finance adminstration, but lucky for me his pool skills werent up to par with the rest of his personal portfolio.

This morning I went to see my new supervisor. The godfather that ius Dr Marvin Washington (such a cool name, for such a cool guy).Despite the fact a note that said "back in 5 mins" on his door, infact more accurately resulting in a 45 minute wait, he was really nice. A very casual and laid back, yet intelligent guy (that combination in my eyes is a very powerful one. He told me a little about himself, his expectations (which were minimal, but firm). He very much suggested a have free reign of my thesis, and suggested I speak to a couple of key academics, to both say hi and also to try get the ball rolling for starting some side projects and work to crack on publishing. I have a desk. Its a large desk, in an open plan space, like an office I guess. We are on the 6th floor of the General Services Building. He said he was keen for me to write some abstracts in order to get to some conferences. He was highly inviting and positive. He will be great to work with over the next four years no doubt.

Since then, ive been sending emails left, right and centre. Getting some ideas out. Working on possible leads for funding and updating marvin. Tonight im going to a BBQ, should be good. Marvin also suggested that I go explore edmonton I little, since right now I have time and once things get going I wont. I think this weekend I shall do exactly that. I will go to the west edmonton mall (the largest indoor mall in the world) and go explore I little.

Generally things are going well. They are going a little slower than I would like to be honest. I've had a lot of free time to sit and write these blogs and be on facebook a little. Which is nice, but I am getting itchy feet to jujst get on with something. I'm sure I will in due course. The term all kicks off on the 8th september. That is when the undergraduate masses invade campuys and when my two modules begin. Marvin also encouraged me as part of my modules I take, if I write essays to develop them into research papers...an exciting prospect. I cant wait until the 8th too because that is when all the sports kicks off. The basic deal here is that $5 gets you into any game/event on campus. Really looking forward to the basketball and ice hockey games now! they will be amazing. Right i'm going to go to the gym before the bbq, burnt it off before I put it back on again.

Thanks for your messages guys. To be honest, I am feeling really home sick at the moment, I havent really made any friends yet and feel a little isolated, despite things happening slowly. I miss england and everyone there massively at the moment. So thanks again so much for the messages. Love you all.

Mat x