First Few Days

For the first article I thought it would be a good idea to cover the first few days of this escapade to a new land. Covering aspects such as the flight itself and the experiences I had during the first few days, for however bad they were.

Yeah, the first few days weren’t great. I know it’s a downer for the first article to cover the negative experiences I had during my first few days, but that’s how it went down. The positive stuff comes afterwards, so don’t leave yet. 

So the flight. The flight sucked. I’ve never been a good flyer. I don’t get panic attacks nor do I have a fear of flying. Commercial flying just isn’t an activity I particularly enjoy. I flew with the airline Westjet on the 31^st of December from Gatwick to Toronto, and then from Toronto to Ottawa. The reason I flew out on New Years Eve was because that was the only date I could get a decent price ticket. This is because I lack a useful character trait called forethought and didn’t book my flight sooner. Although, fair play to staff, they were great and were aware I was a first time solo flyer. Hats off to them, respect. 

So after enduring an 8 hour flight and coming out the other side feeling like I had the posture comparable to Gollum. I had finally arrived in Toronto. After a short layover I flew and landed in Ottawa. 

Now here’s where things began to fell apart. Whilst in the UK, I had organized accommodation in a nice part of Ottawa that wasn’t too far from Campus. The house was advertised as a student house, which I was totally fine with. I booked my room and paid the first 2 months rent in lieu of a deposit. The landlord was even generous enough to pick me up from the airport. Now, this isn’t the part where I say “But none of this happened and I didn’t have a place to stay or transport”. No. Although maybe it would have been less of a pain the arse in hindsight. As it turns out, the room I had rented was not in the student house. The room was in the adjoining house, the home of the landlord and their family. No names or specifics of the home or location will be described in this article as to not reveal the identity of the landlord. No malice is intended within this article. This is merely to honestly document my experiences. This was not what I was expecting from what was advertised to me. I didn’t feel comfortable in someone else’s family home. Nor did I feel comfortable with the perceived deception I had experienced. I was at a pretty low point and was contemplating returning to the UK.

This may seem melodramatic but to avoid specifics I cannot delve too deeply into why I felt this low.

I began trying to find alternative off-campus accommodation and getting information from the University as to the possibility of moving into on campus accommodation. Even looking at flights back to the UK in time to rejoin Hallam when the semester starts. After a conversation with the landlord about my thoughts and discomforts, I was provided a choice. To either stay or leave in 2 days (Along with some financial jargon which I cannot delve into because, ya know, specifics lol). I emailed the university and informed them of this now emergency situation. During the following very stressful 5 hours, I was lucky to find that the university found me a room in their on campus residences. I agreed and began to pack in anticipation of moving out.
 

Moving day came around and I moved out. After a very stressful 5 days, I was finally out and on my way to my new residence. This choice to move into on-campus residence became one of the best decisions I have made during my time here. So yeah, first few days, really sucked. And I nearly threw away a fantastic opportunity due to a case of mis-advertisement. 

The next articles will be much more light hearted as things began to improve for me in Ottawa. Including making new friends, beginning my studies, throwing myself into extra-curricular activities and general campus living. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this, frankly, melancholy first article. Again, sorry about that. But bear with me. 

Cheers,

Taylor