Arrival

Hello all!
I have arrived in Windsor, my home for the next few months or so. It’s important that I stress to you that because it might be named Windsor, it does not quite carry the majestic undertone. Windsor is, at least it was by first impressions, a tiny sun-scorched town in south west Ontario, right on the border of Detroit. Thus, much of it appeared to be very ghetto! However, like my first impressions in Toronto, further discovery had me realize just what kind of city it is.
Windsor is indeed a small town, of sorts, but actually a lot larger than what we would call a small town. In fact, in terms of population it has twice the number of Frankston. Despite this however, it is still considered a small-town by Canadian standards. Basically Windsor is a University town, business thrives on patronage during semester, and all advertising it appears, is geared towards students. In fact, many places had welcome back students signs plastered around the front. This gives you an indication of the somewhat ‘dry’ summer they had.
In terms of weather... Windsor is infamous for actually being one of the hottest parts of Canada, yet also one of the coldest. Not only does it get to 30 degrees Celsius, it actually heads toward Melbourne summer weather of 40 degrees Celsius and more. In winter it snows, but often it actually gets too cold to snow.
So a few things... the drive to Windsor is as interesting as watching the clock tick by. Its all farmland between here and Toronto. Canadians are extremely polite, over here Australians are renowned for our laid back culture, and being easily approachable etc. May I just say, we are nothing on them. Even ‘gang’ types are friendly and would gladly help you if you were lost. Sometimes, you can walk through Windsor and think that at any time you could get shot. Seriously, the West is like ghetto town, however – its so ridiculously safe!
So I feel I need to elaborate on the safety of Windsor. Basically, Windsor is a border town – my room is literally about 100 metres from the US border...to Detroit. We all know the kind of rap Detroit has. Windsor basically doesn’t want to be associated with that kind of rap, and who can blame them? For that reason, police presence is amazing! On Saturday night we went ‘downtown’, and without a word of a lie, there was a police car with at least two police officers on each block of the strip. Also handy to note, there were also paramedics nearby. The mere presence and numbers act as a deterrent, and there is rarely any trouble except for the occasional overly intoxicated person who spends the night sobering up in a nice, cosy jail cell.
Life on res here at Windsor has been pretty crazy so far... I’m home from my third night of drinking, with plans to continue drinking the following night. So far, we’ve been ‘downtown’ which is the night club district, we went to a graffiti party held by the student alliance, and to a toga ‘kegger’ party tonight. Tomorrow night is ‘multi-level’ foam night. This is where the three levels of the student centre are filled with foam... pretty interesting!
Everyone I have made friends with here have been really amazing, Canadians are so polite, its astonishing. The other exchange students are really friendly, and we’re all helping each other out. In terms of accommodation, our rooms are excellent, but given that we are exchange students its not the most convenient housing. We have to supply a lot of our own cooking utensils, and the like...and such things are relatively annoying, particularly when you don’t have all that much room to take them home.
I mentioned my three nights of drinking, I would just like to point out that I am not drinking that much. For example, tonight I spent $8 on alcohol...admittedly alcohol is extremely cheap, and I was a tad tipsy... by no means was I going to be spending a night in a cosy jail cell!
Anyway, a few more things and I'll leave it. This is getting extremely long! Yesterday we had a Welcome Convocation, and if my camera was working properly I would show you all the craziness that it was. Unfortunately the building we were in wasn't exactly designed for photography. Basically the concept is similar to graduation, a little bit formal, but actually - really not. All first years gather in this hall, and they are arranged in the faculty that they are in. Exchange students are their own little group, so that was cool. The idea of this is to officially welcome and admit the students into the university, and its also a bit of a noise-off. It is a battle between which group can make the most noise, and which groups can insult the other in chants etc. It's just amazing, I wish I could remember some of the chants... they were hilarious. The only thing one I can remember is the chant from the engineering side of the room "We are, we are, we are the engineers...we can, we can, we can demolish 40 beers". The drama group made a chant that had everyone in fits of laughter, it was something about preferring to be dead than an engineer. The commerce group, which filled my heart with pride to hear their chant, which had something to do with the fact they'd all be working for them one day. It was pretty insane, and extremely fun!
Today my classes start and my first class is at 4pm, I finish at 10pm. I have never had such an odd timetable... but I will live I'm sure!

Anyway, this is enough!!!
Missing you all! (I swear!)