A grand miscalculation

I woke up today with absolutely no idea what I wanted to write about. Inspiration has been lacking all week, and while I usually have planned out what my blog post will be days in advance, this week I honestly had no clue. So with that in mind, in true British style, if all else fails - talk about the weather.

I knew that coming here for a year I would face extreme temperatures. I arrived in mid-August and on some days it went up to thirty degrees Celsius and I found myself thinking that this wasn't what I signed up for when moving to Canada. Canada is meant to be cold, snowy and everyone gets around using snow mobiles and dog sleds. That's the stereotype right? Wrong. Summer actually got pretty hot, so hot that on some days I thought it was unbearable, however I now find myself wishing more than anything that summer would return and heat up my frosty fingers. It isn't even officially winter yet, but it already drops to minus six at night and doesn't go above zero during the day. Everything freezes and the thick layer of frost in the morning makes even walking across the bridge hazardous. The worst part of all though, I think, is going from a twenty degree heated room back into the cold, those first ten minutes outside, experiencing the huge temperature drop is pure torture!

Unfortunately for me it's only set to get colder from now on. I'm told that minus thirty is not uncommon at the height of winter and seeing as I am already wearing two pairs of leggings under my jeans now, I think an urgent shopping trip will be required pretty soon. otherwise I'm not entirely sure how I will survive. I greatly underestimated just how cold it gets here and am now paying the price. My only saving grace is that my snow boots (which have got a great deal of use despite only getting the first snowfall yesterday) keep my feet warm enough, so that's one less things I have to worry about at least.

Introductions

Speaking as someone who has never organised any of my own travel plans, never travelled long distances alone, or even flown in an aeroplane by myself before, the thought of moving half way across the world, for a year, all by myself, is pretty terrifying. So why then, did I decide that moving to Canada, leaving all my friends and family behind, would be a good idea?

 Let me first start by introducing myself. My name is Christine and I am currently studying Wildlife Conservation at university and for my placement year I am interning at Northern Lights Wildlife Society in British Columbia, Canada.

 NLWS is a shelter dedicated to giving injured and orphaned wildlife a second chance at life, by rehabilitating them back to health, then re-releasing them back into the wild. Whilst the shelter admits almost all Canadian wildlife, it specialises in the rehabilitation of bears, and has successfully seen the release of over 200 Black, Grizzly and Kermode bears. What makes this feat even more incredible is that the whole organization is run by volunteers and funding comes from generous donations that provide a second chance to a whole variety of different species.

 Animals have always been a passion of mine, and I love to travel so it seemed obvious to me that for my placement year I wanted to work abroad. This will allow me to gain a wider cultural understanding of the world I live in, as well as having the chance to do what I love the most, which is helping and providing for animals. I am hesitant to leave my friends, family and of course, my beloved pet collie Jemma behind. However I know this is the start of what will be an incredible adventure, which will allow me to grow as a person and gain more confidence in my own capabilities.

There is a quote, by my favourite author, John Green, which rings truth with me and describes the effect; we humans are having on this planet,

“The marks humans leave, are too often scars”

 Studying wildlife conservation I see the scars that that humans have left on this world, all the time. I see the damage we have caused to ecosystems, to habitats that belong to an array of vulnerable species that are under constant threat due to human’s ever growing demands on this planet. Like most people I want to leave my mark on this world, but one which isn’t a scar, or even a blemish. I want to see healthy, happy animals returning to their natural habitat, and hopefully working at Northern Lights will allow me to do this.