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Orientation: Day 7, 8, & 9
So I have finally met my group of newbie geography grad students. We are quite the eclectic bunch - some international, some from far within Canada (Yukon!), some from Ontario, and some that completed their undergrad right here. Those locals have been quite helpful settling in, but it has become clear that the ones I will be the most similar to are the ones from far within Canada as the other internationals are here for PhDs. The ones from further afield also have a similar cultural change as I do because of the provincial independence in many arenas that seems to exist up here.
Funding also seems to be coming through (finally!) - even though all my documents have been modified by hand to deal with the USD turning to Canadian Dollars (CAD?) which is amusing, but somewhat concerning from a legal sense. There are a lot of things here where I cringe . . .but have to check myself and realize the concerns don't fit in with the realities here. Another case of this is the SIN - they have the number on your file label in plain sight from the desk - which would never fly these days with SSNs because of the potential for identity theft. But SINs don't serve the same identity purpose here - they are just to track income for tax purposes - important but not as useful for a thief.
School wise I now have a desk, a mailbox key, a TA assignment, and a weekly department happy hour scheduled. Feeling super settled, just need my adviser to get here and classes to begin! .. . . except there is a weekend and one last orientation event standing between me and that.
Hopefully the weekend will be sunny and i'll get out on my bike more - then my next post can be about biking on straight roads. :)
Funding also seems to be coming through (finally!) - even though all my documents have been modified by hand to deal with the USD turning to Canadian Dollars (CAD?) which is amusing, but somewhat concerning from a legal sense. There are a lot of things here where I cringe . . .but have to check myself and realize the concerns don't fit in with the realities here. Another case of this is the SIN - they have the number on your file label in plain sight from the desk - which would never fly these days with SSNs because of the potential for identity theft. But SINs don't serve the same identity purpose here - they are just to track income for tax purposes - important but not as useful for a thief.
School wise I now have a desk, a mailbox key, a TA assignment, and a weekly department happy hour scheduled. Feeling super settled, just need my adviser to get here and classes to begin! .. . . except there is a weekend and one last orientation event standing between me and that.
Hopefully the weekend will be sunny and i'll get out on my bike more - then my next post can be about biking on straight roads. :)