Striketoberfest.

The Acadia University faculty are officially on strike. I have really mixed feelings about this, seeing as there are so many pros and cons. The biggest con is that if the strike lasts long enough we'll lose the semester and I won't get any academic credit for being here. But, there is nothing I can do about it, so I'm going to focus on the pros: catching up on work, being able to enjoy the fall weather, taking time to do things around Wolfville that we can't when classes are being held, sleeping in, etc. So here are my past several days in brief:


Friday: Friday was the last day of classes before the strike could begin, so professors were focused on telling us what we should be doing during the strike so we can keep up with the course readings and assignments. I spent the afternoon working on my Green Civ essay and studying for Aesthetics and Pre-Confederation Canada. After dinner my roommate Hannah, two girls from the rugby team and I went to the Acadia Men's Hockey home opener. They lost 3-1 against St. Mary's University. I was really surprised to see that the stands were filled with locals: small groups of people over 65, pre-teens, and families with small kids. Then I remembered that hockey in Canada is like football in the states and the community comes to support the team.

Saturday: Mainly, I did some more work on my Greek Civ essay and studied for my midterms. I was getting restless studying for so long, though, so I took a walk around the botanical gardens and through the woods near campus. Here are a few pictures I took:


Sunday: I slept in, studied, caught up with friends and family on skype, and checked about every ten minutes for information about the strike negotiations. At about 9:30PM when I hit the refresh button on the ASU website it said "The strike is official." Hannah and I started jumping and down with excitement because we were both studying for midterms, that at least I didn't feel ready to take. Within minutes people were running our residence and the campus chanting "Strike! Strike! Strike!" Sunday was also the last rugby game of the season so I went with Hannah and most of the rest of the rugby team to go dance/celebrate the strike at one of the bars in town.

Monday: I spent the class-free morning finishing my Greek Civ essay and catching up on episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. After lunch Rachel, Hannah, and I went to get tea at the fair-trade coffeehouse in town and then decided to go check out Frenchy's, the second-hand clothing store in New Minas (the next town over from Wolfville. Rachel got a plaid flannel shirt and I picked up a plaid blazer for under $2. Next we went to Bulk Barn (where I got 42 cents, 55 with tax, worth of candy corn), and then had a brilliant idea: we should get pet fish! We went to the pet store next to bulk barn to pick out our fish. Rachel decided on a goldfish named Napoleon, while Hannah and I got a Betta (named Scranton), two minnows (Jim and Pam) and a free snail (Dwight). For those who don't know, the names come from our obsession with The Office. We picked up a Betta fish kit complete with a fishbowl, gravel, water conditioner, a fake plant, and food. Rachel went ran into Wal-Mart to get a bowl and goldfish bowl. Here are some pictures from buying our fish and setting up their bowls:

This is Rachel's fish, Napoleon:

And here is Scranton (with Pam behind the plant at the top):

And here they are settled into their new home on our dressers:

Today: A relatively productive day. I did all of my laundry, cleaned my room, and organized all of my papers/drawers. I also studied for my Pre-Confederation Canada midterm. Then - because it is the perfect, crisp fall day - I went for a walk. After the Medicinal garden I came upon this huge tree that I felt I absolutely needed to climb. It's been years since I've climbed a tree, but it was rather easy to climb. I only got a about five feet off the ground and settled onto a branch. I took the picture at right of the tree on Saturday when it was overcast, but today the sky was bright blue just a few scattered cloud. I stayed up in the tree for about an hour, listening to Simon & Garfunkel and enjoying the fall breeze.




There is no word on how long the strike will last, but they're back in negotiations today which could mean it won't be too long. It would be good for the strike to last a week or two so I can get ahead on all my work and we can take a trip out to Cape Split or Peggy's Cove. If it goes more than two weeks though, you can be guaranteed that I'll be writing a post angry about how I came to Canada, in large part, for the academics and how losing the semester would be absolutely horrible.