International blog: Joe in Hamilton – homecoming at McMaster!

— 06.11.15

by Simon Spode

My first month in Canada has been amazing. I have met some really great people and been to some really interesting places. My housemates arrived a week after I did, but they were really welcoming and friendly when they did and I get along with them really well.

Classes are quite different to those in England. They are a lot more interactive and class participation is heavily weighted which was quite difficult to get used to and involved in at first.

McMaster homecoming happened in my third week. There is so much school spirt here, the whole place turned maroon for the weekend (the school colour) and the day before homecoming there was a concert, ferris wheel and games in the middle of campus. The actual day of the game was quite an experience where everyone gets up at around 8:30, makes pancakes and starts drinking, then you leave for a ‘pancake kegger’ in someone’s garden at about 10am, then head off for the game at about 12. The game was really good and McMaster won by a landslide! After the game we went back to the house and had a takeaway. It was a pretty fun day.

One of my housemates’ friends came to visit her about four weeks into the semester and she took us to Dundas Peak as she had a car. The view and walk is amazing to get to the peak and we went just as the leaves on the trees were just starting to turn amber.