Emily is off today: wisely fleeing the city of Ottawa before the slide towards winter accelerates. Back in May, she was charged with assessing the ‘coolness’ of Ottawa. Her very concise conclusions are now available.
Her departure is much to be regretted, though I would surely choose the same course myself if not bound here by unique employment opportunities. In any case, some photos of the summer are available online: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII.
Author: Milan
In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. In the fall of 2005, I began reading for an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford.
Outside school, I am very interested in photography, writing, and the outdoors. I am writing this blog to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, provide a more personal view of graduate student life in Oxford, and pass on some lessons I've learned here.
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I’m not wholly surprised. No offense to Ottawa, but cities vary a lot and while some are cultural hotspots with tons of theatre, music, art etc that the total population wouldn’t appear to justify (eg. Oxford), others aren’t.
Besides which, ‘cool’ is partly in the eye of the beholder – I personally thought that Cambridge was a dull, ugly place, with lousy transportation, minimal variety of restaurants which closed very early and no nightlife. My ex, on the other hand, condemned Vancouver for being too ‘American’ (I think he meant the modern buildings and grid system for streets) and hugely preferred Cambridge, despite my loathing for the place.
I figure that if people desire different things about their living place and thus prefer different cities then it’s a good thing – variety is allegedly the spice of life & besides we’re running out of space to build in Vancouver ;-)
It’s a shame she’s leaving. A dull city gets duller as each successive interesting person departs.