One week passed in Vancouver

Crowded 99 B-Line bus near UBC

After a week in Vancouver – a week, already! – under clear blue skies, we have our first overcast day. For me, it is very welcome. It is a display of the city’s more familiar face: one complimentary to the sun-blasted one sometimes revealed in summer.

As I was telling Sarah yesterday, it feels really good to be back in a city. The change feels like going from a computer full of complicated software to a computer with a few familiar applications and a connection to the internet. The place feels more embedded in the world, more empowering, and generally closer to possibility.

Clear days are loveliest during the short time between when the sun falls below the horizon and the time when it actually gets dark. Because my judo classes used to end at exactly that time, during the summer, I still associate the particular quality of that light, and the way the shifting temperature feels, with those short walks home in judo pants.

Overcast days are excellent for hiking and biking, as well as for photography. There is no need to muck around with hats and sun creams, and the light is diffuse and well suited to being captured on film or with a digital sensor. All told, it makes me look forward even more to going walking near Trout Lake with Sasha W later today.

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.

8 thoughts on “One week passed in Vancouver”

  1. Milan,
    Maybe I’m too fussy, but is the whole full name thing really necessary? I know you want to differentiate me from your brother, but couldn’t I just have a last initial or something? Avoiding having my full name online is just one of my personal hangups. Thanks!
    Sasha W.

  3. “dislikes dogs and sunny days” – just the thing to include in a personals ad

  6. “What do you mean back in a city? Oxford’s a city you know. Funny north Americans…”

    There’s no way Oxford counts as a city. There isn’t a single building above five stories, and it is possible to walk anywhere in less than an hour or so.

  8. Towers and spires don’t really count as normal buildings. Vancouver has several office or residential buildings of around fifty stories.

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