This trip wasn't my first to the province of Ontario. I went to Ottawa in August for Dan's wedding. However, this was my first time in Toronto. Unfortunately, since I was connecting, I didn't have a chance to actually go out into the city. From the air, the city is huge. The CN tower is quite nice too. The smog on the other hand, not so attractive.
Toronto airport.
Toronto smog.
From Toronto, I took the world's smallest airline plane to Kingston. I'm not kidding. The plane sat like 14 people: two per row with an aisle down the middle. It's so small that the co-pilot had to give the preflight briefing! Yeah, not kidding. Turbulence in these things is nothing short of exhilarating. On a positive note, it was the first flight I remember where my pilot was female. Actually, both the pilots were female! Makes you wonder, how come women never get to fly the big Boeing and Airbus jets?
That thing got me to Kingston and back. I think my boat is bigger than this plane.
I arrived in Kingston late in the afternoon. It was my first time in a small regional airport. If you've never been to an airport such as this - well, your not missing out on much. When I say small, I mean the whole terminal is about the size of my house. Small plane, small terminal, I suppose it all matches in some fundamental way.
The city of Kingston lives up to its airport. It's a pretty small city (population 120,000), with a large proportion of its population being students at Queen's University. The taxi ride to my hotel took me past infamous Kingston Penitentiary, and the adjacent jail for Women. Very attractive. I also got a glimpse of the Queen's campus, but I'll hold off on that for just a sec. My hotel was right on the water: Radisson Hotel. This was perhaps the best sight in the whole city. Believe it or not, my room had a king size bed. Yes, king size. It was one of those adjustable firmness beds too. Wow! I had a great view of the lake and part of the city; the room was very spacious and the furniture was excellent. I highly recommend it to anyone who may be traveling into Kingston. I was quite tired that Friday, so I spent the rest of the night in my room. Thank God for complimentary internet access - and an accessible girlfriend! (Mad props)
What a room...check out the king size bed.
My view at sunset.
Same view, twelve hours later.
The next day, I arrived at the Queen's campus just after 11 AM. The campus is architecturally very nice, with old stone/brick style buildings. I joined an impromptu tour of the campus with a first year medical student and some interviewees from McMaster. Suffice it to say, there's a lot of walking involved in studying at Queen's.
Queen's architecture.
Another building on the Queen's campus.
Nice library on the Queen's campus.
At noon, there was an orientation and welcome session for interviewees. This included the usual "what's so great about our school" schpeel. The highlight, however, was the video. That was worth a lot of laughs. Following the orientation, I made my way to the adjacent clinical education centre where the actual interviews were held. I sat around in the waiting room and chatted with other interviewees and some first year students. It was quite relaxing. Oddly, Queen's is the only medical school interview where I wasn't made to sign a confidentiality agreement. Maybe I forgot to, or somehow magically did without knowing. If that's the case, I wasn't properly informed and thus any agreement is void. Long story short, I can talk about the interview!
Of all the interviews I did this year, I felt the most uncomfortable at the Queen's one. I'm not sure why, I think it got off to a weird start. You see, they always give you water right at the beginning of the interview. Like usual, when they started their introductions, I went for a sip of water. Normally, this is perfect timing: they're talking, and you can hear; you don't need to talk, so you can drink. But my perfectly planned water maneuver took an unexpected twist - they stopped talking and watched me drink my water. It was eerie. Was I shaking with anxiety? Were they watching my cup wondering if I'd spill. I have no idea. That threw me off for a good minute while I went into damage control mode and tried to de-weirdify the interview. It didn't take long to feel back at ease, but that weird start still haunts me.
After the interview, I made me way back to the airport to wait for my flight(s) to London. I met a fellow interviewee from SFU who was also at Queen's that day. It was nice having some company, and we finally parted ways after dinner in Toronto. Lo and behold, the same two female pilots on the same dinky little plane got us back to Toronto. It's like these poor pilots fly circles between Kingston and Toronto all day. After a short stay in Toronto, I took a respectable prop (Dash 8) down to London. Arrival time, almost midnight.
I stayed at the Spencer Leadership Centre in London. This was a conference & hotel affiliated with the Business school at the University of Western Ontario. The price was good, and the room was nice. Not as big as the Radisson in Kingston, but nice nonetheless. After some phone calls and unpacking, I collapsed into a heap of sleeping cells at about 1 AM.
My room in London. Cozy but nice.
The Spencer Leadership Centre in London had a great sitting room.
Waking up at 7 AM was brutal. I could really feel the lack of sleep getting to me. I got to the Western campus at around 10 AM in line for my 11 AM interview. After signing in, I was led into the waiting room to wait it out till my interview. The nice thing was, the number of 1st year medical students pretty much outnumbered interviewees. I spent some time chatting with students and interviewees alike.
A largely uninformative shot of the Western medical building.
Looking at part of the Western campus.
The interview itself went well, for the most part - except for the one time I caught myself staring into blank space with nothing further to say. That was kind of awkward, ahaha. But the start of the interview was great, as one of the panel members made a small slip up during the introduction and we all had a great laugh. I really think the first few minutes of the interview are crucial. First impressions, anyone?
Following the interview, I went to yet another welcome session. If I thought the Queen's video was nice, Western's was just amazing. I laughed pretty hard. Following the orientation, I asked a first year med student to show me around - which he was pleased to do. I thought that was a great touch, the first year students were really there to help us interviewees. Not to mention, this was the only school where the first years were actually dressed up too - and not walking around in slack jeans. Nice, professional, touch.
Finally, I was done! My interviews for this year's application cycle came to an end. What a feeling of relief. But, alas, karma caught up to me. My flight home had a connection in Winnipeg. On the approach and landing into Winnipeg airport, I noticed how low and thick the fog was. And it was covering everything - fog as far as the eye could see. And the eye can see plenty at thirty thousand feet. That pesky fog kept us in Winnipeg an extra two hours. Mind you, we already had to wait a few hours for our connecting flight, so any delay only added insult to injury. And the worst part was that other planes were able to land. Unfortunately, the plane that was supposed to get us to Vancouver was not certified to land in the fog. I think that fly I swatted tried to get back at me. Karma. Fortunately, I was traveling with a fellow UBC student who was also interviewing at Western. Again, traveling with someone makes the whole processes just a little bit more bearable.
The fog in Winnipeg. You can see the shadow of our plane. See the landing gear - yeah, we're that low.
Touching down in Vancouver was such an amazing feeling. I enjoy traveling and flying - but not like this. Going a different place every other week for a day or two at a time is really taxing. I was drained, and very pleased to be finished. Our plane landed at around 12 AM. My total travel time that day was a full 12 hours. All that just to cross the country. I wish I connected in Toronto.
I hope you've enjoyed my 'national tour'. I've seen a bit of Canada now, taken a few pictures, and ate a lot of room service. Let's hope I don't have to do this again till CaRMS.
