My trip to England.

My last summer was the best summer in my life. My parents send me to England for 4 weeks to study English there. My hometown was Oxford. Oxford is really nice and quiet place. It looks like an old fashioned town... it seamed to me that I was in middle ages, because all the buildings were old. For example there is a round library, a lot of castles and ol walls around the city. I really enjoed walking there, english peopel are nice and friendly, in the morning I liked to walk along the shops and smell morning coffe from "starbuck". All 4 weeks the weather was fine, but sometimes well-know english rains were making a signals.

Big Ben

There is still no precise definition of where it all happens so called "Big Ben". 
The bell of hours residents can hear the whole world, to fight the Air Force provide hourly. Tourists in the tower of Big Ben is not allowed. Big Ben has a height of 96 meters, and climb up is possible only by a small spiral staircase, and just 334 steps leading upstairs. Upstairs there is only one small area in the center of it, and this is enveloped in legends of the bell more than two meters in height and diameter of almost three meters.  As already mentioned, it is not clear who gave the name of this bell. Someone said he was so named in honor of Benjamin Hall, who was the chief of the construction work of Big Ben. This man, for his imposing physical size and given the nickname Big Ben. There is also a version that the title comes from the bell-boxer named Samson Benjamin County since the time of Queen Victoria. 

The weather in my Home Town

The weather in my hotown is very changable, because the city is situated on the island. The island is surrounded by sea and that is why we have so anomaly weather sometimes. One time there was raining for 3 days non-stop, I thought we have a flood, but everything was okey. Another problem of living on Sakhalin island are earthquakes, the Sakhalin island is located in seaysmo dangerous zone, last year we had an earthquake that destroed a small town on the north. The most interesting part that snow starts to melt in may... but we have a nice summer.

My Family

My family aint so big. My mothers name is Yana, she is very beutiful woman with open heart. My father's name is Maxim he is seriouse and strict, he always helps me with math, cuz he knows it very good. And I have brother, his name is Ilya, he is younger then me, and he is still in the hight school. My family is also consist of granmothers and grandfathers. I have a lot of cusines, but they live far away from my city. My brother is now in the same school that I graduated from. I don't know if he wants to go to Canda but it would be a great idea. I am going back home at 29th of april, so I am exited to se my family.

People around me.

While I was living in Canada for the last 8 month I met a lot of different people. All the people with whom I communicate everyday are older then me. For the first time I thought that it's hard to have friends older then you and that the ages difference plays a major role in our life...but now I have tottaly opposite opinion. It 's really interesting to speak with older people, throught conversations that I having with them I sometimes change my point of view on some of the problems that might occure. They sometimes help me to deal with problems or just give a helpfull advice. That's the life and I should live it fully.

ME and TRU

My first day in Canada started with a Canadian breakfast from my host family... I really enjoed it because it was differ what I had in Russia for breakfast. Then, my host family dropped me near the CAC, that was a sunny day... I stood outside a bit and then entered the building. This was a round building with a lot of students inside. When I came closer I saw a lot of foreigners people. There was Chinease, Japanese, Arabic and Russian students. I came inside the crowd and started to look for my friend who came with me in Canada. After a while he found me.When everybody started to register I saw a Russian voluntier and had a nice talk with her, when she registered me, the presentation of TRU started. The point of this presentation was to make a friendly atmosphere for students and it really worked. I understood some aspects of studyieng in TRU and wanted to know more about it.

Canada is the best place to be.

Recently I realised that Canda is the best place to live as a student. The system of education is flexible, finding job is not a problem, and living here is pleasent. For the first time TRU was a bit wild for me. I was afraid of people and afraid of talking with them. I had problems with communication because of the language barrier. First semester was a bit awful for me. English was on the low level and I didn't know anything about Canada and how to live here. But after first semester I started to understand how stuffs works here. And I really got a lot of Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Canadian friends. For now I feel free to live in Canada.

The place where I live.

When I came to Canada the host family met me in the airport and that was perfect. But what is the point living in family in another country? I wanted to do everything by myself and I started to look for place to live. I found 3 guys that were looking for apartments too and we did a great job together with searching for place to live. Finally, in october, we found a good place. The house was with 4 berooms and that was a perfect match for me and my friends. The owner of this house is a student too and we have a nice relations with him. So our house is on upper Sahali. The palce is perfect... bus stop in 5 minutes walking and home is big enough. This is the place to relax or study. I really like to live by my own.

One interesting story.

Today I wan't to tell the story that happened to me in Canada about month ago. One day I wanted to make a hair cut and came to "cuttinglounge" on summit drive. The hairdresser started a talk about Russia and Canada. The most interesting part of this dialog was when she said to me how Americans think of Canada. She said that Americans think that all the Candaians live in winter and it always cold there. She also said that bears walk in CAnadians towns on the street and having a nice talk with everyone:) Hm and I thougnt that the same thought have all the world about Russia...

Niagara Falls

There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the falls. According to Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger, "Niagara" is derived from the name given to a branch of the locally residing native Neutral Confederacy, who are described as being called the "Niagagarega" people on several late 17th century French maps of the area.[8]

A number of figures have been suggested as first circulating an eyewitness description of Niagara Falls. Frenchman Samuel de Champlain visited the area as early as 1604 during his exploration of Canada, and members of his party reported to him the spectacular waterfalls, which he described in his journals. Finnish-Swedish naturalist Pehr Kalm explored the area in the early 1700s and wrote of the experience. The consensus honoree is Belgian Father Louis Hennepin, who observed and described the Falls in 1677, earlier than Kalm, after traveling with explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, thus bringing the Falls to the attention of Europeans. Further complicating matters, there is credible evidence that French Jesuit Reverend Paul Ragueneau visited the Falls some 35 years before Hennepin's visit, while working among the Huron First Nation in Canada. Jean de Brébeuf also may have visited the Falls, while spending time with the Neutral Nation.[9]

My City

In this topic I would like to represent my city. The name of my city is Yuhno-Sakhalinsk, it was founded by Japanesee in the 20 century. After thw World War II Soviet Union took control of this city and made it as the capital of Sakhalin Island. The population of this city is a bit bigger then the population of Kamloops, so it's almost same city as Kamloops but bigger. We have a lot of Industrial companies and project because the main resource on the Sakhalin island is OIL so many American companies come to my city to get a peace of pie.

Travelling.

One of my passion is travalling. From young ages I was travelling with my parents a lot. For the

nearest future I want to travel by myself much. Throught travelling people gain a lot of knowledges

about the world and people. This is interesting, fun, and helpfull.

After the Reading Break.

After my reading break a had a lot of home work. I had about 1 or 2 midterms and some assigments to do. Also I wanted to do my loundry so I have spend about 2 hourse on it.

Reading Break.

I had a lot of fun on my reading break because  I went to Vancouver! I have never been to big cities and Vancouver has became one of them! I really enjoed time that I spend in Vancouver. I was shocked of it's area, I saw a lot of peoples, cars, and rich apartments. I saw a lot of restaurants and bars, I was killed by enormouse size of the stadium where "Conucks" team plays. I have seen the journey to the caves on the big screen of  "Telus Science World" that was awsome! I couldn't bealive my eyes. Vancouver is beautifull place to live and water there is the cleanest water on the earth!

What are the differnces between the universities in Russia and TRU.

I have admitted a lot of thinks that differ education in Russia and Canada. Students from Russia ends school at 16-17 years old, but Canadians students end it in 18-19 years. So Russian students enters universitie earlier then Canadian students. Another interesting think that differs is flex-time. In TRU I found interesting that students can change time of their's courses but in Russia it is not acceptable because we have straight course's time. In Canada most of the programms are for 4 years to study, but in Russia almost all the programms are 5-6 years. So I understood that Canadian education is more liberalistic in my opinion.

Advice for Who Are Learning English Language

Teaching English is not as hard as most of people think. But on the other side of the medal writting and grammar are two aspects that are complex in English and I want to tell all the begginers to not afraid of grammar and writting because it's gonna be fun. Second, when pupals starts to write an essay the must, I repeat must think in English, it will help to represent all the thoughts. Third, If student want to understand the grammar tenses he must understand what he says on his own language and try to say the correct sentece in English.

Me and Canada!

Life and Canada.

Thanks for visiting my page! My name is Dmitry (Dima) I am from Russia.
This is my first "blog" ever and I would like to write a little about myself. My studying in Canada started in September( Fall semester) I came from a little town, same as Kamloops, on the east of Russia. I did a placement test and went to meet my host family. The first place where I was living for a month was a host family. Through living there I knew a bit about household in Canada and that was very interesting for me. After living a month there I found some roommates and we rented an apartments. Living by yourself withought help of parents was a hard challenge but now I am good I got a habit to live by myself and it's very interesting for me. I am very interested in computers and I have chosen Computer Science program.