Spring

Hi everybody! Did you notice that spring came to Calgary? It is really surprising because at many other provinces of Canada there is winter with lots of snow and frost. However, in Calgary the nature is awaking from its winter sleep, and you can feel the smell of spring in the air. To tell the truth, I expected colder and longer winter with lots of snow when I came to Canada in August 2007, but my first winter in Calgary appeared to be beautiful and sunny. I am happy that I am so lucky to live in the sunniest and cleanest city in the world. I really like the sun and the fresh air of Calgary! For some people Calgary seems dull and entertainmentless
(I really don't know if there is such a word in English), but for me it is not the most important thing in the life. I have a family here and some friends. At weekends I prefer to go to the nature to make burbecu with my friends or simply to walk in the park. Being close to nature helps me to relax and to look at some things in my life with different eyes. I like Calgary beautiful nature and wild life. It is surprising for me that wild animals here don't afraid people. So I would never change the walk in the park to going shopping.

A mysterious concert

Hi everybody! I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I’d like to share with you my impressions about the concert I visited last weekend. It was a concert of a vocal group Camerata from my native country, Belarus. Although it was founded in the 1980th in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, I have never heard Camerata’s music when I lived my native country. There were many Russian people at the concert, so I had a possibility to chat a lot without exerting my brains. It was so relaxing! At that moment I felt as I appeared in my native country among native people. When I heard the first sounds of musical composition, which was performed in unusual and unbelievable style, I was shocked. There was no music at all! The singers imitated sounds of different musical instruments, birds, wind and waves. They song in English, Russian, and Belarussian. Camerata’s experimental style combined classical and modern traditions. The concert included pieces of different genres, from classical and ethnic to jazz, often interwoven into each other, giving birth to totally new and uncommon combinations. Their compositions were very special, with a variety of plots. The singer’s voices were so strong and pure, and they so harmonised to each other that admiration of audience was indescribable. The performance was impressive and successful. I think listening to Camerata is a unique experience having quite a magic effect. I urgently recommend you to visit their concert if you will have such a possibility in future.
I was surprised to realise that I had to come in Canada in order to get familiar with the creativity of this unique Belarussian group.

Happy Reading Week!

Happy Reading Week to everybody! Our midterms are already in the past and we can relax and devote all our free time to blogging! (Joke!). However, I must admit that when I am reading my classmates’ blogs I feel like I am reading a writing of native speakers. I know may be Scott can see some defects, but for me most of the blogs sound natural and perfect. I don’t know your opinion about midterms yet; the research project was the most difficult of our tasks for me. It was something terrible! I started it at Saturday night being very enthusiastic, but I have hardly finished it at 2.00 am on Monday. So I had to miss skating and swimming and I was really upset with it. To my surprise I realised that I have spent more time trying to find articles than writing my research project! I must say I failed to find articles I really wanted write about. I tried to use key words in my search, but finally the main ideas of the articles I found appeared to be so far from my ideas that I became desperate. Finally, I lost my hope, took several articles which were a little related with my ideas and make myself to write something about them.
Now let’s change a subject. Have you noticed how beautiful the weather was today? It was +12! Unbelievable! If we compare with the last weekend…. – 25! Impressive!!! I can’t help admiring such a changeable weather! As the weather is going to be fine, I have lots of plans for this weekend: I am dreaming about going to Banff, making a barbecue with my friends in the park, snow-boarding with my children and of course swimming and skating.

A first lecture

Hi gays! I’d like to share my impressions about my first lecture, which I attended yestarday. The theme of the lecture was Alberta’s society (Sociology).There were about 150 students in the classroom. Some of them were late but the lector didn’t seem annoyed with it.
At the beginning of the lecture the professor asked if there were any new students in the classroom. I raised my hand, and he said if I will have any questions about the new material I can come to him after the lecture. Then he noticed that he wasn’t satisfied by the students’ attendance at the lecture (it was Friday!), so he promised that from now he will give the most important material on Fridays. Next he remarked that he still can’t remember all the students’ names and told that some professors used to take pictures of their students in order to solve this problem.
After this introduction professor began his lecture. I must say that I expected a terribly fast speech with strong Canadian accent, mach more fluent than those lectures that we listened at Murrey’s classes. However, I was very surprised when I heard a clear, well organized speech that reminded me Murrey’s one. So I relaxed and began to listen interesting facts about Alberta’s population. I was surprised to see that during the lecture students were allowed to ask the professor questions because one of my friends told me that you can have your hand raised during the entire lecture and a professor may not pay attention to you.
While I was taking my notes the professor asked us to make groups of three in order to make a list of tricky things about Alberta. At the first moment I was confused but then I had a great conversation with two students in which we compared some Canadian customs with customs of my native country. I was glad to hear that my English was good and understandable.
And how was your first lecture?

The best way of studying a foreign language

Hello everybody!!! It’s my first blog and I am very exited about it! May be it is impossible for you to believe, but I have never heard about blogs! On Thursday I couldn’t understand what did Scott want from all of us. But now I discovered that blog is a great possibility for us to communicate, to get some information about our classmates, to understand who is who and remember the names (I think for Scott it could also be a chance to practice with our names in order not to be confused between Jason and John). Most of students were happy to study at EAP 2, so they already know each other. As for me, a new student, I knew only several students with whom I took the placement test.
Now, let's talk about the best way of learning a foreign language. I am sure that most of us will agree with an idea that leaving in a foreign country, speaking with native people, watching local TV programmes and participating in different local events is the most effective method to study a foreign language. And we are so lucky to have such a possibility! I’d like to mention that the main obstacle in studying a foreign language is our shyness to communicate with local people. I remember when I arrived to Calgary I was afraid to open my mouth to say an English word. However, I discovered later that most of local people are very friendly. They are very patience and ready to explain again and again if you didn’t understand what they had said. I noticed when I am listening a person speaking English who is telling about something interesting I can forget that I am listening a foreign speech. It seams to me like my native language. Good luck in studying English!