Ottawa to go: De Montfort University journalism student swaps Leicester for a taste of life as an undergraduate in Canada

As her DMU classmates roll up for the first journalism classes of their final year at university this week, Grace Cushnie will still be fast asleep in bed.

She has a pretty good excuse for skipping the next few workshops though, and all the ones that follow. Grace is spending the next year studying overseas – at Carleton University in Ottawa, more than 3,250 miles away from Leicester.

She’ll be writing about her experiences as a British student in the Canadian capital in a regular column for Leicestershire Press. And her first Letter from Canada starts with stormy beginnings.

Grace Cushnie at Carleton University
Cushnie number: Grace at Carleton University

I left home on August 21 to trial my new life in Canada as an exchange student, on a short holiday with my mum.

Leaving was as horrible as I’d imagined. I put my life at De Montfort University on pause. I left behind my best friends, my family and my dog, and I don’t think the tears stopped for the majority of our seven-hour flight. But, we landed anyhow, and my new life began.

Walking out of the airport, we were met with the biggest storm I had ever seen. The sunset held a dusky pink over the road, and rain lashed so hard you could hardly hear the taxis driving by. The thunder and lightning were something I’d never experienced, not in that way. The air was so fresh. It was throwing ‘new’ and ‘different’ right in my face, but in such an exciting way that I couldn’t do anything but embrace it. We sat and watched that thunderstorm for a while, the craziness of the airport rushing around us.

Eventually, we made our way to the taxi rank, where we were taken to our hotel on Rue Saint-Dennis, Montreal.

Montreal was our first stop on our little travel around Canada. It was beautiful. It showed us the calmness of Canada. Not one person ever seemed to be rushing, and everyone was friendly. The only way it would compare to England is if the whole population was on Xanax. It is such a happier place.

Smells like poutine spirit: “Diabetes on a plate, but actually pretty tasty,” says Grace.

It is also where we first tried poutine, Canada’s national dish. Chips with cheese curds and gravy, with a vegan version for me. A definite diabetes on a plate, but actually pretty tasty.

We tried our first Canadian Tim Hortons, or ‘Timmies’ as it’s known locally, and I must say it would beat Leicester’s any day of the week.

We also accidentally wondered into an indigenous market which, while interesting to see the culture, scarred me with the number of dead, stuffed bears. Including cubs.

We spent those first few days in Montreal learning a bit about the culture, figuring out what coins what (it took a while to understand that 10 cents are a smaller coin than 5), and buying too many souvenirs, including a few moose dog toys.

On the 24th, we set off extremely early to go on our coach trip to Toronto. We met Luke, our lovely but strange tour leader who told us all off several times over the two-day trip. Believe me – you do not want to be late on his time! I’ve never been scolded harder than when I turned up three minutes late with a coffee in my hand. He was great entertainment for me and my mum. 

However, he did take us to some amazing spots.

Thousand Islands addressing: celebrity home-spotting on a boat trip along the St Lawrence River

We first went on a boat tour around the Thousand Islands which was absolutely beautiful. The mansions along the coast home to several celebrities. Next was Canada’s biggest aquarium, and then the CN Tower. Trust me, nothing makes you feel as small in a big country than the view from that tower. It was built to look over the railway, but the view scales the whole of Toronto. Being up there makes you feel like you are on top of the world.

Selfie-employed: the view from the CN Tower
Tick the bucket (list): Grace and her mum at Niagara Falls

The next day oriented around Niagara Falls, something that has been on my mum’s bucket list for years.

We started off having a sky view of the waterfalls, and later got absolutely soaked on a boat trip which went right up to them.

It isn’t often you see such a beautiful sight so close. Well, through what felt like lashing rain, that you could hardly see through. I won’t lie, it was actually easier to see from further away, but I wouldn’t have missed it. It really was an experience.

We eventually made it to Ottawa, the home of Carleton University, where I will be staying for the best part of the year.

The journey from Montreal to Ottawa was two hours long, and the views were amazing. One thing I’d never seen before, however, was a groundhog. They’re everywhere here. The first time I saw one was on that coach, and, while driving onto a motorway, I saw one on a tiny patch of grass in the middle of the roads. I slapped my sleeping mother on the shoulder and told her there was a beaver, which she obviously didn’t believe. We saw more after, and we both genuinely believed there was beavers just relaxing in the middle of the roads, no where near water. We later learned about groundhogs.

They also have black squirrels here which, like the groundhogs, are everywhere. They’re the equivalent to rabbits in England, just a lot more interesting.

Beanz meanz … wait, what?

We visited our first Walmart’s, which is full of very different things than Tesco’s. We found maple syrup beans, and I don’t think I’ve seen anything more Canadian while I’ve been here.

We looked around the parliament buildings, and went up and down a stair case which must’ve had at least 500 steps that, while beautiful, were a killer for the legs. 

We had a look around my university. I think it must span about 10 miles. It is massive.

We found my accommodation and, of course, broke in to have a look around. The most we made it to was up and down the elevators because all the doors were locked, but my mum found enough comfort in knowing which floor I was on.

We spent our last night together in the hotel room then, inevitably, the time came that my mum had to leave me.

I ordered her the uber, and we spent our last few minutes outside the hotel in tears. We waved as she was driven away to the airport.

I spent my last few days in the hotel, waiting for my move-in date to come around. I binged my comfort series, The Gilmore Girls, and waited for my biggest adventure to come around.


Eyes front! See the shortlist for the 2022 magazine cover prize showdown for Journalism students at De Montfort University

The front-runners in the DMU Journalism magazine cover prize 2022

It’s the clash of the covers, the grapple of the glossies, the melee of the mags – and now the shortlist has been revealed for the annual magazine prize contested by Journalism students at De Montfort University in Leicester.

Students on both the single- and joint-honours Journalism programmes at DMU create magazines and websites in a final-year project which tests the writing and design skills they have gained during their studies. Each year, the best covers go head to head for a cash prize.

And these are the front runners in the 2022 competition, which is being judged by Joe Brewin, the deputy editor of FourFourTwo, the world’s biggest football magazine.

The five glossies in this year’s clash of the covers are:

Adore, a monthly women’s lifestyle magazine with “stories from underrepresented and misrepresented groups”, created and written by Beth Bailey, Abbie Beresford, Fiora Flinton, Kira Gibson and Shantelle Gondo.

GenFem, a women’s lifestyle magazine aimed at an audience of 18-25-year-olds, created and written by Maryam Goncalves, Morgana Ribeiro and Maykel Valladares.

Ocio, a sports magazine that takes readers away from the mainstream, created and written by Thomas Carter, Rashaad Mangera, Joshua Solomon, Holly Taylor and Luke Williamson.

Taboob, a convention-busting lifestyle, health, fashion and entertainment magazine aimed mainly at women, created and written by Jaz Cartwright, Yannick Doualehi, Victoria Gavin, Megan McCluskey, Kiran Munder, Deborah Paul-Enahoro and Hannah Smith.

Twenty One, a Gen-Z style, culture and entertainment magazine, created and written by Arabelle Akinfe, Samantha Johnston, Seema Mian and Lauren Sadler.

Journalism programme leader, Brian Dodds, said: “Once again, I’m struck by the high standard of the magazines produced by our talented Journalism students at DMU. I’m looking forward to seeing who wins – but well done to them all.”

The winners will be announced next month and the members of the successful group will share a £200 prize. You can see the winner of last year’s prize here.

DMU celebrates classical Indian music with one-of-a-kind concert

By Kerri Stevenson

Students and staff at De Montfort University gathered in Trinity House Chapel on Tuesday to celebrate the classical Indian music genre.

indian classical music

The event, which took place from 1pm to 2pm, was part of the inaugural DMU Classical Indian Music series, which is a programme of lunchtime concerts curated by DMU Music in partnership with the celebrated Darbar Festival, the largest of its kind outside India.

There were two core themes running throughout this year’s concert series, focussing on women in music and traditional Indian instruments including the sitar and sarod were used.

indian classical musicChris Heighton, Head of DMU Music, said: “With these concerts, we have been able to bring the finest Indian musicians in the world to perform at DMU for both campus and city audiences.

“The fantastic acoustic of Trinity House Chapel adds a wonderful dimension to the live performance and creates an incredible experience for our audiences.”

This year is the first time this type of event has taken place at DMU, and the concert included performances from a wide range of talented Indian musicians including Roopa Panesar, Shahbaz Hussian, Gurdain Ryatt and Surdarshan Chana.

Following the success and popularity of this year’s event, DMU Music announced it has been commissioned to take place again in 2018.

Mr Heighton added: “The series has been a huge success because we have begun to build an increasing audience of students, staff and members of the public.

“All of our concerts are also live streamed via the DMU Facebook page, which has welcomed audience numbers of between 700 and 1,000 people watching live from across the UK and internationally, which is fantastic.

“Interestingly, a large number of people who are unable to attend the live performance watch the concert from the DMU Facebook page afterwards.”

If you wish to know more about the event, contact Chris Heighton at chris.heighton@dmu.ac.uk or call DMU Music on 0116 207 8521.

City Broadcaster talks everything Puel

By Kiran Bedder

A City broadcaster has urged Foxes fans to cut newly appointed football team boss Claude Puel some slack after initial groans of disappointment greeted the Frenchman’s arrival.

Puel took charge exactly a week ago and guided the Blues to a well-earned 2-0 victory against struggling Everton on Sunday.

Mike McCarthy, match day broadcaster for BBC Leicester, says he understands why the former Lille and Southampton boss has garnered mixed views from City fans.

Speaking to Leicestershire Press he said: “Football is all about what you’ve done lately, and looking at the way things ended at Southampton you could think well, maybe that wasn’t the best, but maybe that’s not the reason why Leicester should go for him.”

Puel did manage to get the Saints to Wembley last season in the EFL Cup and also boasts a great record within Europe.

“His record in Europe is pretty good as well,” added Mike. “He’s only ever been knocked out of the Champions League by the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona and the top teams he’s come up against.”

Puel stepped into the shoes of former manager Craig Shakespeare who was sacked on October 17th.

McCarthy said Shakespeare’s dismissal came as a little bit of a surprise.

“I spoke to him after the West Bromwich Albion game and he didn’t seem like there was pressure coming from above in terms of his position. He didn’t seem like a man who was worried.”

Only time will tell whether Puel can win over the hearts of Leicester’s expectant fans.

Dry Dock pub in demolition danger

By Jack Gabriel

Student regulars have spoken of their dismay after learning that one of Leicester’s most iconic pubs is in danger of being demolished.

Last week it was revealed the Dry Dock could be knocked down to make way for a large student accommodation block.

The boat-cum-pub is popular with young adults and students and the news has not been well received by a number of its young regulars.

 

Piccture1

HAPPY HOUR: The pub at a typically busy time

 

Chris Clarke, 20, said: “I’d be absolutely gutted if they knocked it down.

“Me and my mates always go in after our football games and training.

“It has everything we like. It’s spacious, good music, pool tables, and generally a good atmosphere when it’s busy.”

Another student, Harry Dovey, 19, said: “I’m hopeful the University will see sense and keep the pub as it is.

“I know other students feel the same way, because it’s very popular given its closeness to the universities in the city.”

The landlocked pub is also popular with both Leicester City and Leicester Tigers fans on match-days, as it is located closely to both team grounds.

John Godrich, 58, said: “I usually go in on a Saturday when there’s a home game for City.”

He added: “I hadn’t heard about the plans, but it would be a real shame to see it go because it’s been there for as long as I can remember.”

Blueprints to build modern accommodation for students in the Freemen’s Common area were originally proposed in the summer, as part of a £500 million expansion project after the University of Leicester.

In a July press release, the University of Leicester said: “The next project to move forward will be the redevelopment of the Freemen’s Common site, adjacent to the central campus.

“The existing student residences at Freemen’s Common are coming to the end of their lives.

“This presents an exciting opportunity for us to look at this area as a whole and how it could be redeveloped to provide a better range of accommodation.”

The development proposals are part of a ten-year vision for the university, and despite their eagerness to accelerate the project, there won’t be calls for last orders just yet.