A Summer Of Fun

Summer 2012 Bucket List: Complete

I've always grown up as a person who hated summer. But before you judge me, I should make myself clear and say that summers for me while growing up involved near 50°C temperatures on a daily basis with unpleasantly hot and sticky weather, so naturally, I hated the sight of summer.

Of course, now, summer seems like a pleasant thing after all. I've just put my first Canadian summer behind me and while the joy of returning to school may haunt me in a few months, the summer most definitely will not. I've heard about the rage that barbecues create in this country and now that I am the proud owner of one myself, I'm not sure if I fall under the category of enthusiast or bandwagoner. Perhaps someone would like to clarify.

Jokes aside, I really looked forward to my first taste at a 'Canadian summer.' I was excited, naturally, and the suspense would kill me each passing day while I was holidaying back home in India: golf, baseball, barbecues, the possibility of meeting Corey Perry,  all of this was indeed in the cards back in April. And then it so happened that the London Knights won the OHL title and there I was, probably the only guy in India who was actually celebrating, which made me realize how out of place I really was. "Keep cricket to India and hockey to Canada," is what I told myself.

Fast forward a month and my dreams of becoming the next superstar on the PGA tour took a backseat. It seems like everyone in Canada, from businessmen to the biggest NHL superstars, all fancy their hand at golf, but alas, I've yet to discover why. Perhaps next summer, eh?

London has been great to me, it really has. It's been my home from over a year now and was also the place where I watched my first hockey, baseball and football games. But there is something that beats all of that combined: meeting Corey Perry at Labatt Park during Drew Doughty's charity softball tournament. I know some of you might despise Perry, but for a kid from well beyond the pond, I'd call that a pretty awesome and nerveracking moment; a moment that sort of makes up for the disappointment of being told that not being Canadian was the reason why I couldn't apply for a summer work study position at Fanshawe. I can now only imagine how much different life might have been if I had I been working at 106.9 TheX or for the Interrobang, but that's not something that really matters now that summer is gone and winter draws ever so near.

Summer 2012 is almost complete, and since it was my first Canadian summer, I can safely say that it will always remain special to me. It's interesting to see how people do things here in Canada, and yes, they are different than things we did back home. Studying abroad is a great learning experience, I'm glad I could do it. It's great to be writing for the Interrobang again, and I can't wait to meet new people in the halls of Fanshawe.

Originally Written for the Interrobang: http://www.fsu.ca/interrobang_article.php?storyID=8602&sectionID=3&issueID=206
Image Credit: Spencer Gowan