The nightowl and the meadowlark

It's 7.50 in the morning, and I'm glad to be up. I woke up early today, showered, got dressed, and went outside, since just around there corner there is a bakery that sells real Montreal bagels. I can tell you, they're good. I went there, met all the morning people going about their business, got my bagel with creamcheese and a coffee, read the news. It feels good.

But you know, I still don't quite believe in this distinction between morning and evening people. Not that I don't acknowledge that some people function better at night. It's just that I notice that I sometimes function better at night, sometimes better in the morning. It changes according to my schedule, and, more importantly, the way I feel about life. Which is why it seems to be that that does not have to do with biological factors, but rather with psychological disposition. Getting up early in the morning has everything to do with rousing oneself, and the person who can do that is definitely going to be able to enjoy themselves in the morning. I would let them sum it up by saying, "What a glorious day, let's make the most of it. Hello world!" The other end of the spectrum then belongs to people who need for the world to rouse them. They wake up basically because they have to, and have something of a dependency on the things around them to give them the signals they need to be roused. The world keeps poking them, poke -sunlight, poke-smell of coffee, poke-alarm clock, poke-can't sleep... "Alright, alright, I'm up!" and as they go along during the day they accumulate signals that stimulate them into being awake, untill at the end of the day they're wide awake processing all the things the world has been doing to them. Both cycles reinforce themselves.

Now the past few months I have mostly been going to bed late, waking up late. Partly because of my schedule; at the earliest my classes start at 10am. That's enough time to stay in bed a while. Partly it's because a lot of people around me stay up late - hey, I'm a student. Me being quite social, I enjoy their company and feel like I'm deserting it if I go to bed early (that's one of those reinforcing processes). On top of that, I simply have been having work that I, although I consider it interesting, don't particularly enjoy, making me put it off or at least waste some time doing other things. This means that at the end of the day, say around 8 or 9, I feel guilty enough to set myself to work and finish some of it - next time I check the clock it's already 11.30. But anyway, I can also do the work in the morning. I haven't been doing that because it seems such a hassle. It's not necessarily something you want to wake up to. I guess it's a matter of perception.

I enjoy the morning, though it's not quite like I don't get the charm of the following picture. I'm gonna get to work now though ;-)

Interesting parts from a mail (Dutch)

Ik heb geen moment overwogen of ik niet beter af zou zijn geweest door in Nederland te blijven. Ja dus, nuttige toevoeging. In de eerste plaats (denk ik wel) omdat ik hier zoveel mensen leer kennen van over de hele wereld; omdat McGill een school is die graag internationale studenten aantrekt, omdat je overal als internationale studenten die nog maar net in een nieuwe stad zijn open staat om contacten te leggen, omdat je, als je een beetje weet waarin je geïnteresseerd bent, er met mensen over kunt praten en erachter kunt komen dat je interesses deelt - en "environment" is zo'n hot topic dat iedereen er wel iets over te zeggen heeft, kortom, we (FPS) zijn hip! Maar ook omdat je in een andere omgeving terecht komt waar je opnieuw keuzes moet maken; met wie wil ik vrienden zijn, welke vakken wil ik volgen (en wil ik blijven bij de vakken die ik heb gekozen?), wat wil ik naast mijn studie doen, en/of is het belangrijk genoeg in vergelijking met studeren om ervoor níet huiswerk te maken? Ik merk dat ik nu veel duidelijker weet wat ik wil en wat ik interessant vind, en niet alleen op academisch gebied. Ook trouwens omdat je de kans hebt om dingen te verkennen en te ervaren hoe mensen leven en met onderwerpen als duurzaamheid omgaan aan de andere kant van de wereld. Vaak vindt je dingen die hetzelfde zijn, zowel als dingen die je anders benadert. In mijn geval heb ik nu een veel beter beeld van de Angelsaksische cultuur (economisch, academisch, levensstijl) zowel als van "Europese" en Nederlandse cultuur. En dat is, zeker voor ons duurzame milieutypes, zinvol om te begrijpen. Consumptiecultuur, wat is het en waar komt het vandaan? We hebben het in Nederland en denken dat we het kennen, maar omdat je het hier zoveel sterker ziet kan je (kan ik in ieder geval) veel beter begrijpen wat het drijft. En ja, het is simpelweg zoals in de films en series.

Now that I've lived here a while one of the things I've noticed is that Montreal assumes a different smell every day. Large parts of the city end up smelling like something in particular. One day it smells like freshly baked bread, the next like sewage. Today it smells like candy. And come to think of it that may not be so strange, considering how yesterday was Halloween. Maybe, and I can only speculate here, there's a relation, considering how some parts of the Montreal sewage system are connected directly to her surface waters (or so I've heard in my ecological economy class). Ah yes, Halloween. It really is quite a big thing here in Canada. For the past few weeks I've been hearing people discuss what to wear and seeing facebook messages showing off costumes. Apparently it's one of the few non-commercial feasts still out there. Of course there is always money to be made, but a lot of people make their own costumes and use the occasion to show off some creativity and original thought. At a party of one of my friends, someone taped red balloons all over his body, which is low-budget if anything is. If you cannot visualize the balloons and make the connection; it's a raspberry.

In other news, my mother was here last week. We took a lot of pictures!