Showing posts with label rankings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rankings. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

my purple pride

{via}
It's been several years since I graduated from university and while I may be in denial about the end of those days, I can’t help but relive them and reminisce about all the good times I had while I was there. So you can imagine my delight when I read that my school had rave reviews in The Globe and Mail's Canadian University Report, an annual survey based on assessments by students about the schools they attend. I'm proud to report that the university I attended finished with the highest ranking in seven of the seventeen criteria in which it was graded. Bishop's University was ranked the highest for, among other things, quality of teaching, satisfaction with town/city, campus atmosphere and most satisfied students...not so bad to be at the top of those lists!
Anytime Bishop’s is mentioned in the news, I’m like a proud mother celebrating her child’s achievements. I can’t help but get a little giddy to know that my alma mater did something worth talking about. Even when it’s bad news, like a flood, fire or foolish freshman (which happens all too often!), my heart still warms at the thought of my little university town pushing their way through any tough time or tragedy. Bump into any alum that went to BU and it’s like you haven’t seen each other since being separated at birth but lived on the same street your whole life. You’d think we were being paid to promote the school with the way we can’t stop babbling about our breakfasts at PizzaVille or walks across the arches. The memories, landmarks and school spirit seem to remain the same throughout the years and so reminiscing about life in Lennoxville is something so hard to explain if you’ve never experienced it. Having one small bar in town to raise a toast with your profs but two Greek restaurants for the post-bar poutine is accepted and embraced. Painting yourself purple during frosh week and again for every football game is not unusual...even if it means showing up to an exam that way because you didn't have time to take a shower first. And missing said football game because tailgating takes on a life of its own is a foggy memory for any proud Gaiter fan. Our school song, which is belted out by students every year to serenade the principal at his house, states “we will never graduate” and I don’t think truer words could be sung (…or slurred!). While I may have taken it for granted during those first few days as a freshman, I’ve come to realize that while I can’t go back, those days will certainly live forever in my heart.

Did you go to college? What was the school spirit like at your school?

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

shiny happy people

According to this feature from Forbes on MSN, I can happily report that I am living in one of the happiest countries in the world. With Costa Rica taking the top spot for happiness and Panama following in the number three spot, Canada was awarded silver as the second happiest country within the Americas and I think that gives all us Canucks a little something extra to smile about. Add to it the fact that my country is sandwiched between two tropical tourist destinations and it sure does make me proud to be living where I am.


While I don’t live in the happiest city in Canada - that award has gone to Montreal, having been ranked number two by Lonely Planet – I do have to agree with Lonely Planet’s US Travel Editor, Robert Reid. He says “...you can find happiness anywhere you go...” and I’m positive he’s right! If you ask me, happiness is subjective. It means different things to different people for different reasons so to claim that my city may be happier then yours seems only to be a matter of opinion. I enjoy where I live, I enjoy the people around me and I truly enjoy my life. But I think that there are hundreds of places that I could live that would provide the same level of happiness that I experience in my current city. I think my happiness has more to do with what I make of my surroundings than the actual city, or country, itself. I’m sure if we all ranked the places we’ve been in terms of what city made us smile the most or what country we thought was the happiest, we’d be giving out awards to a lot of different destinations. Either way, I’m going to keep smiling…not only because Canada is a happy country but, more importantly, because I have lots to be happy about.

Do you live in a happy city? How do you measure happiness?