Summer has arrived in Winnipeg. We have just had a week of almost 30C and the BBQs are out in force and patios are the place to be. It is very surreal that a place that can be so arctic in winter, is so hot in summer. Hard to believe unless you experience it and apart from the odd rain shower, summers here are very hot and sunny. It was definitely odd to hear on the weekend that silage was being cut at home when the first blades of grass have just emerged here. I definitely do miss the greenness of home. That being said, the glorious weather also brings with it a curse to Irish people - mosquitos! Manitoba, where I live, is particularly bad having so many lakes. Being from Ireland where we don’t have mosquitos, I have very little immunity to them despite this being my fourth summer here. Cue masses of bug spray to keep the little pests at bay as there’s nothing worse than looking like a dartboard for four months.

Winnipeg is quite cultural and there are lots of festivals and live music to while away the hot summer evenings. I also saw my first football game (American football that is) here in Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers play in a huge new stadium on the University of Manitoba campus, a short two minute walk from our faculty building. Although not as popular as hockey, football games are a real spectacle and universities often have stadiums with capacity to hold tens of thousands of people. Quite different from what we see at home.

We are also close to Lake Winnipeg, the eleventh largest freshwater lake in the world, and on the weekends it seems like the whole city decamps to one of the lake towns. Kenora in Ontario is a relatively short drive away too and is a great place for a weekend camping trip. Speaking of camping, I could not believe how popular it was when I came here with my limited tenting experience in Ireland having been thwarted by rain, rain and more rain. It is an altogether different (and ultimately more pleasant) experience here and campfires are one of the best parts of summer. Add to that the deliciousness of s’mores (hot marshmallows with chocolate in a wafer) and you have a recipe for a great weekend. Here’s hoping we soon get the chance to put up the tent for the first time in 2014.