So, I haven't posted in a while. Exams went alright I think. The break between school and work was a nice relaxing three weeks and probably the most enjoyable school-to-work break I've had so far. I didn't really do anything special though except some camping with the engineers. It was good times.
I got to Ottawa on Sept 1. I'm living with Renee, Wen and two people who lived here before: Dan and Pascal. All my roommates are great, and the place is really nice so all is good.
Christine came up with me the first week because she doesn't start working at Scotia until next week. This was a quasi-momentous, bubble-bursting occasion for Christine because it marked the first time she's been anywhere except the GTA or Waterloo since she was about 2. We basically spent the first week checking out some of my surroundings and the main attractions in Ottawa. On Tuesday, we ventured off to Montreal. I think the Quebecois may collectively be the worst group of drivers except for possibly the Chinese. Aside from that, Montreal is a lovely city. It's very nice, and quite beautiful. Checked out McGill and did some shopping. Went to a museum and the planetarium and they were both closed (even though they said they'd be open)! Unfortunately, I didn't get to check out the night life because I had to get up early to go to work so I guess I'll have to come back one day. With regards to work, I'd have to say that I'm on pace to being very impressed with OTI. Most people who I knew who've worked at OTI have pretty much raved about what a nice place to work it is. When I got here, they started us off on a week and half long "boot camp". We also got a lot of presentations about how things work at OTI and how their products work. The OTI people talked the talk, but the impressive part is that they seem to back it up. They have a very friendly atmosphere, excellent software engineering practices and a very nice working environment. Although, this is just the impression of a co-op student who hasn't yet done any real work, so I think I'll find out later how accurate my first impression was.