Dealing With Homesickness and Depression in University

There's a lot of things I love about Montreal and McGill. I love the Bounjour-Hi greeting that you receive when you walk into any store in the city, I love how fast and effective the metro is, I love how diverse McGill is and I generally like my courses. However, it gets dark here at like 4 P.M., my courses are difficult and I haven't been home since I got here. Seeing snaps of all my friends going home for the holidays, snapping halal carts and the Union Square Christmas Market makes me really miss the city.

McGill's mental health service is notoriously bad, with the wait list being 3 months long during some parts of the year. The administration also doesn't seem to care about the mental well-being of students. The vast majority of universities in Canada have a fall reading week so there's a break in between the end of classes and the start of exams. McGill does not have that so classes go straight into finals. I'm lucky enough to have time to study for my finals, but I have friends who have classes on the 7th and finals on the 8th. I think even a two day break would suffice, it wouldn't disrupt the schedule that much and it would decrease the stress that students have immensely. However, when this was proposed to the administration, the dean of students, Olliver Dyens, said that students did not need administrative change but better "hygiene de vie". This sparked a lot of backlash, including this hilarious article from The McGill Tribune. Oh yes, a good sleep schedule, exercise, and yoga will help students with their crippling anxiety, depression, and exam stress. Honestly, what a fucking joke.

I'm trying to get an appointment with McGill Mental Health Services, but until then I'll just continue practicing good hygiene de vie by like doing pilates, meditating on top of Mont Royal, and adding a shot of rum to my coffee every morning (it's actually pretty delicious).