By DUSTIN NILES
Layout & Design Editor
It’s been a long, cold, wet semester in Vancouver. Famous for its rain, the city saw 23 days of consecutive, measurable rainfall. Until Monday, it had barely peaked above 50 degrees. But still, there are signs that spring is coming, and Vancouver enjoyed a stretch of 60+ degree temperatures this week. Before that, the cherry blossoms began to bloom.
A variety of cherry trees are all around Vancouver. Lining streets, tucked into corners and alone in hills, they are the first sign every year that spring is coming to Vancouver.
“In the early 1930s the mayors of both Kobe and Yokohama presented the Park Board with 500 Japanese cherry trees for planting at the Japanese cenotaph in Stanley Park honoring Japanese Canadians who served in WWI,” the Vancouver Cherry Blossom festival website says. “And so, as the impact of cherry tree plantings began to reshape the city’s landscape, Vancouverites were soon smitten by their fleeting beauty, their clouds of blossoms, as they heralded spring’s arrival each year.”
Since then, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation has chosen flowering plum and cherry trees for plantings in many cases, resulting in a sea of pink flowers throughout the city. Spring is finally here – just in time for me to catch the plane back to New Jersey next week.
As my semester abroad winds down, I’ve started to reflect on the time here. My experience in Vancouver has
changed me profoundly. The time flew by and turned the page to the next chapter of my life. I’m forever grateful for the beauty of Vancouver and the lessons it taught me. I hope you all take a time in your life to step back, explore the world and learn who you are and who you want to be. I know I’m glad I did.
