I stayed in Kingston last summer for rugby, but ended up finding so much more.
Growing up in an ocean-side suburb of Vancouver, summer has always been my favourite season. Filled with camping trips in the mountains and long days by the ocean, I didn’t think it could get any better— until I spent a summer in Kingston.
After my second year, I was hesitant to skip returning to BC for the summer, but with many of my friends staying in Kingston, I realized that staying put would also allow me to continue training for rugby.
I read the lines “someone who lives always with a plane schedule in the drawer lives on a slightly different calendar” in Joan Didion’s famous essay Goodbye to All That (1929) in a first-year English lecture and have constantly returned to the essay throughout my time in Kingston, resonating with Didion’s depiction of moving from west to east.
Little did I know, stepping away from the comfort of home would lead to one of my best summers.
I think the thousands of kilometres between Kingston and Vancouver is what makes these summers so special for me. I wasn’t on a familiar path I once had at home and had to make a life for myself with friends I had just met, exploring a city I was just getting to know. Because not everyone stayed for the summer, I formed close friendships with people I wouldn’t normally have hung out with—relationships I now cherish. The summer made me feel deeply connected to the city and its people in a way hard to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it.
During my first summer in Kingston, I was stunned by how empty the campus got, how humid the weather could be, and how the entire sky would glow at sunset. I spent my days working in an office, and my nights at rugby practice. I was busy, but I was happy.
I had never been in Kingston without being in school before, and not having due dates in the back of my mind during evenings and weekends made me feel more connected to my friends and passionate about pursuing my hobbies. Instead of stressing over deadlines, I spent my evenings cooking nice meals, reading books, and playing games with my housemates.
Despite the overall positive experience, my first summer in Kingston wasn’t all perfect. I ended up breaking my hand in a rugby game and had to get surgery. Spending the summer in a cast isn’t an experience I would wish on anyone; it was hot, sweaty, and kept me isolated from my friends who were deep into their rugby season, while I missed out on swimming, one of my favourite summer pastimes.
The reason I had originally stayed in Kingston, to train for rugby, suddenly became ironic: I couldn’t even catch a ball, and before I knew it, the summer was already over.
My third year wasn’t my favourite year; I had started missing rugby, and I started questioning what I wanted to do with my career and life after university. I began to feel all the confusion that comes without having a plan for the future, and I often found myself wishing I could go home. I missed my family and being in a place that made me feel safe and comfortable. So, when it came time to decide what I wanted to do with my summer, I was torn. I was homesick, but before the injury, my summer in Kingston was one of the best seasons of my life so far.
I eventually decided to stay, and I can now confidently say that it was the right decision. I was lucky enough to have a job that let me go home for May, but by the time the month was running out, I was ready to come back.
I spent this summer much like I did the last, working a nine to five job, practicing morning and night, and spending every free moment with my friends and housemates. One thing I thought I would miss about Vancouver was the outdoors, but as it turns out, Kingston has a lot to offer in that department, and in a completely different way.
In Vancouver, your love of the outdoors is a social currency centred around expensive hiking, camping, and skiing trips. It can make getting outside costly and confusing for people who haven’t grown up camping and skiing. Turning enjoyment of the outdoors into consumerism is one of the things I liked the least about Vancouver, but I will say, you can’t beat some of the incredible places I’ve had the privilege of visiting in BC.
Last weekend, I sat around a fire pit in my Kingston neighbour’s backyard and thought it was equally as fulfilling as doing it in a provincial park with exorbitant entry fees. Vancouverites love to talk about the outdoors, but in Kingston, I find nature lovers have a humbler connection to the land, which I’m grateful to have experienced.
I absolutely love being outside, so much so that now, at the end of the summer, I’m sunburnt and covered in mosquito bites, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The summer gives you the space to explore Kingston outside of the usual places frequented by students. One of my favourite things to do this summer was take the ferry to Wolfe Island for the day, and spend time at the beach, or exploring the island.
Two of my housemates work at the Kingston Humane Society, and this summer, like the last one, we fostered a dog. Brody was a huge, but loving, Pitbull who stayed with us for a few weeks in July. Walking Brody, taking him to practice, and sitting with him in the yard have been some of the best parts of this summer.
From walking dogs to days on the Island, and spending time with friends without being bogged down with schoolwork, Kingston in the summer is by far one of the best times to be in the city. Being away from home for long periods of time can be isolating, but it’s an opportunity to gain a sense of independence I wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Kingston has a unique feel, somewhere between a small town and a larger city. Not enough students learn to appreciate Kingston outside of campus, but fortunately for me, summer’s one of the best times to do so.
So now, as the students come flocking back and I prepare for my final year in Kingston, I find myself wishing the summer would linger just a little bit longer.
Tags
Kingston, Postscript, summer stories, The Journal
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