SMU (fourth rewrite)

Saint Mary's University is in Halifax, which is a small port town in the center of the east coast of Canada. There are two famous parks in Halifax. The names are Point Pleasant Park and Halifax Public Gardens. In Point Pleasant Park, people can jog, take a dog for a walk, and go on a picnic. In Halifax Public Gardens, people are not allowed doing them. There are no pets, no jogging, no bikes and no feeding the birds and waterfowl either. To do lawn activity, people can go to the family Lawn Area in Public Gardens. However, taking pictures in the gardens is allowed.There are some Japanese food restaurants in Halifax. If Japanese students miss Japanese food, they can go and eat there. They must be satisfied. According to Farrel (2010, personal interview), Doraku is the best Japanese restaurant of all. For shopping, Halifax Shopping Centre is the best. It has Wal-Mart and we can buy anything we need, such as pillows and blankets.ClimateHalifax is very cold in the winter season. The average highs of January and February are under 0 degrees centigrade. As many clothes as possible should be worn when going outside in winter. Gloves and earmaffs are necessary. Average depths of snow on the ground are 8.6 cm. (Climate of Halifax, 2010, Halifax Support Center)On the other hand summer season in Halifax is warm. The average highs of June and September are 19 degrees centigrade. The ones of July and August are 23 degrees centigrade. However, according to Dugal and Farrel (2010, personal interview), the hottest day ever was 40 degrees centigrade a few years ago. Halifax has over 100 days of mist or fog each year.PeopleThe population of Canada is about thirty-two million. This number is a quarter of the Japanese population. There are many ethnicities such as Canadian of British, French, Scottish, Irish, Native Canadians. About 360 thousand people live in Halifax. The official languages of Canada are English and French. 57 % of the people speak English and 22% of them speak French. The rest speak more than two languages or other languages. Religions which are believed by people in Canada are Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and so on. 44 % of the population in Canada is Catholic and 29 % is Protestant. 16.5 % are non-religious (Basic Information of Canada, 2010, Overseas in Canada).Halifax also produced a famous actress. Her name is Ellen Page. She played a sixteen-year-old girl who got pregnant in the movie Juno. The latest movie she appeared is in Inception.TransportationThere are many kinds of transportation in Halifax. It has a bus service. Some busses run between Halifax and Dartmouth. From Halifax to Dartmouth, the starting fare is 2 dollars. Students of SMU can use the campus bus. They can buy bus tickets for a year for 100 dollars. Cars and bicycles are necessary for life but are difficult to use on snowy days.Halifax is a port town, so there are some aquatic vehicles such as Harbor Ferries. They run on two routes between Halifax, Dartmouth and Woodside in 12 minutes. (Harbour Ferries - Metro Transit - Halifax Regional Municipality, 2010, Halifax Regional Municipality)If you want to travel outside of Halifax, you should use airplanes. According to Nakashima (2010, personal interview), a senior of KGU, for domestic trips, we should use West Jet, and for international trips, Air Canada is good. Between Halifax Airport and SMU, the distance is about 50 km and taxis can be used for $53 or Airporter for $19.50. Airporter is an airport shuttle which is only available in Halifax. The return fare is $36. Both of them take 30 minutes. However, you have to go to Halifax Spring Gardens when you use Airporter.

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