First impressions

Marti Marien checks out Dalfest between classes on the first day of school. (Bruce Bottomley Photo)

For first-year students, the introduction to Dalhousie can be dizzying, exciting and more than a little intimidating. Then throw in a hurricane to add in extra drama.

Seventeen-year-old Martina Marien arrived in Halifax from Montreal in the midst of a heat wave and with Hurricane Earl barreling up the coast from the Caribbean. “What a welcome!” she says with a smile.

Dal News set her to work, asking the budding photographer to record impressions of her first week through the lens of her Canon 20D. (Click here for Marti's photo essay of ROARientation.)

ON HALIFAX: “It’s a very beautiful town. Plus it’s small, so you can walk everywhere.”

ON CAMPUS: “I love the old buildings. The grey stone is very nice.”

WHY DAL? “I’m here for kinesiology. I’ve been skiing since I was two and movement and muscles really interest me.”

MEMORY TO KEEP: “Shinerama. Some people were so generous, they’d give you handfuls of cash but other people would rush by without looking at you. It was kind of funny."

- Marilyn Smulders