Dear Past Hussain,
Welcome to life after high school!
As you take the 747 from the airport to downtown Montreal, I have a couple of pieces of advice for you. Firstly, stop craning your head to peer up at any building higher than three stories (don’t worry, I don’t blame you––Regina isn’t exactly known for its skyscrapers). Secondly, relax. Don’t worry so much about being away from home (you’ll be back in a few months for Christmas), having to learn how to cook (the rez meal plan has your back for another year at least), or even being alone in a city where you don’t yet know a soul (that’s going to last for another 15 minutes until you walk into Douglas Hall and meet Gabe, Ben, Mako, Morgan, et al.––the people you’ll spend the most time with for the next four years).
There’s a lot to look forward to, and some things you’ll need to steel yourself for. The good news first: your university years will be the time of your life so far, with the people you’ll meet, the classes you’ll take, and the memories you’ll create being unlike anything you had anticipated. From the evenings spent at MSA & TMA barbeques and ifṭārs with Momo & Mustafa, to weekly coffee hours and the occasional movie screening with the WIMESSA community, you’ll have no lack of good times to reminisce about later on. Now here comes the bad stuff: tragically, all of that will be cut short by a lengthy global pandemic, and you won’t get to go to Menton after all. If it’s any solace, the time you would’ve spent on sunny Mediterranean beaches will instead be occupied by long nights spent on Warzone with BKLYN110 and sxazzz. This will culminate in daily uploads to your fledgling YouTube gaming account, which never did end up crossing that elusive 35 subscriber threshold.
In all seriousness, uni life will eventually bounce back. You’ll be WIMESSA President in senior year, where your merch designs will receive widespread acclaim, and your beloved Beşiktaş U21 squad will be enshrined in the immortal glory of an intramural title win (no thanks to John’s goalkeeping). You’ll invert the usual character arc by moving back into the bubble of the McGill Ghetto for your last year, though it won’t help you get to many morning classes on time. The freezing walk up the hill to the McGill gym will be shorter now, though I’d recommend more leg days. Finishing up your degree with a 20,000-word thesis on medieval Islamic philosophy in the hallowed Octagon Room of Morrice Hall, you’ll wonder what made you willingly pick such an arcane topic.
Above all, though, as your final months in Montreal roll around, you’ll be able to look back on the (admittedly stop-start) past four years of life with a gradual appreciation of just how special your time on the slopes of Mont-Royal really was.
Yours Truly,
Future Hussain
Hussain was born in Pakistan but grew up mostly in Saskatchewan before coming to Montreal to study at McGill University. After graduating, Hussain plans on attending Harvard Law School to start working towards his JD. We wish Hussain all the best on his journey!