GG Mentor : Manuel from Germany and Canada

 

We look forward to meeting Manuel who volunteered a mentor for 2025 GG Summer School. Here is his self-introduction. 

Hello everyone, I’m Manuel!

I Met Eje at a conference last month and am now here to help out as a mentor to share a bit of my knowledge on (particularly) German and Canadian Geography.

About me: I am currently pursuing a PhD in Geography at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. I was born and raised in Germany where I lived until my early 20s, and then moved to Canada where I mostly worked as a guide (🛶🏔🏕) and an outdoor educator (🌿🌲🦅). Eventually ending up in academia. 

I study the political aspects of shoreline protection along Lake Huron, which happens to be super complex due to indigenous communities, unclear waterfront ownership laws, the interconnectedness of the Geography (what person 1 does affects person 2), and increasing threats due to climate change.

Now, I don’t have a major plan for how to go about this, so I’d love to hear/read a short introduction from each of you with your interests and then build something from there! I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you!!!

Manuel introduced an interesting video to explain geography of Canada.

Hello Group Canada! You m currently sitting in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. It’s 10.30am, and I found the video below. It gives a great overview of the physical Geography of Canada! One thing to keep in mind however is that while Canada has a lot of Natural beauty and wilderness, the majority of Canadians live within a short drive of the US border, often resulting in very little wilderness around where people live. So when you hear about places like Alert, or carcross desert, very few Canadians will have any correlation or even visit these places. Generalizing Canada due to its size has created many misconceptions about life in Canada, so it is important to know about culture before drawing conclusions.

https://youtu.be/HZ8NOt1mxBU?si=HJKUMwGs8M95mFZX 

Also, I’m currently grading assignments and an international student from South Korea wrote about this article: https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/11/after-a-dramatic-decline-lake-trout-have-recovered-in-most-of-lake-superior/ 

He was very surprised that we had environmental issues in Canada and was under the impression that our natural environments are pristine. While we have a lot of remote wilderness, environmental issues are a huge topic! Especially the Great Lakes, which are shared with the US have to fight with invasive species and phosphorus pollution caused primarily by farm runoff. This pollution is also the reason why Lake Erie (the shallowest of the Great Lakes) appears fluorescent green on satellite images.

~Jennie and Manuel in Whatsapp~

<Jennie's Introduction. 2025. 1. 11 > 

Hi everyone! I’m Jennie Song from Incheon, South Korea. I actually used to live in Vancouver, and I loved every moment of my time there. A lot of things were different from what I was used to back in Korea, but I had so much fun making new friends and experiencing new things.

One memory that stands out was during recess at school, where I would bring Korean snacks to share with my friends—it made me surprisingly popular! I also loved going ice skating every weekend, and it’s something I still enjoy doing now and then. I went to a Christian school even though I’m not Christian, but I really liked singing during chapels—it was a new and meaningful experience for me.

I’m so excited to be part of this group and connect with you all. Maybe we could talk about your favorite places or things to do in Canada—I’d love to hear your stories!

And in case you didn’t get to read this, here’s a short introduction of myself; feel free to ask anything you want to know about Korea!

<Manuell's Answer,  2025. 1. 12 >

Vancouver is a great city! That’s where I started out in Canada back in 2009 as well. Generally, British Columbia is a beautiful province filled with mountains and lakes. My favourite area is the Yukon though! I love Winter and in the summer, the sun never sets. Now I live in London, Ontario, about 200km west of Toronto.

<Jennie's Questions. 2025. 1. 14 > 

That’s amazing! British Columbia really is beautiful. Yukon sounds incredible though, especially with the sun never setting in the summer! It must feel surreal to be bright all day. Have you ever had a chance to see the auroras while you were there? That’s something I’ve always dreamed of experiencing. And how do you like it there in London? I’ve never been there, but I searched for it and discovered it's called Forest City. Interesting name for a city with a rich culture.

<Manuell's Answer,  2025. 1. 15 >

I have seen the auroras, yes! They even make it down to London sometimes, but are much weaker. Last year, there were two events when the aurora boreal is were visible this far south, but they weren’t very spectacular (images of the event look much better than real life because of longer exposure setttings on cameras).

Cities in Canada give themselves titles such as “forest city” and it doesn’t have much meaning. London itself doesn’t have many forests, but the river Thames (yes, same name as the one in London, UK) has a lot of forest along it since waterfront development are generally a bad idea. 

Overall, I’m not a big fan of London. Public transit is very bad, and the whole city is designed for cars which makes it quite unpleasant in my opinion, but there are some nice spots within it like Sifton Bog (link to follow)

I Like the more coniferous ecosystems of higher altitudes or latitudes. London is pretty far south, and partially in what is known as the “Carolinian zone” which is an area of specific vegetation that only reaches southern Canada, but much of the US. I feel more at home in northern environments and Sifton bog happens to be just that, in the middle of the city.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/RMj7ozFqUEKaxNbG6?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy 

<Jennie's Questions. 2025. 1. 17 > 

That’s amazing that you’ve seen the auroras! Even if they weren’t very strong, it must still be magical to catch a glimpse of them, especially so far south. I didn’t know camera settings could make such a big difference in how they appear in photos...that’s really interesting.

It’s funny how cities give themselves titles like that. I wouldn’t have guessed London doesn't have many forests! The Thames River with its forests along the waterfront sounds nice, though—it must add a bit of nature to the city. Is Sifton Bog a popular spot for locals, or is it more of a hidden gem?

I totally get what you mean about preferring northern environments. When I was living in Vancouver, I loved the smell of the forest and the peacefulness—it felt so calming and refreshing. It’s one of the reasons I hope to go back to Canada from time to time, to experience that again.  I can imagine how peaceful it must be to have a spot like Sifton Bog nearby. Are there other places in or around London that you’d recommend visiting?