10 things I wish I’d known before coming on exchange

1.       Living alone is easy

2.       Not getting into Neill Wycik or Primrose is not a big deal

3.       Everyone LOVES Aussie accents (Canada, we love yours too! Keep talking!)

4.       Alcohol is not cheap (damn you cheap America. Damn you.)

5.       Making friends is easy

6.       Frat parties are not that fun

7.       Thursday night student nights are fun

8.       Noodles really are the diet of students

9.       Canada isn’t a large open space with snow and bears

10.   Marijuana is EVERYWHERE.

My week! 19^th-25^th September

WOAH. The weeks go quickly here. I’ve decided to start doing weekly posts just so that when I go home I can try and remember what’s been going on.

P.S I’m mainly writing this for myself now. I think my parents will read this, but for the rest of you feel free to be like ‘whatevs Soph, no one cares.'

Soo it was the third week of classes (that feels crazy) and it feels just like home. Everyday I’m like ‘oh man, I’m so behind. Tonight I’ll do so much homework!’ Never happens. Photojournalism is fun. Maybe I’d like to be that type of journalist. I don’t know. My T.A showed everyone’s pictures in class (we have weekly assignments – this week’s was to show a picture that shows ‘weather’), mine got okay reviews so I was happy. Jess and I headed to the gym after class, feels so good to be working out again!

Tuesday was my feature writing class. At the moment we’re doing a place profile, so I have to find a place to do a story on and then find characters and people to interview and blah blah. I hate things like that cause everyone else clearly ahs a hometown advantage, the only areas I know/can easily access are the ones around me. Oh well, this area’s interesting anyway. Ohh AWKWARD, during today’s lecture I hadn’t really eaten brekky, so of course my stomach went crazy and was all ‘blerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghheghrghehgh’ for two hours. Good times.

That night was my first kickboxing class night. Even though I’m awkwardly uncoordinated at fighting (who knew?), it was actually a ton of fun! And a good workout.

Wednesday is critical issues in journalism day. Quite an interesting topic. We talk about Iraq and journalists who have been killed. To be honest it makes me want to be a foreign correspondent. Our world is so messed up. We had a pop quiz! Not so fun.

Thursday was my first politics class. BORING. So boring. Like, SO boring. Now I remember why I like journalism.

Thursday night we went out to Mick E Fynnes (pub) because it was student night. Turned out being kind of hectic. It was fun! But way hectic.

Friday I was too hungover to go to my politics lecture. Sorry mum.

Saturday I bummed around and went to help Zach shoot a scene for a commercial he’s creating. I ended up being in a crime scene and drawing chalk around an ‘X’. So cool! After that I went shopping because I had to find clothes to wear to a ‘P’ themed house party! Party was fun, until a guy fell off the balcony. Awks. He’s fine though, but it was a bit of a downer (obvs).

Oh! P.S! Zach and I dressed as paintings to the party. So we were all in white then another girl came as a painter and everyone ended up painting us. It was such a good idea! Kudos to Zach for coming up with that one.

Today (Sunday) I headed to the markets because it’s a happenin’ place on Sun you knowwwww. There were lots of buskers out (today was a BEAUTIFUL sunny day) and dancers and such. Did some housewifely duties and made a nutritious dinner and now off to bed to start it all again tomoz!

Nighty night x

RYERSON, WE GOT THE SPIRIT!

Being ‘welcome week’ at uni, Friday was spent skipping classes and joining a MASSIVE (like, over 2000 students massive) parade through downtown Toronto and getting on a ferry and riding over to the Toronto Islands. The parade was epic. Like, stupidly epic. Thousands of students chanting and yelling – each faculty had its own shirt and its own chant...I got stuck with an early childhood education shirt, oops.

RYERSON, WE GOT THE SPIRIT, RYERSON, COME ON LETS HEAR IT, NA NA NA NA NAAAAA NA NA NA NAAA, HEY! HEY! HEY!

The day was spent pushing in lines to get free food and drinks, chilling on the grass and in the beer garden. The island was set up like a music festival with a main stage and everything. The amount of school spirit here is amazing.

At night we headed to the uni bar, but it was packed and after an hour of waiting in line we bailed. Unfortunately that meant we walked into a bar that was completely empty. But we made the most of the situation and scored free entry and cheap drinks.

On Saturday, heads weren’t too sore but the day was spent doing dismal housewife duties. At night we headed to Primrose (student rez) for a ‘Jungle Juice Party’ – basically everyone brings a drink and pours it in a tub, making a big mess of alcohol. Ended up being kicked out by the Don because too many people, too much alcohol...you know how it goes.

This morning (Sunday) we woke up nice and early to head to Niagara Falls! Amazing place well worth the early wake up. Did a tour through a nearby hostel with some other Aussies, jumped on the maid of the mist tour and got saturated right under the falls. Epic.

Headed to the Hard Rock for lunch, then to a whirlpool – where 4 Canadian lakes merge into one. It was cool to see but was pelting down with rain when we were there, so we were absolutely soaked. Then we headed to old town Niagara, which is set up in an 1800s style with horses and carts etc. They have the world’s best ice cream there too (legit). Delish. Then we headed to a wine tasting, but by that stage we were all too tired to enjoy/appreciate what we were tasting.

Amazing day and properly exhausted. Uni starts for reeeeeal tomorrow (only attended two lectures and one lab (tute) last week...oops), not so keen to get into study mode.

Until something exciting happens,

Adios.

Sorry Adelaide, but I think I'm in love

This post is for all those constantly asking me what it’s like here/ my parents bugging me for the deets. I’m not into sending you all separate emails/I know you’re not patient enough for me to write letters SO here is a little summary of the place I now call home:

First up, I’m in downtown Toronto. Around 25-20 min walk from the centre of town. Of course, at first I was super (and understandably) bummed about being so far from the centre of town (and Ryerson itself), but this place is AMAZING. Toronto is such a beautiful town. It’s very arsty and alternative – a far cry from the hustle of New York or LA. There’s an abundance of parks (I live opposite one and there’s another few just around the corner), which takes you away from the busy city and into another world entirely – today I chilled at one watching a soccer game on one side, and a hockey game on the other. Bliss! The only thing missing is a beach, but this place is so me that I’m not complaining.

I live literally a 2 minute walk from Kensington Markets, which is filled to the brim with tourists on weekends, along with buskers, hippies, pot-heads, artists, foodies and all other sorts. It’s so fun! Everyone’s willing to get to know you, and of course as soon as they hear the accent a million questions get fired my way – ‘are you from England?’ ‘Oh! Australia? Like, Sydney?’ ‘What school? Ryerson eh? Ohhhhh me to!’

This is probably not something you’ll want to know, my dear mother and father, but the smell of marijuana is legit always present. You can smell it in the park opposite my apartment building, in the markets and there are two restaurants just around the corner which encourage you to bring your own weed and smoke it there. Definitely not in Adelaide anymore!

I also live on the edge of Chinatown, so can just go down the road for a health and wellbeing massage, some deep fried crickets or a $4 haircut.

Starbucks is, of course, like a virus and Tim Horton’s (budget version of Starbucks) is at every corner. The amount of homeless people is still distressing, but, for the most part, they’ll just ask ‘spare change?’ and then leave you alone. There are a LOT of crazies too. But they’re pretty harmless.

The age demographic is very young. But it’s not unusual to see 55 year olds sail past you on scooters on the sidewalk. I guess you’re only as old as you feel.

A lot of people dress differently here (not weird, different), and I suppose that’s because I live in the fashion district.

Cars actually give way to pedestrians, and I was pleased to find that Canada use 1 and 2 dollar coins – welcome to the 21^st century, AMERICA.

This place is vibrant, fun, young and different. Honestly, I think I just fell in love.

Days...??? TORONTO!!

Thought it was about time I gave a quick update...Well, I’ve started the second part of my journey! The trip from NY to here was cruisey, super small plane, and sat next to a nice local who told me a few things about the city. It’s funny how when you travel anyone becomes a friend. Apparently there was an earthquake in NYC just after I left. Lucky. The arrival into Toronto wasn’t so smooth, I had no idea what to do once I’d passed unhappy immigration man and collected my intact but HEAVY suitcase. I assumed I’d easily find a shuttle. WRONG. Apparently they are hard to come by in Toronto, so I ended up getting a bus with heaps of other people and had to walk around 25 mins through the streets to my place. Not cool.

Anyway, the lady I checked in with seems...strict. But once I got my room and payments settled I headed up to what will be my home for approximately the next 4 months. Despite it smelling like musty old people and needing a good clean (went and bought cleaners ASAP), its quite comfortable and while it isn’t ideal (I’d rather have a roommate), it’s nice to have my own space and the park opposite is incredibly beautiful.

I spent the rest of the day exploring. I live right near Chinatown and Kensington markets (lots of fruit and veg). Of course there is a lack of Walmart, so things are pretty exxy. Anyways, I discovered MTV and E! On my tv. SCORE.

I spent the next morning at the bank for about an hour trying to get some money, but they had problems believing it was me on my passport because my signature didn’t quite match. I was just like ‘well duh, I did that signature when I was 15’. Seriously!  Once that fun was over, I made the trek by Subway to Walmart, and ended up catching a taxi back because I shopped so much. Setting myself up in a place is so surreal.

This morning I set of the smoke alarm, even though I wasn’t cooking. Go figure. And last night we had a massive lightening storm and were on hurricane watch! Definitely not in Aus anymore!

Today I trekked to Ryerson to check it out. IT’S HUGE! I went to the on residence housing and was super jealous for a good 30 mins or so. Also got initiated to Ryerson by some nice people – who actually couldn’t find me registered on the school’s system. Awkward.

Went and chilled in the park, and almost got attacked by squirrels. There were a lot of homeless people chilling around the park too. So many homeless people here! A girl I met told me not to be bothered by them. She said, and I quote ‘They choose to live that way, so just ignore them.’ Hmmmm.

Day 21 - Last day as New Yorkers!

Last day in the city that never sleeps! Feels weird that tomorrow this part of the trip will be over. Went back to the singing diner for breakfast today. It’s just that good! Was going to get something healthy, but chocolate chip pancakes was the go.

Hailed a cab (like a true New Yorker) to a shopping district called SoHo. Such good shops! We bought some Toms (shoes) and some other little trinkets. They were filming a reality show in the streets with Tom Sellick while we were there too. Not very exciting, but our first paparazzi celebrity moment – so that part was exciting.

After that we headed back to Times Square for some Subway (horrible service), then did a bit more shopping (at M&M world and Hershey’s - yummm) and headed back to the hostel.

Lauren headed off to another Broadway show tonight and I caught up with some more Contiki people. Went to Little Italy for dinner which was cool. Basically just a strip of Italian restaurants. Felt like a baby whale after that meal too, but it was totally worth it. After that we all headed to Times Square where we witnessed an American police chase! Excitement. There were like 15 police cars that zoomed past. So good. We met up with Lauren again and then headed back to the hole.

For all you haters, we took pictures of the disgusting bathrooms that we have lived with for the past six days so that you can all see how feral they are. It’s actually disgraceful.

PS. Just a little side note so I don’t forget: the streets actually steam here at night – like, steam comes up from the man-holes. Just like the movies! And it smells like garbage! Yuck. Also, there are soooo many homeless people here. But, if I was homeless I’d probably crash here too – Central Park would probably be the best place to sleep at night.

PPS. NEW YORK CAB DRIVERS ARE CRAZY!! Their driving skills are this: honk, speed, honk, BREAK, honk. Insane. When we were in the cab to the SoHo I actually thought we were going to die.

Day 20 – New York

Got up earlyish today to get some Starbucks brekky then head to Central Park for a picnic (amazing that I’m able to say that). Central Park is HUGE. So big! I thought that all it was was basically a baseball field but it’s so much more! There’s a carousel and a Zoo, strawberry and sheep fields. It’s massive. We sat and watched baseball has-beens doing their thing for a while then Lauren left to get some broadway tickets for today and tomorrow and I had a wander. Even though I only walked in a circle around the park, I almost got lost. There’s so many turns and bridges that it gets suuuuper confusing. But I met up with Lauren later on and we headed off for lunch.

We stopped at a diner in Times Square that looked...interesting. It ended up being a 50s style diner where aspiring Broadway actors work, and sing and dance while you eat. It was so fun. I have videos that I’ll post soon.

After that Lauren left me again to see a show, so I wandered around. Having almost no money left for shopping, I went to scab some wifi from Maccas. But, of course, it didn’t work. I ended up walking around and stopping at 5 different Starbucks just for the wifi. I am a true traveller now. Anyway, I walked to Grand Central Station – which was cool. All I could think of was the movie Arthur and the date scene. BUT I never found the whispering wall. Upsetting.

Then, having no clue how to get back to Broadway, I wandered into the dodgy part of town, then to the Upper East side – where I totally fitted in with my shorts and tank top, then stumbled across a market place.

After that I headed back to Central Park, stopping at Starbucks on the way, and it pelted down with rain. So I ran back to the hostel and met Lauren there. We then met up with some girls from Contiki and went to Hooters for dinner! So exciting. The girls there are super attractive. I bet they love it when all the fat, sleazy old men come for dinner.

Of course the food was deep fried and fatty, so we now feel like baby whales. But it was definitely worth it.



Days 18 & 19 - New York

I get the feeling these blogs are getting boring and too long...I don’t even know who (if anyone) reads this besides my family and Priya. SO I’ll just combine the past two days and try to stick to the highlights.

Yesterday we set the alarm for 8, slept through the alarm so got another sleep in (yay!). We went on a cruise of the New York harbour and saw the statue of liberty and the Brooklyn bridge and all that fun stuff. We had to catch the subway and it was like a sauna down there. Seriously, we were sweating so bad. Luckily a nice man in a suit helped us figure out what to do, because the system down there is soooo confusing.

Oh, BUT before we could do any of that, we were casually having brekky at the hostel and were suddenly evacuated because of a gas leak. Spending the morning on the streets of NYC in our pyjamas holding our breakfast was definitely not how I imagined we’d spend our time.

Anyway, we also saw where the twin towers were and listened to a man who was explaining some sort of conspiracy. He was actually really good so he earned his tip.

We then headed out to see Rent just off broadway. Of course it was a storm night so we got absolutely drenched walking to the theatre and looked like drowned rats once we got inside. It was lucky we spent so much time straightening our hair.

Today we got up super early to line up to get discounted tickets for a Broadway show tonight. Only to get there and be told evening tickets don’t go on sale until 3. Bugger. So we headed to Empire State building then did some shopping. Spent way too much money, but that happens.

We lined up for the discounted tickets at about 1.30 and got right up the front. WE GOT TICKETS TO SEE DANIEL RADCLIFFE!! Actually most exciting moment of my life. I just love him.

So off to see How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying soon. So keen!