Blue Jays and More

Apologies for how long it's been! Have you missed me?
Well I wish I had more to tell you, but I've been doing well and have had lots of work, so thanks Uni....
But I have done some exciting things too..
First I've booked to go to NYC in my Fall Reading Week, (just after Canada's Thanksgiving), organised by Ryerson's Student Union, so loads of us are going, and I've also booked to fly out and see Suzanne in NYC for America's Thanksgiving!! 2 THANKSGIVINGS! FOOD! CANNOT WAIT!
ahem..
So whilst I've got that to look forward to, what have I actually been doing with my time I hear you say, well..


I've now been to a Hard Rock Cafe, in Niagara whilst we were there a few weeks ago,

I finally tried poutine finally, after being told to do so every Canadian I met! It's basically cheesy chips with gravy, and sounds amazing!

....Unfortunately, mine wasn't, the gravy wasn't hot so the cheese hadn't melted, and the gravy wasn't mums gravy.....I miss mum's gravy!!! But anyway, bad experience or bad dish? Not sure, I'm a litlle scared to try it again..we shall see!


The pudding sure made up for it, I awkwardly had to ask for the giant brownie topped with cream, ice cream, walnuts and sprinkles, to just be topped with ice cream, but it was AMAZING, regret not having sprinkles though...










I've seen a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer....okay, so it was a statue... still counts though right? While I'm at it, I've seen a Royal Mounted Police Moose too....








I have visited Vaughan Mills, a huge outlet shopping center just North of Toronto and spent probably too much money..








Finally, and most excitingly for me, Jamie and I went to a Blue Jays Baseball game, and loved it so much, we went to another. So glad we did this because the season is over now, but I have Ice Hockey season to look forward to now! We're hopefully going to watch our university team play in the next few weeks, but I will keep you posted!

 Okay, so baseball. It's glorified rounders. No one can tell me otherwise. Sorry. But I loved it! Decked out in our Blue Jays Jersey's and free Blue Jays sunglasses, we watched on initially, regretting not researching the game and scoring a little but cheered and clapped when we were supposed to and quickly understood.



We were playing the Baltimore Orioles and we had quite a good view of the field, the big screen, and the CN Tower!

So as the game went on,  we were doing well.. Winning infact!! The game started at 7:07pm, so it went dark during the game and it was so pretty! You could see all the stars..














Only kidding, the picture you see above is actually of thousands of bugs being lit up by the floodlights!!! But you believed they were stars, didn't you!? Either way, it did look pretty with the backdrop of the CN Tower, and luckily, they were quite fond of those lights, so we weren't attacked at all!

So we had a pretty good game! We won 4 Runs to 2! We now felt like AVID baseball fans, totally, with our favorite obviously being number, 45 Dalton Pompey...yum, er, I mean, great skills.........

We enjoyed the game so much! But unfortunately it was the end of the season, they were only playing the next 2 days, and that was it til next April when season starts again....so we obviously went again!!!!

We had such an amazing time, this match was at 1:07pm, so was done by mid afternoon and with that we decided to celebrate the end of the season with some candy floss, or 'cotton candy' which made my tongue blue and had a lovely afternoon sat in the sun...

 ...Until this geezer came along and tooted his horn and scared the bejeezus out of me!! ...and then came round again....AND A THIRD TIME!
He made me jump every single time even though I knew it was coming and he drove past with such a smug look on his little face! ...After the third time I decided it was time to go home, and with that, no more baseball :(

End of the season and end of this post but so much exciting things in the pipeline that I cannot wait to tell you about!
















Bye for now,
Peace and Love
Briony x

Niagara Falls

Yesterday I got to go to Niagara Falls with the Ryerson International Exchange Committee, which meant loads of international and exchange students basically took a massive day trip. First things first, our transport, oh my gosh, we took a YELLOW SCHOOL BUS!! Not to brag or anything, but I've now been on a yellow school bus....


Yes, I am the coolest kid I know..


Anyway, the Falls! So, in hindsight, I knew very little about Niagara Falls, for instance, it's not just one giant waterfall. I now know, after a bit of research, that Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls; Horeshoe Falls, American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls....interesting, eh? Well with this perfect image in my mind and limited knowledge, Niagara was not what I expected. Unfortunately, even though the weather wasn't bad, it was quite overcast, meaning the landscape looked quite grey rather than the beautiful blues I had imagined (as you'll be able to see from some of the photos below) and if I'm being honest, it wasn't as big as I had imaged, oops.

Jamie looking FINE

Told you, fashion statement

Pushing this aside for a little bit, I was excited to go on the 'Hornblower' which is the boat that goes right up to the falls. We got given some red waterproof macs that were a real fashion statement and were allowed to board.

Whilst trying to juggle, taking photos without getting my camera wet, getting my hood to stay up in the wind, and avoiding getting spray in my face, I can't say that I really saw much on the boat, it was fun don't get me wrong, and I would definitely do it again but....at least I have the photos to remember it, that's all I'll say! Another thing, I was told by people the sound would be incredible...it wasn't. It wasn't quiet but again, I'd probably hyped it up, thinking it was deafening.

On the boat we saw people in yellow and blue macs on the other side actually getting to walk down the rocks by the falls as you can see from the picture and when I next visit the Falls I now know exactly what I want to do, I want to see the falls from the top, and possibly walk down beside them, and also see it at night because apparently it is lit up in beautiful colors and sometimes there are fireworks too, which would be incredible! I would also like to explore the actual town a bit more; it reminds me of a theme park with all these cartoon buildings with 4D cinemas and arcades and we really didn't get much time to explore that unfortunately.

Looking back at the photos, it is beautiful and it was amazing, but I definitely think the views from a higher perspective really do it more justice, up close it is just white spray! Either way I had an amazing day and cannot wait to go again with all my new knowledge...



...Avoiding the people that take photos with their iPad though!! Ahem, Thomas!

CN Tower

On Sunday I got to do my first really tourist-ey thing here in Toronto, visit and go up the CN Tower with my friends Thomas and Jamie! And rest assured, I did indeed act like a complete tourist! This post is mostly photos because they tell the story better than I can, I did actually take over 100 photos but I've only posted some of my favourites. The best thing about these photos is that none of them are photoshopped or edited at all, it is really just that beautiful!

This is the CN Tower from the ground and you can see from the other picture just what a BEAUTIFUL day it was! It was so blue, it was incredible!

Like a child I was mega excited and couldn't wait to get to the top, fortunately it only took around 58 seconds according to our lift guide person....I don't know what their official title is, but anyway, even the lift, actually sorry, "elevator", had a glass bottom so you could see the ground wiz away from you!

 And this was the view......

So then there was this glass floor whatsit, to put us at ease this sign was posted....good to know I guess, although I don't like the ominous 'How many of YOU can the Glass Floor hold?"....what are they trying to say! Anyway we did all get on, and it didn't crack thank you very much, it wasn't  the best view down, you could see the Aquarium (which is my next tourist place to visit hopefully later this week) but that was mostly it...

My fav picture of me and Jamie standing by the baby CN Tower just as "lightning" strikes it! Just like how I saw it in the middle of a thunderstorm a few nights previous, thanks to Thomas for his perfect timing.

Also me looking a little frightened on the glass floor and a great mirror shot of Thomas and Jamie on the floor too.

 

It was an amazing day and one thing ticked off my to do list, Rushed end to this post as I actually have a seminar, because I am technically here to study, whoops!

Bye for now,

Peace and Love

Briony x

My New Room!!

At long last I can relax and settle into somewhere permanent, well, settle into somewhere for the next 4 months at least.

#10D4 is my new room in Neill Wycik, and having heard VERY mixed reviews I was a little worried, especially having already seen it from the outside for myself. It is safe to say I wasn't expecting very much, I was in the heart of downtown Toronto for next to nothing. But then again I could hardly complain, I was in the heart of downtown Toronto for next to nothing!!


Getting there was enough hassle, I had to get a cab 3 minutes down the road because after going to IKEA, I had too much to carry and couldn't make the 13 ish minute walk, plus, I would have had to walk through the rough side of town with EVERYTHING I owned - so decided not to risk it.

I then had to dump my stuff in the Cafe at Neill Wycik and wait in line for what felt like forever in horrible sticky heat to pay, sign my lease and get the keys but eventually I did so and made my way up the lift, or elevator, to floor 10.
Getting through the front door was my next task, I was given 2 keys and I couldn't make either work, turns out I had it right first time but the door is just so heavy and stiff that you really have to yank it open! But I was here! Home!

Long story short, I spent the rest of the day unpacking, buying other little bits for the kitchen and making my room homely. I am actually really proud of what I've done with my little cubbyhole I now call home, so here it is!















Oh, and I absolutely love the view!

Bye for now,
Peace and Love
Briony x