Mon becomes Monique

So today was my first day in Montreal... I must say, traveling for work feels a little odd and I actually felt like the whole day was a little surreal. I couldn't sleep last night after a little drama with Jake and a Facebook relationship (who knew that writing on someone's wall was public information??) and got up this morning on minimal sleep.

Up at 5, out of the house at 6, leaving Toronto on a jet plane by 7, in Montreal by 8. Unfortunately the nice flow of the morning (including a nice nap on the plane) was ruined by our crazy mofo of a cab driver who literally almost killed us 5 times in 20 minutes. I am on the more aggressive side of driving, but DAMN - I didn't even look as we were driving and instead focused on Trish so that I wouldn't see the truck almost smash us or people giving our cabbie, and indirectly us, some crazy French insulting gesticulation.

I spent all day with no internet, in my cubicle with all the information one could want about segmentation and trying to finish off work from Toronto. I was on no food til 2pm (which is rare for me), after which a huge meal of pad thai polished me off for the rest of the day. The group of guys working on the project with Trish and I are a very interesting assortment of people - I was fascinated with just "people watching" our group dynamics - really fun.

Anyway, as I am writing this I am sitting in my Hilton bathrobe in my exec suite after taking a bath in my huuuuge bathroom, eating a chocolate covered strawberry for dessert and choosing which side of my king sized bed to sleep on. Hard knock life? Perhaps not. I have to say, I could really get used to this... although I have a funny feeling that I only got this sweet room becuase my dad booked it with his sweet, sweet exec card which I don't own. But we'll see if I can work my magic tomorrow and try and book this room for the rest of my 2 months here.

Between work and sitting in my yummy white bathrobe, Trish and I went for dinner at Otto, the restaurant in the W hotel. We had the best meal - basically split an appetizer, entree, dessert and bottle of wine - delicious! We then took a wine-y walk down Sainte Catherine and watched the jazz festival from the sidelines and then stopped at PharmaPrix (which is Shoppers Drug Mart in disguise. We had the best talk and laughs, and then headed back to our hotels to get to bed... but I couldn't help appreciating my second last night in my sweet hotel room (which is really my first night).

God bless Montreal!! and Hilton Hotels!!

Mon the artist

After a tough weekend and Monday, my friend Ashley decided to help me relax by inviting me over for a delicious dinner and to paint. And by paint I don’t mean her house, I mean on real canvas and requiring skill and inspiration as an ‘artist’. I frequently bailed out of or avoided art class when it came to drawing or painting, because, in short, I SUCK at it. Even Van Gogh, who looks kinda easier it actually really hard to imitate. I tried another strategy, and as Ashley put it, did a lot of blending and hitting the canvas with a paper towel full of paint. It sounds kindergarten, but it actually turned out well for a first effort. Ashley rocked her painting, and then serenaded me with “Girl, put your record on” which I now can’t get out of my head. Thanks Assley.

On a separate note, I just wanted to comment on how waiting to find something out or ‘not knowing’ is really, really getting to me. I think, like most people, I can be ok with receiving information and getting closure, and that will help me move on. But I can’t stand the wait for that information, because it involves me overanalyzing different scenarios (and usually worst case) while the other person has no idea what’s going on. GAH! I hate it. I will feel much better when I just know what’s going on. This little rant is obviously about me waiting for ...something... it's happening across multiple areas of my life right now and I despise the wait!

Update (on one part of the wait): the surgery went well and it hasn’t spread to the right breast, which is one piece of good news.

What crappy news

I just found out this morning that my friend is going in for a mastectomy this afternoon.

She went in for a check-up with her doctor on Thursday, and was basically told she has an advanced form of breast cancer and that she will have to have her entire left breast removed and possibly her right.

We all feel pretty numb right now- how do you react to news like this when you hear about it being a woman your age, let alone a friend? I can’t even imagine what she is going through right now - the prospect of losing a physical part of being a woman, and of dealing with months of chemo and possible surgery and all of this being thrown at you within 4 days!! I am not a religious person, but my prayers are with Maha and her family.

The 100th post!

I was looking at my past posts, and realized that this is in fact the 100th one! Can't believe I made it this far... it almost coincides with my blog's 1st birthday, but by now last year I was already in Barcelona so I'm a little late in my anniversary.

Today has been a somewhat big day - Adam graduated (UT is over man), it's my mom's nameday and the first day of summer. Although it feels like this has already been a jam-packed summer what with my trip and all the patios and going away parties already...

In retrospect, the amount of personal change that I have gone through in the past year is incredible. I have graduated, gone on one big trip to Europe mostly by myself, started a new job, had several different 'relationships', lost the friendship of one of my best friends and reconciled with another. All this, and trying to manage living at home and dealing with the new dynamic with my parents, and trying to find out exactly what it is I want from life (I am after all nearly a quarter of a century old). The icing on the cake at this one year mark has been the trip that I just returned from, after which I'm sure is evident that I have yet to recover.

The whole year has actually been somewhat routine, with spurts of big changes that happen over a few weeks. I feel like this is one of those phases full of milestones, and that it will be a time of being in limbo until something gives. I've learned that the minute you think you have things figured out and get some confidence, life has a way of humbling you. After all, since my trip last year I felt very in control and decided about what my priorities were, and within 1 week it has all changed.

I'm excited to see where I'll be another year from now, or even a few months from now! It's all very fun (and terrifying and stressful and nerve-wracking hahaha) to know that anything can happen, and that 6 months from now I could be in a completely different environment. Cheers to new beginnings, to change and to keeping up blogs to remember how much I've forgotten.

A new perspective..

So the word of the day today is “whatever”. And “booo”. And “crap”. Basically any word that indicates some feeling of negativity, (feigned) indifference or profanity. Which is basically my mood for the past few days. Except when it comes to completing my work of course, because of course I am diligent when trying to write this RFP response in the next 3 weeks (eeek).

I can’t seem to get out of the funk after my trip, and it seems that it as affecting more than just me. My family/friends are either frustrated with me, or hurt by my confusion, or just don’t get how I feel. I keep feeling that this trip was different, and I can’t tell what it is except that I feel unsettled and confused and can’t get myself together like I was before the trip. Even midway through the trip I was thinking that I didn’t mind living and working in TO, and that I was homesick, but now I can’t the thought of some big drastic change out of my head.

My friend told me to write stuff down, so this is my promise to myself: I am giving myself til the end of the summer to see if I can shake this feeling, but if I really can’t, then I am committing to making a big change by the end of September. The lease on my car runs out then, and I think it will be the catalyst to leave the security of the family nest and move out - that could also include a move across the ocean. I am promising myself not to limit or disregard any possibilities, and to really think about what I want (and not what others want for me).

Wow, that feels much better. The new word of the day is “ok”, as in it will be.

Lessons learned from vacation

1) Traveling alone is not as appealing as it was last year

I have to say, last year I loved the fact that I was traveling alone, and took a lot of time to write and 'discover' myself. I've had enough of that this year, what with starting a new job and constantly focusing on becoming more self aware. The travel alone this time was even more pronounced becasue I had such a good time with friends, so there was a constant comparison... I still like the fact that I could dictate my own terms though, and it's still a better way to meet people. How else could I have gotten to know the fam so well?

2) People will still like you even when you're not wearing makeup, have your hair done and wearing high heels

I know this seems like such a shallow thing to write, but because I live and work in Toronto, not coming to work looking well-maintained is unacceptable. So I got used to the fact that needing an hour to get ready was just a part of my day. In Croatia, my daily routine was basically brushing my unstyled hair, throwing on some sunscreen and my bathing suit and heading out. Lo and behold, the people I met didn't even care about all that, and I even managed to meet someone while 'au naturel'. It just changed my perspective on what people are really like, and that people really do care about your personality above it all.

3) Things always happen faster when on vacation - your normal rules don't apply

Thank God for this one! My vacation in Europe required a more 'relaxed' Mon, and it was a thousand times better because of it. I could dabble in some vices that I usually never touch in Canada, and meet people and discuss things that I would never bring up. I also didn't limit myself to new experiences, and because of that literally had the best 2 weeks (specifically in Croatia) of my life. I experienced as much in that week as I usually do in months here, and I'm a better person for it.

4) I'm more of a chicken than I thought

I hate this fact, but it's true. I am always such a worrier and so careful about rules and 'doing the right thing' at home, and I didn't realize it until I had no rules to follow and hung out with a couple of bad-asses in Europe. Why the hell do I let fear of the unknown take over my life? It can be as big as deciding to go live in Europe for a while (what's stopping me) to having fun doing some water sport. And on that note....

5) ... going on the banana is OK

This was my A-HA moment of the trip. I always have had some ridiculous phobia of water, but the Aussie boys decided we were going, and there was no way of getting out of it. After freaking out when we got on, we of course flipped into the water and what happened? It was fun. It just proves that there is nothing to be scared of, and to just try new things, and just GET ON THE BANANA.

6) iPods are key

Pretty self-explanatory. Music is the chicken soup to my mind, and whatever mood I was in, my iPod had the right answer to either fix it or really make me think about it. Robin Thicke, Michael Buble and Timbaland (earlier post) really helped with that. These 3 hotties helped me fall asleep, deal with the boredom of travel at times, and bring me closer to certain people. All I have to say is that The Way I Are and Home will forever be in my memory and remind me of this trip.

7) I don't have to live in Canada

This goes along with the whole 'being a chicken' idea... the only thought that is comforting me right now is the fact that I really DON'T have to live here - I have so much opportunity to try life in another country/continent, and it doesn't scare me anymore. This is the time to try new things, especially since I often feel like a European at heart. I only feel bad for my parents, who immigrated all the way here for a better life, and now their kids are talking about going back! How ironic...

The rest of the trip.... a.k.a. CRAP

So the last few days deserve a short and sweet description... more short than sweet really. I think the Saturday I left all the lack of sleep, partying and then leaving everyone took its toll on me. By the time I took the bus, ferry, bus and was waiting at the airport, I was absolutely delirious and possibly hysterical. I decided at that point to get in touch with the fam (the real one) for the first time in a week, and called Adam at 8:30am his time to let him know I was ok. Except that I wasn't. I'm supremely glad that I didn't end up writing in the blog when I got back into London that night.. which by the way, was after 12 hours of travel and getting to the hostel I was staying at and being told that there were no beds left for me to sleep in.

Needless to say I pulled out the whoop-ass and they found me a bed. I passed out for about 8 hours, woke up and made my way to Luton Airport where there was a line of, no joke, 200 people waiting to get checked in with my airline. I highlighted the fact that there was only one hour left to my flight, and that if they wanted me on it then they should move me past the line. Which they did, and despite that I still had my name called on the way to my gate as well as having to sprint to make my plane. Long story short, the plane ended up being delayed by an hour anyway, but I needed that time to recover from smoker's lung (yes, that's right) anyway.

The movie on board was Dreamgirls - surprisingly good.

There was a little girl on the plane that kept yelling "I don't want to take off"... at first, I was extremely annoyed and then found myself about to yell along with her. I was really loathing the idea of coming to Canada, back to work and cold climate and away from everyone. This vacation definitely proved to be different, and traveling alone was not nearly as enjoyable as it was last time.

The highlight of those 2 days was when Adam picked me up from the airport - seeing my little big bro's familiar face was defintely a relief. He sat with me while I went through a whole box of tissues reminiscing about the trip... definitely not a task everyone would have sat through.

I think a little list of "lessons learned" on this trip is in order...

Friday - Bye bye Dubrovnik, Hellooooo Hvar Island

So I neglected to mention that at about 6am, I decided to postpone my trip back to London on Friday, and delay it to the Saturday flight. I decided this because out of all my ambitious plans to see Croatia, I had really ended up in Dubrovnik for 5 days, and wanted to see at least one island. Hvar Island is a lovely, more expensive and snobby Island about 1.5 hours from Split, which is where we arrived on the bus at about 12:30. After waiting til about 2:30, we hopped on a huge ferry that took us to Hvar Island.

Landing there, we found our apartment which ended up being super sweet, with 2 rooms with double beds and another with 2 beds in it with kitchen. We hit the town right away, and saw some of the nicest yachts that must have belonged to drug lords, they were so nice. Black extrior with black leather interior. DAMN.

We then enjoyed a round of beers courtesy of Ryan on the boardwalk by the boats, and roasted in the sun. The boys nearly jumped into the mini-harbour cause it was so hot, but instead we just ordered more beers.

Dan and Ryan

Forde and Heather

Jules

Matty.

Once we were done with the beers, we hit the supermarket to buy the ingredients to make a lovely homemade meal. Boys: beer, cigs, meat and more beer. Girls: yogurt, veggies, eggs, juice.

The evening had one tense moment after an interesting conversation about 'numbers', but all ended well and I had an amazing last night in Croatia with the family eating an amazing dinner made mostly by Ryan (I know!) and then chattin with the fam - not too late, since we were exhausted from the all nighter before, and the full day of travel.

The next morning I had to catch a 9:45am bus to get to the edge of the Island to get the Ferry to go back to catch my plane on time. I don't want to get into the scene I created, but thankfully only Matty saw most of it and therefore I wasn't as embarassed, but I have rarely ever felt so sad to leave a place. We shall leave it at that for now.

Thursday - Beach and Sunrise

The next day we went back to the beach from Tuesday, and chilled there for most of the day... the boys decided no banana that day, but that they wanted to ride on the 'biscuits', which I confused for hunger but in fact meant what we Canadians call 'tubing'. They seemed like they were having a blast until the first time they fell off, at which point all of them got either welts or rope burn or worse. I still managed to get some nice shots and video from the boat.

We spent a lot of the time on the beach dicussing the accents, and trying to guess the nationality of hot girls on the beach (what a fun game for Jules and I, really). We also analyzed the relationship between the 3 boys - it's like they have their own language, and are all the closest friends I've ever met. They call each other Manzo, but depending on the way you say it, it means some other guy. Jules christened me Monzo, which I thought was funny but the guys didn't really pick up on it (elitist!).

We got back, and with the fam leaving for Split on the 8am bus, we decided to party on our last night in Dubrovnik. I was taking the bus to Split with them, and then catching my flight from Split to London on Friday afternoon while they ferried it to Hvar. Again, we got nice and ready and went to party in a quasi-gay club near oldtown. Heather and I danced our asses off, which the rest of the peeps went to the chill out room.

Eventually I got tired, and Forde took over my spot for me while Dan showed his pop-and-lock skillz. That's Dan on the left, Heather sandwich and Forde on the right. Josip, Ivica's brother who doesn't seem like he goes out that much (but danced his face off) is hidden on the left.

We left the club around 330am, and went back to the hostel to enjoy the last night and watch the sunrise from the terrace. It took some waiting, so we talked and watched Forde drag his tired butt home at 5am, wake up Mama with his talking and eat some food before having to go pack.

Poor Mama. Forde really wanted that food... this is about 5, 530am and we're supposed to leave for the bus station at 7am. Were we packed? Debatable.

The sunrise. It was so worth and the perfect end to a perfect stay in Dubrovnik.

Wednesday - Lokrum Island

So the next day we wanted to try something new and the boys had to return their scooters. I read about this island close by that you could get to by a quick ferry from Stari Grad. We managed to gather our stuff together a little late in the day (of course) and had to take the bus downtown, which paled in comparison to our cool scooter rides. The group of us going to the Island were the Manzo's (Ryan, Matt and Forde), Dan, Jules, Michael and I. Michael was also another Aussie eventually going to work in the UK. It seems to be a common trend among Aussies to do that.



The travel guide listed Lokrum as "Lover's Island" - I don't really get why, but it was very pretty. It had a botanical garden, lovely wildlife and of course your nudist beach. We all (myself included) got excited about that , but it turns out it was only accessible to other nudists. Damn.


The travel guide also called the beach 'rocky', which actually meant it was land, boulders, than water. The path to getting in the water was actually painful and complicated, but so worth it once you got in. We chilled on the rocks (the less jagged ones) while nursing our health from the night before.

This is 2/3 of the crew from the beach excursion (Matt and I are missing). Observe the 'rocky' beach... we ended off the day nicely, I got a tan and enjoyed my swimming (refer to picture above). Jules and I decided that we were sick of being gross and unkept, and that since it was my last night in Dubrovnik (which it wasn't in the end), we would get dressed up and go for a nice dinner with washed hair and makeup on. We got back and got ready for a great night out...

Dinner was quite a walk away, but so worth it - we walked along a boardwalk in the dark, by the beach we were at the night before, and and went for dinner with a new addition to our family - Heather! She is also from NYC, so her and Dan had much to talk about, and she works for Inside Edition (the unseen face that asks the stars the interview questions). Her and Dan had a lot to talk about, since he studied acting at NYU, and now works in editing for that show about a Matchmaker on TLC. I present our dinner group:

Someone else has the picture of all the food coming and us gorging ourselves...

The night ended off quite tamely, with some of the group going for a walk in the park and swings, and the rest heading off to bed. We had to prepare ourselves for the next day...

Tuesday - post Hard Kids

So Monday night after being the Hard Kids, we were pretty exhausted and decided to chill on the terrace with some food and wine, and watch a chick flick. A big group of us all tried to chill watching The Holiday, but the movie turned out to be so crappy that we couldn't last through it. I ended up passing out, but some of the group went down to the beach, and then ended up sleeping in the next day.

When we finally got ready on Tuesday morning, Dan, Jules, Simon and I wanted to head down to a nicer, sandier beach (they're all rocky there) by old town. Dan had to return his scooter, so we ended up deciding to meet at Ploce. When Jules, Simon and I got downstairs, there were these 3 Aussie guys, who were staying on the ground floor, who were right about to leave on the scooters that they just rented. Jules started talking to Ryan (one of the guys) and it turned out they were looking for something to do. We each hopped on the back of their scooters: Jules on Ryan's, Simon on Forde's (a.k.a. Daniel) and me on Matt's. I was, once again, on a scooter after swearing them off the day before. Matt, whose name I didn't even know at the time, decided it would be fun to go about 70km/h downhill with me wearing no helmet... I tried not to be a girl about it, but all I heard was the wind in my ears and the screams in my head once more. At one point I think I screamed outloud, at which point he remembered that a girl was in fact on the scooter with him and slowed down.

Anyway, we managed to get lost and separated right before we got to the beach, so poor Matt kept dropping me off on the boardwalk to look for my friends while he went to look for his Aussie boys. After some time, we decided to give up and go to the beach ourselves, and turns out Jules, Simon and the crew were there already. We all chilled and tanned (especially me, since it was my first time on a beach in Croatia), and of course had a few rounds of drinks from the beach bar. The boys made fun of my one piece suit, and now think that all Canadians are uptight girls who won't wear bikinis. (I figure that's better than the alternative of thinking that we're skanks, but whateves.)

I went to return the glasses, and as I got back the boys had gotten lifejackets for all of us and decided we were going to get on the (duh duh duuuuuh) .... banana. Given that my last trip on some inflatable thing behind a boat resulted in my lifelong (up til now) phobia of water, needless to say I was TERRIFIED. Of course, I couldn't show my fear in front of the aussies (literally all of them) so I tried to pull Jules aside, woman to woman, to tell her. She laughed too. I had to save face, especially after the one piece episode, and went on. After 30 seconds of absolute fear, screaming, and the boys trying to knock each other off the damn thing, we all flipped off with some nice air. And you know the funny thing? It was FUN. I had a damn good time, faced my idiotic childhood fear and managed to bring my reputation up among the group (especially since that one piece they had mocked proved able to withstand the ride and stay on, unlike Jules' bikini. On second thought, the boys were probably not happy about that hahaha)

We finished off our day pretty well, and went back up to the hostel on the scooters (with Simon's and Forde's breaking down on the way, too hilarious) and showered and got ready for the evening. Since the evening before we were rowdy til pretty late, Ivica set up a quiet time at 11pm. We didn't much like that time, so our group and a huge bunch of us from the hostel (among them Trent, Dan, the 2 Sarah's, Marty, etc) decided to head to the rocky beach, separated from the hostel by 3 very long flights of stairs. We also brought some food, but more importantly lots and lots of alcohol. We got there, and just had the best time in the dark on the beach, singing with some drunk locals with a guitar. I decided it was time for a swim, and Jules as well, so we jumped in (brought our bathing suits thank God). Matt and Ryan followed suit, and we all swam together at about 2 in the morning under the stars. It sounds romantic, but it was more just really relaxing and surreal.

Unfortunately, it got cold, and then as soon as we got out Matt was not feeling so well (probably due to the amount of vodka he drank). Ryan and Jules waited and walked with us for a bit, but it was up to me to carry Matt (who is not a little boy) up the 3 damn huge flights of stairs back up to the hostel. I think that was my workout for the whole trip!

Either way, by the time I changed, showered and got to bed it was 6 in the morning, and a night very well spent. Watched the sunrise on the terrace, and headed to bed... a perfect 2nd day in Dubrovnik.

Several matters to take care of...

So I broke my promise to myself to write in my blog everyday, and now that I have to look back at my trip retrospectively, I am sure I am going to miss some really funny and good stories. But que sera, sera, I can't help that and I will update it regardless. I am going to preface the next few posts about Croatia by saying that it was the best week (6 days really) of my life. That is all.

The Hard Kids

I don't even know where to begin... Croatia is blowing my mofoin' mind. I could and should leave it at that, but I need to write it all since I am completely overwhelmed with the experience of today. The picture above was the view from our hostel balcony at 3am last night by the way, the moon looked amazing.

So today started off with me sleeping in and Phil leaving, which was sad... what a 'great bloke'. We started talking with these new guys from the US, Ali and Paul who rented scooters yesterday and were selling the experience to us hardcore. So the 7 of us - Ivice (the owner), Jules, Paul, Ali, Trent (new guy too), Dan and I all rented scooters, with Jules on Dans with him and me on Paul's. We decided to go down south, along the coast, with Ivice as our guide and riding the scooters. I have to say, riding up and downhill on a scooter going like 50km/h will make you realize how fragile you are. The first 15 mins of the trip, my internal monologue consisted of constant screaming inside my head, and my life flashing in front of my eyes when we almost crashed into Ali (who ended up crashing later, oh my).
This is us at the first stop of the trip. This is not even the most beautiful part of the trip, but I like the fact that I'm smiling as opposed to being in constant stress mode on the scooter hahaha. The next pic is from the same stop, but to keep in mind, the background of that pic, which I didn't show, was a huge cluster of hotels that are still damaged and broken down from all the bombings that happened 15 years ago, that are still in line to being restored. However, the coast has the constant juxtaposition of damaged buildings with shrapnel still in them and gorgeous water, like this:
So anyway, all of us on our scooters ended up looking like a gang and taking over the road, so we decided we were cool enough to give ourselves a name, hence the Hard Kids. Us hard kids got led to a place for lunch, which was great cause I hadn't eaten yet at this point. The restaurant was on the water of course, and the meal consisted of amazing free appetizers of fish and anchovies, followed by two huge platters of everything from the sea you can find, which yes, mom and dad, I actually ate!
That was followed by two huge platters of fresh fish grilled from the sea, and the entire lunch we drank copious amounts of wine and local spirits made with herbs. Our waiter was awesome, and told Jules and Dan and I about the restaurant secrets, which ended up being taking shots of some extremely potent stuff from a bottle shaped like a naked lady. Can we say random??
On a side note, we saw a tiny kitten on our way into the restaurant, who I couldn't help but take and cuddle, and the same waiter gave a huge meal of ham and milk and such. I was going to adopt him, and named him Moe Junior, but of course as soon as he was fed he left us for greener pastures. He was named our official mascot though, and made me seriously consider getting a cat when I get back. I can't rotate the picture, but damn he's cute.

On the way back, we saw a waterfall, and breathtaking scenery which I could describe but really the pictures say it all. And I have to get back to drinking to destress from a tough day. But I managed to pass my camera to Jules during the ride and she got an awesome picture of us on the scooter (mind you, the passing of the camera was while in motion as was the pic). I am just in constant disbelief that I am here, and cannot wait to come back again. I am being called by my fabulous roomies to come share some wine and great conversation - what more can a girl ask for???

I heart Dublin...a nd now Croatia

Awww, aren't we cute? Model Polish children, our parents raised us well. Needless to say, I ended my trip in Dublin with a bang - had a little party at the Bartman's and Soren's place that I couldn't deny myself going to, despite the liver going through some painful times this weekend. They really know how to party in Ireland, including dance parties as well:

There's Chris the Swede, and the poles who are all bustin a move - we were pretty damn good I have to admit.

Today I left for my trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia in the afternoon and get here at 7pm. I have literally been here 6 hours and I love it here so much I want to move here! I got picked up at the airport by the manager of the house I am staying in and he drove me the 45 minutes it takes to get to the inside of the city. On the way, we stopped on the highway to take some pictures, and he also took me the long way to show me the buildings that have been bombed and not fixed yet. We then literally dropped my bags off and then went to meet the rest of the lodgers for dinner. Dinner was a restaurant right on the water serving the catch of the day. Big moment for Mon: I ate oysters! And had some honey schnapps (homemade of course) to wash it down, as well as fish and wine. Perfect evening in really lovely company comprised of Ivice the owner, Phil the Brit, Dan the NY'er and Julia and Simon the Aussies. We had great conversation, consisting mostly of me laughing at the various expressions that Phil uses - git, sod, bugger, wanker etc. We also discussed the notion of retoxing versus detoxing, and we played the animal game (will have to introduce this into Canadian culture). We finished off with a walk in the old town which looks basically like this:

Above is my own actual picture. I am in heaven people!

Dublin

So Dublin is craaaaazy! I got here on Thursday evening, and Bart and his roomie Soren welcomed me very nicely into their home. Both had come from work (I tend to forget that people aren't on vacation like moi) and we chilled in their place. Bartek and I went to this pretty cool tapas place called Market Bar and had some fantastic food, and it's also the site of where I got introduced to my first Bulmers - the best cider EVER. I am inlove with this drink - it's basically a low percentage cider/beer that tastes like water. Yummm. Anyway, we then went for martini's at a fancy place called Morgan's in Temple Bar and finished off with me having my first pint of Guinness at a pub with local musicians playing. I can't wait to download the pictures, cause that is my favourite shot of the trip so far.

Friday I woke up a little later and cleaned the guys' apartment as a thank you - and also because the woman in me had to clean a boy apartment. I then went for a trip to Howth, a kind of spontaneous idea that Bart said would be good. It was a 1/2 hour trip from Dublin and the biggest surprise of my trip so far. I absolutely loved the place! It is a port town with a really nice walk in the cliffs to the summit. I walked the path for a while, while getting burned (which I found out later that night) and workin up a sweat (the weather was amazing). I ended up at the summit with time to spare, and bought a Bulmers to enjoy on the patio there. I met and picked up some nice Irish men, one of which had a lovely cane and the other a very snazzy hearing aid. They were, sadly, the most proper and polite of any Irish men I've met here - I have to say the young adult male population leaves something lacking when it comes to being gentlemen.

Moving along... I bought some fresh salmon and mussels on my way back, and got back to the apartment around the same time as the guys. Bart made the mussels and I was really hesitant to try them since I never have had mussels, but they were delicious!! I then made dinner while the boys went to nap, and I have to say it turned out pretty well (thank God, I had my doubts). We then got ready to go out, and made a crazy night of bar hopping and seeing downtown Dublin in all its glory on a weekend-night, which was tamer at first until we got to the Temple Bar area and it got a little later into the night. We started off in a bar that used to be an old church, then moved to Zanzibar, a very Polish place (I have never partied with that many Polish people) and ended off at Fitzsimons, which was a multi-level club right by the Liffey (river).

Anyway, today has been comprised of a later wake-up, some booking of hostels and flights (which I think are done) and some walking around Dublin. It really is a lovely city - if I were to choose to live anywhere but Toronto, I think Dublin would be it. Other than the prices of things though... I just paid $5 for a diet coke, ouch.

Off to see the rest of the city and to try and get some sleep tonight! Which will be difficult, seeing that it's a Saturday night and I feel the air is getting hot... (Dance Music '92 anyone?)

Caerdydd

So I got to Cardiff, no trouble - the train was the smallest one I had ever seen, and I had to sit with my backpack on my lap which proved to be advantageous as it allowed for a quick power nap.

Adam picked me up at the station and we took to scenic route through the City Center (no, not downtown, City Center) to his rez. His buddy left back home early and ended up having a free room, so I got to stay for free and right in the residential area (bonus!). We went for some delicious food with his buddies, who ended up being mostly Canadian and a girl from New Orleans with a Theatre background - awesome group! We went out for drinks after and did a little bar hopping - Cardiff is actually much smaller and more residential than I thought, but that doesn't mean it lacks in excitement. On our way to the local student pub we met two guys (Irish? Welsh? English? we'll never know) who were dressed as women, makeup and all. I asked if they lost a bet, but it seems they just enjoy 'dressing up' literally when they go drinking. They were loaded by 9pm by the way, and we had some wildly funny conversations about European and North American politics, which I couldn't take seriously because of the awesome lipstick and mascara job they did.

Anyway, we ended up chillin at Adam's friend's til about 3am listening to old school music and playing funny tipsy/drunken games and watching youtube. I set the alarm for this morning and Adam walked me to the bus station to catch my plane to Dublin - and here I am! I've already heard tons of Polish and seen tons of stores with Polska written all over them. I feel somewhat home here, I can see the allure for all our young peeps to be moving here.

On a side note, I have to comment on the 3 most important men in my life (other than Dad and Adam) - in no particular order are Robin Thicke, Michael Buble and Timbaland. Their music is what keeps me going on all these buses and airplanes, it's so comforting to hear some nice American music sometimes haha. Also, I just finished reading The 5 People You'll Meet in Heaven and Tipping Point, which are both amazing books.

Vacationing is really great... although I'm much more sentimental than I thought - I miss everyone!! Hopefully I can move past this sucker moment - maybe a nice Guinness on a patio somewhere soon, oh in about 10 mins, will help.

Cheers to Eire!! (That's Dublin in Gaelic)

London - over

I have only a few minutes until my train to Bath and then on to Cardiff, but I wanted to post about how crappy this morning was (what a great introduction hahaha).

Not only did I sleep in, but I walked into my room after my shower and there were 2 strangers guys in it! Turns out they're not so much stranger as they live in my room too, but they have been out all night the past 2 nights and therefore we always missed each other. I always knew them as just the backpacks in the two empty beds.

Moving on, I couldn't access any internet, and went to a library - they conned me into signing up for an account (free at least) so that I could use the internet, only to find out that they had no free computers. Thankfully the librarian noticed my frustration and helped me find my train to Bath, leaving at 11:30.

I knew I was cutting it close to make it, but London obviously doesn't want me to leave. I had to switch trains 3 times because of technical difficulties, and was stuck on the damn tube for an hour. I am now wasting some time before my train at 1 (ouch) so that I can speed through Bath and then meet with Adam at Cardiff for some well-deserved beers.

Here's to a fantastic night and I hope I make my flight to Dublin tomorrow...

London con't

So apparently I am not allowed to access my blog website from my hostel due to 'unsavoury content'. I really don't think that I write anything scandalous... actually on that note can I just say - the men in London are damn hot!! All the ladies should make their way over here ASAP (especially you Eves). It seems my hostel is within walking distance of the working area of town - it is crawling with tall, dark and handsome men in suits (did I mention I have a weakness for guys in suits?? damn.)

Hmm, anyway... so otherwise London is absolutely lovely. I keep either singing 'A Foggy Day in Londontown' or 'London Bridge is Falling Down' as I walk around (Loser? Yes.) I went for a very long walk last evening/night and the most notable event was my visit on the London Eye which would have been very enjoyable had it not contained a nursing mother the ENTIRE TIME. I had to keep looking on way in order to not be a pervert. Therefore I have a LOT of pictures of the East side of the city, and missing the rest of the 360 view. I walked along the Thames for quite some time, and apparently almost bumped into some British celebrity but I have no idea who. I got back later at night, and met my two Aussie roomies (who I suspect may be a lesbian couple, but I really don't know - wishful thinking?) who are awesome.

This morning woke up a little late, but managed to see Tower Bridge and the Tower, Buckingham Palace and the surrounding park (layed on the grass for a while, heavenly) and walk up through Oxford and Piccadilly Cricus, the British Museum and then to meet Sam at Covent Garden. Overall, I absolutely adore London but I can definitely get the sense that people are very class-oriented here. I was wearing my short shorts, which would not be looked at twice in TO, but as I was walking through Regent Sts and around the expensive stores I was getting stared down unkindly. Note to seld - wear nice pants next time. I think my favourite part of London is Soho, where it's much more chill and 'hip' than anything I've seen - kinda reminded me of the Latin Quarters in Paris.

I met with Sam in the afternoon, and she finished her last essay of the year (yay!) after I distracted her from it all weekend. We were on a mission to find skinny jeans and nice flats, and I'm happy to say we were both successful and then some. We finished off by going for dinner in an amazing pub called Churchill Arms in Notting Hill, which actually looks like a fish and chips pub but ended up serving delicious Thai food. Great night!!

Tomorrow I am getting up damn early to make sure I can hit up Bath before I head to Cardiff to party with Adam - university styles. Very exciting!

On a side note, I would just like to remind anyone visiting here that it is damn expensive in the UK - I keep forgetting that to convert you have to double the amount of pounds you're spending, and it hurts everytime.

Cheerio! (Trying to be more English)

My first impression of London...

Ok, Adam, you were right... I have been in London all of 2 hours and it is AMAZING! I got dropped off by an angry bus driver (he had issues) after a 2 hours taking some crazy ass detours because there was a huge accident on the highway. The stop was kinda in the middle of a busy intersection, and I decided to just walk north to see if I could get my bearings.

After about 5 mins of walking, I look up and realize I am right under Westminster Abbey among a hoard of tourists. I look around and there is the Clock Tower, and Parliament and I can see the Millenium wheel off in the distance. The whole city is just covered in history, you can almost see what it looked like centuries ago. The people on the other hand don't seem to like foreigners, but they are polite enough and I really attempt to keep the convos brief and use my 'filter'.

I am now in some hostel where it seems that a bunch of high school German kids have decided to take over (as they usually do) and be highly annoying so I am escaping to visit London by nighttime. My one goal tonight is to walk along the Thames and face my fear of heights and take a ride on the Wheel - by myself!

P.S. On a side note, the amount of Polish people I've already identified in London is ridiculous - we really are taking over the West.

The eagle has landed

I get treated right abroad, damn. Not even here for 24 hours and I get roses from a Rhodes Scholar!!

Let me start at the beginning... I left Canada on Friday afternoon, with a flight that lands at 5am local time (aka 12am our time, which is ideally the time you are asleep). Let me preface this whole post by saying that I spent the week before leaving trying to exhaust myself so that I would sleep on the plane. That plan failed. I did not get any sleep until last night at 530am.

So I landed at 430, and then had to wait all the way til 715 to get a bus that travelled to Oxford. Once I got here, I had trouble contacting Sam so I didn't end up seeing her til about 930! At that point though, none of that mattered because I was soooo happy to see her.


The weather yesterday was perfect, which was amazing because Sam had planned a slightly early picnic in honour of her birthday. I felt like I was still back home until I realized the picnic was just outside Oxford on the grounds surrounding a castle where Churchill was born. Say what!?!? Sam's friends are awesome, and mostly Canadian anyway, and we enjoyed some very satisfying food on the grass while watching the ducks on the nearby pond. It was heaven - I even passed out for a quick nap.


At the end of the picnic, there was talk of some ball - it turns out this is quite common among these British types! So we decided at 5 in the afternoon to go to a ball somewhere on campus. I got to get pretty and party with Sam once again... ah the Western days (I know we're sideways, but don't we look great?). We went to this swingin partay dressed to the nines, where I proceeded to down 3-4 vodka martinis like I was back in first year again. Let's just say that this, coupled with no sleep and fun in the sun = Mon having a GOOD TIME (and trying to imitate funny accents). I vaguely remember being walked home by a Polish (of course) very kind and gentlemanly friend of Sam's, after which I fell asleep around 530am.

Let's just say this morning was rough. And not even, because I realized that jet lag applies to even hangovers - by 8pm, at the formal dinner that we were attending with Lord Butler, it hit me like a ton of bricks. That tasted of vodka. And some tapas I had while out sightseeing Oxford. While I was eating duck meat. Riiiiiiiight...

Anyway, Shane has come to visit now and we had an amazing evening of catch up and talking... it's off to London tomorrow morning!