The Housing Hunt

It's three days before my first day as a "grown-up", and I am lying on a hostel bed recuperating from the frenzy of the past two days. It's not even 8am yet, plus I was the only person in a 2-person dorm last night, so I am guaranteed up to 7 hours of privacy before someone takes the lower bunk. Thankfully this hostel comes with air conditioning, plus I can get wi-fi on my laptop (poor quality, but still free), so there is little incentive to leave anytime soon. Breakfast, maybe - though with an unintentional holiday habit of semi-starving myself till dinnertime, I coIuld probably aim for just a late lunch.

6:20am arrival at JFK two days ago, and two days of frantic Craigslist searches, emails, and viewings. Talk about getting right into the roll of things! Luckily this time around, Manhattan isn't such an unfamiliar place, and once I get to the neighbourhoods I like, I know exactly where to make my "tea = wi-fi" equation come true.

I am largely limited in housing options by my budget, so to live within a reasonable commute from Grand Central, I would have to share an apartment with other people. Alternatively, I could head up to Harlem or Washington Heights/Inwood and get a studio or one bedroom apartment. Living alone would be nice - I would certainly feel like I've "graduated from student housing" - but do I really want to live up north? I rather like lower Manhattan, and considering I will spend 3.5 hours a day on trains to get to and from work, I would at least like to be near my favourite eateries and cafes when I'm home.

Personally, I have no problem sharing an apartment with others for the most part. On the other hand, I will be disappointing everyone that expected me to have an open couch, since, you know, C is going to be in Noo Yawk, and of course she'd be obliged to house every casual acquaintance that wants to save some $$$ in the Big Apple. I have benefited from warm hospitality from friends in various places, and I do want to "pay it forward" - but only to the people that are worth it, when circumstances permit. Call me selfish if you will - in this sense, shared housing is actually a blessing!

We shall see where I wind up eventually. Goodbye for now while I enjoy some peace and quiet before another day in the city!

Mountain Times

So my previous declaration of one post per hour was clearly not thought out - getting a computer was way more difficult than planned. I also fell asleep waiting for the plane to arrive.

I am finally in Waterloo...en route to Toronto. (house hunting). Anyways, as I sit here in relative comfort on the greyhound, I can't help but think of looooong climbs up the sides of a mountain...which pretty much describes my whole Grenoble experience.

Grenoble is this charming little city in the Alps, and the residence J was staying at was literally on the mountain. Not quite at the top, but definitely close!! Really, the only way to get there was to hike up. The first few times of doing this definitely winded me, but I like to think I got better at the hike towards the end of my stay. The best part though? The view at the top!! Especually at night, you are rewarded with this amazing view of the city, surrounding mountains, and at night, twinkling lights from all the little towns and villages in the mountains. Lovely!!

Well, to be fair, the view had to be amazing...the residences were pretty bad. Though if you thought of it like camping, then the residences are pretty good, so I just stuck to that mindset for the 3 days I was there. Overall my stay in Grenoble was relaxing in terms of tourist schedules, but after walking countless kilometers, seeing as many attractions as humanly possible for a week, it was a lovely relaxing time with good food, company, and scenery. Also, considering how Paris went, I am glad I got the chance to recuperate!!

- S

9 hours and counting...

I've been terrible at updating - however, I am at the mercy of available Wifi, where Grenoble and Paris were seriously lacking in free wifi. Though I could have used an available computer, I spent most of my time enjoying the surroundings.

Right now, I am trying to pass away hour 9 at the Porto airport. I should have been home by now, but after getting to the airport at 8:30 am for a 11:35 flight, we were told we would be delayed until 16:45. Then at around 15:00, the departure time changed to 23:00 on all the info screens. I am not impressed. Part of the frustation is there is no one to get information from - there are 2 secured zones in the OPO airport. Once in the first zone, you are past the check-in counter, and they don't want to let you out of security. However, my departure gate is in the second zone, past passport control. Passport control won't let me past because the plane isn't here - so I can't get to the gate to ask any available sunwing staff about the delay. Frustrating.

I guess I can pass the time by blogging. I think my goal will be one blog per hour I am stuck in this bloody place. By the end of today, if we are not delayed again, I will have been in this airport for a whooping 15 hours - time that could have been spent in comfort back at the hostel, exploring the city, or anywhere but here.

Anyways. My last week was spent in Paris - Grenoble - Paris - Madrid - Porto. The recurring theme this week is definitely transportation problems...but that's enough for now. I will talk about delayed trains, lost railpasses, and night busses maybe in another hour.

- S

Midnight Train

So not quite a midnight train, but I took an overnight train to Paris from Madrid. The day I spent in Madrid was terrible, something like 39 degrees celsius. The train, in constrast was nice and cool and air conditioned...

Seats were big and spacious, food was good, but the best part was the view. My favorite realization was when we crossed into France in the morning, and I realized that there were wild poppies at the side of the tracks.

Something I found odd though was that there were no announcements on the train, ever. Not that they would have helped me much...but in the end, our train was almost 1.5 hours late. I had budgeted 1.5 hours to transfer to another train in Paris...and by the time I got to the station, my train had left 30 minutes ago. *sigh* I was not impressed.

I knew that there was another train in 45 minutes, so I hurried to a ticket counter in order to buy a new ticket. Little did I expect that I would spend an hour in line waiting...and since it was almost lunch time, many of the ticket counters were closing in front of my eyes despite the growing lineups. I was not impressed. Thankfully, my new ticket had not cost me anything because of my train pass, the downside being it was a local train instead of the high speed train I had originally paid for. I was originally scheduled to get into Grenoble for 12:55, and finally made it at 8:20pm, after two additional trains and a transfer.

During this fiasco in Paris, I ended up spending some time at all three train stations, Lyon, Austerlitz, and Bercy. In all I spent roughly 3 hours in Paris - I was not impressed at all. It was hot, smelly, crowded, and not very pretty at all. From what I have seen, Paris is definitely overrated. We will see if this weekend's trip to Paris for 3 days changes my mind...hopefully!

- S

Beaching and Om Nom Noms!

No trip to Barcelona is complete without a trip to the beach!!

After sleeping in a bit, checking out of the hostel, we promptly headed to the beach. For some reason we didn't have the foresight to put bathing suits under our clothes, but we were perfectly content wading in the water getting splashed by the waves.

First of all...the water and the beach were sparkly!!! Black and gold flecks in the water coated us in sparkles, it was very pretty!! We spent a good couple hours catching sea shells and just enjoying the cool water in the 27+ heat. I think we got many odd looks...as everyone else was in swimsuits or tanning on the beach, while two obvious tourists are making a scene playing in the water fully clothed.

For the rest of the day, we basically got lost and wandered around. Really we were in search of the cathedral all day, and took many hours to find it. It didn't help that we kept running into these churches, thinking it was the cathedral, only to realize that despite being built before 1353, the lovely church we were in was not the cathedral. We did eventually find the real thing though.

Otherwise, the things I remember most is what we ate =) H and I have a tendency to just eat our way through attractions, and today was no acceptions. Here's a sample:

- croissants at the Sagrada
- Gelato whenever we wanted. Kiwi gelato, yum!
- went to the food market in the afternoon. We easily walked that place 4 or 5 times looking at all the food....we had mango/kiwi juice, sangria, chorizo, cheese, a cracker, chicken something that starts with an e, couchettes, and dragonfruit, yum! Honestly, the fact that the market was closing down as we got there is probably what prevented us from buying even more food...
- Back to the Harbour, where we had paella, lamb steak and fries, salad, and whiskey cake, with wine and sangria of course
- grabbing tiny, very very strong coffees without sugar


Then trudging back to the bus for the overnight back to Madrid. What an intense trip, I'll have to calculate how many kilometers we walked that day! My overall impression of Barcelona is very very touristy. Lovely and charming in its own way, but not what you think of when you think of classic Spain!

Currently I am writing this in Grenoble. More on my adventures, like missing my train, later.

- S

Bustling Barcelona

If there is absolutely anything I should have learnt in High School, it's that H and I are crazy tourists.

Reminiscent of all the band trips we took together, we headed to Barcelona on a midnight bus from sunny Madird. Considering how much we paid for round trips, the bus was excellent! On a Thursday night the bus was infused with an excited tourist atmosphere. After dozing for the next 7 hours, we pulled into a deserted Barcelona bus station. Then after wandering in a very large square looking for the metro, we eventually gave up and walked to the hostel. Little did we know that getting lost and wandering in circles would be the theme of our adventures..

Stop 1: Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. This was simply stunning - Gaudi's design of the church will not be completed until approximately 2030. His vision is such a unique and breathtaking meld of fantasy, mathematics, beauty, color, imagination, and whimsy. I promise I will post pictures later. The highlight - a 2 euro lift to the top of the bell towers, where we walked down. Not only did it reward us with amazing views of the city in all four directions, it also brought up close to many of the fantastic sculptures on the church. Barcelona - finish the Sagrada, and I will be back! I can safely say that there is absolutely nothing in this world that comes close to the Sagrada architecturally.

Next, entranced with Gaudi's work, we headed to Parc Guelle, to visit the museum. In 30+ heat, STUFFED with tourists, we took a good 1 - 2 hours just trying to find the museum we already had paid tickets to. Overall, the Parc reminded me of Wooville - Dr. Suess' city for his funny creatures. Unforgetable!

3pm - Siesta time =D Best, nap, ever!

Dinner was sangria and tapas, surrounded again by tourists on the harbour, then leisurely making our way back to the hostel....but not before stopping to take lots of pictures of course.

Barcelona, <3 <3!

- S

Churros and Chocolate

Palace gardens, accordions, an egytian temple, Spanish guitars, churros, chocolate, gelato and shopping. Wow, Madrid!!!

Just...lovely. First off, the palace and it's gardens are lovely, shady, and full of dogs! The dogs, wow!!! They all look like purebreds, and many breeds I have only seen in pictures. They sure love their dogs here!! After running into various asian tour groups around the palace, I stopped to read for an hour in the palace gardens,lovely!! Afterwards, did you know there is an Egyptian temple in Madrid? With a reflecting pool and everything? It was quite amusing to see. And then...the shopping.

Wow, Madrid and the shopping!! If I didn't have to carry everything on my back for 9 more days...I would have ran into all those lovely lovely stores with the lovely lovely sale signs. Shows, jewelry, hats, bags, whatever you want they have them. Including these terribly annoying squeaker things - you put it in your mouth, and then you make this awful annoying high pitched squeaks.

In the Plaza del Sol, there are still remnants of the protest. Part of tent city stil exists, with protesters stubbornly camping out. Bur for the most part, the tourists hglave taken over the square. And in the evenings, wow!! The lights, the crowds, the excitement in the air. Definitely a fun place to be, but I would get tired of it after a bit, prefering peace and quiet and a good movie at home sometimes. However, in this bustling atmospurrs H and I had churros and chocolate!!!!! Om nom nom!!!!

The chocolate was incredibly rich, and even though I dislike dark chocolate, it was fantastic. The churros were to die for, but after 3 of them you start to feel the grease settle...but nothing some late night gelato can't cure =)

Oh yeah, I should mention one of the best parts of travelling with my friend H from home...we like to eat. =)

Midnight bus to Barcelona, more on my adventures later!!

- S

This Is Vancouver

It should have been a happy ending to a happy two months for Vancouver. Sure, there was the initial fear that the Vancouver Canucks could get eliminated in the first series, but they played hard and went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. For those two months, suspense came with joy, as well as the hope that maybe a Canadian team would bring the Stanley Cup home for once.

My passport tells me I am Canadian, yet I had never shown any interest in hockey. I had seen exactly one hockey game from start to finish, and that was only because I was offered a ticket to a game a few years ago. When this year's Stanley Cup playoffs started, the only reason I was concerned about the result of the Canucks' Game 7 against Chicago was because I heard Vancouverites could riot if the Canucks lost. Thankfully, they won and proceeded to the next round. I left the Canucks behind and went backpacking for four weeks.

As far as I was concerned, hockey was in a faraway land while I was having the time of my life in Europe. I happened to be in Prague the day the Czech Republic was playing against Russia in the Ice Hockey World Championship -- I remember thinking there was a decent chance that it could have been against Canada instead of Russia -- but that was the only time hockey made an appearance on my trip. Little did I know I would come home to a crazed Vancouver, a city ripe with anticipation for what could be the first Stanley Cup win for Canada in 18 years.

The city I came home to could best be described as Canuck Kingdom. Car flags, t-shirts, store fronts, trade fairs...you name it, it was Canuck-ified. Even my mother knew the names of the more famous players. The finals had just started, and with the Canucks winning the first two games out of seven against the Boston Bruins, the Cup felt so close. Just two more wins, we want the Cup. The crowds of Granville Street were more excited than ever before.

Fast forward to June 15, 2011; the Canucks were now on game 7. The Canucks' three wins had taken place in Vancouver, and the Bruins' three wins had taken place in Boston. So maybe there was hope after all, but what if the Canucks lost? There was an estimated 120,000 people at the expanded outdoor viewing area at Georgia and Hamilton (to put things into perspective, this crowd is roughly as large as that of Hyde Park the day of the royal wedding) and even more people clustered in bars all over Vancouver. I was at a Brian Wilson concert in Kitchener, Ontario, and even there people were asking each other about the game during intermission. Despite all the anticipation and cheering, the Canucks did lose, and then pandemonium ensued. The scenes that you and I saw on TV, in some ways even worse than recent riot scenes from the Middle East, unraveled themselves too fast to be stopped on the spot by police.

Some sources report that the riot brought about $1 million worth of property damage and $1 billion worth of negative publicity to the city. To many, it would have reversed the positive impression made of Vancouver and Canada through last year's Winter Olympics. I must also confess, I had never felt so embarrassed to be associated with Vancouver; horrible timing too, just as I was finally starting to warm up to the city after about 5 years of "living" here. ("living" = visiting three times a year between terms)

Alas, not all hope is lost. Vancouver stood up the very next day and proved itself to be the wonderful city it was previously known for, and beyond. People organized themselves and went out to the shattered streets to help clean up, offered random acts of kindness (free hugs, anyone?), and expressed themselves on wooden panels placed temporarily in lieu of windows. This was a city that wanted to remember the happy times, a city that wanted to heal, a city that wanted to make good out of bad. A truly beautiful city.

No riots. Respect our city.

Here is the happy ending that Vancouver deserves at the end of its two-month journey towards the Stanley Cup, in the form of a full text of a poem that was pasted to the "Great Wall of Vancouver":

Message from a Proud City - Author unknown

We are strong enough to sweep up

the broken glass, the ashes and trash

you left behind. We are brave enough

to come into the light and show the world

who we are. We have faith enough

that our city will rise from this darkness

better, stronger, and even more beautiful

than before. We are wise enough to know

you have done nothing. We are human

enough to applaud the brave ones

who defied you, to heal every wound

that you inflicted, and to love ourselves.

And we are patient. We are diligent.

We are eager to bring you to the light

and show you the strength of our justice.

We will learn, and we will grow

and we will never surrender to the fear

that seems to plague you. We are VANCOUVER.

No Green Vegetables...

Today was a more travel heavy day - after lazing in the hostel for a good chunk of the morning, I wandered around a garden in Porto before almost missing my flight to Madrid. Some final thoughts - wow, everyone in Porto is so friendly! Even at busy streets when I'm waiting at a crosswalk, locals will actually stop in the middle of heavy traffic so I can cross, despite the fact that I am perfectly happy to wait till the light turns green. *sigh*, why is Toronto so horrible?

For lunch I had some sort of tripe stew - it was tasty! One thing that is bothering me though, is that the lack of green vegetables =P I think I had a carrot piece today (might have been a sweet potato), and last night I had a homestyle codfish which was delicious of course. Half the time I really don't know what I'm munching on, but I get fed in large quantities.

As I was flying out of Porto, the greenery is lovely and there are lots of green valleys and trees. Then a while later I look down and wow, it looks like Alberta - flat, brown, land. I think I'm in Spain =P Eventually though we flew over these baby mountains (so cute!), and landed in Madrid. 34 degrees celsius, and soooo humid!! It makes me want to be on a beach all the time! My friend lives in this cute apartment in Madrid near the university, and we spent some time eating ice cream on the balcony, as I wonder how people manage to park/unpark in such tiny spots on the street. She also lives across from a pastry shop...=D

Tonight is giving my poor feet a rest, and spending an hour blowing up an air mattress. I shamelessly watched The Glee Project - and I'm totally hooked!!

While flying out of Porto I read through Ryanair's magazine and discovered that there is a festival in Barcelona this weekend - Festival of St. John. I'm excited, it sounds like people come out and just like to burn things on the street. I should have brought my notes =)

*Dreaming of Churros and chocolate*
- S

Porto!!

Wow look at me posting all the time! lol it's only cuz my feet are so tired of walking, and I already finished one ebook. (Side note, ebooks are awesomeness. I just don't like how they cost so much....I guess I should just download some, but can you do that for iphone?)

The first word that comes to mind when I think of my afternoon in Porto, is charming. There is this old world look and feel, especially to the Ribeira area. I could easily spend hours watching the boats of tourists sail by, and then taking the trek up the hill to the wineries for tastings.

The path to the wineries was interesting - almost deserted, old cobble/brick roads, and a steep incline. You know you are on the right path when the roads themselves start to smell of wine =) My favorite part was actually coming down, because when I was walking up I didn't think to stop and look behind me. On the way down you get this lovely view of Porto city center and the river again. I looooove the river, definitely my favorite area right now. I am really kicking myself that I didn't budget more time here...

One of the best experiences I had today though, was the Cathedral. The organist was practicing, and it was amazing to have them echoing throughout....also, the inner courtyard was used to film some scenes in Harry Potter!! =D =D

More Porto tomorrow!

- S

Crocodile Tears

Have you ever heard the expression? I used to accuse my brother of crocodile tears whenever he would fake cry for attention.

So Porto flight...first of all, has anyone else noticed there's always a difference between Domestic flights and Vacation flights? There's always more kids on vacation flights, and people always want to clap at everything.

As expected, there were a lot of kids on the flight, mostly toddlers. I wondered if they would be noisy on the flight, but nooooo, it wasn't the tiny tots making noise, it was the big 6 year old girl that I couldn't stand.

For some reason we spent 40 minutes taxing around the airport. Just as it started, this 6 year old girl in the row in diagonally in front of me starts sobbing and yelling things like "I don't want to go", "I want to go home", "Let me go let me go". Fuuuun. Finally when I start think the plane is going to taxi all the way to the ocean, we finally take off, and this only sets the girl off into more hysterics. Think lying across 3 seats, waving all arms and kicking legs. *sigh* Most of the crying was also half-hearted, just like the crocodile tears I mentioned.

Throughout the flight, she alternated between screaming, yelling, tandrums, talkings very very loudly, or jumping up and down by holding the headrest of the person in front of her...(I felt terrible for him). Most children I have encountered in this age range are usually pretty good on flights - looking with disdain at the kids who don't behave. But I've never seen a child be so disagreable for so long!!! *sigh*. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep on the plane.

Oh, also, hello, a metro that has an airport stop? Hmm, how convenient. Like, genius really. What is WRONG with Toronto and Waterloo?

Off to explore Porto. There are palm trees here! I loooove palm trees!!

- S

Hello from Grenoble!

Dear all,

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Grad school is keeping me busier than I expected. Motivated by S's post, I decided that it was time for a new entry. I am currently at a conference in Grenoble, France. And wow, what a beautiful city! Grenoble is known for its scenery associated with the Alps. Let me summarize the trip so far:

Pros:
- Gorgeous scenery! It's so breathtaking, and I can see the amazing scenery right from my room. Here is a picture of my dorm from the outside:
My dorm is at the top, which is why I have such a great view of the city.
- Great food! My lunch today was better than most dinners I've had in North American dorms. Duck, delicious salad, and a pear for 5 Euros. Kind of pricey, but oh well. My dinner was bread, salami and cheese, which was just as delicious, and cheaper. You really can't go wrong with food in France!
- Brushing up on my French skills: I haven't really used French since grade 9, but I did read French things when I had the time, and some of my math articles are in French, so I guess I wasn't totally rusty. I was able to navigate using mostly only French, and I'm so proud of myself!

Cons:
- Horrible itinerary: I will never use Delta airlines again. They were unhelpful when their flights got delayed (13 hours!) and they seem unsafe. As we were about to take off from Atlanta, a thunderstorm hit, and the pilot discovered that the windshield wiper wasn't working. They took it to the gate and had an 8-hour maintenance. Had it been a clear day (and god forbid, pouring in Frankfurt), worse things could have happened.
- My dorm: Let's just say, I don't know how the French students survive here. It's cozy in a way, and has a great view, but the toilet sucks (there are no seats! Can you imagine what it looks like?) and the hygiene level of the room is very, very low. I'm off to buy a bug spray tomorrow, because I'm afraid of falling asleep!
-Location: As I said, Grenoble is known as the capital of the Alps. Guess what that means? That means you see the Alps everywhere. In particular, to get to my dorm, you have to walk up the very steep stairs for 25-30 minutes (in the above picture, my dorm is the top building, I think). Very very tiring, but I guess if I do it with friends, it makes things better. And I'll really be in shape by the end of three weeks.

Well, I doubt anything significant will happen in the next few days, I'll probably update when S gets here (sometime next week). And I should really sleep - I was terrified because I saw (and eventually killed) a centipede in my room. But alas, there are classes tomorrow!

Good night, and bon voyage, S!

No Turning Back Now!

This it, I am in the airport, boarding in a hour. After two days of last minute purchases (and a new airport watch...) my backpack weighs 20lbs. At first it sounded so light, and then I put it on. Wow it was heavy!! Bleh. I am somewhat used to the weight now, but it definitely a good way to make sure I don't buy anything I don't need!!!

Waiting for the plane I notice two other backpackers, but everyone else checked huge luggage. Then there was the odd thing that my ticket and the tv screens all list a different gate number...but so far that seems to be the worst of it!

C was super helpful and found a Lonely Planet Western Europe Phrasebook at Chapters for me. Considering I made no effort to even dust off my French before heading to the airport, I think it will be worth the $13 investment. My friends in Europe already, such as J, have also been helpful in packing and figuring out what I needed to bring.

I called my

Right now I am definitely not feeling super confident, or confident at all. But my stmach is getting excited at the prospect of all the food!!!! My 20 mins of Porto research tells me the local speciality is tripe and wine...both of which I like =D

Goodbye Canada!! Portugal, here I come!!

On My Own...

Hmm, it's been a while since we last posted!! Well, needless to say, things have been busy, but I am now the proud owner of a very, very expensive degree.

Now that I'm done...I'm travelling!! Yes, very excited in theory, but to tell you the truth, terrified!!

I am scheduled for a 14 day trip to Europe, leaving tomorrow night. Toronto - Porto - Madrid - Barcelona - Madrid - Paris - Grenoble - Paris - Madrid - Porto - Toronto.

For much of it, I will be travelling on my own, while my friends are in school or at conferences in Madrid and Grenoble. Now, the issue is I'm not a very adventerous person, probably the complete opposite. I doing like going places by myself, I don't really talk to strangers, I get lost all the time, and I'm a tiny asian girl who probably looks bewildered most of the time. Heck, I don't remember the last time I went to a restaurant by myself. So this is a big step outside of my box...

Well, one challenge at a time right? To start..I'm going to bring a backpack, that's it. Since I'm used to bringing large suitcases everywhere I go, this will be interesting =P The clothes were the easy part...kinda. I spent a week finding a rain jacket...apparently places don't sell them under $60 very often, and if they do, then not in June. Ah well, that was kind of fun, planning/buying a minimal amount of clothing to bring, and switching things out for lighter fabrics for the summer weather. Also, the threat that I have to carry all my stuff with me all the time is a good way to convince myself that despite the fact that I like THIS sweater more, the other one is lighter and easier to carry on my back!

Anyways, I have to go out to buy a power adapter. Eeep, so it begins!