The Past Couple of Weeks...

SuperArt Crawl Concert: Broken Social Scene

So it's been a long time since i last posted, but to be honest I've just been busy with uni work. The good thing is, along with many other exchange students, we have managed to book a 3 day break to Montreal in the Quebec province during the Thanksgiving weekend! (thanksgiving in Canada is on a different date to the USA), i'll be going there next weekend!

For the past few weeks I have been doing quiet a few things, but i just didn't post about them as it was all happening so fast. But for this post I've chosen to blog about an Art festival that was held in Hamilton City, called SuperArt Crawl, which happens once a year. It was pretty cool as there were a lot of random stools, from bohemian jewellery, classic record stools, Cupcake vans (which would be a wicked idea for the cupcake company to adopt at Lancaster university), snow cones and art on top of building tops, as well as on the ground. Overall it was a wicked day, i also got a free flip book which has amused me for a while, slightly concerning, and i also got to see the Broken Social Scene! There were also a variety things happening on this never ending Street, such as a girl playing the harp, a 60+ year old man hip thrusting during a band performance, and various art work dotted along the street. The building on the right had Knitted walls which looked quiet good! We also ventured into this really old Cinema, which the hamilton council are trying to bring back into action.

Drawing of Aphrodite arising from her Clam shell

Overall the day was really good and i got to see some really cool and unusual things. As mid-day approached, we also stopped by at a mini art crawl which was taking place a few blocks down with similar aspects to the main one, but was more family based. Although, the reggae music at the mini festival was really good! Whilst on this street, i did eat probably one of the nicest pizza's i have eaten, sorry Dogan's, but this pizza was the Shizzle!...Let's just say there was spinach and Hellim on it, surely thats enought to excite the tastebuds! No joke..is was too nice!

As midnight passed i headed home on the bus with my aching feet! And also some other random activity we went to was a Midnight hike in the forest behind my university campus! It ended up with all of us sitting in a circle listening to the sound of maracas and bongos, at least i think they were bongos, as well as a girl swinging lights around, which i did have a little go at. There were meant to be smores and a bonfire but it rained a little so that failed. Then we retreated to a cool game of table tennis! I've been doing some other cool things, but i guess i have wrote enough now, but i'll be posting again pretty soon as i'll be attending a couple of cool things this weekend :)

A few of us exchange peeps chilling and playing instruments during mini hike.
P.s Happy 21st Birthday to our Aussie friend Caitlin!


Adios for now amigos!

Toronto...The Diverse City!

A view to the north side of the city
Toronto Sky-Line

This week I made my first trip to Toronto and let's just say it was the Bomb. A quick fact, half the population of Toronto were not born in Toronto, making this one of the most diverse cities in the world. Arriving into Toronto on a 'Yellow school bus' you quickly begin to see the tall glass sky scrapers. We got off the bus right outside the CN tower which was pretty cool and then grabbed our tickets and made our way up to the top, which apparently takes 20-30 minutes if you were to walk to the top!...assuming you are an athletic person that is haha!...why take the stairs when you can get on a 15mph lift to the top. The lift was pretty cool as it had a glass windows on one side and also on the floor. So once we made it to the top, you could walk around to get a panoramic view of the city which was nice as you could also look over lake Ontario, which basically looks like an ocean!! There was also a glass floor at the top which we all were laying on whilst taking pictures! This one women insisted on walking on the steel that holds the glass windows together, rather than standing on the glass itself, which was funny to watch, but obviously heights aren't everyones thing! 

The Next stop was to watch the Blue Jays play against the New York Yankees! Once again the whole experience was very surreal! There were so many things going on that you wouldn't get bored! For instance, when the teams were switching positions, the giant screen in the stadium would show someone's face in the crowd and instantly that person would win either money or prizes! One lucky person won a new blackberry phone, someone else won a signed 'Jersey', whereas another won a Expedia voucher for their next holiday! Baseball itself was pretty easy to follow and was fun when the Mexican wave started going around the stadium along with the chanting! "Lets go Blue Jays!"

After the game, which i think went on for around 3 hours, we decided to wonder around Toronto and get to see the city on foot! We ended up seeing a mexican festival on the way, along with malls, vintage shops, people setting up concerts, Dundas square (the time square of Toronto) as well having a wonder around the University of Toronto's campus. Over all the city itself is really nice, there's so much going on, so there is always something to see. I think the film festival was also on too. To end the day we went to this Mexican restaurant/Bar that our Australian friend, Caitlin, suggested and this is where i tried my first Burrito Grande, which if you was wondering was really goooood!!!!!!...and kept me full! The restaurant/bar itself was pretty cool too, as there were so many random things on the walls, chairs and ceiling.

Fellow Exchangers!

Amy, Victoria and behind the Camera Selin

Overall the day in toronto was wicked day and with it only being 40 minutes away from where i live and costing $9 to get to, i will definitely making many more visits to this diverse city!

See you later!

Where To Begin...

So it has been around 2 weeks since my last post, but i do have valid reasons! It turned out that during my first week at Uni i didn't have access to the internet in my house. Although, the first week was so busy i probably wouldn't of had time to post anything. Anyway, where to begin!! So much has happened in the past two week! I've literally been having such a good time, i find it hard to actually believe I'm in Canada! So last week we had a welcome week purely for Exchange students from around the world who are also here to study for one year! Everyone is so friendly, I've met some really cool people that'll i'll be keeping in touch with for years to come! 

Exchange Students-I'm in there somewhere.

To start the Exchange welcome week we climbed the Alpine towers (kind of an obstacle course going upwards). The funny thing is that this is on the university campus. I really enjoyed it, although i did get stuck on one bit for around 6 minutes, so i just kind of admired the view while i was up there. 

I did eventually get to the top. 

I've got to mention how energetic the Canadian students are. It's so funny because it's so different from freshers week back at home. For instance, back in England move in day involved yourself and your parents moving your things into your room. That's not how it is done here. Instead you get over 20 students reps waiting for you to open your car door so they can sing to you and dance for you the very moment  you step foot on the ground. It doesn't end there, for the rest of the week everyone would sing, dance or chant! Whenever music was playing, people were dancing as well as chanting McMaster uni chants. I'm talking from half 8 in the morning till late night! 

     

A person from each department had to have a dance off with each

 other during the talks.

After the talks had finished, there were loads of things going on, at one end there was a group of people pole dancing, on the other there was a stage with music surrounded by people 'fist pumping'! it was so funny and surreal! 

Anyway I'm off! Its been a long day of doing uni work today! I could write about so many more things that i did during welcome week last week, but i'll save that for the next post (which will be soon now that i have internet). Right now i'm tired and i have a 'class' (Canadian call lectures classes) at 8:30am!

 See you Later!