NYC - Concrete jungle wet dream tomato

There's nothing you can't do
Now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Hear it from New York, New York, New York!

 First of all I gotta say that leaving London and Canada was way easier done bit by bit. 

So after my quick visit to Barrie, Ontario I set off towards New York, where my dear old(est) friend was going to meet me.

We arrived at different airports so we had decided to meet at the hostel in Brooklyn. The hostel.... ohhh what an interesting place. As opposed to the one in Toronto this was definitely not top rank. But let's not get into further detail. I'll tell more to anyone who dares ask. Ha. Let's just say that it was fine in the end but I wouldn't go there again.

Day 1:

We met at the hostel, settled in, and took off right away. Ended up having dinner in Chinatown, where else. Afterwards we headed towards Times Square. It was quite late already so after we'd taken some pictures and looked around as best as we could (waaaay too many people, I got anxious) we went back to the hostel for a good night's sleep.

OH! And I bought one of these! I'd dreamed about it ever since I saw one of the videos. 

Day 2:

Manhattan. Central Park. American Museum of Natural History (DINOS!). 

Not a dino. Super cute though.

Day 3:

Brooklyn Bridge. Staten Island Ferry. Giggles at the size of the Statue of Liberty (tiny fella, that one). Wall Street. Tiffany & CO. 9/11 Memorial. Century 21. Macy's. Shopping. More Manhattan.

Day 4:

Grand Central Terminal. Rockefeller Center - Top of the Rock. Central Park Zoo. Shopping. More Manhattan.

Day 5:

Way too many selfies at Carrie's steps. ("Noni lopeta jo mua hävettää"). Bethesda Terrace. The Friends building. More Manhattan.

Day 6:

Waldorf Astoria (kuka teki mitäkin...). Diamond district. NYU. Washington Square Park. Hairdresser. Shopping. More Manhattan.

Day 7:

A ride from the Hostel's owner's neighbours (or relatives, dunno) to get somewhere where we could get a cab to the airport. Trying not to throw up in the cab. Different flights. 10 hours at JFK waiting for mine. 

To sum up:

The city is huge. Huger than I could imagine. There are SO many people, but luckily they're concentrated mostly on the Times Square area so as long as you avoid that area once you've seen it, it's fine. No better place for people watching, my favourite hobby, though (meaning NYC, not TS). Have to say my expectations were a bit too high, and I certainly didn't fall in love at first sight but it grew on me. I know this is cheesy as hell but you really feel like you can do everything. The different neighbourhoods were really different. Like Upper East Side and Chinatown for example. Soho was lovely and so was West Village (could see myself living there!). The metro system is awesome, although kind of outdated. The stations were sometimes a bit hard to find and the instructions inside could've been clearer. It's really easy to navigate the streets since each lateral street is numbered. The Central Park is awesome. And huge, too. And Brooklyn was really nice too!

They don't make songs about the city for nothing.

Loved it.

<3

Fancy a scoop?

******************************************************

"Seasons change. So do cities. People come into your life and people go. But it's comforting to know, the ones you love are always in your heart. And if you're very lucky, a plane ride away."

It's been three months now. I miss our Canada Crew. I miss Jack's. I miss it all. A lot.

Sadly, not everyone's in this pic but it's still my favourite.

*******

So I guess this is the end of this story, and this blog.

Peace out.

Yo.

Toronto

Ok so first of all, this is about two & a half months late... But better late than never, eh?

Second, I'm not sure if I remember anything anymore.

But anyway, here's a recap of my weekend trip to Toronto:

So when I realized that I'd be leaving soon and I still hadn't been to Toronto I quickly booked two nights in a hostel. I didn't even ask anyone to come with me cause that way I'd be free to do whatever I wanted and get the most out of it.

I stayed in Canadiana Backpackers Inn which was the best hostel I've ever been in. And also the cheapest option. AND it's downtown so you can walk everywhere.

As soon as I'd checked myself in I hurried to the CN Tower because it was starting to get cloudy. I had bought my ticket online so I didn't have to stand in lines. You also save a couple of bucks that way. I went all the way up to the Skypod (447m) which costs $12 more dollars but I'd say it's worth it. The whole thing cost $40. That's quite a lot when you think about it but no regrets here. If you have more time and want to go places, you can buy the CityPass, which gets you access to the CN tower, Royal Ontario Museum, Casa Loma, Toronto Zoo and Ontario Science Centre. You could save some money even if you don't go to each of them. For hockey fanatics there's the Hockey Hall of Fame.

From the CN tower. The glass floor freaked me out but eventually i gathered my courage to stand there. Below is the Aquarium, which I've heard is also worth a visit. 

Next I took the ferry to the Toronto Islands. It was mid April and the Islands were a bit gloomy because nothing was blooming yet. The little farm was closed and there was nothing else to do either. So I actually just ended walking for hours with uncomfortable shoes. The only upside was the view of downtown Toronto. But don't get me wrong! I'm not saying I wouldn't go there again, I'd just go there in the summer and take a bike with me. The ferry ticket was about $10 I think. 

For the rest of my time there I just walked around the downtown area with my camera visiting all the different neighbourhoods. Well not all of them of course. Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities and it's also clearly visible, which makes it an especially lovely place. The Londoners had said on multiple occasions that Toronto is too big but to me it seemed just perfect. It was calm, safe, pretty, versatile, and most important of all, not too busy. I'd totally see myself living there.

*******

Let's see when I'll manage to write the one about New York.....

*****

P.s. Four months is not enough.

crisis /ˈkrʌɪsɪs/

crisis /ˈkrʌɪsɪs/, noun (plural: crises /ˈkrʌɪsiːz/)

- A time when a difficult or important decision must be made

In addition to the identity crisis that every twenty-something is going through, I'm also going through a major decision making crisis at the moment.

As many of you know I tend to procrastinate and be very indecisive about every decision I have to make. If choosing a shampoo brand or an ice-cream flavour causes me immense anxiety and frustration, imagine what it's like trying to decide what to do with my life.

So as everyone knows, my original plan was to do an internship in Toronto after this semester ends. Well, I've got two weeks of school left and three weeks until I have to move out of here, and I still haven't made any decisions.

I talked to Fanshawe's career counselor and she said that I might easily get an internship in Toronto, but reminded me that it might be hard to find an affordable living arrangement, since apparently hotels in Toronto don't offer it to interns (not really a surprise but I'd still been hoping on it). She recommended Muskoka's resorts to me, which kind of sound appealing but kind of don't. I mean I'm sure I would enjoy it in any case but somehow I just don't feel like going there.

And while I loooove Canada, I'm yearning to explore and experience another country. Everyone I know here will be gone to their own adventures by then, so I would have to start anew, again, anyway. 

Right now the plan that's starting to sound the best is to go to Finland from here, maybe work for a couple of months to fill my travelling fund, and then do an internship in England instead. One thing I know for sure is that I do indeed want to do the internship now instead of going to school in August. And this would make a lot of thing a lot easier, like paperwork with the school and figuring out the insurance and work permits and stuff like that.

But since I seem to change my mind as often as a bat my eyelids, who knows where I'll end up. I also really want to go to Australia and New Zealand, but maybe it's better to stay at least a little bit closer to home for now.

One thing that adds up to this crisis is that I still have a lot of things to do and places to go before I leave. I haven't even visited Toronto yet, which is an absolute must. But I will not leave this continent (haha almost said condiment, oops) before I've visited New York City, that's for sure. I'll go there alone if I have to. I also really really really want to visit Los Angeles and Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, too. But, the fact is, I'm still a student, not a millionaire. Of course I will (hopefully) have time time to come back here later in life and visit all those places, and seems like that's exactly what I have to settle for for now. AND I still need to go to an NHL game! Just to make my brothers green of jealousy!

So, any opinions? Any advice? Both are more than welcome!!!!!!! Pleeeease someone help me!

My goal in life is to get to a high enough position to be able to hire an assistant who makes every decision for me. My Gemini mind just can't handle it....

*****

In other news:

Four of my courses ended a couple of weeks ago so now I have a lot of free time, yay! Well actually I'm kinda bored a lot... haha. 

My new schedule above and my old schedule below

What else... school, parties, hanging out with friends. That's pretty much it.

At Easter I am going to Barrie! There are some old friends of my grandparents living there, and they want to meet me. I've met two of them once before some years ago, but their whole family lives here and they are all going to be there. So basically, there's going to be a bunch of people who are all strangers to me... But I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun! And I'll get to see a new place! Yay!

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Knights game. That was aaaaawesome! (<- a video clip they play after every Knights goal (3s-7s))

At the game our row won coupons for free cupcakes! It was good but a bit too sweet, a bit too big and waaaay too difficult to eat. I should've done this.

Victoria Park is my favorite place here because of these little critters! This one was hanging by it's hind legs while eating a peanut. Acrobatic!

Why do you have to call non-meat meat, eh?

Patio season officially opened.

I guess that's what they're called in English... Not quite as innocent as 'pajunkissat'

And then there's this. Oh, Canada!
(it does not really contain any marijuana though)

*****

The end is neigh. And I can feel it. The sadness of leaving and all this ending soon is already here.... 

Four months is a damn short period of time.

MIAMI!

Day 1
Friday

Just to be sure.

This is how it started. Two hours of sleep, a cab at 4.30am to the RobertQ bus terminal, a cup of Timmy's half&half and off to the airport. That coffee was a mistake since I wasn't able to sleep on the bus and I also kept my friend awake (and annoyed) with my constant babbling. We were a group of 8 exchange students from Finland, France, The Netherlands and Belgium.

The flight was supposed to leave at 9:20am but it kept being more and more delayed due to some fog in New York. We had to change our connecting flight twice and when we were finally given the green flag I think it was around 12 o'clock. Thank goodness for good company and WiFi.

Our tiny ride and our perky steward. Dat scarf tho....

The plane was tiny but we had good seats thanks to some people who asked to change seats with me. Once we got to land at La Guardia, New York, after a little bit of circling in the sky, there was a small scare since one of us got lost from the group. The airport was crowded and there were no employees visible. We already thought about making an announcement but luckily she found her way back. And even more luckily we all got to leave at about the same time although in two different planes.

Once we stepped out of the airport in Miami the air gave us a WARM welcome. We were all knackered after a loooong day of travelling so after checking in at the hostel we just went to have something to eat and headed back to the hostel to sleep (even though some people had talked about going out...).


Day 2
Saturday

We greeted the Floridian sun with a little bit too much enthusiasm and spent hours on the beach. Result: a lot of bright red burnt skin. (joojoo äiti, tyhmää.) The water was nicely warm and there were no big waves so swimming was fun! Can't even remember the last time before that. Also tried to go parasailing (which I reeeeeally wanted to do) but there was a long queue and the price was higher than what we were told before.

Our beach.

Day 3
Sunday

Bayside Marketplace. Not a very exciting place imo. Almost everyone bought a pair of shoes though. I bought a new pair of All Stars, yay! Btw, I'm still pissed I took FRIES with garlic shrimp haha. The ordering situation was just too confusing for me... Or maybe it was the pain killers I'd had to take to ease the pain of my sunburns...

Bayside Marketplace. As you can see.

Day 4
Monday

 Little Havana and Wynwood. Little Havana is home to most of the Cubans in town (which is a lot)  and the other latinos. We only saw The Walk of Fame and Calle Ocho which were really not that exciting either. (I'm giving a really good picture of Miami here haha. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely place.) So since we were getting bored in Little Havana our French friends' French friend guided us to the Wynwood Art District. Now, THAT was awesome. Street art everywhere. As a street art enthusiast I had a hard time keeping up with the rest of the group as I was taking pictures and admiring the works of art. We just walked around (I don't even know where) for a couple of hours, had lunch, went to see the Wynwood Walls, got a little bit lost, waited for the bus for a very long time singing all kinds of song from nursery rhymes to My Heart Will Go On (for some reason the others pretended they didn't know us...). Saw and definitely heard (I can still hear it in my head) a car crash into a tree. I guess the driver was texting or fell asleep cause there really wasn't any apparent reason for it (note that it was a MALE driver). Well the bus never came so we walked to another bus stop and eventually got home safe.
Then we just hung out on the rooftop of the hostel chilling, listening to music, playing pool and having some drinks. There was also a limbo competition which I did NOT participate in to save myself and the others from humiliation.

Our epically street credible gang.

I was so stoked to see a Banksy piece!

One of my favourites. Artist: Eduardo Kobra

The Wynwood Doors

Day 5
 Tuesday

We went shopping with the girls. We just walked on the shopping street on South Beach. Collins Avenue was the name of the street I believe. I also planned to go to a mall because everything's a lot cheaper in the US but sadly all the malls were very far away.

Since I don't have have any pictures from our shopping trips here's a pretty cool car.

Day 6
 Wednesday

I think on Wednesday we visited the beach again but this time very quickly and I didn't even take my dress off even though it was cloudy - I did not want to make the burns any worse since just about every movement and especially sleeping was painful enough as it was (and wearing a bra). And I'm not exaggerating or being a martyr here, I really was quite badly burnt from some places. So were almost all the others too.
While we were hanging out on the rooftop a promoter finally convinced us to go out telling us we'd get free drinks and stuff but it was quite a disappointment. No free drinks or anything - just the opposite actually. Ridiculously expensive drinks, crappy music, too many people. And my bracelet got stuck in a stranger's dress. Aaawkward. But the only thought in my head at the moment when she was ripping it out was that I really effing hope that it's not an expensive dress and she won't make me pay for it. Luckily she just laughed it off and continued dancing. Pheeew!
We left quite early since none of us were really having a good time (well the boys were and they stayed till the very end...........).

Las chicas

Day 7
Thursday

 We went rollerblading next to the beach. I didn't notice one of the wheels on my rollerblades was almost cut to half until I was far away from the rental place so that made it a bit more difficult and it would've been difficult enough for me even without that. But it was a lot of fun anyway and luckily people realized it would be better to get out of our way since almost none of us new how to break. So despite the lack of skills it was very delightful (didn't wanna use 'fun' again) until one of us fell and hit her tailbone. Ouch :(.
We had rented the rollerblades for two hours but some of us had to head back to the hostel after a little over an hour so we'd have time to take a shower and get some lunch before going to see the Miami Heat vs. New York Knicks basketball game. Although I don't really even watch sports it was a nice experience to see the NBA pros at work. Two words: LeBron James.

Wow. Such hip.

LBJ doing his thaaang.

Day 8
Friday

Me and three other girls went back to the rental place and rented rollerblades and Segways. I chose the Segway because I'd always wanted to try one. I had some doubts though in the beginning but the guy at the shop gave me a quick lesson on how to operate it and I quickly became a pro haha. He also recommended us to go to the southernmost tip of the island to the South Pointe Park. It seemed like a very cozy park and the views were nice too. Afterwards we just walked around a bit taking pictures and popping in some small shops. We also made a last minute visit to the post office just when they were closing and experienced some not so friendly service while we were there.
In the evening we all went to the beach to take pictures and just enjoy of the scenery. Some shoes, phones and wallets took a swim in the sea thanks to the rapidly rising tide. After that we went to have dinner and some big cocktails that we'd been drooling after for the whole week. The we hurried back to the hostel to see our buddy Omar's Michael Jackson performance. He'd been hanging out with us the whole week and promoting the show so how could we miss it!

Deuces. I'm an outsider with my segway. It's ok, I'm used to it.

South Pointe Park

My ride. And my new All Stars.

Day 9
Saturday  


Time to head back home. For the the first time returning home from a trip didn't feel sad at all because I was coming back to Canada. I'm usually very grumpy when going back home but I was surprisingly cheery even despite the 3 am wake-up. The officer at the the customs desk in the Toronto airport made my day by welcoming me home. 

Bye bye for now Obamaland. I might be wrong but I think that strip of land there is Miami Beach/South Beach

***

I'm not really sure if I got the days right since I don't really remember anymore but who cares anyway. There were also lots and lots of cool cars, bus rides, eating at restaurants, cocktails and drinks, hanging out at the rooftop, beer pong, chatting with other travellers and just enjoying the holiday. I had a great time but next time I'll be wiser when dealing with the sun.

*******

Now let's just hope the spring we saw for a couple of days comes back fast.
4 final exams next week. First London Knights game today (Friday), yayy!

*********

Ps. note that there's a post about my apartment too. I didn't share it on facebook so not a lot of people have seen it but a lot of people were asking for it so there you go!

My crib!

So finally, here's the long ago promised post about the place I live in - Kestrel Court unit 35.

I've already talked about it before so let's just let the pictures speak for themselves (wiht captions ofc haha)

 The hallway & kitchen

Downstairs (2 bedrooms & a bathroom) & the living room that no one ever uses

 

Sharing this bathroom with 3 other girl has its challenges...

 Monsieur Pomelo on the fridge (which I should be paying for but I guess they just forgot it here, not complaining! *"it" being the fridge, not the pomelo). The bed is so high that I have to climb up there like a child. And I always hit my thigh on the corner which leaves pretty nice bruises too... But it's good anyway cause there are drawers! It's a bit short too so have to sleep diagonally. And I have to keep the pillow in the corner because otherwise I keep waking up to the rattling of the blinds (yeah I move a lot when I sleep)

The way to school (and anywhere else ofc)

The Kestrel Court "gate" and the school on the background (well just like 10% of it). And the 'view' from the living room window.

Not my house in either of these pics, but all the houses are pretty much identical.

My house is on the left (I'm standing at the end of it so you can't see it). And the laundry room which I'm going to miss when I move back to Porvoo........ There are more washing machines on the right.

I had seen this before a couple of times and every time I left it at the store I felt really sad so I finally bought it! Don't know how I'll get it back to Finland but let's not worry about that just yet!

I live here with 4 roommates, who are all Canadian. I don't really see them that often but they're nice! A bit younger though (18, 18, 19, 20). There was one more girl living here in the beginning but she got hit by a car on the way to school and broke her collarbone so she went back home.

*****

Otherwise things are going great!  Lots of schoolwork, a few mid-terms, wine tastings, going out on weekends, a trip to Niagara Falls yesterday, Miami in 5 days... Loving life!