Staycation

Well it's true, I went on vacation in my own city and had an amazing time! Mum came up to visit this weekend which was so fun; I thought she may not make it for my first year but she did!

She arrived Friday night around 10:00pm (or so I was told). I walked to the train station which is only about 20 minutes through downtown. Apparently her train got in around 9:30pm and she was just sitting there alone! I felt bad, but we went to the hotel directly so it was fine.

We stayed in Cantlie Suites which was about a 15 minute walk to residence, but I stayed overnight in the room with her anyways. We got upgraded to a suite, as well! Our room had 2 queen beds separated from the rest of the suite by french doors, a living area with a couch and tables, and a bathroom. As we were exploring the room, I went over to the big closet doors and opened them. Turns out it wasn't a closet, it was a kitchen behind there! Simply a counter with a stove, burners, large mini-fridge, a microwave, cupboards/dishes, and a coffee maker. You have no idea how hard we laughed when we discovered the secret kitchen. It was a great surprise. Mum baked me cookies that she brought over, but if she had just waited until we got the room, she could've used our oven!

So that same Friday night I was expecting to go relax in the hotel and get ready for a busy Saturday- but Mum had other plans. We ended up going out to a bar for a few drinks and some nachos! While we were there, one of the (extremely charismatic) bartenders lost the top to a bottle and was frantically searching for it. I saw it behind him and pointed it out. He thanked me profusely and a few minutes later came over with 3 shots of maple whisky: one for my mum, one for me and one for himself. It was his way of thanking me for finding the cap! "I don't remember the last time I had a shot!" Mum said. We took the leftover nachos home and called it a night around 1am.

Saturday was very busy. We had two apartment viewings (because the other apartment we were getting fell through) and wanted to have time to explore as well. The first viewing was at 11:30am near Berri/UQAM metro station. The next one was at 1:00pm and was only one metro stop away. We ended up walking there then going out for brunch to Coras in the gay village afterwards. It was a lot of fun! The apartments all had pros and cons, but they looked promising.

After Katherine went back home and I gave Mum a little tour of residence, we decided to walk along St. Catherine street and do a little shopping! I got a couple new things, including a new top which I'm in love with. Our purchases also included a gorgeous new Lulu Lemon bag that my Mum got! We ended up carrying everything in it on our walk.

We eventually made our way back to the village where we were that morning and decided to go south to Old Montreal. It was a gorgeous day, a little windy, but bearable. We looked at the shops down there and I showed her where I stayed with my friends last March Break. After that we were pretty exhausted and only got back to the hotel around 7:00pm (since leaving at 11:00am). Through the whole weekend we estimated walking almost 14 kilometers!

We were very tired, and ended up hanging out in the room until 8:00pm (watching Night at the Museum in french on tv) then went to a restaurant called Boccacini's. It was great; we had fancy drinks, I had a delicious sauteed veggie wrap and my mum had an asian salad. We were still feeling pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel and went to bed around 11:30pm.

On Sunday, Mum's train was at 11:00am, or so we thought. Once we checked out at quarter to ten, Mum checked the ticket and her train was at 11:55am! We ended up staying at the hotel for a continental breakfast buffet. It was delicious. That mistake allowed us to have some extra time together over a meal, and also allowed time for relaxing.

Afterwards, we walked to the train station and I waited with her until she boarded. It was very sad to see her go, but we packed SO much into one weekend that there was really no way I couldn't be happy at the same time.

This may sound corny, but my Mum truly is my best friend. When it's just the two of us together, we laugh, we explore, we see the humor in things that other people don't- it's like we're the same person. She told me that the relationship we have with each other is the same kind of relationship she had with her mum. I can see why they were so close.

I'm going home in just 18 days, and I already miss her. Time to stick it out in the home stretch, Summer is just within reach.

Love you, Mum.

Two Teeth Less Wise

Well, it's done. I now have no wisdom teeth left, and I couldn't be happier. Both sets only caused problems. Like I said in my last post, my mouth is too small for the amount of teeth trying to grow, so clearly the ones at the back got the bad end of the deal. From having gone through this twice now, I find myself wondering what horrible agony people went through before dentists or knowledge of what goes on with your teeth. Yikes.

So the operation itself kind of sucked. I went in with my mum, but she wasn't actually there for the extraction (I would've been embarrassed if she was, anyway). Still, she left work early to meet me and I'm glad she did.

First they froze me, I knew what to expect there since they did that last time. My sister went under gas when they took all four of hers out, but I find that it's too expensive and unnecessary because my teeth weren't impacted (not showing through the gums). So they left for about 5 minutes to let the freezing do it's job and I read about celebrity break ups. Katy Perry was singing Fireworks on the radio and I hoped it would end before they came back to pull the teeth. The last thing I wanted to hear then was her.

Once they came back and were prodding in my mouth, I could feel a little bit of poking on my gums. This worried me a bit. Turns out they can't freeze the top ones too much from danger of accidently freezing your brain... okay, didn't need to know that. But because of it, I could feel some of the pulling and the pain. I didn't cry at all with the bottom teeth, but with these ones the assistant had to dab my tears every thirty seconds. I didn't mean to wail, I hope Dr. Sardi didn't mind.

That upset me a lot. I wanted to burst into tears because all I could taste was blood and I kept replaying the feeling in my head. I waited until we were out of the dentist office and cried in my mum's arms. This is why I'm glad she came.

After that I bit down on gauze for a good 5 hours and didn't really eat until the next day. I have to say, I felt much better during the healing process (which is actually still going on) than I did with the bottom teeth. Saturday I was talking, laughing, watching movies, and went out to see The King's Speech with my mum and Molly. It was great!

On the way to the train station on Sunday, Mum and I went to the grocery store to stock up on soft foods before going back to Montreal. I had just taken a Tylenol 3 and ate a banana, which apparently isn't enough food for the medication to work with. I started having a terrible feeling in my stomach in the grocery store, like it was trying to implode or something. Luckily we figured it out, I ate some apple sauce before we bought it and I felt better. Mum knows what to do in those type of situations, thankfully.

So now I'm back at residence, laying around in my PJs, eating soup, pudding, apple sauce and yogurt. I'm trying not to think about home because I always get uncontrollably sad after I visit. But there's only 38 more days until I go home between 2 exams for a few days before moving out entirely and spending the summer in Toronto. I'd really appreciate time flying right about now.

Teeth, I am Disappoint.

So today I went to the dentist. It was the usual, I lie about how much I floss and my dentist tells me I'm brushing perfectly. This time I mentioned a little something about my top wisdom teeth coming in (I got my bottom two out two years ago) so he took a look.

It's true they're coming in, but with nowhere to go. My mouth is very small, apparently. So he took an x-ray and we saw them sort of wedged against my molars and pointing sort of at my cheeks, trying to find a way to grow. In this case (which I learned from Dr. Sardi) there is a large chance of infection, meaning my cheeks will swell up and I won't be able to eat.

Having seen this, he scheduled an appointment for THE NEXT MORNING. Which means, I'll have my teeth out, feel awful, not be able to go to Ottawa to see the triplets get baptized, and have the rest of my reading week, what I've been looking forward to since the new year, ruined. They rushed me out of the dentist office so fast that I didn't have time to protest.

So I called my mum on the walk home and cried to her. Thankfully she called back and changed the appointment. But that means that I now have to return to Toronto in a week to get them out, feel like crap for a day, then go back to school. Awesome. I'm not looking forward to that at all, but if it has to be done, what can we do?

Other than that little fiasco today, my reading week has been great thus far.

More updates after it's actually over!

General Update!

So, wow. It's almost been a month since my last post, and now I decide to right before leaving for reading week! That's right, I get to go home for 8 whole days, then go to Ottawa to see the triplets get baptized before going back to school. A few things worth mentioning have happened since I last posted, I'll try to remember them here.

About two weeks back I went to Ottawa to meet my Mum and Molly, like I did when I wrote about it in a previous blog. Basically it was the same set-up: we spent Saturday together then visited the triplets on Sunday before heading back to our respective cities.

So Saturday we basically met up and went to look at all the ice sculptures for the Winterlude Festival. We also trekked to a place called The Scone Witch, which apparently has awesome scones, except it was closed when we got there. Oh well. Later we went swimming at the hotel, Molly & Mum went skating on the frozen canal and then we went to Milestones for dinner where I (once again) did not get carded when ordering a martini. I had a white grape cosmo, Molly had a blackberry martini and my mum had a grapefruit martini. Yum.

Then Sunday we visited the triplets (and a few cousins in the process). They're so big now!! All around 14 pounds, the last time we saw them they were under 10 pounds! We fed them and took pictures (on my facebook) then they went to sleep.

So that was a good weekend.

Last Thursday I donated blood for the third time. They advised me that my blood type is actually A- instead of O- like they told me earlier. And from what I've been told about family history, that makes a hell of a lot more sense. Still, only 6% of the population has that blood type; O- was 7%. Anyway, I almost fainted, which the volunteers didn't like. In the end I was fine, though.

But the next day I was drinking with some friends and we decided to go for a walk around Montreal. I actually had more than them so we just thought that's why I was so dizzy and sick all night. Then we realized that I had a significantly less amount of blood in my system and everything made sense. I ended up laying in bed, awake and sick until 6:30am. Finally I decided to just go make myself throw up (sorry that's gross, guys). But after that I felt SO much better. Let me tell you, you don't ever want to touch the floors of residence bathrooms, but I had little choice. The next day I was slightly hung over for pretty much the whole day, but thankfully that was Saturday so Sunday I felt better. I learned my lesson, though. Not sure how I was so stupid to drink after giving blood in the first place!

And the final mentionable thing that's happened since I lasted posted, is my first university mid-term! I didn't have any in first semester which was nice, but it made this one much scarier. I freaked out for a while, but I also made some really awesome study notes, which helped.

The exam was today, and I totally nailed it! I don't wanna jinx it, but there was almost nothing I was completely in the dark about. Some answers were more clear than others, but overall it was good! Take that, british literature of the 18th century!

My train is on Friday the 18th at 6:40am. I'll be home by noon, then I can start enjoying my relaxation time. See you later, Montreal!

Another Dream

Since I moved to Montreal, I haven't been dreaming much. I'm the type of person who usually has very vivid dreams and I like to tell people about them- but that hasn't been the case for the past little while.

However, I did dream last night!

It was all about figure skating. I was in a residence sort of like the one I live in right now, only much much larger and somehow everyone was best friends with each other. I remember rushing down the hall with a bunch of other girls to go to something very important.

When I got there, it was a large room, and the floor was all ice. We sat in a big circle (don't ask me why it wasn't cold when we sat down) and listened to the four teachers. There were two males and two females. I only remember my old high school musical theatre dance teacher, Ms. Marsh to be one of the women, and one of my really crappy RAs (resident assistant) to be one of the men, Morgan. The other woman was tall and Russian... and I feel like the other man was Snape... but I'm not sure, haha.

They were talking to us like the rest of our school year depended on this 'tryout' which apparently it did. They were doing a few rounds of testing: Each teacher would choose one student per round and test them on 'two intense components' which I think meant like, singing or dancing (figure skating dancing, that is) and dramatic performance.

I was the last chosen by the russian lady to do a scene where she was trying to pry into my dreams while I was sleeping, (Inception?) so I had to resist her like a virus, or something along those lines. I noticed my skates were a little loose so I took a moment to tighten them... only, when I got back up, a blade had completely broken off one of my skates. I just held it up in horror as everyone stared at me, and I could hear Ms. Marsh off to the side saying, "This is why you always turn your skate to the side when you're tying the other one!" In her very Ms. Marsh tone.

It was horrible, I asked around to borrow one skate but no one wanted to give up their chance to be chosen to try out. Then the russian lady merely said "Alright, you're done." It was so awful! It's like, I knew I could do the scene well and wow everyone if I just had the chance!

After that I remember running back to my room, upset. Then I heard some sort of protest outside in the hall, and it was all my friends saying that I should get another chance! It was so nice, but right when I was going to beg for another chance, I woke up. Some conclusion, eh?

So that was it, but I liked having dreamt again anyway. Even if there was no conclusion and it was all fairly short.

If I ever have interesting dreams, I'll most likely post them here. Hopefully more to come!

Apartment Hunting

It is currently around 12:30am on a Saturday night and what am I doing? Browsing craigslist, google & Kijiji for apartments. I'm moving in with my friend Katherine next year, which is exciting, but also stressful.

Now, I know it's January, and we're going to be living wherever in September, but apartments like you to lease in like, May, apparently. We're looking for a 2 bedroom, 4.5 all-inclusive place near campus. Pretty specific, but you kind of need to be.

So far we have a few places to tour, all very nice and close enough to school to walk (because I am NOT buying a metropass every month). But what's frustrating is like I said, it's January. That's WAY too early to start asking places to put a room on hold.

The thing is, I really don't want us to have to settle on a place. I HATE settling, it's worse than giving up. I want somewhere that we're comfortable with, and didn't have to look around for months to find. I know I'm thinking like we're in this perfect world where I'll find a building with everything we need right beside the main campus building, but... oh wait, I did find a place like that!

We tried to get a tour there but it's still too early. I just wanted to maybe pay a security deposit or something so we'd be guaranteed a spot, before all the vicious Concordians find that place and there's no space left!

The hunt continues. Wish us luck!

Thrown Back into the Habit

It's been a while since I've last posted, I know; but I warned you didn't I? That I'd be on Christmas vacation and not so interested in the virtual world (as it wouldn't be keeping me from my studies at that time).

But here I am, again. And tonight I am a little sad. Not as sad as I was when I first got back, or at least, not as emotional.

Katherine and I watched that movie The Lovely Bones earlier. I'd seen it before, the tragic story of a girl who is killed by her neighbor and her watching her own life after she's gone. The first time I read it I was sad, the first time I saw it I was sad, but somehow the second time I just watched it made me really upset.

The movie revolves around family a lot, and that's the problem. It's like whenever I see something having to do with family and being together I get all upset. I know this won't go on forever, but it's still very annoying.

I was home for a total of 3 1/2 weeks over the holiday... which proved to be a bit too long apparently, because I was just thrown back into the habit I'd been trying to kick for the past 3 months since I moved- needing my family to be happy.

Over the break we went to my cottage for Christmas with some cousins, it turned out to be a really nice time. I'd choose a winter wonderland over mucky Toronto for Christmas day anytime. We have three snowmobiles there that we've been riding for almost three years now, and there have really been no accidents to date.

We went out on boxing day for a drive around the lake: me on one snowmobile, my mum on one and Tom & Molly sharing one. The roads were icy, but we were being careful.

While going up a big hill, Mum in the front, me following and Molly & Tom far behind, my mum turned at the top and started to fishtail. She hit the brakes and immediately the snowmobile rolled on it's side, doing a full turn until it was upright again. Luckily my mum rolled out from under it before it fell on top of her, but it felt like everything that I just saw took years to happen. I was watching my mother get out from under a 600 pound machine and there was nothing I could do about it.

She hurt her ankle, not badly, but we're lucky that's all that happened.

The point of this story is, when that happened, all I could think about was how little I'd seen my mother over the past three months. Had anything serious happened, I would've felt so guilty having chosen Montreal instead of staying in Toronto where I could be close to her, and the rest of my family and friends who I miss. I miss them every second of every day and it's so difficult.

From watching The Lovely Bones and seeing the family missing their fifth member, these feelings flooded me and I just got so upset.

I always thought that I was the strongest, most independent one of my siblings, and that when Molly would cry about going back to residence 6 blocks away, she was insane. I figured I'd move away, miss everyone and move on- it didn't exactly work that way. Now look at me: it's quarter to one in the morning on a Sunday and I'm left writing sad blogs about being lonesome.

I promise I'll stop whining soon, maybe after first year... maybe after third year, actually.

To end on a happy note, I don't regret moving to Montreal, I really do love it here. What I regret is not being able to see the people I love more than anything on a daily basis. But this is all normal (or, that's what I'm told) so I'm gonna stick it out in my new home.

Goodnight.