Thanks for sticking with me.. life got rather a bit too busy, for a moment. To cut a long story short (ie. if you can't be bothered to read much further ;)), I am currently almost-installed in Canada but was a Very Bad Blogger and didn't write a single letter the whole last month. So I shall be attempting to catch up on myself, whilst remembering all the details, and therefore get back upto speed with where I am currently, which is very far away from where I was last post. Here goes..
I feel that I should begin where my leaving-England also began and tell you about Iceland, which seems so long gone already! However, Reykjavik was my first stop after leaving London, and incredibly interesting if not a little chilly. I stayed at this rather nice little place, which although was on the city's outskirts was worth it just for the price.. other plus points were that it was clean and the staff were helpful, also I must say that the bus service to get me there was incredibly well organised for such a small place. The suggested walking route to town was a little bit rapey however, but once I found the main road into the city (that conveniently passed a handful of breakfast bakeries) I even found myself enjoying my twenty minutes of fresh air and walking-iPod time each day :) here are some pictures from this part of my journey :
View from the Hallgrimskirkja
Cool little skatepark in the city centre
Awesome oldschool till :)
One very uneventful and comfortable flight later (thanks Icelandair <3) I landed in New York, and after a bit of confusion found myself in a minibus bound for the hostel. I was staying in a very simple but also very clean 4-berth room, a bit like this one at the Westway Hotel in Queens / Jackson Heights. Although this was far out as far as sights were concerned, I didn't have much interest in most of them anyway, and must say that I absolutely loved the area; it felt really safe and I was particularly in love with the walk from the hostel to the nearest subway station. The main reason for this was due to this particular roads' proximity to so many AWESOME places to eat, no exaggeration. I think I fell in love (literally) with everything I ate in New York.. particularly the bagels <3 <3 <3
The next few days passed in a blur of walking-iPod time, I had been to New York on a college trip many years before and done most of the "main" sights (Empire State, Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center etc) so, as already mentioned these weren't really on my agenda. I'm generally a big fan of getting a feeling for a city, just by taking a book around with me, sitting in various cafes sampling the food and wrtiting postcards, talking to the people who work there and the like. I honestly believe that seeing new places can be as expensive or as cheap as you want, and as a lot of awesome and interesting things in New York (Central Park / Times Square / Staten Island Ferry / 9-11 Memorial / Coney Island Fair etc etc) are pretty much free save for the transport to get you there, this fitted into my wishes and budget well.
One of my favourite parts of this trip was exploring Central Park, as I'd not had a chance to on my previous visit - luckily the weather was perfect for having a wander in the extremely warm sun! I also loved Coney Island - visiting what is a fairly nice beach whilst in one of the busiest cites on earth is certainly something worth remembering (still wouldn't walk there with bare feet, like most of the kids were, though!). I shall also never forget walking over Brooklyn Bridge, something which I did on a whim but provided theeeee most incredible views, I honestly had to reach out and touch the bridge every so often, to check it was real! Another high point (pun intended) was the High Line, this incredible ex-subway-line-turned-aerial-park which starts in the Meatpacking district - I stumbled upon it completely by accident but urge anybody who may not have heard of it to Google it immediately, and visit it if you`re ever in town! Of course, I also enjoyed the 9/11 Memorial, as much as one can enjoy a memorial to so many people who lost their lives in such a terrible and unfair way. The site around the memorial itself is still under construction, but you can still visit the actual thing, and also get a good feeling where the building work is headed. I feel it's a very tasteful and appropriate tribute to those who died.
I think that about covers it for New York - and as I thought would happen, I've written about five thousand words more than I intended to, however I feel it represents just how much there is to do and see in this amazing city! Whilst I don't feel I would visit Reykjavik or Boston (coming up) again due to seeing most of what was available, I wouldn't hesitate to go back to New York and would be gobsmacked if I didn't discover even more new and interesting stuff. Here are some pics from this part of my little journey :
Coney Island Beach
New York City Hall
Brooklyn Bridge
After feeling personally responsible for global warming by taking a 34 minute flight (sorry world), I landed in Boston with what was still a full day ahead of me. I was staying in this hostel near Chinatown, which I can't recommend highly enough. It's brand spanking new and completely spotless, the beds are super comfy, there are many small little touches that are really thoughtful (own bedside power sockets, reading lamp etc) not to mention an amazing free breakfast. I think the only hostel I've liked as much is this place, but that's another story for another time ;)
My first day in Boston, I completed the Freedom Trail, which sounded twee and easy in the guidebook but actually took about four hours (!).. saying that it was totally worth it, I feel that it covered a lot of the main sights and areas to see, and you can take it at your own pace, or cut out what you don't wish to see (in the four hours I stopped a fair bit). I would recommend following the whole trail, though, as Boston`s streets can be very hard to navigate, and having the faithful red line to follow makes it a whole lot easier! A very high point on this was the USS Constitution, I have never in my life felt like a true pirate until I climbed aboard this ship. It's just incredible, you can almost see the history and imagine men running past you to light the cannons etc. Ahhh, history <3
The next day I decided to explore the Beacon Hill neighbourhood, then Harvard. Beacon Hill was beautiful, it`s one of the priciest neighbourhoods to live in in Boston, and is always lit by real gas lamps which are simply beautiful (sorry world, pt II). As it's so desirable to live there, many people have converted their basements into flats for rent or sale, leading to many of the house numbers being halves: 10½, 33½ etc, which I found completely charming! After trying and failing to navigate my way to Harvard on foot, I gave in and took the very ancient subway system (or "The T") out to Cambridge, named after the city in the UK, where Harvard is situated. I really enjoyed my walk around the campus, it seemed that a lot of other people were also there to look around, as well as study. There happened to be some kind of induction week going on, as it was the end of August / beginning of September, so there were plenty of studenty types milling around amongst huge maroon Harvard banners, as well as plenty of stalls vying for their (the students') business. It was a really nice atmostphere, and one I would recommend experiencing if you ever happened to be in the area.
After two very full days in Boston, again I had the feeling that I had seen much of what was available, therefore decided to spend my third Massachussetts day in Salem, about three quarters of an hour outside of the city by suburban rail. If you`re not familiar with this town, it`s where the fabled witch-trials took place in 1692, and as such is packed with any kind of witch memorabilia you can find.. tacky or otherwise! After a small walk around surveying what was available, I decided on the Salem Witch Museum, which, with the aid of some very moth-eaten wax figurines, tells the story of the trials and how they came about. Although kitsch to the extreme, I really enjoyed my time at the Witch Museum, and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who can withstand the tack-factor. And this about concludes my time spent in lovely Massachussets! A few pics that show my trip well are as follows :
Beginning of the Freedom Trail (note un-sore feet)
USS Constitution <3
Some cool fountain in Boston (I'm sure it has an official title but I can't be bothered to search it)
Bewitched statue in Salem (+500 points if you also think Bewitched is awesome)
Next, and nearly last, stop on my journey was Montreal, here in Quebec. After a rather stressful morning relying on the Boston airport transport (terrible... literally the worst) I just about avoided missing my plane, with the help of a few tears and a red face (being a girl rulz ok <3). After all the stress it was such a relief to find myself at the immigration gate, I was just hoping that I had all the necessary papers with me! This is the point whereby future assistants might wish to start reading, as it will apply to you next year! The whole process was actually quite pain free and easy to navigate - the border guards at Montreal had obviously dealt with this kind of permit before.. in fact the most stressful part of the whole ordeal were the rather pervy group of Mexicans that were before me in the queue.. it was much too early to be dealing with "ehh, guapa" every two minutes, mega sad face :( That said, I managed to get through all the questions and receive my permit in about half an hour, suddenly finding myself freely in Canada :) I must say that it was quite a strange sensation, after having worked so hard on the application, after having planned the flights and the trip, and after all the preparation/packing involved.. to suddenly just be exactly where you have been planning to go, with a whole year ahead of you. I can't really explain it! But it was a nice feeling :)
After finding my way to the worst hostel in the whole of life.. (seriously, I wouldn't even recommend it to my worst enemy), I passed out asleep. Which in hindsight was kind of annoying as that Monday was the most beautiful day of my whole stay there, but it had been a busy couple of weeks, so I think I deserved it. Plus, I had already topped up any tan I'd lost in the UK by being in New York and Boston, he he ;) That evening, I managed to drag myself into the Old Town in the evening for some dinner, and tried the ubiquitous Poutine for the first time. This dish is everywhere.. I mean everywhere, and is effectively chips, cheese and gravy.. which I kind of remember eating back at school once or twice! However the taste here is quite different to that (it's hard to explain, just try it!) and really pretty good, definitely worth giving a go, even if I could never manage it on a daily basis! You can also spice it up a bit by adding bacon, mushrooms, onions etc but obviously I stuck to the plain version as it was veggie-friendly.
Montreal old town really is amazing, definitely worth a visit if you are anywhere nearby. It suddenly changes from this very North-American metropolis into an olde-worlde cobbled European square in a matter of streets! It was certainly an interesting experience, I felt like I was in Prague or something, but they were speaking French and I was on an entirely different continent. Definitely a place I shall go back to, in fact as a result I unfortunately didn't take many pictures as I was so sure I would return. I would say that Montreal so far was my favourite place on the trip, even though I only had a couple of days to properly explore alone.. we were there for a further three days training and induction, but with some days starting at 05:45am and many workshops planned there wasn't a whole lot of spare time! In any case, the city is only 3.5 hours away from where I`m staying (an incredibly short journey in Canadian terms!) and as such I really didn't feel the pressure to get everything "touristy" done. One of my favourite things to do was get the bus up to the top of the Mont-Royal, however. The views were amazing! Luckily, one of the other assistants had been couchsurfing with a very nice lady who was also a part-time tour guide, and she showed us which buses to get, so we didn't get lost.. yay :)
.jpg)
Me and two of the other assistants at the top of Mont-Royal :)
On the Wednesday, we met the programme's organisers at this hotel and, as mentioned, had our induction. It was great to meet all the other assistants too, some of us had briefly met each other at the interviews / induction day in London, but that was only fleeting. Also we had been chatting via a Facebook group created for us, but as you may (or may not) know my views on online friendship... let's just say it was better to actually see some of the people I was going to be spending time with over the year, rather than reading some words that they happened to type on a web page ;)
The induction itself was pretty full-on, with some disgustingly early starts and plenty of pedagogical workshops after said early starts. Can't say I was able to pay 100% attention towards the end of the day where we started at 5:45, but I tried my very best! In any case, the training was well put together and informative, and it was nice to get to know the other assistants as much as I could in three days - there was obviously also time for a few pints in the nearest Irish pub ;)
On the Friday, our group left the hotel in one large bus bound for Levis, it took about 3.5 hours, and when we arrived our mentor teachers were all waiting for us. Mine is called Nadine, and she has been the mentor teacher for the assistants for the last four years. I was a little worried before starting, as I had not heard anything from my school via email (most of the other assistants had from theirs!) however when I got off the bus and met her I knew we would get on! Since I have been here she has been so helpful, and always contactable, without being intrusive and wanting to do too much for me. Having lived away from home for a good long while I really appreciate this medium ground, as I am very much used to sorting things myself, however obviously still need help on the French side of things! I always know I can call her if anything is wrong, and that's a nice situation to be in. I shall mention more about the school I'm at in another post!
Which brings me to where I'm living now, in Saint-Georges! It`s a fairly small town, about 30,000 people in total, but there is plenty to do, and everyone we've met so far has been really helpful and friendly. In the first three weeks I have so far managed to: find a place to live (sharing an appartment with two Quebecoise girls, who study locally), get a mobile phone (Koodo is about the best deal you can get as of Autumn 2012), buy a car (the heap of crap in the picture below) and generally find my way around the town without getting lost! Onwards and upwards...
It's worse than it looks, promise..
And now, I really do feel like I've been blah-ing on for longer than is possibly bearable! I shall endeavour not to get too behind and have to write such essays as this one again, because not only do you probably not want to read so much, my hands hurt :/
Thanks for reading, well done for getting this far, A+ in reading hehe ;)
xo
Ps. Gym song of the month!
