On the 16th, it seems a lifetime away now, was a girl in my court’s birthday. So my court was pretty noisy with every person that I talked to telling me that my accent was amazing and that they wanted to have the accent. My housemates are still practising, however they sound like Mary Poppins (which is apparently what I sound like to them!).
On the 17th, the international students invaded Toronto. It’s about 90 minutes on a coach from Brock luckily I was sat
next to my friend from New Zealand, Bek. Toronto is beautiful. I tend to stray from cities but I really liked the feel of here. Our first stop was the CN Tower. It dominates the skyline, so our navigation method was to just follow the tower until we found it. It cost about $28 including tax to go up and then to go on the glass floor. Going up was a little awkward as I got minor motion sickness, luckily I wasn’t sick. The lift (or elevator if you’re Canadian) had a section of glass floor and was glass fronted so you could see the whole of Toronto as you went up. It was so beautiful. Once at the top (and after my stomach had decided to behave itself!) we got breath-taking views of the city. We came on a really good day and could see for miles and miles. We decided against dining in the 360 restaurant, mainly because we didn’t have the money which they wanted for a starter! After looking at the view we decided to go and check out the glass floor. That is the oddest sensation standing on that, because you feel that you m
ight fall through. I could see a baseball game going on beneath the glass at the Rodger’s Stadium (Rodgers are like O2 in England) I believe it was the Yankees and the Blue Jays playing. So after we then scouted the gift shop, playing the “find the most expensive thing in the shop game” and gaining a few souvenirs we descended from the tower back to the ground. My ears wouldn’t behave themselves this time. But I definitely want to go up again, the view is amazing. So 
after the tower we went down towards the lake front because we saw that there are some islands just off Toronto city. It was a lovely day and we decided (over pancakes!) that as it was such a nice day that we should do as many outside things as possible, because you can shop any day. When we found the lake front we got a boat ride to the islands. The islands were beautiful. They had beaches and parkland and a kid’s theme park and a farm (which meant that I educated the people I was with about each of the animals). It was peaceful and so different from the city. We had ice creams and then made our way back on the boat to the city.
The Sunday was a lovely and chilled day in my house. I made my mother’s fried potatoes (my house mate’s new favourite type of potato!) for dinner to accompany the fish we were having. A perfect end to a hectic weekend!
The 23rd brought
the annual “Grape Stomp” to campus. Brock is located within the Niagara region, famous for its waterfall and vineries. So every year there is a grape stomp competition on campus to celebrate the area’s wine industry (any excuse to celebrate wine!). I made a team with my house mates. We showed up all shiny and white ready for the grapes. There 
were some really good costumes there. A group dressed as bunches of grapes by wearing a bin bag with balloons attached to it, or the people who were dressed in head to toe purple. The event was started by the children from day care showing us how grape stomping was done, although I can’t say they enjoyed the feeling of grapes under their feet. Then it was our turn. Of course it just turned into a grape fight! It was so much fun! Because all the grape piles were on tarpaulin there was then a grape slide that formed for people to use. It was such a messy afternoon but so much fun!
On the Saturday morning I discovered where the Bruce Trail was. It’s a walkway behind campus set among wood
land with the HEP station flowing beside it. It was so beautiful. The hill on it is quite something, definitely there for fitness purposes if I ever need it! After that I got home and changed for “Paint Wars” where each residence competed against one another in a game of catch the flag with paint. It was awesome. I did get covered though! After all of that I finished my Saturday evening with a quiet drink with a few other internationals.
Sunday brought the clean-up for house inspections. A foreign concept for me. So we cleaned the house from top to bottom ready for inspections the following week. Luckily for me I do not have many things in my room as I only came with one suitcase! House inspections were happening all week so we were hoping that we would be on Monday so we wouldn’t have to keep on re-cleanin
g the house! Luckily they came on Monday and we passed
really well.
This morning I went for a Pancake Brunch with some other exchange students. We had a huge range of toppings as each of us brought something to add to the table. We had nutella, peanut butter, syrup, kiwis, bananas and a few other things as well. It was super cold this morning so this was just what I needed! After our lovely pancake breakfast I hiked up to see DeCew Falls (see left). It is beautiful. It has a trail round at the back of the falls which I went along to see if I could find any wild flowers (for my botany project) or a stream (for my rivers project). I found some flowers but no river. I wasn’t too unhappy though because I saw a furry worm instead See above!)! On the way back from DeCew Falls I visited DeCew House, what remains of the
house of John DeCew (see right). The story behind it was really interesting and it had a beautiful view of the river behind it. Finally, I found my river on the way home. A very productive Saturday.
See you in a fortnight!
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