Happy Thanksgiving

So, it's American thanksgiving and I have a lot of shindigs to get to this weekend in celebration. Having never celebrated thanksgiving before (not even Canadian thanksgiving in October), I have decided to make a list of what I am thankful for and really get into the spirit of things;
Here goes...

• I just finished one of my classes forever today
• Avocados were on sale, 2 for 99c
• I get to hang out with Judith tonight at her roommates thanksgiving dinner
• Tomorrow, it's time to see Imogen Heap live
• On Saturday I'm going to Bonnie's Potluck thanksgiving feast
• Even though I am leaving Montreal so soon (and I dont want to), I will be going to NYC
• And although I dont want to leave NYC, I will be going to Poland to see all my family
• And then friends in Barcelona and Paris
• Greyhound fixed up my ticket snafoo
• My house is clean
• I have amazing friends and family all over the world that make me smile
• I have lately been feeling a good 'right-down-in-my-gut' feeling of possibilities and opportunities that are going to come my way soon
• In 2 months, I will be in Marseilles, and almost en route to Portugal
• I am living my dream here in Montreal right now (and just dont want it to end!!)

So yessum, I have lots to be thankful for. And I am. I could get used to this celebration... put me in a jolly good mood... even the impending task of doing laundry cannot make me feel bad :-D

Warm Shower, Hot Tea and Burning Study

Its well and truely crunch time here in Montreal. As it stands, I have 1 quiz, 3 papers, 3 exams and a take home exam due in the next 3 weeks. Holy Moley!

Yesterday I moved into my new room... my roommate is back in Calgary, which sucks because I wont see her before I leave, and the new roommate has moved into my room. And me, well, I'm in Merriah's room while she's in Calgary. I love this room... it's furnished properly, not just hap-hazardly because I didnt have money for furniture, I'm sleeping on a proper bed, first time since... a long time. Before, I had a teeny ikea matress on the floor, now i have a mah-hoosive comfy bed with lots of pillows and space for all my stuff.

Oh, how I want my own appartment. To furnish and decorate as I please, with kooky textiles and funky prints and awesome wallpapers. I'm in turbo-decorate mode since moving my stuff... decorating for now has been limited to hanging my prettiest dresses and glittery necklaces off door frames and dresser drawer handles. One day, I'll have an appartment in SoHo or Chelsea or Greenwitch Village jammed full of vintage love and indie art. And fairy lights.

With Christmas knocking on the door, fairy lights are on the brain. And snow coming so so soon!! (Saturday) And the neighbours putting up pretty christmas decorations. It feels like a proper christmas.... one where you're freezing your ass off instead of sweating it off. I love a northern Christmas.

Speaking of freezing one's ass off, the furnace in my building went kaput so the heat was off all day yesterday while the messieurs put in a new one. Thank the good heavenly beings that this happened while it was 0, and not -20. The heat is back, hot water is on and I had a lovely hot shower before I get stuck into the Roman Art study with a hot cup of chamomile.

This weekend is going to be AWESOME. Friday = Imogen Heap. Saturday = Pot Luck Thanksgiving Dinner

And I'm in a good mood today, despite some teeny problems (like study) that need to be adressed. I have a lot of things to be thankful for.... happy american thanksgiving :-)

5 weeks left

Exactly 5 weeks left in Montreal. How sad! I'm thinking of going to Quebec City next weekend perhaps, and perhaps a day-trip to Ottawa. I'm looking up greyhound buses at this very moment. It's only $37 return to Ottawa.

In exactly 5 weeks, I will be on my way to the Pierre-Elliot Trudeau airport here in Montreal, boarding a ComAir flight to JFK.

I'll be staying in New York/New Jersey for the weekend, and back to JFK on Monday, 21st December for a cheap-assed 8 hour flight to Dublin, where I will not be offered food so I'm packing on the bagels... one last taste of NY over the Atlantic. I will arrive in Dublin at 5:20am, and only have an hr and 20 minutes before I board another cheap-assed, non-breakfasted flight to Krakow, arrive just before lunch and see my mum and sister, and most of my crazy family.

I'll stay with the family till the 4th of January, when mum, Julia and I will catch a train to Warsaw and I'll leave the next morning for Barcelona. Thankfully, the Warsaw airport is not so far from the city.

The rest is pretty set - Barcelona, Paris, Geneva, Marseilles, Porto. I'll be adding 2 new countries to my 'List of coutries visited', which at the moment, stands at 20.

I need to study. Quiz next week and exams approaching fast, not to mention essays and research papers. I skipped my Ancient Roman class yesterday, because of a $5 open-bar party for international students on Wednesday night. It was a mess. And there was a guy dancing in a bunny suit. As of this moment, I have finished just under half of my semester assessments. HOLY CRAP! that's not a lot, and only 5 weeks to cram in over 50% of a semesters work.

That's all the motivation I need... hitting the books... NOW

I also made a very interesting discovery a few days ago... I can count to 10 in 8 languages, say 'hello' in 18 languages and say 'I love you' in 9 languages. Made me feel pretty special.

New York, Montreal.... Europe?

Last weekend, I was in New York. I was going to lots of galleries, eating great food and engaging in amazing conversation. When I got back to Montreal, the comparisons were kind of devastating. Coming back from such a weekend to a dark, empty apartment with a vacant fridge is not nice. Having a horrid week after is also not nice. But ice-cream with friends and a bottle of Chilean white wine makes it better. Also, a good nights sleep cannot be underestimated.

But anyway, focusing on the good parts - had a great weekend, saw NY and parts of NJ and Albany, and (really, despite having a shit week) I love Montreal and my life here. Which leads me to think of how sad I am to be leaving so soon. Only 6 weeks. I don't want to go, I want to work and live in the States or Canada, but the possibility of a work visa is just too impossible. I applied for an internship in NY which would be so very brilliant, but I know the chances of me getting it are very very slim to put it nicely.

So, with finances dwindling, I need a Plan B. And, wanting to travel around north and south America... I also need a Plan B. So here it is.... Travelling around Europe from 22nd Dec to begining of Febuary. In Febuary - move to Madrid, Seville or Valencia to get a job teaching English and work on learning Spanish (which would be handy in the US and South America), or, in France working on my French. My gut says Spain though, and has been saying Spain ever since I watched a travel show about the country early this year. S-P-A-I-N! Plus, spain is so close to Morocco... a trip to Africa is very much on the cards (to tick off another continent).

Anyway, so, I'll work in Spain until May. In May, I'll hit up the eastern US (NY, Baltimore, DC, Annapolis, Boston, Philly etc), cross up to Canada to Montreal and Ottawa then back States-side for Chicago and up to Toronto to FINALLY SEE TORONTO then onto California and down to south America (thinking Peru, Colombia and Chile and perhaps Argentina, finances permitting). Brazil - I'll have to save for another day. One of my friends here in Montreal travelled through south America last year and says Colombia is beautiful, as is Bolivia. Time for 'South America on a Shoestring' by Lonely Planet, me thinks. And 21st in the US just sounds too good to be true!

OK... so I'll be back in the land of the euro around July/August to travel a bit before September. Thankfully, europe is cheap if I stay with friends and family. And then onto work somewhere new. If Spain is a go-go first time round, I'll go to France, Portugal, maybe even Greece or Italy. Somewhere with low taxes and C.O.L but high wages (economic impossibility... I KNOW!). Learn a new language, earn some more euros until xmas 2010, which will def be a Polish affair before NY in NY?? possibly. Or anywhere States-side. And hang out there till Feb 2011 when (and I'm going to be kicking myself for this when I am stuck on a 15 hr straight flight from California to Australia) I'll take that plane back to kangaroo-land and try to graduate by November 2011, then.... who knows.

Vague ideas, exciting plans. Knowing I'll come back makes the prospect of leaving easier...

Perfect Start to the Day...

Despite only a brief 4 hours, if that, of sleep last night, I am up and ready to face the day.

I was lucky to have a de rigeur chat with my bestie this morning (her evening), wonderful comme toujours. Nothing like launching into intellectually stimulating conversation to start off what is bound to be a productive day. Couple this fantastic event with one of the best croissants I've had in my life for breakfast and it is the best possible begining to a saturday. (Although, it is still caffeine-free... must fix that soon)

Now, I'm going to get ready for a trip to the train station, the subject of my Canadian Architecture paper for Wednesday. Afterwards, and despite the dreary weather, I'll head to little Italy, around the Parc Jarry area to see another part of Montreal and purchase the last little thing for my halloween costume.

Although the damp and heavy clouds outside make me want to crawl back under my warm blanket and snooze for just a while, the prospect of a new novelty hat, a new part of montreal to discover and ticking this paper off my 'to do' list (which is growing exponentionally) is plenty of motivation to get dressed and get going.

Just a nice cup of tea firt......

x A

Snow, Borscht and Boots.

It really is Murphey's law... just the other day, I got an email from Berlin where it has already been snowing. Outraged, I articulated my disbelief that central Europe got snow before Quebec, although mentioned that I shouldn't tempt fate, I may have bought winter boots but I do not yet have a warm enough coat. Well, last night I left the house to get some snacks at the bakery, it was 1'c and SNOWING. I was frozen. I came home shivering but smiling from ear to ear. My jacket was covered in snowflakes, my hair was damp, and I had gotten many a sour look from people I passed on the street as I grinned like a cheshire cat and caught snowflakes on my tongue and giggled as they got caught on my eyelashes. This morning, my hands were chapped and red, for lack of gloves suited for snow but I was still happy. Enjoying the first snow of the season was so worth it. I was quite devestated when I woke up this morning (more like afternoon, but that's just semantics) and there was no soft white layer of snow covering the world yet. However, I did get compensated by the fact that it was a gorgeous autumn day, the sun was shining and the tree-lined streets of Notre-Dame-de-Grace were all the shades of yellows, oranges and reds. I totally love my life.

Today I also bought my tickets to New York. I'm staying for 3 days and 3 nights which include Halloween. Checking the weather in NY and NJ, I was quite disappointed to learn there would be no snow, and summery temperatures over 15 degrees. (Yes, I said summery... perspective changes here in Montreal). To continue the theme of weather... it's now 3 degrees and I walked home thinking '3 degrees is not cold'... and it's not. Thank god I am coming to this realisation now, psychologically preparing myself for the temperatures to come, which promise to be well below freezing before I fly out of here. I leave on what is technically the first day of winter, December 21, but every quebecois I speak to assures me I will not be leaving without a good taste of a Canadian winter, it will easily reach -20 by then.

In other news, I have finished midterms and am utterly ecstatic with that fact. Now, just have a lot of papers and take home exams to write. Unfortunately, I need a textbook for one of my take home exams (worth 45%), an essay exam due on Wednesday and it was sold out at the bookstore and I have to wait till Tuesday to get it. Meaning, I wont be sleeping on tuesday night. At present, I have finished a total of 30% of my Concordia semeseter. Still a long way to go, and it's going to be hard work.

Tomorrow, I'm planning to get up early and head to the train station to do some field research for my architecture paper. It's only 500 words but I have to visit the site which I've chosen to write about - the train station in Montreal. I'll be able to finish it by dinner easily. I'm also going to take some photos around NDG and downtown with the gorgeous autumn colours.

Ok, that's enough for now.

x A

hot chocolate or hot chips?

It's 11:30pm. I had an exam today. I had an exam yesterday. I have an exam tomorrow. Thankfully, it's ancient Roman art, and I've already done most of the studying, but I'm still bloody exhausted and still have a lot to do and I think I need a treat of some sort to keep me going; tea, hot chips or hot chocolate? Decisions! Decisions! Just think, in 13 hours I will be FREE. From exams, that is. And only until December.