So clearly i've been slacking.
Its been way busier than i expected and I am incredibly sorry for the lack of posting... Day 4 consisted of a day 100% without technology...we were heading to NATO and there was a zero technology rule, so we went without, it was really weird for most of us, i mean we were somewhat used to not using too much technology, most people did not have international plans on their phones, so those were out, but ipods and cameras were just like putting underwear on for most of us. The day started at the Belgium Parliament which was quite interesting and fairly "good looking" although you wouldnt know because we didnt have our cams, Lunch consisted of a day at Rue Neuve, where there was shopping galore and an organic restaurant type cafeteria called Exki, we did our best to get some shopping in, i made 2 purchases at Zara of the same "pocket skirt" in Red (for my Canada Day outfit)and a light "perriwinkle" type blue. 7.95 euros each, great find girls. We took the metro (which did i mention was "free") back to the Parc stop, and met the group at the Opera House where we waited for the Nato Bus to pick us up, it was a bit late, but gave us some more time in the sun. We got to Nato and went through the normal security procedures, then made our way into a boardroom where we were given the luxury of water, which we ALWAYS appreciate. The speakers went on for quite some while, and I must say that I did doze off just a little bit, but was woken up by Georgies AMAZING comments. it was a Long day and the night was even longer...
Wednesday night was our first real "night out on the town" we pre drank in our room, which has been designated the "party/pre drink" room. Everyone was getting ridiculous tonight and it was completely alright, we finally decided it was time to head to the square, which is each and every university students dream, a square 100% full of bars/restaurants, packed with patio space, there are prolly close to 50 bars? and they are obviously all in walking distance! so we headed out and met the few that had gone ahead and Yas bought the class a round, from there on it gets a little blurry... there was some dancing, grinding, drinks, lap dances, table dancing, possible kareoke, some almost fights, and angry walks home...
Overall a great black out night, as usual.
The next morning was not a pleasant one, we all slept in a little bit later than expected, missed breakfast and had to get ready quicker than a rabbit, Dr.Brooks was waiting for us...
Day Four was our first "cultural day" the majority of us decided that a bike tour with Dr. Brooks was the wise choice. Yas and i ran ahead of the group as we were going to pick up our rented bikes, and got some Pannos for breakfast, great choice. We then got our matching rented bikes and re learnt how to ride them. It wasnt quite the nice leasurly bike ride i was expecting, we couldnt stop at our first destination for lunch because it was closed, so we biked for another 15 minutes to the next lunch time stop. This would have been fine if my bike hadnt lost its back light and wasnt getting caught in my wheel , i ended up having to tie my sweater around the light so that i could ride the rest of the way. Thank goodness for Yas and Valentina, the stayed with me and helped figure it out, we had been away from the group for at least 15 minutes and no one had come back to look for us, this was a little concerning to us. We ate an interesting and very traditional Belgium lunch there then continued on our way back. As we were biking back we stopped at a homemade ice cream shop where we all had something to cool us off. This is where the video blogging started, Yas has been the news caster since this trip to the ice cream store and they are incredible and hilarious! on the way home we were video blogging while biking, there were VERY VERY LARGE COWS, VERY VERY LARGE TRUCKS, some bike racing, dust in Magda's eyes and some epic biking accident consisting of a fall that took talent. luckily i happened to be video blogging at the time of the fall so it is all fairly evident that it happened.
The rest of Thursday was fairly quiet due to the fact that we had NO sleep and had biked a total of 24km's. we all napped and did some relaxing activities. Eventually we made it out to dinner and stayed out for a little bit then headed home where we puddled around for quite awhile and then Magda and Victoria went to bed and Yas and I , for some unknown reason stayed up until 5am, when we showered (as the sun was rising) and we were freshly showered and ready for a couple hours sleep. those hours saved our life...
as much as i would like to continue blogging about the other days that have passed, since it is june 24th already i am losing power in my computer, and everyone is getting ready for another night out, one of the last in Belgium.
Until tomorrow!
xo
Monday, June 21, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Day Three
This morning was a good one, I managed to get up, without my alarm at 5:45am and go for a run, It was a little bit scary, I wasn’t sure who i was going to run into or what obstacles i may face, especially since i still didn’t really know the lay of the land. It turned out that i didn’t run into too many people, 6 am in Leuven, not a popular time. I ran to the train station, then did a few sets of stair climbs and ran back in the direction of my temporary “home”, by this time it was still fairly early and i wasn’t about to go back and wake up the girls, they would not have been pleased therefore i continued running. I chose to run in the direction of the “grocery store” that we had found on the first day. I ended up doing a little loop around the block then i decided id had enough running, but it was still to soon to return, so i walked down a street and took it easy, eventually turning around and making my way back to the college just in time to wake the rest of the group up with Yas.
We all had breakfast, and made our way to the train station to catch the train to Leuven, by now you may as well call us commuters, we are beginning to see the same people everyday and we have been taking the same trains. Our day started at the European Commission, if i have it correct? It was fairly interesting, we learnt about the various jobs that the commission has and the formation of the entire group. After this meeting we made our way back to the “Markit” (as spelt in Belgium), and Dr. Brooks walked us to the city’s monument, the little peeing boy, who apparently put out a fire in a building? Or something like that. Today we were not so lucky as the day before in finding our “Stock Exchange” man to show us the “BEST RESTAURANT”. We wandered on our own and ended up going to the “Drug Opera”. This was a restaurant on the corner of a couple streets, a little bit further down the main street and it was in a building that appeared to be as though it could have been a Burlesque House at some point, it was very interesting. Now, all day Aaron and i had been dying for a solo espresso con panna (for those of you who do not know what this is, it is a shot of espresso with whipped cream on top) our server did not understand what we meant when we said this, and therefore we just agreed to whatever he was going to bring us. Turns out we got a cappuccino with whipped cream on top, definitely not a great thing for the little bit of me that is somewhat lactose intolerant, but It was there, and i NEEDED some coffee ASAP.
We wandered back to the group and made our way to the International Federation of Journalists for a lecture about the rights of Journalists all over the world. This was a particularly interesting lecture all about how many have been killed and how they can protect themselves, as well as some personal stories from our lecturer, Tobias (last name presently forgotten). There was some sort of reception going on in the building when we had first arrived, but it was over by the time we were leaving, so we made use of the banner from it and took a huge series of roommate pictures. We had one more meeting after that one and we were all incredibly tired for some reason so we went into the little cafe and got a cup of coffee? Espresso? Basically just something with caffeine. This worked wonders on some of us, although myself not so much, thanks to Starbucks i need about 5 shots to keep me up, at minimum. The last meeting of the day was held at the Canadian Mission to the European Union a very different feel to the U.S. Mission the day before. The Canadian Mission had a little bit of security, although not a lot, they were very welcoming and very informative about what exactly the Mission does and how it helps the EU and how the EU helps Canada.
After the final meeting ended we headed back on the train to Leuven where we wandered home and eventually got ready for dinner and went out. We went to the Markit for dinner, which was the beginning to a semi sloppy night. When we ordered our drinks Yas asked me which beer i’d had the day before so i showed her and pointed to it, in front of the waitress. She went around the table and took everyone else’s order with me being last, so i chose my new beer of the day and ordered my pasta. When the drinks were brought out it appeared as though she brought an extra Leffe Blond, which is when we realised that I had accidentally ordered 2 beers. Upon downing the first one before the meal came i was already a little bit tipsy. I continued to drink the second beer while we ate, yet as comments were said i drink it a bit faster without realising it and soon enough i was unable to finish my meal because i was full and my second beer was finished before anyone at the table had finished their first beers.
We began to walk back to the College but I then continued on a little adventure for a couple hours, eventually ending in realising the bar down the street was overly busy for a Tuesday night, so i grabbed Magda and we had a couple more beers then went to the bar with Slavvy and Alex. The bar itself was a little bit small but cute, although the people were very rude, they stared at us, they whispered and pointed, one even mooned us, while we were in the bar, it was ridiculous! We decided to go walk to the Markit and see if anything was going on there. And lo and behold, of course there was, there were a number of people although i was a little chilly, and the Boys were there and we didn’t want to put them in any type of an awkward position. We got back to the College only to change, have some minor pillow talk, where apparently i say things that don’t make sense and do not recall, at least it creates for a good story in the morning, and puts Yas to sleep with a smile on her face !
Overall a good day and somewhat of an adventurous night.
We all had breakfast, and made our way to the train station to catch the train to Leuven, by now you may as well call us commuters, we are beginning to see the same people everyday and we have been taking the same trains. Our day started at the European Commission, if i have it correct? It was fairly interesting, we learnt about the various jobs that the commission has and the formation of the entire group. After this meeting we made our way back to the “Markit” (as spelt in Belgium), and Dr. Brooks walked us to the city’s monument, the little peeing boy, who apparently put out a fire in a building? Or something like that. Today we were not so lucky as the day before in finding our “Stock Exchange” man to show us the “BEST RESTAURANT”. We wandered on our own and ended up going to the “Drug Opera”. This was a restaurant on the corner of a couple streets, a little bit further down the main street and it was in a building that appeared to be as though it could have been a Burlesque House at some point, it was very interesting. Now, all day Aaron and i had been dying for a solo espresso con panna (for those of you who do not know what this is, it is a shot of espresso with whipped cream on top) our server did not understand what we meant when we said this, and therefore we just agreed to whatever he was going to bring us. Turns out we got a cappuccino with whipped cream on top, definitely not a great thing for the little bit of me that is somewhat lactose intolerant, but It was there, and i NEEDED some coffee ASAP.
We wandered back to the group and made our way to the International Federation of Journalists for a lecture about the rights of Journalists all over the world. This was a particularly interesting lecture all about how many have been killed and how they can protect themselves, as well as some personal stories from our lecturer, Tobias (last name presently forgotten). There was some sort of reception going on in the building when we had first arrived, but it was over by the time we were leaving, so we made use of the banner from it and took a huge series of roommate pictures. We had one more meeting after that one and we were all incredibly tired for some reason so we went into the little cafe and got a cup of coffee? Espresso? Basically just something with caffeine. This worked wonders on some of us, although myself not so much, thanks to Starbucks i need about 5 shots to keep me up, at minimum. The last meeting of the day was held at the Canadian Mission to the European Union a very different feel to the U.S. Mission the day before. The Canadian Mission had a little bit of security, although not a lot, they were very welcoming and very informative about what exactly the Mission does and how it helps the EU and how the EU helps Canada.
After the final meeting ended we headed back on the train to Leuven where we wandered home and eventually got ready for dinner and went out. We went to the Markit for dinner, which was the beginning to a semi sloppy night. When we ordered our drinks Yas asked me which beer i’d had the day before so i showed her and pointed to it, in front of the waitress. She went around the table and took everyone else’s order with me being last, so i chose my new beer of the day and ordered my pasta. When the drinks were brought out it appeared as though she brought an extra Leffe Blond, which is when we realised that I had accidentally ordered 2 beers. Upon downing the first one before the meal came i was already a little bit tipsy. I continued to drink the second beer while we ate, yet as comments were said i drink it a bit faster without realising it and soon enough i was unable to finish my meal because i was full and my second beer was finished before anyone at the table had finished their first beers.
We began to walk back to the College but I then continued on a little adventure for a couple hours, eventually ending in realising the bar down the street was overly busy for a Tuesday night, so i grabbed Magda and we had a couple more beers then went to the bar with Slavvy and Alex. The bar itself was a little bit small but cute, although the people were very rude, they stared at us, they whispered and pointed, one even mooned us, while we were in the bar, it was ridiculous! We decided to go walk to the Markit and see if anything was going on there. And lo and behold, of course there was, there were a number of people although i was a little chilly, and the Boys were there and we didn’t want to put them in any type of an awkward position. We got back to the College only to change, have some minor pillow talk, where apparently i say things that don’t make sense and do not recall, at least it creates for a good story in the morning, and puts Yas to sleep with a smile on her face !
Overall a good day and somewhat of an adventurous night.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Day Two
This morning I was hoping to get up and go for a morning run before the events started although due to the fact that I had some sleeping issues from 3am - 6am i decided to get the extra hour or so. Yas and i got up and did the morning rounds, knocked on all the doors to wake everyone up although we were presently surprised to find out that everyone was wide awake. After finally finishing getting ready we headed downstairs to find a wonderful breakfast. then headed to the Train station on our mission to find the EU Commission of Ministers, Dr. Brooks still no where in sight.
Eventually we made it to our destination and sat through our first lecture. After the lecture we took the metro to Grande Centrale station and walked to La Grande Place for lunch. Wandering down tiny winding roads filled with restaurants upon restaurants we were finally approached by an old man who told us to follow him for the "best restaurant", in what we realized was a suit that didnt match, a pseudo briefcase and a yellow news paper, after he said that he worked at the stock exchange, which was 100 m away, and that he did not know what or where Canada was we ditched really quickly and sat at the closet restaurant and ordered whatever was easiest to read on the menu.
after lunch we walked to the US Mission to the European Union where we were met by Dr. Brooks in the park across from the building. I am not proud to say it, but by this meeting I hadnt had a coffee in the afternoon and was falling asleep. it was fairly interesting although also long. by this time it was about 330 and we headed back to Leuven for some coffee and shopping before our final meeting of the day at 7pm in the Irish College. I managed to buy a pair of black shorts from H&M, which i later found out do not fit at all, as well as some shampoo, soy milk, and apple, and gummy cola's. I got back to the room and chilled with the girls for a bit before we made our way downstairs to the VERY long and VERY boring night session, the speaker went on for about 20 minutes past her time and by this time it was about 845-850pm, past dinner time for all of us. Dr. Brooks then took us on an adventure to a restaurant in a part of town that we were unaware existed and we met up with his "host family", Margerite, the woman of the house, such a delight, bought us all a round to go with dinner and Dr.Brooks/ our tuition bought dinner. It was quite an interesting dinner conversation where I may have accidentally played the dumb blonde a little too much, also, changing my name to Ryan, I blame it on the speaker, my empty stomach and Margerite's beer.
Upon laughing off all the calories we ate at dinner with the conversation that went along with it we wandered through the olte markit, to find out our beer pong tournament occurring on Wednesday was over for the season, although did find some fairly bumpin bars for later this week... we got back to the College and said goodnight to the boys so that we could have some quality Girl talk and share our stories...
As for now they have just finished, and quite the stories we had, none that are anywhere near appropriate for the internet though. I am heading to bed because tomorrow morning its a 6am wake up call for me and a run to and from the train station, followed by a shower, all in time for the wake up calls and our very busy day once again.
Day 2 down, 19? to go?
Eventually we made it to our destination and sat through our first lecture. After the lecture we took the metro to Grande Centrale station and walked to La Grande Place for lunch. Wandering down tiny winding roads filled with restaurants upon restaurants we were finally approached by an old man who told us to follow him for the "best restaurant", in what we realized was a suit that didnt match, a pseudo briefcase and a yellow news paper, after he said that he worked at the stock exchange, which was 100 m away, and that he did not know what or where Canada was we ditched really quickly and sat at the closet restaurant and ordered whatever was easiest to read on the menu.
after lunch we walked to the US Mission to the European Union where we were met by Dr. Brooks in the park across from the building. I am not proud to say it, but by this meeting I hadnt had a coffee in the afternoon and was falling asleep. it was fairly interesting although also long. by this time it was about 330 and we headed back to Leuven for some coffee and shopping before our final meeting of the day at 7pm in the Irish College. I managed to buy a pair of black shorts from H&M, which i later found out do not fit at all, as well as some shampoo, soy milk, and apple, and gummy cola's. I got back to the room and chilled with the girls for a bit before we made our way downstairs to the VERY long and VERY boring night session, the speaker went on for about 20 minutes past her time and by this time it was about 845-850pm, past dinner time for all of us. Dr. Brooks then took us on an adventure to a restaurant in a part of town that we were unaware existed and we met up with his "host family", Margerite, the woman of the house, such a delight, bought us all a round to go with dinner and Dr.Brooks/ our tuition bought dinner. It was quite an interesting dinner conversation where I may have accidentally played the dumb blonde a little too much, also, changing my name to Ryan, I blame it on the speaker, my empty stomach and Margerite's beer.
Upon laughing off all the calories we ate at dinner with the conversation that went along with it we wandered through the olte markit, to find out our beer pong tournament occurring on Wednesday was over for the season, although did find some fairly bumpin bars for later this week... we got back to the College and said goodnight to the boys so that we could have some quality Girl talk and share our stories...
As for now they have just finished, and quite the stories we had, none that are anywhere near appropriate for the internet though. I am heading to bed because tomorrow morning its a 6am wake up call for me and a run to and from the train station, followed by a shower, all in time for the wake up calls and our very busy day once again.
Day 2 down, 19? to go?
Sunday, June 13, 2010
And so it begins...
Saturday June 12th started out fairly early, about 830am, and consisted of an early Father's Day brunch with presents and more than enough food to feed an army. My dad was going to be filled with packing, last minute mall runs, some choir rehearsal (if i felt i could fit it in), a run, and finally the airport for my flight to Paris.
It turns out the day went more like this; Wake up, breakfast, presents, activate new credit card, return shoes to the mall, look around once more for "Belgium flats", Packing, eating due to the stress of packing, cashing a cheque, transferring money, packing, showering, finishing packing, eating half a muffin on the way out the door and finally, the airport.
Upon arrival at Pearson I met up with Yasmeen and Adam who were also on the flight, we went though security (with my mother of course!) found our gate and waiting for the boarding call. My mom and I were fortunate enough to be in first class so we left Adam and Yas at the first call and took our seats, they wandered past us a little bit later into boarding. Now, normally i would be spending the flight watching the movies, eating, sleeping, some music. But today (yesterday) was different, I have an essay due the day after we return to Canada and therefore I was doing all of my research so my mom could take the books back with her to Canada and so that i didnt have to carry them around, bless that woman. I managed to get the majority of the research done as well as a movie, dinner, a nap, breakfast, and i listened to the entire new Carrie Underwood CD.
As we arrived in Paris mama left me to go catch her flight home and I waited for my two companions to join me through customs and baggage retrieval. As I was joined by Yas and Adam and all of our phones were on once again Yas received an e-mail from Dr. Brooks informing her, and the whole group that his flight had been cancelled and that Yas was in control of the group for the next two days, including waking everyone up, getting us on the right trains and at the correct venues! luckily Adam and I are there for anything she will need along the way (my job being the morning wake up calls). we then waited in line for quite awhile but it was obviously worth it, the next journey was to the train station at the other end of the terminal. Not too difficult to find, the difficult part was printing off Adam's train ticket, luckily Yas used her supreme French skills and got someone to help him, although she paid for it, this man made fun of her because she was eating her mothers homemade sandwich and she spoke with her mouth full... whoops.
finally the ticket was printed and we were on a new mission to find somewhere to sit, Adam and I discovered that Yas does not sit on floors (interesting fact) so we wound up at the Sheraton Hotel lobby in the terminal, it was a great place to spend an hour and a bit. The trains gate was posted while i was on one of my walks through the terminal so i ended it quickly and told my two companions. we made our way to the platform and waited for our delayed train.
The train ride was only about an hour and a half, although I still managed to try and get off at Lille-Europe, WHOOPS! thank goodness for the lovely woman beside Yas. we got to Brussels and went straight to what we thought was the ticket booth for the trains to Leuven, although where we were was the wrong booth and we were directed to the right one, with only 7 minutes until the train departed, we got our tickets and ran to the train, making it just on time.
After arriving in Leuven we were greeted with a breezy afternoon, the majority of the roads, and shops being closed, and a journey ahead of us. We used my Dad's walking instructions to get to the Irish College, and wandered around a little bit, got yelled at in Spanish, finally arrived at the College to find out we had to go to another Hotel to get the keys to enter, this is when Adam used his manly powers to go get them and give us a break. we got into our rooms and began ti settle in, also being reunited with Aaron <3, his hug was just what I needed. We then took off to find the rest of the group in the Gute Markit, where we indulged in some Sella and a Club Sandwich. After Dinner activities included some walking around, finding the grocery store, which is also stocked with alcohol. At about 7:30 we had our group meeting and discussed tomorrow's plans. As of now Yas and I are left in our rooms attempting to fix our Internet connection in our room ( I am stealing my roommate Magda's) Adam and Aaron are in their room working on their Internet as well as their reading preparation for tomorrow, as for the rest of the group they went out to watch the game and continue their drinking, I hope everyone enjoys 7am wake up calls, because that is the only time this alarm clock will be set.
Tomorrow we head to a meeting in Brussels at 10 followed by another meeting at 230pm, hopefully ill be able to get some shopping in because it seems, for once in my life, i UNDERPACKED!
as for now im going to catch up on some reading and get some sleep, im absolutely exhausted.
x0, surviving day 1, Nicole
It turns out the day went more like this; Wake up, breakfast, presents, activate new credit card, return shoes to the mall, look around once more for "Belgium flats", Packing, eating due to the stress of packing, cashing a cheque, transferring money, packing, showering, finishing packing, eating half a muffin on the way out the door and finally, the airport.
Upon arrival at Pearson I met up with Yasmeen and Adam who were also on the flight, we went though security (with my mother of course!) found our gate and waiting for the boarding call. My mom and I were fortunate enough to be in first class so we left Adam and Yas at the first call and took our seats, they wandered past us a little bit later into boarding. Now, normally i would be spending the flight watching the movies, eating, sleeping, some music. But today (yesterday) was different, I have an essay due the day after we return to Canada and therefore I was doing all of my research so my mom could take the books back with her to Canada and so that i didnt have to carry them around, bless that woman. I managed to get the majority of the research done as well as a movie, dinner, a nap, breakfast, and i listened to the entire new Carrie Underwood CD.
As we arrived in Paris mama left me to go catch her flight home and I waited for my two companions to join me through customs and baggage retrieval. As I was joined by Yas and Adam and all of our phones were on once again Yas received an e-mail from Dr. Brooks informing her, and the whole group that his flight had been cancelled and that Yas was in control of the group for the next two days, including waking everyone up, getting us on the right trains and at the correct venues! luckily Adam and I are there for anything she will need along the way (my job being the morning wake up calls). we then waited in line for quite awhile but it was obviously worth it, the next journey was to the train station at the other end of the terminal. Not too difficult to find, the difficult part was printing off Adam's train ticket, luckily Yas used her supreme French skills and got someone to help him, although she paid for it, this man made fun of her because she was eating her mothers homemade sandwich and she spoke with her mouth full... whoops.
finally the ticket was printed and we were on a new mission to find somewhere to sit, Adam and I discovered that Yas does not sit on floors (interesting fact) so we wound up at the Sheraton Hotel lobby in the terminal, it was a great place to spend an hour and a bit. The trains gate was posted while i was on one of my walks through the terminal so i ended it quickly and told my two companions. we made our way to the platform and waited for our delayed train.
The train ride was only about an hour and a half, although I still managed to try and get off at Lille-Europe, WHOOPS! thank goodness for the lovely woman beside Yas. we got to Brussels and went straight to what we thought was the ticket booth for the trains to Leuven, although where we were was the wrong booth and we were directed to the right one, with only 7 minutes until the train departed, we got our tickets and ran to the train, making it just on time.
After arriving in Leuven we were greeted with a breezy afternoon, the majority of the roads, and shops being closed, and a journey ahead of us. We used my Dad's walking instructions to get to the Irish College, and wandered around a little bit, got yelled at in Spanish, finally arrived at the College to find out we had to go to another Hotel to get the keys to enter, this is when Adam used his manly powers to go get them and give us a break. we got into our rooms and began ti settle in, also being reunited with Aaron <3, his hug was just what I needed. We then took off to find the rest of the group in the Gute Markit, where we indulged in some Sella and a Club Sandwich. After Dinner activities included some walking around, finding the grocery store, which is also stocked with alcohol. At about 7:30 we had our group meeting and discussed tomorrow's plans. As of now Yas and I are left in our rooms attempting to fix our Internet connection in our room ( I am stealing my roommate Magda's) Adam and Aaron are in their room working on their Internet as well as their reading preparation for tomorrow, as for the rest of the group they went out to watch the game and continue their drinking, I hope everyone enjoys 7am wake up calls, because that is the only time this alarm clock will be set.
Tomorrow we head to a meeting in Brussels at 10 followed by another meeting at 230pm, hopefully ill be able to get some shopping in because it seems, for once in my life, i UNDERPACKED!
as for now im going to catch up on some reading and get some sleep, im absolutely exhausted.
x0, surviving day 1, Nicole
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The week...
Yesterday was quite the day, I was awoken by my mother entering my room, I was unaware she had a key to my house. The day started off with some demolition of my Kitchen, a long day of hammers, sozzles, kicking, screaming, the dump and some Glee...
My mother and I worked all day on getting the kitchen gutted out yet somewhat useable, we made a trip to the London dump at 28 Clarke Rd. one of the attendants names is Freddie and we are best friends, he even helped us unload the car. On our way home we stupidly turned onto Highbury, where there is an insane amount of construction going on. We arrived home and I set out for my 1/2 Marathon Clinic while Shirley (my mom) stayed and finished up the little bit we hadnt completed that afternoon. The Clinic was really good yesterday, we talked about appropriate clothing and then ran 4km's through the park and did some minor hill training, it was a really good run and im glad that i took part, because at one point my ankle was hurting, I ended up improving my time and finished the 4 km in 21 minutes (keep up the good work Nicole).
upon arriving home after picking Janey up we helped Shirley a bit more and then went to Yoyo's to get some frozen yogurt for our Finale of Glee, it was a close call and a few red lights were run but we made it. Shirley quickly departed on her drive home and we watched the Finale of Glee...which was good, although not amazing in my eyes.
Today included work at 530, hair at 10, a VERY long nap, some packing and the mall, now were in the midst of getting ready and drinking our little hearts out as it is my last night in Londontown.
4 days and counting!
My mother and I worked all day on getting the kitchen gutted out yet somewhat useable, we made a trip to the London dump at 28 Clarke Rd. one of the attendants names is Freddie and we are best friends, he even helped us unload the car. On our way home we stupidly turned onto Highbury, where there is an insane amount of construction going on. We arrived home and I set out for my 1/2 Marathon Clinic while Shirley (my mom) stayed and finished up the little bit we hadnt completed that afternoon. The Clinic was really good yesterday, we talked about appropriate clothing and then ran 4km's through the park and did some minor hill training, it was a really good run and im glad that i took part, because at one point my ankle was hurting, I ended up improving my time and finished the 4 km in 21 minutes (keep up the good work Nicole).
upon arriving home after picking Janey up we helped Shirley a bit more and then went to Yoyo's to get some frozen yogurt for our Finale of Glee, it was a close call and a few red lights were run but we made it. Shirley quickly departed on her drive home and we watched the Finale of Glee...which was good, although not amazing in my eyes.
Today included work at 530, hair at 10, a VERY long nap, some packing and the mall, now were in the midst of getting ready and drinking our little hearts out as it is my last night in Londontown.
4 days and counting!
Monday, June 7, 2010
What a Weekend
As I thought Saturday night was a messy one,
Katie and I visited Janey at work after a Joe Fresh Shopping Spree, and then I dropped Katie off as she was not joining us for round two. I got home and contemplated on what to wear, mixed a ceasar and awaited Janeys arrival from work.
When she arrived we quickly decided where we were going and what we were wearing, the plan was to her brothers house party for a bit, followed by Jacks, and then where ever the night was planning on taking us.
Outfits chosen, Make Up Done and Bottle of wine in hand we headed to Western Road for some house party events, although before that the self timer some love.
Due to these adventures Sunday was NOT a pleasant sight, I slept through my alarm for the run, couldnt move, felt like I was going to die all day, stayed in bed until 130, and work at 230... Based on all of this, and work until 830pm there was no run that occurred on Sunday, more like Dinner at TJ's with the bestie, another Kati, followed by a movie and sleep.
Today on the other hand turned out to be fairly productive, work 530am-1030am, 6.5km run in 40 mins, shower, lunch, nap, cleaned up the house, a bit of reading, American Apparel, Talize, and All you can eat sushi with the girls.
All you can eat sushi may have been 24.59 $, and not amazing, but it was by far the hardest ive laughed in what feels like forever. Apparently I was the official orderer, and it turns out I shouldnt have been. We all started out strong and hopeful for what was to come, although it turns out the sushi just kept coming. There were trips to the bathroom, sushi in our purses, cups, the tea pot, coke cans, everywhere we could think of. It was a great night out with the girls and it made me realize how much im going to miss them in the next month.
Thankfully we have decided that tomorrow night is our night out on the town, even though I work until 1145pm I have been told that I will be greeted by my Drunk girls and a bottle of alcohol for me to chug. In the past hour it has also been decided that we will be going out on Wednesday, and therefore Mississauga can wait until Thursday!
As for packing and preparation for the trip, today I packed all of my running clothing, but thats about it. The essay remains to be unwritten, as I have realized it will stay until I am in Belgium, although the research will be all done!
This week is going to be a busy one, Mother Bear is headed to Londontown tomorrow to begin demolishing the kitchen (YAY) and a Run is tentative at this point.
5 days and counting, tonights sushi binge did not help with any Dangerous Transformation that should be occurring, it just allowed for the possibility to grow fins...
Tomorrow is a day dedicated to packing and research!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
True Success
It all started with vodka infused slurpees, a torrential rain storm, Prince Harry getting in a minor yet possibly deadly accident, the steps to keeping him alive, some chugging, travelling bar to bar, poutine, homeless people in the bandstand, panic attacks, self timers, station park hotel and finally 3 in the bed...
Three girls, dressed and ready to go... self timer is always a must on nights out, as well as the stunning outfits the make the night, on myself, white see through top (winners) blue skirt (Aritzia), on Katie, Black ruffle front top (Costa Blanca) Jeans (Moto), on Janey Pink tank (Urban Outfitters) Black Skirt (Forever 21).
Prince Harry being held by Janey after he was put in his bath of rice... in 72 hours we'll find out what his situation is...
A night trip to Metro for 2, 8kg bags of rice for poor Prince Harry who wanted to try our vodka infused sluepees...not a good idea on his part, nor was walking into Metro ready to go out on the town. Upon walking in Janey ran to the back of the store after every person in line laughed out loud at us, and Katie's exact words to the cashier upon paying for our rice and 4 bottles of powerade (in preperation for the morning) "now we're ready to open our chinese restaurant".
Finally, after the Poutine and Panic attacks in Band Stand the self timer started again, which we would have thoought was the end of the night, although walking down Richmond the three of us decided heading to Station Park Hotel with our new found friends would be a great idea...After riding the elevator with 10 baseball players and 1 security guard, being given a firm talking by the security guard and drinking in the hotel room we headed home for the night, pjs and a double bed with the 3 of us, what a great way to end the night...This morning we were incredibly grateful to have prepped our powerade last night, and a breakfast of the champions hit the spot, pancakes, eggs, homefries and bacon, all home made. To say the least today was a write off on the training, as well as the essay writing, although Katie worked all day from 10 to 5 and Janey is at work as I write this, so really it was just unproductive for myself, eating an abundance of food, drinking liters upon liters of water, watching some movies, and napping for 3 hours brings me to 6:42pm, about to go pick Katie up for some shopping, and Ice Cream followed by another possible night at Station Park Hotel ? who knows where the evening will take us, but what I do know is that tomorrow morning, 8:30 am The Running Room will be waiting for me and 7kms will be a great start to the day.
Once again the count down continues we're at the one week mark until departure, and proud to say it, last night while deciding what to wear I stumbled upon some perfect Belgium outfits, mission accomplished...
Friday, June 4, 2010
Post Number Two...
Today was a little bit difficult to build any motivation to run, I woke up late, finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, did a bit of reading, ate some breakfast and headed to work at 2pm.
After i got off work early at 8:15pm I drove home and forced myself to go for a run, it was only 3 kms but I got through it with no stopping and now i am more than ready for a night on the town.
London seems to be in the middle of a monsoon, torrential rain storm but thats not stopping the girls and I, it'll be a night to remember, if we can ! and now I've accomplished the run for the day, tomorrow we'll do 4 ?
The count down continues, 8 days to departure and no packing or preparation has commenced... tomorrow will be an interesting day of hangover fun.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
For the First Time
As a First time blogger this is most likely be short and sweet.
I am a 19 year old University Student about to embark on a three week adventure to Belgium, Paris and Rome. This is not the only reason for creating this blog though, I have wanted to start recording my day to day adventures for some time now, with the inspiration from one of my lovely best friends, your very ownhttp://fashionuncensored.blogspot.com/ I have hopped on the band wagon and
here I am, my very first time.
while traveling through Belgium, Paris and Rome I will be training for the Toronto Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon (I am only running the half marathon). I recently joined The Running Room's Half-Marathon Clinic, and am presently in the second week of training with them, nothing too strenuous or exhausting yet, 3 or 4 km run's through the week, and long run's on Sunday, this week being 7km, the same as last week.
While in Europe I will be missing three full weeks of training with the group
and I must mimic what the group runs, and trains each and everyday, this is my biggest fear about the training, as well as the entire trip to Europe. Being in a new place is already difficult enough, but now I have to orient myself quickly enough and well enough so that I am able to find and remember routes that I can run.
My first, and longest stop on the trip is in Belgium, Leuven to be more exact,
and I will be there for just about 15 days taking a school related course. Although it will originally be brand new territory for me I will have a full 2 weeks to associate myself with the surroundings and therefore the routes I will be running will begin to look familiar and feel routine. When I leave Belgium I am off to Paris,but only for 3 days. This is my second concern, it is the shortest length of time, and the hotel does not have a fitness centre facility, so I guess i'll be running with my map in hand! Last but most certainly not least is the stop in Rome, where I will spend 4 days, and that will allow for the extra day to get acquainted with the area, although it will still be difficult to gain the amount of familiarity that is needed in order to run the distance at an appropriate training speed.
Although it will be difficult to find the right routes to run, with the proper
amount of kilometres, hills, areas for tempo running as well as steady running it will most certainly be fun and interesting. One of the major benefits of doing the training in unfamiliar territory is that there will never be a dull or boring run, everyday I will embark on a new adventure with new sites and new stories to tell.
Another huge perk about the completing the training while I am away will be
the transformation that my body makes due to the increasing level of activity. The changes that it will make on me are something that would normally go unnoticed but due to the fact that the time that I am away my normal "crowd" wont be seeing me on a day to day basis there should be a "wow" factor when I get home.
I hope to be able to come back to Canada with many things, new learnt
knowledge about the European Union and Human Right, A series of stories to tell about each and everyone of the sites visited, enough pictures to last me years, an array of running routes to add to my map my run account, some new friends, a new wardrobe of the styles for the fall, and best of all the size 2 (fingers crossed) body that will be wearing those styles.
With all of that being said get ready for ride, planning, packing, booking, planes, trains, and all the in between, Dangerous Transformations have already begun.
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