The city that never sleeps...

After an uneventful flight to Newark airport (which Steph hadn't quite realised was in New Jersey, not New York itself) we got on a bus which dropped us off in Times Square, less than a block away from our hostel. I saw THE Cake Boss leaving his shop, but the heavy bag meant the hostel was the first priority. After dumping our bags we wandered around in Times Square till we found some food we fancied the look of, and after eating we headed to bed.

The next day was my birthday (woo 21 years old), so I was understandably very exciting. Steph less so as we were up at 8:15ish. But we were seizing the day like the early birds we are. First we headed off to High Line, a walk which is an old abandoned railway above the ground in Manhattan. It's been turned into gardens and was a lovely suntrap too. It was nice to be able to be away from the hustle and bustle of the streets as even the short time in Times Square the night before had let me know that Americans definitely did not move out of your way and apologise as much as Canadians... After basking in the sunshine for ages we went down to the South Ferry station and had lunch in a nice beer garden which was also bathed in sunlight. Then, being the savvy New Yorkers we are (well kind of) we got the Staten Island Ferry for a free view of the Empire State building. Then we travelled back and went to the New York Public Library before sitting in more sunshine outside it. I kept reminding Steph to put on more suncream, as she was already burnt from Calgary. After skyping my parents and my brother in order for them to say Happy Birthday, we got changed into nice dresses and went to Ruby Foos (a modern Asian restaurant) for dinner. It was a great birthday meal, I treated myself to a glass of Prosecco and then had a gorgeous duck dish. The manager came over to welcome us, and also brought us mini lemon pies, one of which had a candle in it, lovely! Then, thanks to my wonderful friends, we got to go and see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway which was awesome. All the singers were great and I much preferred it to the film, there's just something about seeing things on stage! Then it was time for much needed sleep!

Day two started off with a lot of just chilling at Central Park which is really big, like massively big! Sat by a lake which was really nice and wrote a few postcards which I forgot to post so will be sent from Miami! Then we walked to the Met and had a look round, before going to the MoMa which was much more mine and Steph's style of art. After a leisurely walk back via the Rockerfeller Centre to book tickets for the next day we had a quick rest at the hostel before going to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. It was Steph's first experience at Hard Rock, but I think the plate of Nachos the size of her body won her over for sure!

The next day we went to the UN building which was disappointingly boring and plain looking before getting the Roosevelt Island aerial tram to get a different view of the skyline. Then we headed to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees play Oakland. After a bit of a kerfuffle with different metro lines being shut we made it there. We quickly determined that baseball was a bit like rounders and they were clearly making it look harder than it was. We bought ourselves some Yankees hats as a good bit of memorabilia! Obviously we won (4-2) so that was great. Steph and me went for a celebratory tan in Times Square before heading back to hostel to put on a few more layers before dinner at a great little bar which had the hockey on. Then we went to Top of the Rock (the viewing platform at the Rockerfeller centre), I loved it, but Steph was a wee bit nervous with the height!

After an early start to make sure we were packed up and ready to leave hostel at 10 we got the metro to Coney Island. I being the excitable child I am was bouncing up and down by the time we got there. It was nice to be by the sea again, something I actually really miss while in Calgary. After a stroll down the boardwalk we assessed the rides available, I remembered how afraid of rollercoasters I am so headed to the arcade. While Steph may be better at driving games then me, I fully dominated at the dance mat! We then went on one little ride before stopping for lunch. I had a hot dog from the famous Nathan's hot dog place. It tasted just like any other hot dog, but still, always good to try the famous things. Steph then told me I had to do a proper ride, and unfortunately the Soarin' Eagle had started operating by then...not only was it a ride that flipped you upside down but you were lying on your stomach and went down drops headfirst. Needless to say it was not an enjoyable experience! After grabbing our bags from the hostel we headed to JFK for our flight to Chile and Julia...more on that next blog!                                                                                                                      

The end of the adventure...but not really an end at all!

First an update on things I've done since last chatting! Did all my finals, got thoroughly stressed but made it through. Had dinner with Kate and Chris and Steph at Double Zero which truly did do amazing pizzas. Even though will be spending a lot of the time I'm back in Calgary with them, still felt sad that next year our wine evenings will have to be via skype. Went out to Wreck City (a few houses which are being demolished and artists decorated in crazy fashion) with Hannah which was lovely, even though I definitely looked like a country singer. Had meal out at Original Joes for Claire's birthday. Was so nice to have the majority of us there for a final time. Plus our server was such a sweetie. Then I've had my final night at work with a quiet drink afterwards. I'm really going to miss work, it's been such an enjoyable part of my year abroad (not something you'd normally expect from a job). So that's it, now I'm just packing and cleaning the flat before leaving for travelling. If you can't deal with reading soppy, sentimental mush I suggest strongly that you stop reading now as that will be majority of rest of post.

Obviously over the past few days I've been looking back on the year and how different it has been from my expectations. I honestly didn't expect to fall so in love with Calgary, much as I complain about all it's shortcomings, it's such a great city with such an amazing spirit. Yes, its weather is messed up (it was +20 a few days ago and now it's snowing again), but it gives you something to moan about.

 A lot of people have asked me what I'll miss about Canada the most, and while I may answer wing nights, or hockey really there is no one particular thing that I'll miss the most because everything has just been so great. Before coming out here me and Steph had chatted about things we wanted to do. These varied hugely with things such as "go to Walmart" featuring next to "go horseback riding in the Rockies". I can safely say that we achieved all of that but were dreaming too small because the best thing that I've done is found another home here and a group of people who will welcome back whenever I come back out here.

I can't stress enough just how much I love all the people who I've met out here, you are all people who I've been blessed to meet and I'm so grateful with the welcoming way you've greeted me and made me feel at home even though I'm so many miles away from the UK. Whether I know you from class, or rez, work or IVCF (Christian group), you've all had such a positive impact on my life and I'm glad that I got the chance to meet you. You are all welcome to come visit me whenever and I only hope I can show you the same hospitality that you've shown me!

Year Abroads are kind of weird, because you go from reading about a place to realising that everything you've read doesn't cover what you experience, because you're not just a tourist, you're a resident and you find that perfect bar which you love to visit, you know which bus goes where at what time, you can direct people to different places and best of all you become part of the group of people who live there, understanding their slang and their culture. I'm proud to say that as well as being British, there is now a part of me that is Canadian, and that will never change.

So now looking forward, tomorrow I jet off to New York where I will spend 5 days before travelling to Chile for 7 days, Argentina for 8 days, Miami for 3 days, Vancouver for 3 days then road trip back to Calgary. I'll be in Calgary from 26th to 31st and I'm hoping to catch up with as many people as possible before leaving. But when I do come to say goodbye to people it won't really be goodbye, it won't really be goodbye as I know that I'll definitely be returning at some point, after all I've still got so much more to discover about Canada!

Only finals still to go...

So classes are over. It's odd to think I may never have another lecture at U of C again, and much as I've complained about the work load I have to say I've had some amazing profs and will really miss some of the courses I've taken and people I've got to enjoy studying Linguistics with.

But before end of classes I had the excitement of getting to go see the Flames play the Canucks with Claire. For those of you who don't know, these are NHL (National Hockey League) teams: the Flames are Calgary's team and aren't that good, whereas the Canucks are Vancouver's team and are very good. There's quite a bit of rivalry and although we knew we would lose, until the last 15 minutes we were drawing 1-1. Okay so maybe the end score wasn't quite the same but let's not mention that. It was a great evening, me and Claire got all geared up in the Flames clothes and had great times dancing along to the cheesy songs.

On Thursday me and the IVCF group went to Peter's Drive Thru and then went 5 pin bowling. It's like 10 pin bowling, but with 5 pins...crazy Canadian things. Turns out I'm actually pretty good, came 3rd overall, mega win (not that I'm over competitive or anything). We had one round of normal bowling, the a round of crazy bowling...definitely not so good at that! But it was hugely hilarious and a great way to round off the bible study which has just been such a massive and amazing part of my time here.

Thursday was also the final Den of the year (well it wasn't there was one the week after but no-one cared about that one) so went out with the usual crowd. The Den was as sweaty and nightmare inducing as ever, but everyone getting home in one piece is always good! Friday was Phil's birthday so we went to a nice bar in Kensington and had some lovely cocktails. Claire managed to come down on her crutches which was great, even if we did get a mildly moody bus driver!

That Saturday some of the British girls had decorated their flat for a Midsummer Night's Dream party so we got all fairy-ed up and had a lovely time. A massive snow storm meant that going out wasn't really tempting so I had an early night instead. The Tuesday was the final official day of classes which is also known as Bermuda Shorts Day (BSD). I worked in the morning, then in the afternoon had pizza while watching Made in Chelsea before heading out to Cowboys for the party. It was crammed full of people but nice to have a dance, especially with some of the girls who I've not seen in a while.

Since then I've pretty much been writing my term paper, then doing Dance Fest shifts...oh dance mums, my favourite type of people. This Saturday went to Jamesons with the work crowd (well deserved after Dance Fest) and Jeff which was lush. I had an amazing steak sandwich, it was so super tasty. Then we chilled out and just generally had a great time. Now I've got a lot of studying to do what with finals coming up etc. but I've got so many great things to look forward to that it's okay!

Fun at Flames

Magical Fairies

Work crew