CASA LOMA

 Toronto definitely look after their International Students - on arrival at Toronto Pearson International Airport back in August I was greeted by a stand offering free Tim Horton's gift cards, maps, advice and mobile sim cards as well as a cute little tote bag filled with info I would need to get by in my first couple of days moving to a foreign country. Since then I have enjoyed complimentary trips and dinners = perks of going on exchange! On Sunday I registered to go on a free trip to Casa Loma which otherwise would have cost me $24!!! Other trips included the Toronto Zoo, Science Centre and the CN Tower, all trips which cost a fair bit of money so I would definitely keep a watch on your emails if you do come to study here as you will be offered plenty of FREE opportunities.

Anyway, I enrolled on the Casa Loma tour and WOW am I pleased that I had the chance to go. Sidenote: Being in this type of lighting has pushed me to properly learn how to use my DSLR to it's full potential rather than just relying on Photoshop to fix things so just ignore my Instagram filtered and badly lit photographs. Technological fails aside, Casa Loma is literally the most beautiful historical interior I have ever seen. If you didn't know, I am very interested in History and love the architecture and interior of castles but this just jumped to the next level. What made the experience even better was the fact that a wedding was taking place so everything was just extra beautiful...I'm going to have to start saving now for my big day because nothing will compare to this! 

The history behind the actual building is very intriguing as well as the fact that parts of the building were used for the filming of The Pacifier which is one of my favourite movies. I think the light snow fall made the experience even more enchanting as you looked out of the old windows and onto the streets of Toronto.

If you ever get a chance to visit Casa Loma then I would 100% recommend .

Keep Exploring!

Sally xxx

REFLECTION

Time seems to move incredibly fast when you are enjoying all of the special moments in your life and if  I've learned anything from living abroad then it is definitely that. 

I feel very privileged to have been part of such an amazing experience and I have to thank my Mum, Dad and Jack for supporting me in every sense of the word, my Granny for being my pen friend and my Uncle Archie and Auntie Maureen for always being there for a catch up and to recommend places to go to make the most of my time here. My friends have been incredible and I have learned a lot about the people in my life - realising the people that I thought were friends that are not anymore and being thankfully for the friends that I definitely should make more time for. Heather, Judy, Emily and Nicola where would I be without you guys to shake me back into reality when I'm being my usual stressy self over life, oh so dramatic! Aaaand my Girlies for generally being  the best 'Dynamic Dinosaurs' (private joke!). Gregor, Danny and Kirsten have also included me in the majority of wine nights over skype and kept me updated on life without me there (generally Gregor being really stupid!). Life moves on back home and I am old enough now to realise that but I truly am thankful for the people who have stayed in touch and dropped me a message once or twice, it's the little things in life that put that smile on your face.

I didn't mean this post to be a list of thank you's but just now seems like the best time to write everything down before I freak out over studying for five subjects in three days and then have five finals in one week, some of them being on the same day as each other (the only downside of studying in Canada - future students take note!).
Studying Abroad is something I have always wanted to do, to the point where I picked my university because of the options but I realise that it is also something that a lot of people are afraid to consider. When it came to applying I did not even think twice, it was a natural decision and I went for it. When I received the place at Humber in Toronto, Canada the people I told were amazed that I was able to do such a thing - I found this strange as I did not see the big leap in my life that everyone else saw. As the experience is beginning to come to an end I still do not see the big deal in my decision to move across the world for 6 months (travelling beforehand too) but I suppose that just proves how lucky and privileged I am to have been able to do such a thing. Life is way too short and if anyone has learned that in the past year then it is me, after something happened within our family at the beginning of the year I vowed from then on in that I would  say YES to life. I never want to regret saying no to things so I may as well say yes at least to try it once. I honestly feel that going by this motto has helped me achieve my full potential out here, I don't think I have missed one opportunity! 

As cliche as it may seem, you learn a lot about yourself when moving abroad, you find yourself in a way. I had lost myself over the last two years, becoming someone I no longer recognised as the fun loving, laugh about everything Sally I used to be and by using my experiences here I am ready to change things (getting deep I know...)

Onto a lighter note...NEW FRIENDS! I read this quote on Instagram the other day "we all begin as strangers" which is so true - take it how you like but for me I realised that only 12 weeks ago, my best friends that I have met here were strangers, we knew nothing about each other and here we are now best friends that I don't quite know how I am going to survive without when I am home. All are different friendships than I have had before, although we have all become a sort of dysfunctional family which is awesome, I wouldn't change it for the world. The memories we have created together will stay with me forever (especially that Churro instax picture which will never be fit for the Internet hahaha). 

Travel is literally the best gift that you can ever give yourself. People have said to me that they wish that they could be in the same situation as me....well you can be! I was that person, sitting there and wishing that I could be that person away travelling and seeing the world and I here I am. Living back in Scotland over the past couple of years I have been moving from one place to the next without a solid place I would call 'home' but now moving back I don't think that I want that - a roof over my head is all that I need and it's my family and friends that make it home. I can truly say that Toronto will forever be my second home with travelling through life with the people I love being my first 'home'.

This experience has taught me that although society thinks otherwise, travelling is my dream career - yes it may not be in the fashion industry or deemed as getting a 'real job' but I will be happy to travel from place to place along with hopefully helping people along the way - I know for me, that this path will make me happy over any career that I undertake and will give me a ton of life experience that no job will ever be able to do. So to the people that tell me that I need to grow up - I have grown up and this is my decision.

So to end this in depth reflection of my time here I just want to say a massive THANK YOU to the people who have made this experience possible and the most amazing time of my life and if your reading this and wishing you could do it, YOU CAN! Don't think twice just do it! Annnnd if you fancy going somewhere in the world, let me know and I'll come along for the ride!

Lots of Love

Sally xxx

P.S Keep Exploring! 

ROAD TRIP | DAY TWO

Waking up to day two after a cosy nights sleep in our motel was soon shattered when I stepped outside to be hit by snow and freezing temperatures. Unfortunately most of the places we wanted to visit were now closed due to tourist season ending the weekend before. Nonetheless we went on the hunt for some exploration and adventure by heading to the Bruce Caves. Located deep in the forest we thought it would be a no brainer to follow the trail, oh how we were wrong! After parking the car down a very beaten up trail we had to walk back along the road and then follow the Bruce Caves sign which took us along an incredibly muddy trail which took us to... THE CARPARK, no caves in sight! With limited internet access and a couple of failed phone calls it became obvious that we were just not going to find them = epic fail no.1...

As the weather became worse and worse we decided to drive the majority of the journey back to Toronto and came across a beautiful 'seaside' area fully equipped with a cute little lighthouse. The photo opportunity as seen above looked picture perfect but inbetween shots we had to dodge massive waves. We then drove a little further and whilst stopped at traffic lights we could see this Sauble Beach sign in the distance so decided to drive down and explore. I have never experienced wind like this, it was literally FREEZING wind! Please ignore the fact I have no shoes on, they were soaking and socks just seemed like the best option at this moment in time.

Due to the increasingly bad weather we decided to stop of at a couple of towns, Owen Sound, Orangeville and Brampton on the way back to Toronto which looked very pretty, I wish we had more time to explore but it was great just to see them from the car.

As I mentioned in my previous post we had a couple of GPS fails, well what type of GPS does not take you to a main city airport? And no we were not doing anything wrong this time! So yehhhh we ended up in downtown Toronto with no gas and no clue where we were going. Thankfully we managed to find a gas station and work out how to get back to the airport, 1 hour and 30 mins behind schedule = epic fail no. 2...

My road trip was now over and I was actually a little bit sad, it truly opened my eyes to be more spontaneous and just say YES to life because you really should wake up each morning with no regrets. Not only was this experience really fun but I learned a lot about myself and the type of life I want to lead...thank you Canada!

Sally xxx

ROAD TRIP | DAY ONE

"Live for the journey not the destination"

The raindrop sound of my alarm in the morning wakes me up and after turning it off the first thing I do is tap open Pinterest to be faced with inspirational quotes in order for me to bring myself into a day of positivity. On Saturday morning I woke up to this quote which fitted perfectly with my weekend ahead - a Road Trip! We had the Bruce Peninsula area in mind that we eventually wanted to reach but decided to let Canada take us on a journey rather than having planned destinations.  

Our first day took us from Toronto to one of the most northern points of Ontario, Tobermory (after a one hour battle with the GPS and a car full of five girls!). We literally drove through every season imaginable in the space of about three hours - rain, sleet, snow and sunshine.  Hoggs Waterfall was our first stop , after a short (muddy and snowy) hike we arrived at the lovely mini waterfall, a lot smaller than we had anticipated but nonetheless a beautiful first stop. 

We then continued onto find The Grotto and Indian Head Cove - after a 30 mintute 'wheelchair access' hike, the Canadians obviously call rock climbing wheelchair accessible! But it's always an adventure and made  the end scene absoloutly epic as you felt as though you had worked for the view that was before your eyes - I'm sure you will agree that the view is stunning? Note to self and anyone thinking about exploring in this area WEAR SUITABLE FOOTWEAR! 

A couple of hours flew by and before we knew it we were at our Motel for the night - it's something you have to experience at least once in your life! We obviously had to remember the moment with a little photoshoot! We were knackered after our day of exploring so decided to chill in our little room by playing word and guessing games = which was hilarious considering we all speak different languages... "if you steal something from a shop" the answer was meant to be robbery yet Justine answered with "it's free" hahahaha - I suppose it's a 'you have to be there moment'. I also learned that Germans are VERY competitive.

As our first day came to an end I just couldn't quite believe that I had managed to experience so much in one day. My neck and head hurt due to the constant moving around and looking out of the window in all directions in order to take in as much as possible. My day definitely lived up to the quote I had read that morning!

Stay tuned for Day Two coming in my next post.

Hope you are all well and Keep Exploring!

Sally xxx

P.S sorry for the poor quality of some of the photographs - my camera did not agree with the snow and freezing temperatures which meant I was unable to capture a lot of the moments but I have taken more with my film camera and will be sure to share them when I get them developed.

TORONTO SUNSET

I know that whilst you were scrolling down to the bottom of this page that you were amazed by these pictures and just wished you were there and if not then WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? Everything I do here just seems to top the last. Watching the sunset over Toronto will stay with me forever, I just cannot explain the overwhelming feeling of being grateful for all of the opportunities that I have been given in the past couple of months. I also felt very settled for the first time in a couple of years which was very strange - it's hard to explain but not only settled in the place I am living but actually within myself (getting deep for a second). 

After arriving on the little island we found a little picnic area, whapped out a bottle of wine and poured it into little cups, turned on some acoustic music and just soaked in the atmosphere. Words cannot describe the evening I spent with some amazing people but it was definitely worth the trip. The island in itself was a lovely little adventure, the housing was out of this world and although at times it looked like a set from a horror movie as it was around Halloween, I wish I could have owned one of the houses.

Hope you are all well :)

Sally xxx