Montreal Trip!
Pictures are as follows: the futuristic biodome and Montreal Tower- the highest inclined tower in the world.
Then Hockey match at the Bell Centre. Go Habs Go!
And Then Old Montreal Port Area
And after that some cool art near old port




Finally exams are over and off to Montreal I go for a bit travelling before I head back to Australia. While in Montreal I was able to do a lot of cool stuff like go to a Hockey game between the Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Canadiens won it 4-2. I also got to check out such sites as the Olympic Stadium, Biodome, Montreal Tower as well as checking out the different areas of Montreal as well as sampling the local nightlife with some other Aussies and Scots I met at the hostel.

Exams have arrived here at York meaning my time in Canada is rapidly coming to an end. On the left you can see what is the first bits of snow falling in Toronto. Areas outside Toronto, including Barrie, are covered in snow but not Toronto, yet! Also below is a pic from our college formal. From left Josh and Megs and Amber and Me.

While in Canada I got the chance to celebrate my first ever Thanksgiving after being invited home by Megs to her hometown of Barrie, Ontario which is about an hour from downtown Toronto.

Thanksgiving is a chance for extended families to reunite and eat turkey and drink far too much. As you can see in the picture on the left, Canadians are very "proud" when it comes to drinking and alcoholism, which is very similar to Australia, in many ways.

It was the peak of autumn and it was good to get out of Toronto to see some nature again and seeing stars as well was good. A few of the local sights in Barrie are the Aboriginal Spirit Catcher, Lake Simcoe and the Robert Simpson Brewery.

Food!

Canadians like their food and while Toronto is home to restaurants representing every part of the world, the crowd favorite is what they call "street meat" better known as hot dogs to the rest of us.

Like in many parts of the U.S. hotdog vendors are found throughout the city providing cheap but nutritionally deficient food to the masses.

As you can see in the picture even weddings are catered for!

The CN Tower is the tallest free standing tower in the world. The two pictures above show the view from the top.

Niagara Falls is known as one of the Great Wonders of the World so I was excited to finally be able to go. They were of course amazing and something I'd definetly recommend. Even all of the touristy type attractions they have put around the Falls hasn't detracted from the greatness of the falls themselves. On the way to the falls we were able to sample some of the wines of the area including Ice Wine- which is created from naturally frozen grapes with one drop extracted from each grape. Along the way we were also able to visit some of the sites of the War of 1812 where the British fought the United States to create the Canada we know today. Unfortunately, not all of this land fought over was kept with the British handing the United States whithout permission Aboriginal land which extended the border into New York State which starts on the opposite side of Niagara Falls.

Canadians follow similar sports to America with a lot more (ice) hockey and the national sport being lacrosse.
The Canadian Football League (CFL) is the professional gridiron league. Its rules vary from those used down south in the U.S. These rule changes are supposed to speed up the game making it more acceptable for outsiders not used to all the time outs and changeovers.
The local team is the Toronto Argonauts (or Argos for short). They play at the Rogers Centre in Downtown T.O. When I went to a game they were playing against their main rivals the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Baseball is also moderately popular with the Toronto Blue Jays playing in the Continental Major League Baseball competition. The division they are in means they often played against well known teams like the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Some people struggle to support the Jays because of their record of continuing to fall short of the playoffs in recent seasons. The game in the pic was against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

In frosh week I also went to Canada's Wonderland. This was like the first rainy Toronto day since I had arrived. The weather had otherwise been much better than it was in Australia when I left. Wonderland main attraction was that nearly all the rides were rollercoasters with looping flips. The wooden coasters there however were more painful than scary! Because of the bad weather they had to cancel the Wasaga beach trip the next day which was a shame although it would have been shocking weather.

The Football game finished off the Frosh Week. York isn't really known as a sports school and therefore the interest in watching sports isn't as great as at other schools. The football games I have been to have got crowds that wouldn't exceed a thousand which is a lot when you consider it against Australian university sport where next to nobody cares. The first game was against McMaster University from Hamilton, Ontario which York lost.

Frosh week was also my first chance to go Downtown. As I learnt York University is in the middle of Industrial part of town. It takes a long time to walk to anywhere from there. The University, however, is like an oasis in the middle of all of this and their is a mall on campus so you can get some things you need without leaving.

To get to downtown you have to catch a bus to Downsview and then get on the Subway. It can take nearly an hour to get downtown. While I was downtown for the first time some newly acquired Canadian friends introduced me to the standard fare of Streetmeat, which to outsiders is simply the food you get from roadside hotdog vendors which people here eat a lot of!

The picture on the left is of the CN tower as taken from Chinatwon which you can't really see because it is on the side of the street I am taking the picture from.

Entering Toronto and Frosh Week
I had to get up at 5am to catch a bus to get to the airport. After a four hour flight I was in Toronto and dead tired.
After finding a cab I was able to head out to the University where they were treating everyone to their great school spirit!
Frosh week (what we would call O Week in Australia) was a week for all the first years to get to know everyone. Unfortunately, since everyone was underage except some exchange and international people all the events were dry.
The events were still pretty good as there were so many enthusiastic people around.

Back Again!!

Here's a terrible picture of me before flying off on my semester exchange. I flied from Melbourne to Los Angeles passing through Auckland on a one hour stop over. The flight went for ages and left me tired as. But I got to watch a heap of movies so that was allright.

On the flight to LA met a guy from Boston who had just spent a semester on exchange in New Zealand. He though the best thing to do in LA was to leave. He also suggested I don't judge America by what I see in LA!

Proof anyone can get a star on the Walk of Fame! Didn't get any pictures of the street itself. Although you really aren't missing much. Most of the street is filled with tattoo parlours and a few tacky tourist shops surrounding the main sights of LA you see on TV the Kodak Theatre, etc.

The hostel had a very laid back atmosphere with people spreading out their belongings everywhere. But it was all pretty safe with only international guests staying. It was a party hostel so they had keg parties their often. I got to meet people from a bunch of countries including a handful of annoying Aussies and Brits that talked about their time as soccer/cricket hooligans back home.

I went on a trip around L.A. but it all went by so quick so it wasn't the best for photos. More Next post....

Hello and welcome to my first post on this blog of my travels. Well, On the 25th I'll be flying out from Melbourne, Australia to spend a semester on exchange at York University in Toronto, Canada.