Hello everyone and Happy 2014! I hope your new year has been off to a wonderful start and that you enjoyed the last few days of break before we are all back to business tomorrow. I personally will be going to bed early tonight to gear up for an early morning and to catch up on the sleep I didn't get on the bus last night. It was a bittersweet end to the break for me: I am happy to be back in Lennoxville but was sad to leave my family and friends back in Ancaster, especially as I felt like I blinked and the break was over! However, I cannot stay on break forever as I have a teaching degree to pursue so here I am back in Lennoxville gearing up for my fourth semester of university!
My last week of break was as action-packed as the first two. When I woke up on Tuesday, it was hard to believe that it was the last day of 2013! Honestly, where did the year go? It felt like just yesterday I was in Waterloo with Jocelyn ringing in the New Year! To celebrate the last day of the year, I went to the last spin class of 2013 at GoodLife. I had to get there 20 minutes early just to get a bike (apparently the rest of Ancaster wanted to celebrate the same way as me). I then went home to shower and pack my bag for Toronto as I was going to spend the night with Elizabeth at her apartment downtown. I ran a few errands, made plans with Elizabeth and then went to work at 2pm. The store was fairly busy until 5pm and then was pretty much dead until close, except for some party-throwers who needed some last minute champagne glasses. I did get a surprise visit from my dad though but he didn't buy anything. Good thing I don't work off commission or I would have had to push the sale a little harder.
Also while I was at work, I got a text from my 12-year old brother asking me if I needed anything at the LCBO. I believe the exact phrasing of his text was "Erks are you going to a BYOB party? Need anything from LCBO?" I definitely did not know the term BYOB at his age as the only parties I went to were PCP (pop, chip, parents). I did put in an order though and then my mom took me to the train station to catch my train to Toronto. There were a lot of party-goers on the train, though luckily none were too out of hand. I met Elizabeth at Union station and then we made our way back to her place to get ready to go out for the night.
Our original plan was to go out to a club and Elizabeth had picked one earlier that day. We took the subway to Koreatown, which is where the club was and after momentarily getting lost, found the club and got in line. This was at about 9:45. After waiting for about 20 minutes in the freezing cold, an employee from the club came out and said that there was almost no chance we would get into the club before midnight, which was disappointing to hear. We decided to walk the street and see if we could find any other parties, but were unsuccessful in two neighbourhood so ended up back at Elizabeth's watching the Times Square party on TV. I was slightly disappointed as I had really wanted to go out, but I was happy that I was still spending New Years with one of my best friends. But then, while Elizabeth was changing into her pyjamas, Nathan Phillips Square (in downtown Toronto) showed up on TV and there was a huge party going on there so we made the spontaneous decision to go down there and join the party. We put on 8 more layers of clothing and got back on the subway.
That was the best decision we made all night!! We got to the square at about 11:20pm and spent 20 minutes maneuvering around in the crowd to get as close to the stage as we could. We ended up sandwiched beside a group of random guys who seemed friendly enough. One of them looked at me and asked if I wanted to have a better view. I assumed that he was going to let me stand in front of him so I said yes but then he just picked me up and lifted me above the crowd. I can't complain as it was a great view! The guy and his friends took turns hoisting Elizabeth and me up into the air, which was so silly but so much fun. This went on until midnight, at which there was a huge fireworks display. We said goodbye to our new friends and were going to head home but then spotted the Gorilla Cheese truck (well Elizabeth did - all I could see were people's backs). As I am the #1 fan of GC, we ordered and split a Lumberjack sandwich as our first meal of 2014. After being refuelled, we went back towards to stage to join the dance party and stayed until around 1am when the DJ retired for the night. We then made our way back to Elizabeth's apartment and fell asleep watching Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve.
I spent all of Wednesday in Toronto with Elizabeth. She took me around the neighbourhood she lives in and it was cool to see how different her living area is from mine in Ancaster. We then went down to Nathan Phillips Square again but this time we rented skates and went skating. Never in a million years did I think that I would rent skates and wear them!!! The first pair I got had a blade that was falling off, so I got a new pair and we then skated for an hour and half. Once we were sufficiently frozen, we headed to the Eaton Centre for lunch and shopping. I owe an apology to Elizabeth as I dragged her all around the Eaton Centre trying to decide what I wanted to eat. After lunch, we had a successful shopping day and validated our purchases by saying that we wouldn't have access to any of the stores we were shopping at while at school. We then headed back to Elizabeth's so I could collect my things and get on the train home. I would like to extend a huge thank you to Elizabeth for a wonderful last day of 2013 and even better first day of 2014!
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| Nathan Phillips Square! |
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| Photo taken by man inside Gorilla Cheese truck! |
Thursday I went to my dad's Rotary meeting in the morning. The speaker was the daughter of a Rotarian and she talked about the work she has done all over the world. She has worked in the US, Vietnam and for Free the Children, so it was cool to learn about what she has done so far in life. Following that, I again went to spin class at the gym and then began organizing all of my presents and belongings to take back to school. I had a pretty relaxing afternoon, which was much needed and that night my mom and I went to see Saving Mr. Banks. It was suchhh a good movie. If you have not seen the commercial, it is about the author of Mary Poppins and the process that her and Walt Disney went through to make her book into the Disney movie. I highly recommend that everyone go see it.
Friday I had an early morning physio appointment, at which my therapist gave me permission to keep building up my running - YAY! I went to the gym and then to the mall with my mom. My mom and I both had some Christmas presents to exchange and we wanted to spend one last day together before I headed back to school. That night I had my last shift at Bowring and I worked until close with my manager. My mom came in to make the last purchase of the night and I got to ring her through on the cash register! My first and only time doing cash. It was sad to leave Bowring because I really like all of the staff there but my manager offered me my job back for next year, so I can always go back, which is nice. But much like the chefs on MasterChef it was time for me to hang up my apron.
Saturday was my last day at home :( Darryl (my mom's boyfriend) and I went to spin class at the gym (I'm sensing an addiction to spinning on my part) and then I went out to Cora's with my friends Elena and Andrea. Elena and I broke tradition by going twice but I am now only 1 meal away from my free meal at Cora's! I then spent the entire afternoon packing my suitcase and it was a struggle!! Especially since I had a spice rack to squeeze into my suitcase! However I was able to get majority of my belongings into my bags and was 2 lbs under the weight limit. I then went to the gym with my dad for one last workout at Goodlife before going over to his house for dinner with Lauren, Terri and Trevor. We had steak and salmon - a perfect last meal at home. We all then went to Jamie's hockey game in Milton, which they tied 3-3 and then my mom and I drove to Toronto so that I could catch the midnight bus to Montreal. Unfortunately the bus was PACKED so I ended up with a seatmate who was a bit of a seat hog so I did not get much sleep.
I got into Montreal just after 7am and then got on the 8am bus to Sherbrooke. I saw my friend Matt on the bus who had just flown in from BC and been up for 24 hours. Much like the last boy I met on the bus, Matt had been planning to sleep but ended up talking to me for the ride. I guess I just have that effect on people. It was nice to see a fellow BU face on the bus and then was even nicer to share a cab to Lennoxville. However, when I was dropped off at my house I could not get up on the lawn and into the house as there was a giant ice/snow wall in front of my house. I put in a half hour shovelling effort but still did not achieve very much so getting into and out of my house right now is a bit risky.
I spent the afternoon putting all of my stuff away and then watched a movie while taking a nap. I went down to campus at 5pm to go the RA dinner as my new bosses wanted me to be there for the training. I felt very out of place at the dinner as all of the RAs were reuniting and catching up but hopefully things will be better tomorrow when the real training starts. I better pay attention since my first night on duty is this Saturday (kind of unfortunate as I wanted to go out with my friends). Wish me luck as I do my best to keep the Mackinnon residents in line!
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| The spice rack in its new home beside the drinking games calendar! |
In other news, tonight is my first night alone in the house and I am really looking forward to my friends coming back tomorrow and later in the week so that I am not so lonely. Looking ahead to this week, I have training tomorrow and a little bit on Tuesday, a free day on Wednesday and then classes start up on Thursday. A lot of people are taking the rest of this week off but I would hate to miss the first day of classes. And then Saturday I will be up until 3:30 on duty in Mackinnon! I'll also have to get back into lesson planning as my practicum starts up again next Monday! And this Monday is the Bachelor! The busy life of Erica Zucker is picking up again and I will be doing my best to keep up with myself! Wish me luck!
Good luck back at school and work this week! Keep those New Year's Resolutions (I am thinking about making mine to twirl my hair less and to run a half marathon - we will see what happens)!
All my love, Erica xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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