Reading Week 2015!

Please note: I wrote majority of this Thursday afternoon, but forgot to post. Updated information is included at the bottom. 

Hello afternoon and happy Thursday! For majority of the BU student population, Thursday marks the start of the weekend, myself included. Today, however, is particularly special, for three reasons. Firstly, tonight the Bishop's Mens Basketball team will face off against the Ottawa GeeGee's in the National Finals being held in Toronto at 8pm. My housemates and I are planning to go the Gait later to watch the live streaming of the game. Secondly, today marks the official launch of the BU Student Radio, an initiative that has been in the works all year long. All night long there will be previews of the shows that will be featured on the radio. Right now, I am listening to my three friends, Sara, Ariane and Kirsten who are doing a segment called "Nostalgia," featuring songs popular during the 1990s/2000s. Their regular segment is on Friday nights from 9-11pm. There is also a variety of other shows, ranging from EDM music to a talk show with a professor. You can tune in on their website here: http://www.live365.com/stations/butoastradio (Thanks Elizabeth for teaching me to tune in). And finally, today marks the start of the greenest weekend at Bishop's - St. Patrick's Day weekend. Festivities kick off this Saturday and will continue until Tuesday! For one weekend, and one weekend only, BU will change from purple to green to celebrate the luck of the Irish!

This week was a lot of catch up, as in classic student fashion, I brought all of my books home over Reading Week and opened them once - on the bus ride back to school. However, I made it through, and the break from academics was much needed, though my week so was so busy that I almost needed another break when I got back to school! It was a great time nonetheless, so without further adieu, here is a recap of my Reading Week 2015: 

So in case I did not mention this earlier, I brought my friend Vicki home with me for Reading Week. I am thinking of starting my own southern Ontario personal tour guide business, and Vicki and Hannah can provide the first testaments to my service on my future website. That being said, I do not know if this is unfortunate or not, but Vicki certainly got a taste of the hectic Erica Zucker lifestyle! We slept in the same place two nights in a row only once the entire break! And the only other time we had for resting was when we were on the road. So, I do not think my tour guide business will cater to those who prefer the slow-pace lifestyle. 

Vicki and I left Bishop's in a carpool at 6am on the Friday leading into the break. We met my dad in Guelph, who then brought  us home to Ancaster.  My mom was away at a ladies' ski weekend, so we spent the night at my dad's with my brother and sister. Upon arrival, Vicki got to meet a local champion, as Jamie had that day been crowned the Ancaster Senior Public School Ping Pong Champion. He challenged me to a match, and let's just say that all of the family ping pong genes went to him. Later that night, Vicki and I went to see 50 Shades of Grey at the local movie theatre. Neither of us had read the books or heard too much about the movie but both ended up really enjoying it! So much so that we came home and both started reading the series. Vicki finished the first book by the end of the week!

Saturday, we went with my mom and sister to Lauren's cheerleading competition in Buffalo, New York. It was a two day competition, so we stayed overnight in the Embassy Suites Hotel, chosen because of the nightly cocktail parties with free booze and snacks for all hotel guests. Unfortunately for Vicki and I, we are not of age to drink in the US, so could not take full advantage of the party. Lauren cheered that night at the Convention Centre, and we watched her team perform one of their best runs of the season. It was the first time I had seen her cheer with her new senior team and I was so impressed! We then went out for dinner with the team and then went back to the hotel to rest up for day two. 

Sunday, we went shopping at the outlet mall and later the Walden Galleria before watching Lauren's team's second run. It is a good thing I had a time limit as I could have spent all day at the outlet mall. Lauren's team performed well again, and placed second overall! My dad and Terri came down to watch, and Vicki and I got a ride home with them and we all went out to dinner. Small world Ancaster story - our waitress was my old babysitter! 

Monday we stayed in Ancaster, and went out for lunch to Cora's with my friend Elena. She had just gotten back from her reading week in Mexico, so it was great to catch up. It was also Vicki's half birthday, which she grew up celebrating. We informed the waitress (omitting the "half" part) so they brought her the Cora's birthday bird! Later that night, my mom brought home cupcakes - in half birthday fashion, we cut them all in half and ate two halves of the two different kinds. We then went to watch Jamie's last hockey game of the year - we must have been good luck because they won in overtime!

Tuesday, Vicki and I got up super early to drive up to my granny's condo in Collingwood and ski at Blue Mountain. We made great time driving up and were on the slopes by 10:30am! After skiing a few times at Jay Peak this season, I had forgotten how small Blue Mountain is in comparison, but the skiing was great n nonetheless. Tuesday was by far the coldest and windiest day, so we had to take a warm-up break before night skiing. At around 6pm or so, we called it a day, headed to metro and then back to the condo for dinner and bed. 

Wednesday was an absolutely beautiful day on the mountain! The trails were well groomed, the sun was shining and there was minimal wind - as my mom's friend Karen would say, conditions were optimal! For lunch, we went to Yeti Cheese, the mountain's grilled cheese truck at the base of the newest lift. Not as good as Gorilla Cheese, but still pretty good. In the afternoon, we walked around the Blue Mountain Village, visiting the candy shop and some of the gift shops. We were still in all our ski gear so decided to return to make any purchases. We skied until about 6pm again, and then went the Rupert's Landing Rec centre for a swim and whirlpool. The director Penny was there, who was like a third grandma to me growing up, so it was great to see her and catch up. After two full days of skiing, a hot tub was much needed! It was then back to the condo for dinner and bed, with a vow to make first tracks on the mountain the next day. 

Thursday was another beautiful day and we were on the hills bright and early. We skied a full day but could not stay too late as we had to drive home that night. We got home around 9pm, for a late dinner at my mom's. My neighbour Alex had come from school that weekend, so I was able to see him and introduce him to Vicki. He was leaving to go to Collingwood the next day, so the visit was short but sweet. 

Friday, Vicki and I boarded the bus to head back to school. Vicki went all the way to Montreal, but I got off in Kingston, where I spent the weekend with my friend Erin, a 4th year Queen's student and also one of my co-workers and longtime friends from camp. I stayed at her apartment over the weekend, and was able to meet two of her roommates. Saturday, she took me on a tour of campus and I met up with my step-brother Tyler, who is in first year and lives in the Leggatt residence, for lunch. We went to Common Ground, which is where I went for lunch when I went on my tour in grade 12. He gave me a tour of campus as well, taking me through the science buildings. By complete chance, we walked through a conference going on, where I ran into one of my RAs from first year, Laura, who is currently an OT student at Queen's. She was presenting her research at the conference in the building lobby, so we had a little Bishop's reunion at Queen's, which was really fun. Tyler and I went for a walk on frozen Lake Ontario and then he showed me his house for next year. Hopefully, my schedule will allow me to go visit him for Queen's Homecoming in the fall!

After my afternoon with Tyler, Erin and I went shopping along Princess Street and then out for dinner to the Thai House. Fun fact, Kingston is the city with the highest restaurants per capita, I had many restaurants to choose amongst. Lennoxville is definitely not rivalling Kingston for that title. After dinner, Erin took me to the Queen's Pub to try the Queen's sangria. Despite the fact that we were supposed to be splitting, I ended up drinking about 3/4 of the pitcher, but Erin made sure I got home safe and sound that night!

Sunday, I boarded the bus back to Montreal. I was originally planning to bus from Montreal back to school, but ended up meeting up with Jocelyn, her boyfriend Phil and all of Phil's housemates in Montreal, for lunch at one of his housemate's home. It was nice to have one last mom-cooked meal before heading back to school, though I was extremely jealous when she packed up all the leftovers for her son! Makes me wish I was a little closer to home!

After lunch wrapped up, we piled into the boys' cars and headed back to Lennoxville. I drove with our friend Justin, who has a pet lizard, so Jocelyn and I played with him the entire ride home. Despite my initial reservations towards lizards, he was very sweet. We were home by 6pm, and Hannah and Sarah rolled in around the same time. Elizabeth had arrived back on Saturday but had forgotten her keys in the house so she stayed with her boyfriend and we were all happily reunited on Monday. 

So that sums up my Reading Week for you! It went by way too fast, as per usual, but it was nice to get away skiing, see my family and friends, and show Vicki what I call home. It was also crazy getting back to school and realising that school is over in less than 6 weeks! Crazy! 

As mentioned above, I wrote this yesterday but it is obviously Friday now, so here is the update: the Bishop's Mens basketball team lost 91-85 to the Gee Gees last night, but it was a battle well fought. They were ahead from the second quarter until the end of the game, until the other team got one last point to take the game into OT. We watched a live stream in the Gait, which was packed full of cheering Gaiters! I suggested we start a live stream of us at the game, so the team could see their support. I believe they play again on Saturday, but I am assuming they are in the consolation round now. Will keep you posted. 

So have a great weekend everyone and enjoy this lovely spring weather that has finally arrived. Safe travels to everyone going away for the Ontario March break and happy celebrating to everyone gearing up to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Oh, and happy day of release of the new Disney movie, Cinderella! 

Until next time!

All my love, 

Erica xoxoxoxoxoxo