GEP year overview (a.k.a. “I’m 1/4 a vet!”)

So it’s been nine months since my last post. Whoops! Sorry about that. It’s not due to a lack of anything happening, that’s for sure. I’ve just finished my very first year of Veterinary Medicine program at the University of Edinburgh. My program, being a graduate entry level program, means that I just actually finished the first TWO years. Technically next year I am considered a third year student of the typical 5-year program. I don’t know about you, but that gets me pretty excited! Let me get you caught up (as briefly as possible) on the highlights of my life for the past academic year.

Since moving to Scotland I have become a fan of Rugby. Lucky for me there is a rugby club for the Veterinary school (the oldest in Scotland!). So I joined and I’ve been having a blast! We have played games almost every other weekend and we would get together at a local Irish pub (our coaches are Irish) to watch the big rugby games on TV. Being from Canada I only had Hockey fans to compare this experience to, but I can’t say that I’ve had so much fun watching and playing sports until I found rugby.

My husband, Michael, came to visit me in January! His stay was far too short and I can’t wait to see him again when I fly home at the end of June. I took him to my favorite Irish bar (Malone’s) – yes this is the same bar where I watch rugby. I took him sightseeing in the highlands and many small hikes throughout the area. I also took him on a chocolate tour of the city and we discovered our new favorite sweet shops, one being called Lickety splits. This is a small shop tucked away off the Royal Mile that is half a Jewelry store and half a sweet shop. The woman who owns the store is cheerful and full of interesting stories and is one of my favorite people to visit on a regular basis. She also has loads of candy that you haven’t seen since you were a child, and knows the story behind every single one! But my favorite part of Michael’s visit was that he would come watch all my rugby training sessions and games and he would be on the sidelines as our personal cheerleader but also acted as our medic. The team (and the coaches) were sad to have say goodbye after only a couple short weeks.

We get a massive 4-week break for Easter to complete Extra Mural Studies (EMS). These are mandatory weeks of firsthand experience with animal care and husbandry in the first year of the program. Next year all my EMS will be observational and hands on clinical experience! I had completed some weeks before starting the program but over Easter is when all the baby sheep are born so they give us time off to go live on a sheep farm and help the farmers with lambing for 2 weeks. THE MOST FUN EVER.

My placement was in Northern Ireland and the farmer and his wife were so generous and made sure me and my friends were well fed. They also went out of their way to make sure we got to see the Giants Causeway (Natural wonder of the world!).

I can’t begin to tell you what I learned but if you ever get the chance to live on a farm DO IT. I was lucky that most of the sheep were good mothers and easy lambers, but I got a couple breeches and malpresentations that I got to sort out on my own (not easy). The pride is indescribable.

Some random things have happened that don’t fall in any particular category but I thought they were worth mentioning. I saw WICKED, danced at numerous Ceilidhs and got to see my favorite band from home (Newfoundland), The Once, perform here in Edinburgh. I also got to meet them after the performance and after being away from home since Christmas it was nice to have a little taste of home.

I have participated in a couple events that I really enjoyed. Both were hosted by the Edinburgh Veterinary Zoological Society. The first was a conference where I got to attend a wildlife post mortem and an avian clinical workshop. They also hosted the Hessilhead Wildlife rescue day where we spent the day at this rescue. They gave us a tour and told us about the work they are doing for injured animals (hedgehogs, owls, deer, bats, foxes, rabbits, pigeons and other various birds) to rehabilitate and return them to the wild.

My parents came to visit me at the beginning of May! They rented a car and on their first weekend we drove into the highlands and visited the Glenfinnian Viaduct, Ben Nevis, Inverness, Loch Ness, Fort William, and St. Andrews. I also took them to Malone’s and the Vet school pub (The Dick Pub) where I played a game of chess with dad AND I WON! We took a trip to Glasgow on their second weekend to watch a live rugby game and sightsee.

Right now I have just settled into my new flat for the (hopefully) next three years in Edinburgh. I have four weeks of EMS, 2 weeks of falconry, 1 week with pigs in Southern England and 1 week with horses. I fly home at the end of June until mid-September!

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller

Post exam week shenanigans

Well it’s been over a month since my last post, and the majority of that time has been spent studying the various bones, vessels and muscles of the canine, but do not fret! I found plenty of time to get away from my books in the interest of what I like to call “procrastination”.

Let’s see. Obviously the first thing you want to do when you’re in vet school is visit the ever so close Edinburgh Zoo! They had a whole LARGE CAT SECTION, koalas, pandas & penguins (most of which I don’t have any good pictures of). but omg.

PENGUINS

Zoo Entrance

Jaguar ❤

That’s one less thing to cross off the bucket list!

I also got to attend a Ceilidh (a Scottish gathering with folk music and traditional dancing). If I have any words of advice it would be that you should wear comfortable clothes and shoes. It was an insane amount of fun, and made me realize that more than anything I want to learn to play the violin.

We had a societies fair at the Vet School and I knew I wanted to join a society that got me outside, would let me vent my frustrations and have a great social life. So I obviously chose Rugby. So far we’ve had a few practices and our first game is next weekend. I don’t have any pictures yet, but I am working on my collection of bruises. Yes, it is as kick ass as you think it is and it has one of the best t-shirt slogans of all time.

To celebrate finishing our first set of exams a friend and I went geocaching around where we live and discovered an old train tunnel!

From there we headed up to Calton Hill for some sightseeing. It was a beauty of a day.

We began the next day with an early stroll up Arthur’s seat. A dormant volcano in Holyrood park with a decent view of the city!

After a breather on the top we found that the walk back down the other side was just as lovely.

We spent the afternoon walking along Portobello Beach and the promenade in the sunshine.

My flatmate and I enjoyed an authentic Filipino meal at the only Philippine restaurant we’d ever seen outside the Philippines. We were so excited! Red Horse beer, Sisig, Kare Kare, & Halo Halo for dessert!! 😀

The next week we were back in classes but Wednesday the school organized a hike of the Pentlands.

Positive attitude

Tree hugger

Fran the dog made for great company!

We climbed Turnhouse hill (502 m, 1646 ft). What a workout! Yes, I realize it’s a hill, but most trails are not completely vertical. There was one point I was actually afraid to stop moving because I thought I would roll away. Great view though!

I made it!

Some cows chillin’

GEPs!

To finish off the post-exam celebrations we had a friend give us a tour through the Scotch Whiskey Experience (do it, seriously). This place, located just next to Edinburgh Castle, contains the largest collection of Scotch Whiskey in the WORLD on a pretty impressive display too.

Unfortunately I have no photos to share from the experience but from my naive standpoint it was fun and educational AND you get to drink Whiskey (bonus). You learn the all about process of making Scotch Whiskey and how to identify certain flavors. Our tour was early on a Saturday so I was trying my best not to breathe on people when I left, but I wasn’t complaining.

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?!

Well, that was the first day, now to catch you up on the rest!

July 31, 2014

First official day of the festival! Mom and I had booked a City Sightseeing bus tour (₤14) that was 24 hours hop on hop off. We did the whole tour first on the top level (~ 1 hour) and then our second trip around we explored a little.

We stopped at the Grassmarket for lunch at the Black Bull. All we knew was that we were hungry and wanted to try something different. Of course Haggis comes to mind when you think Scottish food so that was what we inquired about. It looked like they gave fairly large servings so we asked about a smaller plate and that when we found the kids menu, it had “Wee Haggis, neeps & tatties”. Isn’t “wee” just the best word? It makes everything funnier!

I’m not 100% sure what is in Haggis (is anyone, really?) but I have an idea because it’s quite similar to blood pudding, which is awesome if you haven’t tried it. Not to take away from the Haggis, it was surprisingly tasty! Although I’m not sure what I was expecting. I really enjoyed that it was served with turnip and potatoes. It’s not common you get turnip with a meal at a restaurant. Quite a pleasant surprise! I guess that’s what the “neeps” was about in the title 🙂

From there we hopped back on the bus and got a ride to Edinburgh Castle. If you haven’t been there’s a free tour of the grounds every half hour or so! Our guide was so knowledgeable that I could hardly think of any questions to ask. When you see something as incredible as a towering castle on a cliff side you often tend to forget the remarkable history it might have, or I tend to anyway, I just sort of marvel at the structure itself.

Some of my favorite sites were: the 12^th C chapel, it is the oldest remaining structure on site. I also liked the prisoners of war chambers & the gallery dedicated to all the things they left behind and built. The crown jewels were a must-see as well. Every day the cannon is shot off at 1pm, if you’re not expecting it can be quite a loud surprise. We also tried to buy tickets for the Tatoo but it was all sold out for the week that mom was here.

From there we were back on the bus and headed to the outskirts of the main city hub to Dynamic Earth, an interactive tour that brings you through time, from the big bang to today! When I say interactive, I mean they put you in a time machine that shows you a bird’s eye view (if there were birds back then) of the big bang and drops you on earth once it’s formed, you get a 4D flight through all the earth’s biomes and you enter a glacial room with a real mountain of ice in the centre. It cost ₤12.50 including a show in the dome theatre on super volcanoes. As a science nerd I really enjoyed the whole thing!

By the time we got out it was getting pretty late so we did a quick dinner at Jimmy Chung’s buffet on Waverley bridge and started to head back to our hotel when we noticed a black, ominous looking tour bus on Waverley bridge. When we inquired we discovered that this bus was a haunted tour of Edinburgh! Including stories of all the places we had seen on the original hop on hop off bus (ghosts, spirits and tales of hangings), and a real live séance with a spirit on the bus, it was entertaining to say the least. Lots of laughs were had!

August 1, 2014

This was almost a 10 on my scale of awesome days. I had been recommended a “Hairy Coo” tour from a girl I know and we found this FREE day bus tour into the highlands!! I should point out that it’s free from the start but you tip at the end what you think the quality of the tour deserves.

So we met around 8am outside Deacon’s on the royal mile and to start we got a photo stop at Forth Bridge.

From there we were headed to the Wallas Monument, on the way we passed a statue dedicated to a mythological creature called Kelpies. I actually am incapable of describing the awe of this statue. Just look.

We didn’t stop here unfortunately. I got that picture from the internet. We did stop at the Wallas Monument though. I bought a book (because that’s what I do) of the monument describing the history of William Wallas (because the Braveheart movie was “bollocks”). It also had a great view.

From there we headed to Sterling, which you can see from the previous picture, it’s just REALLY tiny. We had a photo stop with the castle, it’s painted gold on one side to represent what it would have looked like when it was built.

Our next stop was one of my favorites, but not the best (I’ll get to it). This stop was Lake Menteith, not Loch, Lake. It was incredibly scenic and could have been romantic if we weren’t a bus full of people.

We stopped at Aberfoyle for lunch. Mom and I had brought our lunches so we didn’t have to wait a long time for restaurants (recommended). So we spent our extra time speaking with the Owl Rescue that was set up there.

There was also a man and his sheepdog explaining the different breeds of sheep found in Scotland and what each one was for. Then he demonstrated a working sheepdog hearding ducks. All he needed to do was whistle slightly differently and the dog did exactly what he wanted! It was a demonstration of great training, even for a pup, and I was pretty impressed being someone who hadn’t seen a sheepdog in action before.

After that we took a side trip to a lookout view of the highlands and the driver played bagpipes!

From there we get to my favorite part of the day, the Hairy Coo’s, or Highland cow’s, whichever you prefer. There was a field of them and two babies that we stopped to hang out with and feed some whole wheat bread (and take some selfies).

We then visited another Loch, Loch Katrine to be exact. Well known for the “Lady of the Lake”. There’s a really nice boardwalk on the edge that Mom and I walked through to get a better view of the mountains.

Then, my second favorite part of the day, we went to Dounne Castle. The site of Monty Python’s “Holy Grail” where John Cleese plays the Taunting French Guard and it was also Winterfell in Game of Thrones!! The tour guide even gave us two halfes of cocnuts to bang together to pretend to be riding horses up to the gates.

If you haven’t seen the Holy Grail, you have to watch it to get the reference. I couldn’t stop laughing! I could hardly believe it, we weren’t told about half of these things before we started the tour. I guess that’s why the tour was so incredible, it was mostly exciting surprises!

After that excitement we were on our way back to Edinburgh. We stopped a pub for supper, we got the “Scottish burger” and I enjoyed a glass of local draft called “three hop”.

In the month of August the festival is on, which means the Tatoo is performed EVERY night at Edinburgh Castle. Mom and I couldn’t get tickets, but there are fireworks over the castle every night at the end of the Tatoo. Our goal was to go out for a pint and come back to see the fireworks.

So we got ready and headed to the Royal Mile to a pub called The Mitre Pub. There was a live performer on his guitar, he was playing some of my favorites including THREE Johnny Cash songs, Queen, Simon & Garfunkel & Bob Dylan.

After every song mom suggested we head off to catch the fireworks but I always wanted to stay for one more (he was REALLY good). So we left maybe 20 minutes later than we wanted to. When we got back to Princes Street (there’s a great view of the Castle from there) we waited for 30 minutes or so with no sign of fireworks. So we asked someone and it turns out that the fireworks were EARLY that night! They started about 10 minutes after we got the pub so we completely missed them! Mom and I had a pretty good laugh about that. It turned out to be a pretty great night anyway!

A new beginning

For those of you who are not familiar with my recent life happenings, I was accepted into the Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine & Surgery (4-year Graduate Entry Program) at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I have had many mixed feelings about this opportunity because I had tried for two year to get into the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island. With two interviews, one rejection, one waitlist, and my courses about to expire, I couldn’t wait any longer. On my second application to the AVC I branched out. In Canada, vet schools are done by region, I am only allowed to apply to the AVC because I have Newfoundland residence so I didn’t have any other choice but to apply internationally.

I got my acceptance into GEP 2014 (without an interview) to the University of Edinburgh in November 2013! I was on cloud nine, so much excitement, shock and awe all at once! I had heard so much about the reputation of this school that I had applied on a lark NEVER thinking that I would be hearing from them. Yet, here I was. My dreams were coming true and I was going to a school that not only allowed me to travel (apart from my husband and veterinary medicine, travelling is the love of my life) but offered such incredible opportunities! AND The city is stunning!

 

I feel that now I am officially enrolled I have the right to brag a little. THE PEOPLE HERE ARE AMAZING! I have met a shocking number of Canadians in my class, and I am living in residence for the first time with other vet students. I was nervous at the thought of dorms, but I get my own room and I have met some incredible people from all over the world as well. I’ve been in the situation before where I travelled to a new place with people I don’t know, and because of previous experiences I was so afraid of what was ahead of me. Not having a support system is incredibly scary in a new place. But these girls are magnetic! It was instant friendships and it’s only the first week!

The Easter Bush campus is brand new, built in 2011, completely separate from the main city so we’re surrounded by fields and mountains, and ever since day one the staff and professors genuinely care about the class, we have immeasurable amounts of support from all over the University. Also, we get sorted into houses, like Harry Potter.

I’m just going to take a second a talk about the school. I’ve been told that it ranked 17^th in the world (out of 44.5 thousand) and when I looked it up it easily is one of the best schools in the UK, ranking as #2 in 2014, outranking Oxford & Cambridge. It was the 5^th Vet School in the world when it was opened by William Dick in 1823, since then the University has opened the Roslin Institute made famous for many reasons but notably for cloning Dolly the Sheep.

This program has an amazing mandatory EMS (Extra Mural Studies) portion, which Canadian schools lack. They are placements you need to organize during holidays to spend a number of weeks with different animals (from cats, horses, cows, pigs & sheep to llamas, tigers & elephants, anything you want to experience) to learn about husbandry and clinical skills, depending on your year in the program.

 So now that I’m done bragging I’ll let you know that I’ve finally arrived in Scotland, settled in to my accommodations, and begun Vet School but it has been an emotional roller coaster! Not because I’m meeting new people or beginning such an intensive program, but because I had to leave my husband behind and I feel like I’m starting over without him.

So much has happened in the past week that I feel like I’ve just been in shock the whole time, without recognizing how I feel about any of it. Don’t get me wrong, for the most part I am ecstatic!! The fellow students in my class are wonderful and I love the school and the city! I just wish I could share it with my husband (my family).

Anyway, I want to fill you in on the haze of my first day in Edinburgh, Scotland, and many more to come! Enjoy J

 

July 30^th, 2014

Mom and I left St. John’s around 10pm on the red eye and I hardly got any sleep because who would choose sleep when you can watch The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Thinking back on it I probably should have slept but I was too excited, I was going to SCOTLAND!

We had a stopover in London and we were on our way again, from my side of the plane it was a beautiful sunny day and I could see Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh Castle and loads of other really exciting things which I didn’t take any pictures of, unfortunately.

Then came the hustle and bustle of the airport which, compared to St. John’s airport, is significant. We towed our (my) many bags through the crowd until we found the wonderful invention of the bus stop. There is an Airlink blue bus that brings you straight from the airport to City Centre for just ₤4! Glorious!

It was ~30 minute ride and we passed the Edinburgh Zoo on the way, my heart skipped a beat when I saw the billboards for their Pandas.

The hotel we were staying in, Royal British Hotel, was luckily only a 2 minute walk from where the bus dropped us off, I can’t imagine I could have carried my stuff much farther after a night of travelling. There was no time for resting! We dropped off our stuff and headed straight back out. There was a Ferris wheel, a view of the castle and the Scott Monument right outside our front door. Unbelievable!

 

Of course we must remember that we are in Edinburgh in the month of August so the streets are crowded with people and there are notices of attractions everywhere (like the Ferris Wheel) for the Fringe festival.

All I know is that we were starved. So we decided to browse through the Princes Street mall and we found this crazy sounding hole-in-the-wall kind of food place called “Spuds-u-like”. The pictures didn’t look overly appetizing but I’m all for eating questionable things so we ordered two specials. The “specials” just turned out to be curry chicken on a baked potato with garlic bread on the side, delicious!

With our bellies no longer rumbling we decided to tick the number one “big thing” off the to-do list, visit Hewats for my Vet School gear. It wasn’t that far of a walk but we did get turned around once or twice, I can’t remember how many times I asked for directions in stores before someone finally printed me off a map, bless their cotton socks! Once we got there I got everything off the list, from a boiler suit right down to the socks I wear under my wellingtons. Of course I was too exhausted to carry it around all day so we brought it back to hotel for unloading and headed back out again.

You know very well that we had to ride the Ferris Wheel! We made an evening of it. It was only ₤8 but you get an incredible view of the city and they take you around maybe 10 times? Once we had thoroughly enjoyed our personal view we wandered over to the ice cream truck. I went with a simple single cone but mom ordered a double, which slightly represented the male anatomy more than it did a delicious cool treat. Of course mom being the dirty minded person she is kept cracking up when she ate it making ridiculous puns which I won’t describe for the sake of any younger viewers.

Next on the agenda was the Scott Monument, it looks stunning from the outside and also offers incredible views but we had never heard of it before and thought it was just normal stairs. No. You have to climb a very narrow staircase of 287 steps, hugging the wall as you go so you don’t fall backwards. Mom, being claustrophobic and afraid of heights was a little uneasy at the idea but did it anyway. So proud!

To celebrate we did some shopping at H&M, the store we always have to go to no matter where we are travelling (there isn’t one in St. John’s). We then called it a night with a drink at the hotel bar “Jupiter” of Strawberry steam on dry ice and a wet Gin Martini with lemon.

Statue of Liberty & Broadway

The day started at the subway station on our way to Bowling Green, downtown by the Staten Island Ferry terminal. This ferry is free for pedestrians, but doesn’t go directly to Liberty Island or Ellis Island. It does go pretty close to the Statue of Liberty though and I was able to get some good pictures.

 

Once we got to the other side we had to get off the ferry but wanted to head back right away so we ended up running off one boat and through some loops all the way around to get onto another one. We made it just in time and enjoyed the view from the other side on the way back.

The statue was the only reason we were downtown so we hopped on the 4 train back uptown and then the S shuttle to Times Square just in time for lunch at Bubba Jump Shrimp. Coconut shrimp for lunch and Bubba Gump t-shirts for souvenirs. My favorite part was when the waiter asked us Forrest Gump Trivia, I got it all except for how many Dr. Pepper’s he drank at the white house (it’s 15).

What happened next was the highlight of the whole trip for me. Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. I had been waiting since I first learned of the show to see it, maybe more than 10 years? I couldn’t believe I was finally there. I can’t put the experience in to words but if you have seen it you know. It’s incredible. And I can say without a doubt that I fell in love with the voice of Hugh Panaro (the Phantom) that night.

 

Once we were back at the hotel we started to pack and prepare for the next morning (a “huge” snowstorm was on its way to NYC). After a LOT of fiddling around with our cancelled flights, numerous boarding passes and switching to earlier flights we got home to St. John’s safe and sound, just in time to avoid the storm hitting the Avalon.

A day in Times Square

We had to wake up early this morning for a morning presentation at Times Square Tower. It went well but there was a large time gap between the presentation and my appointment so we decided to take advantage of our spare time and headed to Madame Tussaud’s. A nearby famous wax museum.

The experience here was one of kind. It was 4 or 5 floors of awesome. You walk on the first floor and it’s pure Hollywood. Ru Paul is at the centre of it on this crazy looking fountain. He’s surrounded by Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, Leo DiCaprio, Nicolas Cage, Bruce Willis, George Clooney, Danzel Washington, Julia Roberts, Angelina & Brad, and Tyra Banks. To name a few.

The next floors included more actors, pop culture stars and the presidential hall. Some of my favorite influential figures include Einstein, Helen Keller, Rosa Parks, Lincoln & JFK. 

 

Then we “met” The Rockets, Marilyn Monroe, Matthew Broderick, Alicia Keys, Judy Garland, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Diana Ross, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Ozzy, Spice Girls, and so many more.

 

Did I mention there was a Marvel Avengers section?!

We grabbed a quick lunch at Applebee’s, and then did some minor shopping damage and explored the Hard Rock Café, Bubba Gump Shrimp & Planet Hollywood. Outside the store they had handprints of a couple people that I’m a fan of. I.e. Patrick Swayze and Sylvester Stallone.

My favorite was Toys R Us, not only was it like 4 floors of awesome, but it had a huge, terrifying for children, roaring T-Rex. AND A Ferris wheel. Mom and I got into the M&M car and got to go around 6 times 🙂

Once my appointment ended (3pm) we did some slightly more shopping damage at Forever 21 and M&M world. But most of my excitement is in anticipation for Phantom of the Opera tomorrow! Come on Broadway!  

My first horse drawn sleigh :)

Our first place of visitation this morning was the Empire state building. We hadn’t walked that direction from our hotel yet so everything was brand new. Did I mention that the whole time mom was looking for a place to buy fruit there was a little store right around the corner we hadn’t explored yet? Whoops.

 

Once we figured out how to find the Empire State building (it really isn’t that hard) we paid the fee ($27) to get up to floor 86. First they bring you through a set of rooms giving you some background of the building and how energy efficient it is then they put you on an elevator that goes up 10 floors at a time and by the time you reach the top your ears have popped more times than a bag of pop rocks.

 

The view was stunning, and we would have stayed longer to enjoy it if we didn’t feel like the life was being sucked out of us by the cold and wind. We braved the cold for ~7.35 minutes and then enjoyed the view safe and warm from inside the glass until we moved our attention to the gift shop.

 

We moved onto the Macy’s and didn’t really see anything we liked. We picked up the Pandora charm for NYC, the one shaped like an apple with NYC engraved on the side. Down the street was the Manhattan mall with JC Penney, again not a whole lot stood out but we found lots of great stuff at H&M! I never liked the store before, for whatever reason I’m not sure, but I like it now.

We then walked our way up 5^th avenue popping into a couple stores along the way including; the bottom of Rockefeller center, Barnes & Noble, H&M (again), & Tiffany’s.

When we reached 58^th street we were at the edge of Central Park and we arranged a horse & buggy to take us around the park on a 40 minute ride.

The guy driving sounded like Gerard Butler, but I wasn’t really paying that close attention. He showed us some of the highlights used in the movies like You’ve Got Mail, Ghostbusters, Home Alone 2 & Love Story. He even pointed out the location where John Lennon got shot (outside his apartment building just up the street) and that there is an area of the park dedicated to him as a memorial. Although it was freezing cold, I can’t deny that the park is beautiful!

My favorite was the fountain, he brought us up to the fountain used in the opening credits of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., YAY! I was pumped. What made the scene was a little foreign man driving around in the snow on his peddle bike singing “I’ll be there for you”. Can you picture it?

By the time the tour ended it was close to 3 so we walked across 7^th avenue to another shopping hub with the strangest naked statues.

We went into H&M (for real, again) and headed back to Time Square around 4. Found 7 Time Square (got hassled by a million people asking us “Do you like comedy?”) Honestly, who doesn’t “like” comedy?!

It’s the weekend!

We woke up Saturday morning to a glass full of Special K for breakfast! We weren’t paying $18 for toast at the hotel restaurant.

Most of our day was attending a reception for the University of Edinburgh. Afterwards we walked through Time Square towards the Phantom of the Opera Box Office and got tickets for Wednesday’s Matinee at 2pm!!!! I’ve been waiting YEARS for this, I’m SO excited! Wicked tickets were a bit more expensive so we are only seeing the one show. We didn’t want to wait in line for discounted tickets either; we’re a bit lazy like that.

We walked back through Time Square and I found a man on the side of the street making one of my husband’s favorite pieces of art, so I videotaped it and had to get one! I haggled him down 25% of the asking price too! We then visited the Hershey Store. They give you free chocolate when you walk in. Need I say more?

From there we found our way to the Cake Boss Café, we split a red velvet cupcake, an individual California cheesecake and cannoli. Holy dessert batman. I had cannoli in Italy, and this one tasted exactly the same! SO good.

We spent the night trying to catch up on the Olympics and figure out where Team Canada was sitting (all the stations here are for Team USA, go figure.)

If you have ever travelled with me you know that I always have something happen when I go somewhere. In BC it was nosebleeds, in Toronto it was the stomach bug, in NYC it’s a head cold apparently. I’ve visited the Pharmacy a few times already I’m pretty sure they know me by name. Spending all day walking around in the bitter cold with no hat probably doesn’t help either, but whatever.

So today was chaulk full of stuff. We walked back to Time Square because we were meeting a friend of mine and her brand new family for lunch! So we decided to head back to the Hershy store for more free chocolate and then found out that M&M world was right next door. No. Way.

To make the morning even brighter we were browsing around and I turn to look my old running coach square in the face. Two Newfoundlanders bumping into each other in NYC of ALL places, and the M&M store at that. If I had lost Mom in that store I probably wouldn’t have found her, but here I am looking at EXIE! I. Was. Thrilled! We caught up and headed our separate ways (she was picking up some last minute things before her flight that afternoon) so we headed to the Disney store (where we were meeting Nikita).

Nikita, Rob and Leland took us to Penelope (via NYC taxi, there’s a first for everything!) but with a two hour wait time we decided to move on and found this BBQ place with a crazy menu, Olympics on TV and killer music, PLUS room for baby! They all ordered a Fried chicken waffle, yup, a waffle with fried chicken. I played it safe and got a BBQ grilled chicken sandwich. Forgetting I was in America, I couldn’t eat the whole thing. And by that I mean they serve bacon in their drinks. ‘Murica!

After catching up with them and ogling their adorable son for about an hour they brought us down to the subway and told us how to get to downtown Manhattan. We spent the later part of the afternoon exploring the Brooklyn bridge, we walked out part way and took in the view. There was a man there drawing incredible sketches and mom picked one up.

We then got tickets for the 9/11 memorial, a beautiful display for remembering such heartache, being married to a firefighter I couldn’t stay there very long.

By the time we got to Bowling Green it was too late to catch a ferry but we saw the Statue of Liberty from the shoreline.

I called Michael from the hotel for a few minutes but then the night is spent catching up on the Olympics again. It’s nice to have cable sometimes!

I’m in a New York state of mind…

I’m going to New York City! Yes, that’s right, NYC. Now I’m not a huge city girl, in fact, if you know me at all you know I’d rather be at a barn than facing ANY of my responsibilities. But I cannot deny the fact that I am ecstatic to be in the same city as Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe & Joey. Macaulay Culkin got lost in this city, and Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda made 6 seasons and 2 movies in this city! I am going to be going to the Empire State building where Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan found each other in “Sleepless in Seattle” (Inspired by An Affair to Remember). AND I’m going to visit the statue that sticks fire up the sky’s butt (Jungle 2 Jungle reference). How many more references can I come up with? Not sure.

Last night I stayed at the parents’ house to make going to the airport a little easier, we watched “Captain Phillips”, if you haven’t seen it yet you’re missing out (I’m a Tom Hanks fan if you hadn’t figured it out). Our flight was at 5:30am so we had to wake up bright and early (more early less bright)! We might as well have never gone to bed.

We thought we’d be arriving at JFK but we were going to La Guardia airport, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’m just a huge Beatles fan, and I know that they arrived at JFK on February 7^th in 1964 exactly 50 years ago to the day and I really wanted to go to JFK to document that moment. Oh well, we documented it anyway!! 

We got a shuttle from the airport to bring us to the hotel, which we booked for super cheap on Expedia. It turns out that a lot of what we thought was going to be included isn’t. Not having Wi-Fi every day is just another reason for me not to check my e-mails, oh darn! 🙂

We got there around lunchtime, quickly got adjusted to the room, unpacked and we were off again. We almost died. The elevator (we are on the 12^th floor) kept jerking and stopping really quickly basically knocking us over. We told the front desk but they didn’t seem to do anything about it. Anyway, there are 4 elevators so we’re just going to avoid that particular one. Then we start walking down the street and there’s a tipped over crane lying in the middle of the sidewalk. Good start.

Moving on, we started walking towards the Cornell Club (this is where we are going for an event tomorrow) and it only took 10 minutes. People always said that everything was in walking distance but I love our location! We’re in the middle of everything!

On the walk back we saw this building overlooking the other skyscrapers and by looking at it (without knowing NYC very well) Mom and I thought “OMG, it’s the Empire State building!!!!” So we walked towards it, getting really excited, and when we get there and walk in we’re totally confused. A guy walks up to us and asks us if he can help and we ask how we can get to the top. He tells us that the building is not in fact the Empire State but the Crysler building. Good. Our first tourist embarrassment. But he tells us it was fine and he has to do this numerous times a day and he points us in the direction of the Empire State building.

We start walking again and find ourselves in front of the library. The same library that Jake Gyllenhaal and Emmy Rossum bunker down in in “The Day After Tomorrow”! We walked some more and can I just say that there are pictures, giant posters, of David Beckham everywhere! Not that I’m complaining.

and BOOM Rockefeller Center! Unfortunately we had just missed the Christmas tree but I was excited anyway!

 

Also, there was a Lego store right next to it. Awesome. With a pretty accurate rendition of Rockefeller Center made entirely of Lego pieces.

We walked around the buildings and found the statue of Atlas.

After some dinner at T.G.I. Fridays we found our way back to 42^nd street and walked down to Times Square, and overwhelming cluster mess of big screens, advertisements and childhood characters hugging for money. I was fortunate enough to capture the attention of Woody, Mario and Cookie Monster.

By the time we got back to the hotel is was only 5pm. We were exhausted but fulfilled, we had made the most of our day and I think we did pretty good for being up since 1:30AM EST. We got ready for bed and watched Ice Age on TV. Konked out around 7:30pm and slept for a solid 12 hours. Bliss.

We’re coming home to salty air and sea-sprayed cliffs!

We woke up too early, the clocks went back an hour and we were paranoid about missing our shuttle. We took the time to eat our box breakfasts in the hotel lobby.

The driver picked us up and we drove through the dark empty streets to Fuiciamo Airport. We were there a couple hours early so we waited in line with an annoying alarm going off in the background for God knows what reason. Of course, being that early in the morning, I could have just been irritable. We finally got through and got our boarding passes for Lufthansa (an Italian friend of Air Canada).

The first flight was only an hour to Munich, with quite the view!

Then a 4 hour stop over we ate some pizza (not very good pizza either, comparatively), window shopped and used as much Wi-Fi as possible.

The next leg was a 9 hour flight from Munich to Toronto (flying right over home base). I used the time wisely to watch Psycho, The Great Gatsby, Scarface and the first half of Homeward Bound (appropriate). We got to Pearson and asked for an earlier flight to St. John’s, but they were sadly all booked. We would have to wait just a little while longer.

It was a seven hour stop-over, so we got our fix of Tim Hortons, and being sleep deprived we got some strange looks about how excited we were that everything was in English!

We got home after we thought we’d be going to Halifax due to strong winds, but we landed fine around 4am Monday morning. We were greeted by Dad in YYT and got a drive to our apartment and CUDDLED WITH LUCKYY!!! 😀

I usually leave with some of my favorite quotes. These express what travelling is to me.

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until you come home and rest your head on your old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru

For now, I’m back to work, but my next journey is just around the corner. Until next time!!