Dear October...

Dear October, 

You'll always be my favourite month, although this year I have definitely paid for enjoying you...

Concrete Jungle 

Of the four weekends in October I only spent one in Montreal, and that was my birthday weekend so I have had a pretty busy month!

The first weekend was spent in New York City, and was potentially one of the best weekends of my life. Going to New York has always been on my bucket list, and without wanting to sound too cliché it was literally a dream come true finally going there. The first day started in Times Square and then we went to Grand Central (I had a Gossip Girl fangirl moment), The Empire State Building, The Met (another Gossip Girl moment), Central Park, along the High Line and then 'home' to Brooklyn after dinner. My fave moment of that day was when we were up the Empire State, overlooking the city and I could see the skyline that I had seen so many times in photos. I had one of those heart bursting moments where I felt incredibly lucky to be where I was. 

Top of the Rock 

Day two was just a busy as day one. We visited the 9/11 memorial which was a humbling experience, and is such a beautiful tribute. I had the same feeling there as I did at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, a feeling I can't quite describe. From there we went on the Staten Island ferry and saw the Statue of Liberty, before going for lunch at Shakeshack and almost crying at how good the chips (fries) were. We then walked back to Brooklyn over the Brooklyn Bridge, where I had another heart bursting moment - it was so beautiful! That evening we went to Top of the Rock and saw New York by night from above. This was probably the highlight of the whole trip for me, it was so peaceful up there and we almost had it to ourselves because we went so late, we even got a photoshoot (shoutout to the guard who provided the torch and photography skills).

Bday with my bday twin

It rained on our last day so it was a pretty chill day. We ate at Grimaldi's Pizza in Brooklyn and then studied in a cafe opposite the Library (which was closed) before heading back to the bus station and braving the journey back to Montreal. 

The week after New York I had 3 midterm exams which were a new experience for me. They did not go well at all, whether that be down to the New York trip or just my inability to grasp the Canadian university system, we will never know (hoping it's the former else my degree not going to go as planned). That weekend was my 20th Birthday, and was one of my favourite birthdays ever. If you'd have told me last year I was going to turn 20 in Montreal, surrounded by a group of people from all four corners of the world I would have laughed in your face, but it happened and it was amazing. We spent my actual birthday at a college football game, which I didn't understand at all. I can't thank my 3653 fam enough for making my bday so special and for getting me the cutest card and gifts!

Niagara Falls

Toronto from the CN tower

From the 19th - 30th my family came over from the UK which was so lovely. We spent the first weekend in Toronto where we literally walked the whole city, and went up the CN tower which was another insane view of another insane city. Toronto is one of the most diverse places I have ever been, it's huge and I would love to go back and explore more in the future. We spent the Sunday of that weekend at Niagara Falls which was another bucket list experience. It is hard to describe the beauty of it and the pictures definitely don't do it justice. It was so nice to be able to go there with my family because it is somewhere none of us ever thought we would actually go to! It was probably one of the highlights of my Canadian experience so far, especially the boat trip which took us right up to the Falls.

Quebec City 

That week I met my family for dinner every day, and we did some typical Montreal things like going up Mont Royal and to a hockey game (which they loved). Then for their last few days here we went to Quebec City which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to! It is like being in a small French town which I love. The architecture was stunning and it was just such a gorgeous place, I'm definitely going back when it snows there! 

Yesterday was Halloween and also the eve of one of my housemate's birthdays (shoutout to Mother Moss) so we dressed up and celebrated. It was such a good night and was nice to celebrate Halloween in North America where it is such a massive thing. 

Mean Girls on Halloween  

Overall October was a really good month fully of a lot of travel and a lot of memories were made. My academic life hasn't been going so well and I'm not doing as well as I perhaps hoped but with the amount of travel and experiences I have had I can see why. Hopefully November will be just as good, but perhaps a bit more successful academically (I would like to actually pass this year!)