Dear January...

January has been the longest month of my life, no joke. I started the month (and year) in Nottingham with my uni friends, and I am finishing it in Montreal halfway through week four of my second semester at McGill - it's amazing what can happen in such a short space of time. It hasn't been the best month , but I've still done some pretty great things.

As I said, I started January in Nottingham to see the New Year in with my friends from UoN. It was so lovely because the plan was thrown together literally the day before and I had fully expected to spend New Years alone at home. I got to see a friend I didn't think I was going to be seeing until May which was so nice, and I spent the night back where I belong with a lot of the people who made 2017 so great. Despite spending £20 to get into Ink (daylight robbery right there), we had a great night and I even ran into one of my best friends from school in there. It was so surreal to be back but it got me excited for third year! 

The day after New Years was my dad's birthday and we went for a cute family lunch in a really nice pub. I have missed pub lunches since being away (such a Brit, I know) and it was such a lovely meal. 

During my last few days at home I met up with old work friends, saw my family and relaxed after such a busy semester - the break was definitely needed. 

I flew back to Montreal on January 8th and was reunited with the snow, cold weather and McGill, as well as my friends from last semester and 20+ new housemates. I have only been back for a few weeks but it feels like I never left, and it is good to be back.

My first week back was spent getting back into the swing of things and the intensity of McGill, getting to know my new housemates (they're great, if you were wondering), and adjusting back to the time difference. We went to the International Student Festival at the end of the first week and I had a great time. It was our first night out (of many) with our new pals and queueing for a club during a snowstorm in a bomber jacket is something I will never forget and a mistake I will never make again...

Another highlight of January was going to Igloofest, which is essentially an outdoor music festival in the middle of Winter. Only in Canada, eh? We saw Kaytranada, and although my toes basically froze off, we had a pretty sick time. Again, I feel like this is something that I will never get to experience again so I am super happy that I went. I'm so conscious of the fact that I am leaving Canada and North America in May and once I'm home I don't know if/when I'm coming back, so I am making the most of everything which is probably why I'm so tired right now...

A couple of weekends ago we had a such a lovely couple of days. On the Saturday we went up Mont Royal and built a snowman, potentially the most Canadian snow-related thing I have done so far. I hadn't done anything except complain about the snow up until this point, so it was nice to appreciate it a bit more. 
The Sunday of that weekend we went to Ottawa with the intention of getting a Nandos and Denny's (praise Ontario), and ice skating on the Rideau Canal. The only thing we managed to do was get a Nandos but I would say that 1/3 is pretty successful. We skated on Parliament Hill and took a tour of the parliament buildings before going to get Beaver Tails and taking a picture with the Ottawa sign - spot the tourists. Jokes aside, it was such a lovely day and it was nice to see the capital of Canada, although it was probably the quietest city I have ever been to, definitely the quietest capital!

These are the main things that I did in January, but I have also been out to eat way too many times, been to see The Greatest Showman (SUCH A GOOD FILM), been on a few nights out and almost lived the American Dream and joined a sorority (but didn't). We had a fun weekend in Montreal this week which included Australia Day (I am surrounded by Aussies), karaoke and a night out for a friends' birthday. I have also experienced rain that lands on top of snow, freezes and becomes a sheet of ice (needless to say, I have slipped over a couple of times). 

Despite it being a jam packed month and doing so many cool things, I will definitely be glad to see the back of January just because it has been so insanely long.