The Dream

After the Thanksgiving weekend, my stepdad Jo left back to Holland. The lectures continued and I was getting back into the normal student routine. I had to catch up with some study material because I didn’t had the chance to study during the trip. It was a bit busy in the following two weeks because there was another visit in the prospect. The visit from someone very special. Someone who has been very supporting during my entire stay in Canada and who I can still proudly call: My Girlfriend, Noëlle.

I didn’t want to spend too much time studying when she would be here, so I tried to do as much as I could on the assignments that were due in the time she would be here. I didn’t mind spending the weekend at home since I made a trip every single weekend since I arrived in Waterloo. The first week in Canada I didn’t see much of the nature and from that point I decided to take every possibility to go and explore the country. Doing so I didn’t spend one weekend at home so it was refreshing to see Waterloo on a Saturday.

As I was preparing for her visit, we both were counting down the days. When she finally arrived it felt like a true dream to finally see her again. It felt so good to have her in my arms again and the first days we simply couldn’t stop talking. The day after she arrived we had a great chance to discover more about the Canadian culture with the so called Halloween. People in The Netherlands do celebrate Halloween but I couldn’t remember the last time I actually cut a pumpkin or dressed up in a scary outfit.

 In Canada Halloween is huge! People spend a lot of time and money to get the best outfit. As some of you might know, I am a huge fan of “theme party” or any other occasions where you can dress up in  a self made outfit..... NOT. This time however, it was different. Noëlle and I both went to the Wallmart and it was a lot of fun to try and find a nice costume. We almost bought Angry Birds costumes but they only had these in kids size. Since I arrived in Canada everyone was calling me “Thor” so I didn’t have much of a choice and was happy to build my own hammer and cut myself a nice cape from my, conveniently, red blankets. Noëlle dressed up as a nurse, in case I would actually hit someone with my hammer ;) The Halloween night could not be a lot worse. It was pouring down rain and very stormy. I felt so sad for all these little kids that waited all year to collect candy.

 We got invited by a friend from my Environment and Business courses: Luke. We arrived a bit late at his house and most of the guys were already drunk. We, completely sober, felt a bit weird at the start but after a few drinks we were all best friends again. We tried to get into one of the clubs in Waterloo. We experienced an interesting bus ride up to Phil’s. It was packed with all these dressed up, drunk teenagers. Just like all the big Canadian nights it was super busy and the line was enormous. It was no option to wait in the rainy storm weather so we decided to go to another smaller bar. After a few drinks and some nice snacks we walked back to our house. With Phil’s on the way back we gave it another shot and we managed to get in. Inside we were so happy that we tried again. They played some old school songs and it was so nice to dance with my girlfriend again. <3

The first weekend I decided to take her up to one of Canada’s wonders: The Niagara Falls. It would be my second time to see it, but like I described last time you just can’t take your eyes off this amazing phenomenon. When I was there a month prior to this visit I climbed one of the high hotels around to see the falls from a higher point. This amazing view had made so much impact that I wanted to spend the night in a room with a view like that. As a surprise I booked a room at Embassy Suites and asked for the highest room. Without knowing if I actually got it we took our stuff to the hotel and found out they put us in the 38^th floor. This was much higher than I expected, because the room description said it would only be between 10^th and 15^th floor. Totally amazed we stepped into the elevator and I started to get Goosebumps when we pressed the “38” button. Curiously we opened the door and I couldn’t believe we were actually staying in this room. Totally amazed by the view we just took two chairs and sat in front of the big window. I was totally flabbergasted and I could only say “Oehhh” and “Ahhhhh!”.

After discovering all our gadgets of the room we had dinner at the restaurant that was located in the same building. It was a steak house and since I hadn’t eaten a real steak since I was here it was time to  cross this one from the list. We both ordered the smallest steak but it turned out to be ENORMOUS! The taste was amazing and while sipping on red wine and looking at the bursting Niagara Falls it really felt like a honeymoon. The next day we drove back and started watching the HBO show: “the pacific”.  A really well documented show about the American navy that fought the Japanese  during WWII.

During the week I showed Noëlle around in Waterloo. Taking her to some classes and showing some of the drawings I made during my course Expressive Drawing. After a week with some small parties and nice dinners we rented a car and drove up to one of my favourite places in Ontario: Bruce Peninsula.

This would be my third time up here but I was still very excited to go. The night before we left it started snowing and this gave the third time a complete new look. The first time I went up to BP it was still the end of summer and all the trees were very green. The second time, It was during Indian summer and most of the trees turned yellow and red giving it a complete new, rough look. This time it was starting to get winter and the white blanket of snow gave the entire trip a complete makeover. The quite busy town during summer was now completely deserted and there was only one Hotel that was open and this was also the only place where we were able to get food. When we came in the hotel we immediately noticed the huge amount of old videotapes. Our room was not equipped with a video recorder but fortunately there was a spare one we could borrow. After dinner we took a while to make the selection for which film we were going to watch. The whole collection turned out to be less exiting than we hoped for but we ended up choosing “The Titanic”. A real classic. It brought back a lot of old memories to use a video recorder because at first I totally forgot to rewind the tape and thought it wasn’t working.

After doing some hikes on the very slippery trails we drove back to Waterloo. The drive back was a bit more adventurous than expected. The moment I decided we should get gas at the next station we drove into this lonely road. Because Canada is so developed I felt so confident in finding a gas station that I did not take any safety  measures and tanked when the tank was still a quarter full. Because of this overconfidence the fear was growing with every kilometre we drove without finding a gas station. It was already dark and it was also very cold outside so we definitely didn’t want to get stuck without gas. We quickly looked at the map and found the first closest town was 20km away. Okay, I was pretty sure that we could make that. When we arrived in this town, it was nothing more than a couple of houses without any sign of a gas station. Now we really lost our inner peace and it was just praying that we would soon get to the highway and gas station. I think I actually never saw the fuel gage that low. It was lower than the empty indicator and I felt very responsible for any drama that might happen. After 20 minutes of stress we were finally released with a small pump.

After the heart rushing ride we came back just in time for a basement party, organised by one of the international students. I missed the previous one because it was during the thanksgiving weekend. This time it was organised way better than the previous one, as I heard from stories. This time there was a DJ and a good sound system and it was a real pleasure to spend a good night with all my friend AND my girlfriend together.

After the party the last days of her visit were gone before I knew it. We spend our last days in Toronto. We did some shopping and discovered the city on a rented bicycle. This was a great way to see more of the city in a short time. It was perfect weather. A little bit cold, but clear blue sky with a warm shining sun. Before I knew it we were on our way to the airport. I couldn't believe this dream was about to end. I enjoyed every second that she was here and it was great to introduce her to all my new friends and show her where I spend most of my time. On the airport it was very hard to say goodbye. Usually I am the one taking the plane but this time it was me that was waving sadly. Now I can understand the hard time I gave my mother when I left for my first trip three years ago.

It was a real pleasure that she was here and it will be another 2,5 months until I will see her again. Today is actually the day that we are together for a year! Let’s hope there will be much more years to come.

Happy New Year!

I am currently in Cuba and it is very hard to get internet access. It already has been a great adventure and it is a beautiful country. I want to wish everyone a happy New Year and I hope that 2014 is going to be a very fruitful, inspiring year. It is hard not to be around the ones I love during this special occasion but I hope I will still enjoy tonight in a cloudy Havana. Next update will be send from Mexico and hopefully I get the chance to fully cover Canada and Cuba.

Lots of love,

Iori