Toronto: This & That

Canadian National Exhibition

Tomorrow (or today if you're on the other side of the pond) marks my third month in Toronto. One quarter of a year and the time has just flown. I was a bit dubious when I first arrived but I feel like I've settled in a good bit more now. Now that I have a comforting care package full of Barrys and Cadbury's courtesy of my mother and sister and I have discovered a shop where I can stock up on Club Orange once or twice a month. No matter where I roam it's always nice to have the little comforts from home.

Chinatown

I didn't expect to love Toronto but I do. I adore it. There is just so much going on here all the time. It's impossible to be bored. It's like a more polite version of New York. And speaking of polite I caught myself saying sorry to someone with a Canadian accent the other day - "sore-y". Maybe I'm acclimatising too well. I do however point blank refuse to call a bathroom a washroom, a footpath a sidewalk, and I still feck up the date. It's day first, then month, you heathens!

Kensington Market

I feel like this summer has gone on forever. Maybe it's because I'm so used to having two weeks of good weather and two and half months of rain during Ireland's "summer". I can actually wear summer clothes which are, in fact, the only clothes I brought with me. I am in some serious denial about winter coming. It's hard to forget though when the Canadians gleefully remind me that it will reach -40. There are definitely some people in my office who can't wait to see how I'm going to survive the winter.

Nathan Phillips Square

This has been a pretty damn good summer. I've spent it wandering the neighbourhoods getting to know the city and wearing out my flip flops and feet in the process. I've been to numerous street and food festivals and eaten my body weight in delicious foods. I've been lucky enough to catch a few concerts at the Molson amphitheatre where I also volunteer as part of the Green Team. I do my bit for the environment while also keeping my eyes peeled for the raccoon that likes to haunt the rubbish skips. I get way too excited when I spot him. Trash pandas are the cutest!

City view from Toronto Islands

So it has been a successful and adventure filled summer but autumn is coming and the temperature is dropping. Slightly. Nobody in Toronto will be as devastated as me when the summer is gone but I'm excited to see what the next three months hold for me in this city.