Hi everyone!
It's been awhile since I last blogged. Have you guys missed me?
Well, where to start? Let's talk about the weather ;) The much talked about Vancouver rain has officially arrived and my new rain boots are getting a work out! Apparently this rain is classed as nothing and it's going to get much worse. Great... haha
It's only fall here but it is getting so incredibly cold! Today it's only 8 degrees. I can't imagine how I'm going to survive in winter. But fall here is so gorgeous. Look at all the pretty leaves!! (Notice I'm now saying fall and not autumn? I'm being Canadianized!)
I've had four mid-term exams since I last blogged. They went alright. I survived and that's all that matters!
I've (unfortunately) now booked my flight from Vancouver to New Orleans (with stopovers in Portland and Houston, 3 flights, 10 hours! Yuck!) I don't arrive in New Orleans until the morning of the 20th which means I'm going to be late to the start of my Contiki tour :( The only thing I might be late for is the optional cooking class, which I'm dying to do, so hopefully I can just make it!
The latest event that Vanier, my residence, is putting on, is known as Sock Wars. Basically, you get given a slip of paper with the name of your target, and you have to stalk them, find them, and hit them with a clean sock to "kill" them. But some other person has you as a target, so you have to make sure not to get killed yourself. Once you kill your target, you get given their target, and that's how the game continues until there's a champion. However, there's safe zones like your own room, the bathroom, the stairwell, and the dining hall. There's also safety items. The first one this week was a visible piece of green clothing. For some reason there was controversy about what that actually was so they ended up changing it. We had to print off the cover of the book Fifty Shades of Grey, stick it to a textbook, and carry it around, haha! During the week I got a note slipped under my door by the person who had me as a target. It basically said that they've been stalking me super hard, and that I don't seem that into the game. Well obviously, I had 3 mid-terms that week! They then told me to text this number if I wanted to give in and get socked, otherwise game on. I never texted the number! The other night I thought I socked my target, but it turns out it was the wrong girl, she just had the same first name! Dammit! That night after dinner, I wasn't carrying around 50 Shades of Grey, and I was killed by a sock :( So now I'm out of the game!! The safety items for the next few weeks include a stuffed animal, wearing a paper moustache, and wearing underwear on the outside of your clothes.
On Wednesday night, we went to the Vancouver Canucks vs. UBC Thunderbirds charity ice hockey game!!!
I wore my Vancouver Canucks shirt :)
The game was so exciting! Normally I find watching sports so boring, but I actually really enjoyed ice hockey! The players were so graceful on the ice. I wish I could ice skate like that. But unfortunately, I'm one of those people that is constantly holding on to the edge of the rink, wondering when I'm going to fall over next. A bonus to this exciting game, were the super hot hockey players, on both teams!! Let's just take a moment to admire these photos, shall we?
Oh, boy. I picked my favourite player based on his looks, and it turns out he isn't even a Canuck! He plays for the Anaheim Ducks! His name is Rob Pelley <3 He's only 28, not too much of an age difference, right? Mmmm...
I told Mum that I now want to marry an ice hockey player. She told me I'm not allowed because I'd have to move away from her to live in Canada for his career. Bummer :(
Here's some photos from the game:
Because it was a friendly charity match, there was no typical hockey aggression. The Canucks ended up winning, 7 - 8, yay!!
After the game, the Canucks signed their jerseys and gave them to children from the charities they were supporting. So cute!!
At this game, there was also a celebrity in attendance. Michael Buble!!!! He wasn't there to perform, but he is friends with the Canucks. The game raised $100,000 for three charities, and Buble matched it, so $200,000 was raised! A hockey game is broken up into three periods. In the breaks between periods we would run down to the glass to see the hockey players and Buble. At one stage I was about 30cm away from Buble, with just a piece of glass separating us. Here's some stalkerish photos I took:
I also got pretty close to the hockey players too
And here's a random picture of a Zamboni, just because:
On Thursday I went downtown with Clara to do some shopping, and go to the grand opening of Topshop. It was a huge store, and they had so many gorgeous things in there. I wanted to buy everything! It was quite expensive though. I had a $20 discount, so I had to use it! I got a black blazer :) They took a photo of us at their photobooth
Now to talk about Halloween! I ordered my Halloween costume online and it finally arrived the other day! I'm going to be a zombie prom queen!!
On Friday night, I had organised for 8 of us from our floor to go to the Dunbar Haunted House. Apparently it's really well known and is on the news every year. It's run by a family and all the money from tickets goes to different charities. Here's a photo of us girls before we left :)
We had Japanese for dinner, which was so good, then got Starbucks. I had a salted caramel hot chocolate. It was amazing. I probably shouldn't have tried it, because I'm sure I'll become addicted while I'm over here!!
We then had to walk to the haunted house. It was so confusing, and we got lost a few times, but we eventually found our way. We then had to line up for about an hour and a half. It's very popular! It didn't feel like that long though because we were being entertained by the actors.
The policeman guy was so hitting on Clara. It was hilarious! He loved the fact that she's a cheerleader and he wanted to take her on a date! Hahaha. We were even dancing with some of them. It was fun :)
We finally got to go in, and we had to go in two groups of 4. I was in the first group and we walked in two rows of 2, and I was in the front with Clara. We were all holding each other so tightly. We walked through so many different themed rooms. It was actually sooo scary!!!! The other 4 girls were so scared that they ended up running to catch up with us, and we ended up going as a group of 8. I wanted Clara to go through first, because she'd brave, but she was getting pulled back by the other girls, so I had to go first!! That meant that everything jumped out and scared me because I was first! I was seriously screaming the entire time. A guy dressed up as Freddy Krueger jumped out at me and was putting his knife claw hand in my face! Then he was crawling on the ground and grabbing at my feet which was so freaky!! They actually took some photos of when he was scaring me. Surprisingly, I don't actually look that scared!
Near the end a guy with a chainsaw jumped out towards me! That was definitely the most scariest part!!! They took a photo of that moment, but I haven't found it online yet. I hope they upload it because I bet my face is priceless. Afterwards, my hands were shaking so bad and my heart was beating so fast. It was so scary, but it was so much fun and definitely worth the wait.
I have some more Halloween celebrations coming up. On Tuesday I'm going with my friend Sally to the Ghost Train in Stanley Park. It's mostly a Halloween thing for families and little kids, but we're going anyway! The theme this year is scary fairy tales, so that means like a scary version of Snow White and other princesses! We're going early that night so we get to carve a pumpkin, which is so exciting!
Next Saturday Vanier is having a Halloween dance called the Horror Ball. This is where I'll be dressing up as a zombie prom queen with face paint and everything. Don't worry, I'll take a lot of photos!
On actual Halloween night, each house in Vanier has a theme and you can go around to each house to see what's going on. There's things like a costume contest, a haunted house, pumpkin carving, and trick-or-treating. I've already bought a Halloween bag to collect all my candy, haha!
Today I went out with two exchange girls downtown for a dessert day :) First we went to Soirette Macarons & Tea, and I got 12 different macarons to take home.
Next we went to Thierry's Chocolates. We sat down here and I had a liquid chocolate drink with caramel and whipped cream, and then ate a maple eclair. It was amazing
And last, we went to Ganache Patisserie. They had a lot of wedding cakes here. I got a little red velvet cake to take home.
My time here on exchange at UBC is going by so quickly. I can't believe I already have less than two months left. I have to make the most of every single moment!!
I miss you all so much.
Love,
Emily
