Ireland Part Two

The Irish are known for enjoying beer, perhaps just a stereotype, it most definitely wasn't one among my friends.  Guinness is THE Irish beer and is definitely an acquired taste.  Although I personally am not a huge fan of it I was still very keen on visiting the brewery in downtown Dublin.  The experience was a lot of fun, the storehouse is beautiful and full of history and finishes at the top of the building in a circular glass room overlooking all of Dublin.  By the end of it I knew the different components that make up this famous beer as well as how to pour a perfect pint, I might even go as far as to say I started to enjoy the taste!

Me and Ian

View of Dublin from the top of the storehouse

For the rest of my time in Dublin, I spent time at Trinity College visiting Ciara and Niall while they did various things for Fresher week as well as wandering through the city and enjoying the night life. The day before I left Ciara, Niall, Ian, Ricardo, and I went for a beautiful hike at Glendalough.  Not far outside Dublin this beautiful site is the natural Ireland you would imagine. 

Glendalough

Left to Right: Ricardo, Ian, me, Niall

Glendalough

Overall this trip was amazing and wouldn't have been the same without the hospitality of Ciara, Niall, and especially Ian. I will definitely be back!

Ireland Part One

Last summer my job was made a lot more fun when a few of the staff members were Irish people who had come to Toronto for the season to work. After a fantastic summer we said our goodbyes and hoped we'd see each other again.

Dublin

After visiting my sister I headed over to Dublin to see Ian, Ciara, and Niall! As soon as I got in we went out and I got to experience the night life.  It was really fun and made great promise for what to expect for the rest of the trip. Ciara and Niall were quite busy with back to uni stuff, so on Monday Ian took me to Killkenny. Just an hour and a bit outside of Dublin, we saw the Dunmore Caves and the Killkenny Castle, followed by dinner with Ian's sister. We then headed to his farm where I met his parents, brother and fiancee, and one of his childhood friends.  Everyone was so friendly and kind, I truly felt at home!  My favourite part was when everyone went to bed, Ian took me on a night stroll of the property.  Although it was cloudy and we couldn't see the stars, it luckily wasn't raining (quite impressive for Ireland!).

Dunmore Caves

Dunmore Caves

Ian and his lovely mother

The next day we walked through a beautiful forest and explored more of his land, even though it was raining it added to the charm of this beautiful country!

Ian at his farm

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After we said our goodbyes we headed back to Dublin... more on that on the next post!

Ich bin in Berlin

Lucile, my sister, moved to Berlin about 6 months ago for work and I had not seen her since (far too long!). Even though I've been here twice before it was nice this time to stay a little longer and live the local life more. The first weekend here we went to the Berlin Festival, which took place in Tempelhof Airport-an airport turned into a park.  It was a really cool venue and the best act was by far Bjork who at 47 put on the most amazing live show.  The other days we did a combination of tourist things such as visiting Check point Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, the Berlin wall, while also taking in the local Berlin culture by going to parks, wandering the streets, eating delicious food, and going to bars.

At the Berlin Festival

Berlin Festival at Tempelhof Airport

Berlin Cathedral and Tv Tower

Reichstag- Parliament Building 

Lucile and I inside the Reichstag Dome

Me and Lucile at the Brandenburg Gate

Berlin Wall

I missed my sister dearly but I am so glad to see how well she's doing here in Berlin.  Hopefully it won't be another 6 months before we see each other again!

The Bachelor

As I start to write this post I can't believe what I'm about to say... After 4 long years I have officially completed  my undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto! As I finished writing my last two exams (ever) I felt a mix of emotions- excited, nervous, overjoyed, sad, but most of all relieved. After all that work, all the ups and downs, I was finally DONE.

Each year has represented something different and I learned something new. Not only did I learn amazing things about the world, how to study, write an essay, multi-task, and so on but also many things that went beyond the academia.

I truly could not have done it without the support of my friends and family but also the people who spent countless hours with me in the library or who sat in some questionable lectures and even those who enjoyed terrible coffee and vending machine food with me.

It's been a great 4 years!!

Goodbye uoft, hello real world!

Manitoba

Prairie sky

My dad was born in Alberta and grew up in Manitoba.
Long before Toronto became my home, my early Canadian story took place between Saskatchewan and Manitoba. My aunt Susan and uncle Wes have had a cabin in Clear Lake, Manitoba since before I was even born.   I have some vague and some distinct memories of the cabin, the lake, the little town, and my whole family there.  This summer my cousin Jon who's been living in Asia for about 10 years and who I have not seen for about 8 of those was coming back to the lake and so a little family reunion was in order.

We spent our days going for hikes, swimming, biking, canoeing, eating and just catching up with everyone while trying to create new memories.  I have my last two exams of my undergrad this week so I was only able to go for a few days, but the break was necessary and seeing my family made me extremely happy! I am so grateful to have such a beautiful extended family full of Nedens, Gordons, and now Schuberts.

Left to right: Sheena, Sheldon, me, David, Hazel, Jon

Left to right: me, Susan, Wes, Dave, Ben

Next up I'm finishing my undergrad at the University of Toronto, turning 22, and then September 2nd I'm off to Europe!! Lots of updates to come...

Seriously though, that prairie sunset (amazing!!)

The Varsity

I've dedicated this blog to my travels so I usually wouldn't write about this, but since this has pretty much turned into a scrapbook for me I figured I would mention this!

As much as I would rather be travelling the world than in school, my studies at the University of Toronto have become important to me considering I've dedicated 4 years to them.  Now that I am in my last year, for some reason I felt compelled to leave some sort of mark.  When I was presented with opportunity to write about Ferguson Sailing for the school newspaper- The Varsity, I figured why not? I would be helping out the Ferguson brothers and also writing for a newspaper that's been around since 1880.

Here's the link to the article: http://thevarsity.ca/2013/02/25/waves-dreams-and-a-boat/
Hope you enjoy it! And hopefully next time I mention Ferguson Sailing or anything to do with the Olympics, it will be 2016 and I will be in Rio!

Miami

We're in Miami!

My family has never been very traditional, quite the contrary, so when the opportunity of going to Florida for Christmas came up we pursued it. We spent a few days in Naples which is a lovely town just under 2 hours away from Miami. It's your typical Florida town, the main street lined with palm trees leading to beautiful beaches.  Even in the middle of the winter, it never gets that cold, which as Canadians we were thrilled about! We then headed back to Miami to spend a few days there before heading back to Toronto. I loved Miami, the city is vibrant and has a Latin flavor with people coming from all over South America.

On the way from Naples to Miami we crossed the Everglades National Park, which has a unique ecosystem and is filled with alligators!

In Miami we spent time in South Beach soaking in as much sun as we could knowing that in a few short days we'd be back to Canadian winter.  We also walked through Wynnwood, which is a neighborhood in Miami filled with street art and graffiti, definitely recommend a visit if you happen to be in Miami!!

Happy Holidays and New Year!

-Clara