Week 29: MUM! ♥♥♥

Week 29:

March break started on Friday and my mum took a flight to Toronto to stay with me for a week.

On Saturday she came to Niagara Falls to pick me up from my host family’s house. I was so happy to see her again and to introduce her to my host family. Together, we stayed in a hotel in Clifton Hill for a few days. We went to the Falls (obviously), the Rainforest cafe and all the tourist shops. I really liked a candy shop, where candy was handmade. I even watched two employees making candy! 

At the falls

Handmade candy

I introduced her to all my host families and some Rotarians. She even came to one of my weekly Rotary meetings!

The next day we went to see Buffalo. We thought that it would be a beautiful city and good for sightseeing, but honestly it wasn't. We drove through the whole ghetto to the Galleria mall, so we saw the worst part of Buffalo. We saw a lot of poor people and very degenerated houses. After that we also drove through the downtown area and it looked prettier.

At the border

Buffalo Ghetto

On Tuesday we drove to Montreal. It was a very long drive and took us the whole day. On the next day we went to see downtown, old Montreal and just explored the city. I enjoyed staying in the French part of Canada and trying my French skills on the Quebecois. 

We also walked in the underground tunnels in Montreal! It is a good alternative to shopping outside when it is as cold as now in Montreal. In the tunnels it is very warm and the people don’t even wear coats down there. There are many shops and it even was connected to our hotel and to the subway so we didn't even have to walk outside to find our way.

Later in the week we went to Toronto. We bought tickets for the aquarium and honestly it was better than I had expected it! The aquarium is huge! There are so many types of fish and other creatures living in the sea! I got to touch a little shark and even some stingrays!!! In the end, there was a big tank full of stingrays and we were allowed to stroke them. All the stingrays were very friendly and came to the water surface to get petted! I loved it!

To be honest it was a bit hard for me to say good bye to my mum again. It’s a lot of fun to get a visit from a family member but I think it could be very hard for some exchange students to say goodbye for another few months like they did in the beginning of their exchange year. But now I am good and I will continue my exchange year like I have started it!

Clifton Hill