An Achievement

... after many near successful attempts, I have finally succeeded in missing a plane. I blame the Miami traffic... couldn't be my fault! It was sheer luck that they could put me on a later flight - I had to wait 6 hours at the airport though!

LA and Miami was great, I spent about a week and a half there, ate heaps, shopped (hmm.. only a little), caught up with family and hung out with friends. My time in Miami and Orlando very much reminded my of my Tampa days and my last visit to the sun-drenched city.

Since Monday, I have traded the stifling humidity for the brisk chill of Vancouver. I must say, I was really glad to have detoured to the States before hitting Canada. Mainly to see my cousins and attend the wedding, secondly to make the start of my year away easier. I really expected that after the fun and games, I would be all alone in a strange city, having to look for my own home, work and friends. Some say, keep your expectations low and you will be pleasantly surprised. I really believe that.

My uni friend Trang, bused it all the way to the airport to pick me up.. she is such a sweety... she knew that I would really appreciate a familiar face to greet me and I did. She then took me out to dinner at a place called Wildfire, very much like the one in Sydney only cosier (I also live above a Shark Bar, just as dodgey as the Sydney counterpart, I hear) and we kicked off with a
really nice meal and cocktails. Food and alcohol is so cheap here, and plenty of variety. I can see trouble. So much for spending the next 50 weeks losing the weight gained from the last 2 weeks!

Anyways, I had very little time to be emotional or grateful, Trang had me settled straight away in the YWCA which is downtown in a fab location and great
facilities. The day after I arrived, I trekked around the coastline of UBC (Uni of British Columbia), and met some people at a birthday. Today we went to Burnaby Mountain Park to get a birdseye view of Vancouver and also visited SFU (Simon Fraser Uni). Weather for the last 3 days has been fantastic (surprisingly!). Amongst all this, I have also explored the city on my own, trying to orientate myself and just enjoying the fact that I have finally made it here after all the talk!

There is one thing I don't like here though - the seagulls. Think ugly Sydney ones... Vancouver ones are 2x as big and 5x as ugly. Hmm.. other than that, I know I will enjoy my time here.

Like all great plans, I don't know what I will be doing in the next month. Might give Temp Agencies a call, might fly to San Fran ("The City"), or might do some volunteer work.

I do know what I will be doing tonight though - going to see a Hypnotist! Still a little dubious, but we'll see...

Be good!=)