The Weather in Canada in January

As January comes to an end I want to do a brief post about what the weather has been like this month, because it has been weird. I suspect probably quite a few of my family and friends back in England are curious about what the weather has been like whilst I have been here.

When I arrived back in Canada after Christmas break it was really cold, around -20°C. That was probably the coldest I have ever been in. It was really unpleasantly cold. Since then temperatures have fluctuated wildly. We’ve gone from +10°C to -15°C with just about everything in between.

Several times throughout the month it has got warm enough that nearly all the snow has melted and it was looking like spring. But then a couple of days later the temperature would decline and the snow would come again. For example, this weekend I thought that the snow was gone for good but then on Monday suddenly we had some quite heavy snowfall and everything is covered in snow again.

The novelty of snow has still not worn off for me, maybe it’s because of how much I love Frozen. On multiple occasions I have been walking to or from class whilst it was snowing and listening to Let It Go. Though to my great disappointment none of the snow we have had so far is the type of snow that sticks together. So whilst I wanna to build a snowman it’s not been the right type of snow to construct Olaf from.

So in conclusion, January in Canada was not what I was expecting in terms of weather, the temperature and the amounts of snow have been constantly changing.

My Haul – First Toronto Trip of 2018

So I went to Toronto on Saturday, you can read all about that in this post. But here is My Haul to round up what I bought…

Eaton Centre Mall

I bought a few things whilst I was in the Eaton Centre.

Hallmark

If you’ve read any of my previous Toronto Haul posts then you’re probably expecting that I bought an Itty Bitty or two. Well once again I got two more Itty Bitty’s.

The newly released Pocahontas, she’s the last of the Disney Princesses to be released and the last one I want (for now). Pocahontas is one of my favourites and at this point I have a small collection of different versions of Pocahontas but I think this one might be one of the nicest.

I also got one of the 2017 Kitten Super Bowl Itty Bitty’s, it was on clearance with 50% off and I thought he was just too sweet to refuse.

Disney Store

I added another princess to my collection with the Elena doll. I had been considering her for a while but decided to only get her if I could find her on offer, well Disney had a special offer on, all dolls reduced to just $13 which is good value for a Disney Store doll. I am really pleased I bought her as I think she looks fantastic.

Black Canary

In the comic coffee shop I bought two comics. The latest volume of The Flash DC Rebirth series I have been reading and a Batwoman comic I got for 50% off due to some damage on the back cover.

First Toronto Trip of 2018

Last year I ended up going into Toronto for the day once a month. This Saturday I went into Toronto for the first time this year.

I traveled by Greyhound as I usually do and as usual my first stop once I arrived in Toronto was the Eaton Centre mall. I love the Eaton Centre, it really is a great mall. I browsed the mall and bought some stuff (there’ll be a My Haul post about what I bought tomorrow). I also had lunch in the mall, currently I am a vegetarian and I thought I might struggle to find something good but honestly I was spoilt for choice, there were a lot of great options.

Then I stopped by the Toronto sign, I know it’s touristy to go there every time and yet still I do!

After that I went off to my favourite coffee shop, The Black Canary comic coffee shop. I got a couple of comics and I had a coffee, as I usually do I went for a Poison Ivy. Maybe next time I will finally try a different drink.

Next I went off to try a new museum, the Bata Shoe Museum. It’s a fascinating mix of fashion, design and social history. I really enjoyed looking around the interesting and well laid out displays.

When I left it was raining and I didn’t want to go walking around Toronto in the rain. So I was looking for something to do and about a block away I found the Gardiner Ceramics Museum. My personal favourite display was the Mesoamerican exhibits. I was not expecting to do two museums in one day but they were both interesting.

At this point day was starting to become evening and so I walked back from Bloor Street to Dundas Street and the Eaton Centre area. I got some dinner, had a final browse and then went to catch my bus back.

I had a really good day, I have enjoyed Toronto every time I have visited but I think this one was a particularly good visit.

My Haul – First Haul from Canada in 2018

I’ve been back in Canada for a bit now and so I thought it was about time for me to do a My Haul post where I round up of what I have bought so far.

Jynn Erso was only $4 in Dollarama. This is obviously a good price and an even better price considering that this version of Jynn seems to be becoming increasingly rare back in the UK. I am glad to add her to my growing Star Wars collection.

Disney Happy Places, these are blind boxes of mini Disney inspired food and home items which are the perfect size to be displayed with Disney dolls. I am hoping I can find the Beauty and the Beast inspired tea set.

I have a Porg! She is adorable! I wanted a Porg as soon as I saw The Last Jedi. Since the movie was released Porg’s are selling out in most places as it seems that everyone found them adorable and wants one but I managed to track one down!

I love colouring in books. I love the Flash. How was I not going to buy this colouring in book?

So that’s what I have bought myself so far since being back in Canada.

Some of the Reasons I Love Princess and the Frog…

I just watched Princess and the Frog again and I thought it was about time for another blog post where I talk about just how much I love this movie.

I know quite a lot of people focus on the fact that Tiana should have spent more time as a human instead of a frog, (it is true, she should have) but if that’s the part that people focus in on then I think they’re missing a lot of wonderful stuff. So I am going to share just some of the reasons I love Princess and the Frog…

·         Princess and the Frog is the rare Disney Princess movie that features female friendship and shows it as being important. Tiana has clearly been friends with Lottie for a long time and during the ball when Tiana gets knocked down Lottie immediately helps her get back up.

·         "The only way to get what you want in this world is through hard work." I love that line.

·         Naveen is not Tiana’s happy ending. I’m sure we all know the problematic trend in Disney Princess movies of having a man be a woman’s happy ending. However Princess and the Frog avoided this trap, Naveen is a part of Tiana’s happy ending but he is not all of her happy ending.

·         I love that Tiana’s goal is to open her own restaurant and I love that she is willing to work hard to achieve that.

·         The music is fun. It’s a little different from the more traditional Disney Princess songs but Princess and the Frog has a really upbeat soundtrack that I can listen to repeatedly.

·         The animation is beautiful. I feel like Princess and the Frog deserves more appreciation just for the fact that it is (at the moment) the last hand drawn 2D animated Disney Princess movie. But not did it use the traditional animation style one last time it used it really effectively in many very visually striking scenes.

·         And finally, Tiana is the best Disney Princess.

Nearly a Week Back in Canada

I arrived back in Canada on Friday last week and I thought it was about time to write a quick post about what has happened since then.

First off, the weather. It is definitely winter right now in Canada. Travelling from Toronto airport when I arrived was not fun, it was seriously cold! I think it got to around - 20 °C. This sort of weather would probably have brought the country to a standstill back in England but here in Canada everyone just keeps going about their business. On Monday there was some pretty deep snow and I even had to walk to class as it was snowing, I was listening to the Frozen soundtrack whilst walking to class. Fortunately since then it has warmed up a little, today it was even + 2 °C. I’m pretty sure that next winter when I’m back in England I am going to be completely insufferable about the weather (so apologies in advance to whoever I’m living with).

There’s not a Fresher’s week/O-Week at the start of this semester so it has been just straight back into classes. To be honest even after three years of being a student I’m still not entirely sure if I like that or not! However I am glad that I had the weekend to adjust to the time zone, get over the jet lag and have chance to settle back in before getting back into classes.

I have now been through at least one class of all the classes that I’m taking this semester and I’m happy with what I’ve chosen. From that point of view this is definitely going to be a very interesting semester. I only have one night class instead of two this time round, even though I don’t find night classes too bad it’s preferable to just have one.

So I’m back in Canada and so far everything has been going good for me.

Back to Uni in Canada

Tomorrow I fly out back to Canada for the second semester of my year studying abroad.

It really does not feel like it was that long ago I was flying back for Winter break, but then again doesn’t the holiday period always seem to fly by?

I had a really good time during first semester: I did lots of exciting and interesting things, I met some great people and made some good friends, and I had a great time getting to now a new country. I have some ideas about what I might get up to during this next semester. I am sure I will visit Toronto again and I want to have a holiday somewhere during reading week in February.

I was anxious when I flew out to begin the whole study abroad process but this time I’m not really that anxious. I know that I can be independent enough to travel to another country on my own and navigate another culture. So I am returning to Canada with a greater confidence than I went there initially with.

I really enjoyed my first semester and I am looking forward to my second one.