first impressions

As mentioned, I'm currently working on making friends with the 9 strangers I'll be spending the next month with. After checking in and getting better acquainted with Sheridin, my roommate, we all left for a group lunch. She assured me that all it would take would be one lunch with the guys before we were all friends, and she couldn't have been more right. I couldn't ask for a more varied yet matching group of people to experience this with. When Melissa, the last of the trio of girls, arrived, we grabbed a nice dinner and the group was finally complete. We had the best dinner ever at a restaurant whose name I can't pronounce or remember, but Evan and I had a chicken avocado salad. Canadians get food right - there was an entire avocado and more chicken than there was salad. 

The city is more similar to home than I would have expected. The architecture reminds me of Philadelphia mixed with DC, and the various neighborhoods give off the same eclectic feel. The only difference is that I can't pronounce anything and everyone is dressed fashionably. I mean, EVERYONE. The guys are showing us up, and Sheridin and I have vowed to try to blend in and be trendy while we're here. It was raining all day so I didn't take any pictures of anything we saw, but we found a sign that said, "open 25 hours," which made me hopeful that there will be more oddities to come.

Sheridin and I are basically soul sisters. She knows a LOT of French so we've been using her as our personal translator. She speaks Franglish sometimes and so I just pretend I know what she's saying and answer her appropriately according to what I think she's saying. It makes for interesting conversations, not that I can tell. We had a jam session and harmonized to songs we've both written and we're working on the background of one of my songs with the hopes of finishing before we leave in July.

The only thing I've discovered so far that I forgot at home is face wash, which is pretty good compared to my usual record (I've had to buy all my makeup over again before - sorry, Mom). Seeing as it's 1:30AM, I'm going to say bonsoir and I'll check in tomorrow!