*happy birthday to me*

wow! the past few days have been SOOOO eventful! lots and lots and lots of things have happened - all of them fantastically brilliant. hahah. so yes, it helped that it was my birthday yesterday - i have lots to say about it! =p but it was also a blast because i finally got to travel up north to see montreal and quebec city! it was totally awesome hahah. =p

let me start with my b'day though - because the suprize for that came 3 days early, on thursday. so there i was, napping (which is slightly unusual for me), when at 6pm andrea knocks on my door and comes and pokes my head - waking me up. she's like "you've got a package downstairs!!!" hahaha. apparently someone from the front desk called our room to let us know. so we jumped out of our jammies and into something semi-decent, and we headed down to grab the package. so wen we got to the front desk - the lady straight away recognized us and handed me this MASSIVE box! however... whilst it was incredibily sizble, it also felt and sounded like there was NOTHING in it! lol. so we both excitedly jumped back into the lift and came back up to our room and i tore open the box. as soon as i opened the flaps - this big, massive, colorful helium ballon popped out! check it out:


how sweet right? rach and raph sent it over: and the little teddy bear at the bottom (whilst it was being strangulated by the ribbon), bore this message:


awww. aren't they sweet. heheheh. i love you guys to bits! *muah*

okay.. then skip forward a couple of days to sunday... after we got back from montreal, we were all really tired and our train had been delayed... so once we got back to the primrose, we were all ready to crash. i got back and started unpacking - took out my laptop and was checking my emails... at around 10:30pm carolyn called my room and told me that she found my lost adaptor so she asked me to go and grab it from her room. i was actually half in my jammies, and boy was i lucky to have put on a jacket! i went to carolyn's room and knocked on the door - when she opened her door, the room was pitch black... as soon as i stepped inside, i was greeted with a big "suprize! happy birthday!!" from andrea, luke, sophia and carolyn! it was soooooo sweeeet! they had a birthday cake and everything! annddd they even sang happy birthday to me.. hahahah. =p it was so adorable and thoughtful and just sweet! hahaha so this is me cutting the cake [obviously] =p


yummmm. strawberries and cream! hahaha. =p

it was so sweet because luke had gone to dominion [a supermarket like coles] and bought it - waited in really long and slow queue and waited for us to get back from montreal! i can't believe they did it hey - i'm still so suprized! =p it's so nice to have such loving friends heheh.


from L to R: sophia|luke|carolyn|me|andrea|corbin|preston

okay! so after i thought the whole birthday thing was over (after all, it already was the 24th), i was presently suprized yet again! after getting back from class at around 11 this morning, i was on the phone with rach for about 2 or so hours hahah. half way through though, i got a call from the front desk saying that a package had arrived for me - excited because i thought it was the box of stuff from home that rach and my mum had sent, i jumped in the lift yet again to go and grab the box. now at the front desk, rather than being greeted by a massive brown cardboard box (which is what i was expecting), there was a large, white, rectangular box with a ribbon bow around it! nicole (the lady at the front desk) was like "here you go, special girl" *wink*. hahah. i was soooo suprized!!! rather than being just STUFF, it was a big box of flowers!! hahhah. so i quickly jumped back into the lift and got into my room - tore open the box (forgetting to take pictures of the wrapped up box), and was pleasantly greeted by a happy bouquet of flowers! hahhaa. now don't ask me what kinds, because i really couldn't tell you - but they were happy and pretty nonetheless. hahah. and GUESS who they were from?? hahah. none other than my besties, the CHUBS! hahahah. =p thanks so much you guys - i love you sooooo much!! heheheh.




rest assured, the flowers are now sitting happily in the vase =p i would've done it myself, but i couldn't figure out how to! hahahah.


sweet isn't it? hahaha. =p i really do feel special after recieving all those gifts hahah. i've gotta say, it's really nice to not be forgotten! =p hahah, or rather, let's just say that it's nice to be remembered and missed. =)) i'm also glad to say that this birthday DIDN'T suck at all! i mean, i was expecting it to because i'm so used to being surrounded by friends and family - but because of the suprizes and the gifts, i somehow STILL felt like everyone was here with me - and i had a just as happy (if not more so) birthday this year. =p thanks everyone - i love you lots!! and to the chubs: i love you long time!

okay, so this now leads me to montreal and quebec city! let me just summ it up in three words: absolutely romantically beautiful!!! every building seemed as if it had a story to tell, and every street had some sort of history which was spilled out into the gorgeous European architecture. it felt like i had travelled across the world again, but to Paris or to Venice! it was stunning hey. photos really couldn't capture the beauty that was there. =p

now the train ride there was a bit tortourous. esp considering that i was out reeeeeallly late the night night before /that morning. so even though i slept most of the way there, the train ride seemed reallllyyy long hahah. but it was about 5 and a half hours total. so here we are... posing just after having woken up hahah.



so the first day we were in montreal (friday) we did a 3-hour tour of the city. it was packed with the key sights and all that. it was beautiful and it was a really efficient way of covering the city! hahah. after that, we went to have dinner at a place called "reubens". this was like... the fullest most meat-packed meal that i have ever seen and eaten. check this out - look at the amount of smoked ham!!



now this place is apparently reallly famous in montreal, the tour guide actually suggested it to us. the restaurant was really packed too - which was encouraging. hahah. but we were just totally stuffed after eating - we didn't even manage to finish it! now there's a montreal specialty - called "poutine". essentially it's just chips, cheese and gravy. but the reubens special as you can see was topped with a gross amount of smoked ham. there was a whole room FULL of the ham - right next to the door when we walked in. the sight was almost sickening. hahah. =p if only it didn't taste as good as it did!

now after eating dinner - we could barely walk. we wanted to go to the casino to check it out, but the last shuttle bus left at like 7 - which was appallingly early for a friday night. so we ended up watching 'good luck chuck' instead. the movie was soooooo pervertedly funny though - hahaha. it was awesome. lol. =p after the movie, we went back to the hotel to crash.

now saturday - we did a day tour of quebec city. it was soooo beautiful! hahaha. and we saw so many things - way too many for me to list =p but here are some pics of me in the touristy heart of the quaint city:





like i said earlier, i really couldn't capture the beauty of the whole place hey. just imagine the streets of venice though - because that's how anciently historical the city was. the chateau frontenac was an awesome sight too. =p we got back from quebec city at about 9ish at night - andrea and i headed out for a late dinner. after chatting to the conceirge of the hotel and having him make reservations for us - we took ages to get ready, so we ended up cabbing it. however, our cab driver was pretty dodge - he didn't know where the restaurant was and ended up dropping us off at some random intersection. after walking and walking for quite a while, we gave up trying to find the restaurant and stumbled upon a restaurant called "ti amo". we found exactly what we were looking for - and we were incredibly satisfied with the dinner and the yummy cocktails. =p so after sitting and chatting at dinner, we were gonna head to crescent st - where apparently there are lots of bands and pubs and stuff. but we somehow ended up back at the hotel.. =p so after a few drinks, a few rounds of big 2 and joker and a lot of laughs... we went to sleep.

the next morning, carolyn and sohpia were out really early, but andrea and i decided to sleep in till about 11-ish. after getting ready and meeting our check out time, we left the hotel, met up with carolyn and sophia and headed to montreal's chinatown. check it:



all in all, their chinatown isn't really a CHINAtown. it's more like a VIETtown. lol. =p there's pho shops all over.. hahaha, and it seemed to be quite funny as we were trying to find a restaurant. eventually, we ended up stopping to eat at a buffet place. no joke okay, i've never seen this much food in my life. there was jap, italian, chinese, dim sum, kueh, ice cream, cheesecakes... all sorts of stuff hey! whilst it was kinda random - and kinda wasted on me because i don't eat much these days (no i'm not dieting!), it still was really cheap. =p

after chinatown *viettown* cough, we took the subway back to mcgill and hit their centre eaton which is part of underground city. we shopped and shopped, caroyln bought her watch, sophia her wallet, me my jacket, and andrea - suprizingly empty handed. after walking around for 3 or 4 hours, we headed back to the hotel to collect our luggage, and then we were on our way back to VIArail to train it back to toronto.

ultimately - this trip was one of the most fulfilling yet. i got to see and do so much, and it was just so worth it!! i'm so glad that we went... and i'm really stoked about travelling even more in the weeks to come. hahah. =) so anyway, here's my update... if you made it through til here, yay! =p good for you. hahahahah. ;)

oh wait oh wait! i forgot about one reallllyyyy funny thing! hahahahha. i think the pictures here tell the story well enough on their own, but lemmi just explain anyway =p. but first, here's the pic/s.



okay, so as you can see, there i was, getting ready to pose for andrea to take my pic - but there were heaps of ppl crossing the road! so i was looking behind to check and make sure i wasn't in anyone's way. wen i looked back at andrea, a guy came up to me and posed next to me! lol. so i jokingly laughed/asked "oh...? do you want to take a photo with me then?" hahahahahha. expecting him to say no, he surpized me and was like "sure! of course!" so... this strange ass man, stands intrusively close into my personal space - and poses for the pic! lol. what choice did i have but to give a thumbs up? lollllll. =p but really, can i just ask - what the hell is it with strange men and wanting a picture with me???!?!?! lol. as i've blogged about this matter before - it's obviously not the first time that this has happened. lol. =p i think i may start saying no from now on. hahahahahah.

okay. well now, it's definately time to jet. and it's also high time that i stop the procrastination. =p

byeeeee!!!

luv lots,
~ pheebs.