Study Abroad Day 1: Major jetlag

Keep chasing your dreams until they grow sick of you! I'm just sayin... I have been dreaming of studying in America since I was little (especially in The States). And now I am finally here! Yesterday I arrived safe and sound in world city Toronto. Due to my jetlag I was unfortunately not able to blog yesterday, seen as I was knocked out at once after consuming my dinner. Although my body has still not completely adjusted to the time difference, I decided to blog about yesterday and today's recap. Enjoy reading!

Quite frankly, I did not catch a lot of sleep the night before. Not because of nervosity, but because packing was such a dreadful task for me to complete. With an overpacked suitcase and sleep in my eyes I rushed to the airport, said my goodbyes way too fast (had to be at customs 10 mins after I checked in already, dafuq I know), and so my journey began. 

I did not expect too much of the plane interior or services, despite the upgrade I purchased. But I was pleasantly surprised! I had my own screen on which I could watch movies, tv-shows, and cartoons. Les Misérables, The Devil wears Prada, The Hobbit, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Spongebob Squarepants, Dora the Explorer—oh so many choices! All of the sudden 8 hours of flying seemed not long enough.

The weather was not great when I left, so I was really excited to be flying off to a country where the sun would be shining and the weather would be sweet! I was armored with Chicklets gum to avoid my ears from popping during lift off. Before I knew it we were up in the sky flying high and dinner was already served—around 11.00 and 12.00.

Although airplane food almost never looks appetizing (with the exception of what Korean Airlines and business class offer), I was really excited for it. The choices were sweet chili chicken (meh, next please), beef stroganoff (Uhm Soul Plane? No thanks ma'm!) and pasta something. I went for the chicken because it sounded the safest. It looked terrible. But it tasted quite good after a few bites. Good for plane food at least, lol. What bothered me more were the portions, so small so small. Luckily I brought loads of snack veggies with me (tomatoes and cucumbers), Sultana biscuits, and donut peaches. Also, because of my Option Plus upgrade I got a few snacks extra, a few bottles of booze (wine and champagne) and some goodies (e.g. blanket, sleeping mask) for during the flight.

Although I had planned to catch up on some sleep during the flight, I chose to watch movies instead because I was not sleepy anymore. When my tiredness finally kicked in I did not want to go to sleep, because we were almost near Greenland. I knew the view would be magnificent, and indeed it was. Pictures do not even do it justice. I constantly thought of the Game of Thrones and Jon Snow when flying over Greenland, lol.

When we crossed the Atlantic Ocean I dozed off for a bit and when I woke up we were already flying above land. We got a pizza slice as a snack and waited for our plane to land.

After we landed I headed over to customs and had to wait, wait, and waaait. It took so darn long, and I was feeling hot with my clothes on, hungry as hell, and tired from carrying my heavy bags. After passing customs and exchanging money I wandered around a bit looking for something quick and cheap to eat and possibly buy dinner. I ended up having pizza, which was really only because of the steep prices of all other food available. I figured with having had so many cucumbers and tomatoes on the plane, how bad would one slice be as a quick bite? Although I did not eat until the food was cold, it was pretty good (especially for under €3). After purchasing my first (junk)food in Canada I rushed outside to take the public transport to mi casa (for the coming months).

When I arrived to my transfer station all I could think was "Uh oh.. Toronto is not as aesthetically pleasing as I hoped for. More like started from the bottom all over the city".

When I finally arrived on campus it was so late, I decided to find some food to eat and call it a night. On my way "home" I spotted something that gave me a giddy feeling. A Chinese foodtruck. Heeeell yes! As soon as I freshened up and changed clothes I rushed outside to get me some rice, veggies, and meat/fish. I decided to order the eggplant with shrimps. I paid less than €5 and got more than enough food. Although it may look kind of strange (at least to me it did, I had never seen such purple eggplant before) it tasted hella good! I definitely recommend it.

After dinner I skyped with my so and tried to catch some sleep. Unfortunately I kept waking up every hour in the middle of the night, but I guess that is normal when experiencing a jetlag.

That is it for my day 1 report! Be sure to follow me on social media if you want to stay updated about my YYZ adventure. Comments are appreciated!

X

Sefanja Rubina