What are you doing right now?

[EndOfTheEarth]

Besides posting on here and replying to this thread. Original credit for this goes back to Fate and Nathan on MX.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Nope, Our last place in Canada was in Nova Scotia, and that was last Thursday.

Sadly, I didn't get to see much of Montreal, as we were rushing to make the cruise. I did however, see this giant glass sphere from the air. What was that?

We did get to go to the Old City in Quebec City, and it was easily my favorite location of the whole cruise, namely because it was extremely distinct in terms of architecture; most Europe-y place I've been in a while, and that included the modern shops, not just the historic sites.

Wish I knew about the hot chocolate before going to PEI, as I had started to develop a stuffy nose by that point (which I'm still suffering from). We didn't get to experience much of the local color, as my mother and sister were obsessed with the Anne of Green Gables stuff and our tour focused entirely on that. Not the most interesting, but I got to help one of the museum curators identify the hebrew version of one of the series that they got from a tourist in Israel, so there's that.

I know the cruise stopped in Sydney, but I didn't see it, as by that point the nose problems had increased to an unbearable level. Spend the entire day in a cabin with no windows.

Finally, we went to Halifax, where we went to the Maritime Museum. The models were interesting, but eventually my siblings gave up and spent most of their time downstairs staring at the parrot.

Also, since this wasn't answered on the cruise, what's the eastern obsession with Acadia about? Every fifth thing I saw seemed to be named that.

I live in Philadelphia, but our cruise ended in Boston. Fact that I'm kosher pretty much nullified most of the seafood options I saw.

[Xuut]

Ah Nova Scotia, so tiny and cute. Quaint. 

Ah that's too bad. Montreal is easily my favourite more modern Canadian city. A giant glass sphere? That's probably the Montreal Biosphere which you can read about here. I find that Quebec is scattered about with very unique style architecture for things like the World Expo Fairs etc. 

Ah, when I went to Quebec City I toured most of the historic sites. I wasn't really into the modern bits because we were going to Toronto as well so it just seemed pointless. It's Europe-esque, but not really Europe or so I hear. having never been to Europe I can't say.

>.> Acadian Hot Chocolate is fantastic. A shame you didn't get to try even a bit, it would have really helped your nose. Oh god, definitely not my favourite thing at all about PEI. Did you get to see the potatoes though? I swear that's not a weird question they have the best potatoes in all of Canada. Oooh that's ultra cool actually. The red dirt is a cool feature too. :) 

Sydney is a coal mining area. It's a lot of historic sites and has a very "small town" sorta feel to it. You didn't miss too much and going out probably would have made it worse if the weather was bad. 

AAAH that museum is haunted. XD My fifth grade class stayed there over night and EVERYONE came back with ghost stories. Did you get to see the war ship? It's so cool. XD The parrot! He is delightful. Very old now I think though. You didn't go during busker (street performer) season did you? 

XD Acadia is an integral aspect of eastern Canadian culture. From eastern Quebec onwards (which is where the Acadians fled to when they were kicked out of Acadia by the British) almost everyone I met (as long as they were not children of immigrants) were part Acadian, which is the part of French they were. Very different from here (Alberta) where if people are French it's Quebecois French or from France type French. It's one of the founding cultures of eastern Canada so it's a really important aspect of their heritage and thus, their obsession. At least you didn't go by Acadia University?

XD I can't imagine the seafood would be too different for you anyways. Your seafood is probably better. P.S Hope you get better. :V Drink loads of tea. 

 

[EndOfTheEarth]

Yeah, that's the sphere.

No potatoes. Dang it, where were you before I went?!

Weather was bad around that time. In fact, I talked with the cruise navigator about that when our voyage started, but the guy blew me off. Wound up having to redirect the ship the evening before due to coast and fog hazards, affording me a good chuckle between the coughs.

We didn't get to go on the destroyer (much to my chagrin, as I've already been on WWII battleships and subs, and wanted to add a destroyer to my list), but that reminds me, I never got the chance to understand what this place was:
We saw a helicopter landing on the island to the right. Is this normal?

We might have been there during street performer season, and there seemed to be a number of conspicuous ones. None of us quite knew what to make of them, as in cities in the NE US you see folks like this all the time, and usually don't make eye contact and walk away.

I have been emptying my house of hot chocolate. The chocolate probably isn't good for me, but hey, it's warm fluids.

[Jessie~the~Singer]

I am so stressed out guys ugh. School makes me so anxious and tired and depressed. It's only the third week and I'm already having more heart palpitations, anxiety attacks, self esteem issues, and fatigue. I haven't gone to bed before 12:30 in a week, including weekends, where I have the most work.

3/4 of my classes this semester are APs. Yippee. By themselves, they wouldn't be that hard, but I have no time to study. I come home, do homework until midnight, try to sneak in a shower, and go to bed.

However, I was nominated for both the Park and Morehead-Cain scholarships! They're full rides to UNC and NC State, with a semester abroad, too. I don't particularly like either of those schools, or the area they're in, but. I'd gladly trade in my first choices for just a semester abroad. The idea of going to college is terrifying. I mean, I want to go, and get away from here, but I don't want to apply. I'm so confused by all of it. I tried to start an early app for UNC this weekend, and just shut my laptop and started crying. It's terrifying, and there's so much pressure. And I don't think I'm ready to grow up.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Don't worry about it. Compared to this, College will be like being in Kindergarten all over again...in terms of free time, at least. The clases you choose are up to you, but the cool thing about college is that you can arrange your classes so that you can sleep until noon, if you so desire and as I, myself, have desired and pulled off before.

[Fate]

I have also desired and achieved.

[nathan_p]

Wait, I thought that was what college was for.

[Omega]

You mean it isn't?

[EndOfTheEarth]

Wish I'd known that sooner...

[Mia Love <3]

Congratulations on being nominated for the scholarships! (And I hope you feel better; there's no reason for you to be worried.) (:

[Contradiction]

Hey all.

I haven't been around in months. I feel like I don't even deserve to post on here, really. But I just need to get this shit out to someone who's not on the inside.

Shit, man. It's been a crazy couple of months.

I got a job. I was a Girl Scout camp counselor for two solid months. I made some of the best friends of my life.

Now I'm in DC, in college. My first romantic relationship started -- it's long distance, with a coworker from camp. She's a girl. Until this summer, I didn't even think I liked girls. She's amazing, and I miss her so fucking much. 

Classes are good. I love the feeling of learning something, which I'm getting pretty frequently now. I'm learning about the Middle East and about Confucianism and about different systems of government and I'm learning how to understand spoken Spanish. 

And I fucking love DC. This is my city, man. I find something new to adore every time I go out.

But I don't have friends here. Not real ones. One of my roommates occasionally drags me out with her, but she's all I have. Camp has the tightest support system, and now I feel like I'm drifting. Texting my girlfriend every hour doesn't quite make up for this sort of overwhelming alone-ness I feel just being here. I just don't know what to do.

Every time I think about it I slip into this awful cycle of self-loathing, too. Why the fuck can't I make friends? Why do I care? Why can't I just get up and do something about it? Join a fucking club. Talk to someone. Your situation is your fault, and you fucking know it. You even know how to fix it, but you can't bring yourself to do a goddamn thing. And you have the nerve to feel sorry for yourself.

Yep.

This was meant to come out more eloquently and in an organized fashion, but that's all I have.

Thanks for listening.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Welcome to College. There is no longer a support system. You must work to make and keep relationships from now on. Your old high school and camp tactics of being conveniently kept together as a group won't work anymore.

Yes, it sucks. Horribly. I'm still figuring it out myself.