Ottawa Senators vs. Calgary Flames

The NHL game trip was organized by our commerce exchange and transfer committee. A committee, which in my mind has been easily the most active in making exchange students feel welcome in Kingston. By far the commerce program here is the most vibrant, say compared to the law departments own hassles. It pays off to be a commie! The game in itself was an awesome experience, more sport than entertainment, just the way I like it. The Scotiabank Arena is the Senators' home lair and was almost sold out, which gave us a good sense of the feel to an all-Canadian NHL-game. (For those of you who didn't GET it, both teams are Canadian...:)

Party on a school bus, when the exchange students hadn't intervened yet. (Yes our bus was one of those cheesy-looking, yellow school busses!). Go, Sens, go! Yes, but not for long... :p

Party on a bus, take two, after the exchange students took command!!

Due to the simple fact that one of Finland's most successful goalies, Miika Kiprusoff, plays for the Flames, was all that I needed to pick my side once the puck was dropped on the ice. Kiprusoff made some dazzling saves and really was the backbone of the Flames! The game was great entertainment, even if scoring for both teams seemed to be awfully difficult.

Let me present to you the official mc/dj/crowd pleaser/troubadour of the Ottawa Senators.

Even though Allie and Brian shouted their heads red, with the "Go Sens Go" -chant, the Senators weren't able to bypass Kiprusoff. The end result? 1-0 to the Flames. On the way home my main aim was naturally to piss off all the Senators' supporters. Needless to say, it was an easy and successful task! Go Flames Go!!

Niagara Falls

Ta-taa, once again!! In addition to being in Montreal, Ottawa and Boston, our crew of eclectic exchange students also ventured to Niagara Falls to see, well, the Falls of Niagara! We took a bus early in the morning and were back in K-town late in the evening. For those of you, who might be travelling to the Falls later on in life, pack an umbrella or a raincoat with you. Niagara Falls provides a constant cold shower of rain all day for everyone. We noticed that quite early on...

Due to the fact that we left towards Niagara by bus early Saturday morning, everyone was pretty worn out due to prior night's engagements! Daniel, being the seasoned veteran of bus travel, was in the forefront showing us amateurs how one effectively sleeps on a bus. That was until the hit movie "Finding Nemos" was shown. And yes, according to the announcer, the movie WAS called Finding Nemos... :p That's what you get, when you give the mic to an Asian wannabe comedian!

Max and Robbie had a moment on the way to the falls. How cute. The way back was a bit more energetic, maybe thanks to a few wine bottles, which were smuggled on to the bus.

On our way towards the falls. Daniel was excited to see the Finn take pictures of the stairs, Chavaun wearing the shades like a true Hollywood celebrity, and Hailie wasn't wearing her trademark raincoat yet, but later on you couldn't have taken it off of her even with force. I on the other hand threw away my raincoat. Not that I'd needed it. Which I didn't. Well, maybe just a bit.

The titular Finns at the falls. It might have been cold, windy and wet, sort of like being back home! The falls in itself were a breath-taking sight, the pure size of them is inspiring and truly gives meaning to the term "nature's wonder"!

Because the Falls are such a formidable sight to see, we decided to take the Maid of the Myst -boat cruise just beside the falls. What a thrill, thank god I was wearing contact lenses, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see nothing but raindrops on my eyeglasses! :p Kudos for everyone NOT using the hoods of the raincoats. Big ideas always pop up group situations! :) All in all, the cruise was a magnificent experience, and ,at the same time, the most expensive cold shower I've ever paid for! :)

Bostonathon! Part Deux

So this being the second revelation of our Bostathon roadtrip, I thought I'd try to cater for a wider variety of readers. Not that I have a wide variety, but everyone's entitled to their own dreams and misperceptions concerning my blog's reader base... Without further delay, I present the second batch of pictures from our wonderfully organized Boston roadtrip. Once again, it was a totally succesful roadtrip and I'd like to thank everyone who contributed their own part during this Thanksgiving Weekend, it wouldn't have been the same trip without you! :)

So here are almost everyone of our Boston entourage, quite the colorful bunch! In the photo are Laura (again, from the Netherlands), Elleke (Belgium), Svein (Norway), Colin (Scotland), Öystein (Norway), Kaisa (Finland), Daniel (Australia, mate!), Henna (Finland), Céline (Belgium), Kristin (Norway), Robbie (Australia again, mate!), Maxime (France), Aman (Singapore/India) and Frauke (Germany).

And by almost I mean almost, there are roundabout seven people missing from this picture. What can I say, we Queen's exchange students love to travel with our own, huge posse!!! :p

Laura, me and Daniel trying to act cool n' relaxed on the podium of a Boston night club. The name of the club escapes me, can someone refresh my memory? See, this is what you get, when you just dance around a.k.a. do some heavy kairaus -movements... The little things tend to get lost in the beat! :)

Batter up! Aman decided that he was way too tired to attend our late night/early morning -after party. I on the other hand was dressed for the night, went to bed after six (me being the last one up, who turned the light off...) and woke up with three other people on the same bed. Quite the normal day for me, eh?!

I do have a goatee, and still hold the record for driving the fastest to and from K-town! I've now been able to drive long distances in the Canadian- and American highways. Not that it's a huge thing, but it really is. Seriously. Respect. I'm beginning to become a big deal around Kingston.

Bostonathon! Part Un

Hello once again! Now that I got into the spirit of writing, might as well post some other events that I've attended and places I've visited in October. The first picture will most definitely bring memories to my relatives back in Finland, mainly due to the fact that most of them have (hopefully) visited the establishment in question. The place I'm referring to is in Cape Cod, and houses my aunt and uncle. Wohoo!! I made it all the way from Kingstoooon to Cape Cod during my exchange! What a dream come true!

So there I was, in the middle of Osterville, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Thankful for Riitta and Raj for having me as their distinguished guest all the way from Espoo/Kingston, I slept in a luxurious bed, which actually had a proper mattress. Not that I'm *bitchin'* about my current bed in Collingood... :p

Here we are, my uncle Raj, my aunt Riitta and me of course, having dinner at a Greek n' American restaurant. I spend most of my Thanksgiving weekend with them and was able to see Meera and Roy's respective families as well, which had to be one of the highlights of my trip to Boston! Best wishes to all of you in Boston, Mass!!! Hope to see you again soon!!!

That was our ride on this roadtrip; the white Pontiac didn't have a chance when compared to the black Buick we had in Montreal... Notice the apparent professional parking by yours truly! The cars are big here, so are the parking spaces. The Pontiac was a middle-sized car, but still, I wasn't able to park it in within the white lines. How sad is that?! :p

Montreal Roadtrip Picture Extravaganza

Soo... That tidbit kinda got longer and longer and, well, you get the idea! Been a good three weeks since my last update, whoooops!! Been busy writing stuff!! No, moving on to the main point of this posting, the pictures of Montreal. Feast your eyes, s'il vous plait...

Delicious, no doubt. Oh, the splendours of Canada!

Everything, and I mean, E V E R Y T H I N G, is bigger in North America. Even the freakin' pigeons are built like bodybuilders. Well, fat bodybuilders...

That was our Buick. What a sweeeeeeet ride she was! Let me tell you, there was no stopping that one, my Pajero has totally been outranked, ladies and gentlemen! Cheers go out to the Canadian highway police, who DIDN'T stop me.

Here are my travel companions, Aman (Singapore), Daniel (Australia), Yuvon (Singapore) and Laura (The Netherlands). Me, well, I'm the one taking the picture.