It's both amazing and scary to see how much time has passed since any milestones reached, due to the inevitable posting about any significant milestone on Facebook/ Twitter/ Instagram over the last few years.
Since June 15th, Facebook has been reminding me daily of a trip I took to Canada in 2015. The best time of my life, so I thought I'd write a blog about it.
Let's start from the beginning...
As I started my second year of University in September 2014, one of my modules was 'Working in the USA' wherein we had to find a work placement for the following summer in, you guessed it, America.
I applied for so many different posts before being inspired by my friend Ian to apply for an internship in Boston, where he had studied at college. With the Bee Gees 'Massachusetts' playing in the background, I sent off a cover letter and resume to Boston Breakers and was absolutely made up to secure a 4-week long internship at the club. This back before the Breakers became Liverpool Reunited!
Fast forward a couple of months and there was a slight problem with the paperwork, no one to blame. Just one of those things. But I was devastated.
At a meeting with my lecturer they said I'd done well to secure a placement at all and for my final assignment, I would just have to write about a company in the U.S. without heading over there.
To me that sounded awful! I'd saved all year for this opportunity, been looking forward to it. So as the year progressed into May I rolled the dice again, applying again for more internships, voluntary work, anything that would get me over to the States.
With no luck, I became resigned to writing a boring assignment, but what was I going to do with all my savings?
As luck would have it the Women's World Cup was being played in Canada that Summer, although starting a lot sooner than my internship was due to. Women's World Cup was obviously a no-brainer and a trip to Canada had been my dream since a school project when I was 13. I used to sit and actually plan holidays there constantly.
So that was it, I was off to Canada by myself, much to my mum's horror - who didn't want to know anything about my trip until I was back home.
I planned to station myself in Montreal, where England were playing Columbia in a group game and I could also attend another group game, a quarter-final and the semi-final. With a bit of cash left over I also tagged a five day trip to New York on the end so I could head to Rochester to watch Western New York Flash.
Once my lecturer heard about my trip and my wanting to blog it while there, she even said that it could count toward my final assignment - describing it as a kind of 'self employed' internship.
The best news about that was that Uni ended up paying for my flights!
It had all been a bit of a whirlwind, from the disappointment of being told I couldn't do an internship to going to the World Cup and to Canada in the space of a couple of weeks. Not even a month later my (very tearful) mum and dad dropped me off at Manchester Airport and that was it, I was off on my own.
I think that was the point it then dawned on me, that I was going thousands of miles away on my billy todd. I ate breakfast alone, boarded the place, watched a few films, changed planes in New York and landed in Montreal around 7pm.
Walking out of the arrivals gate was, hand on heart, one of the scariest moments of my life! I had a panic, what am I doing! Getting a taxi and checking into the hotel was a bit of a blur. I couldn't quite believe I was there I think.
The next few weeks I had the time of my life, going from being terrified to leave my hotel room that first night (spotting a Subway from the window and making a mad dash to get a sandwich) to travelling down the coast to Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara Falls.
My three trip highlights:
3. Bumping into Whitney in the street.
Weirdest thing. On my final day in Canada I checked out of the hotel, leaving my bag until later, and had a few hours to kill until meeting friends to go watch the USA v Germany.
I ate dinner, bought some new earphones and decided to go on a long walk. The main street was so busy, full of USA supporters, so I nipped down a side street and walked along another road parallel to Rue Saint-Catherine.
And as I'm waiting to cross at some lights, I noticed a person waiting at the opposite side that looked a lot like my favourite footballer Whitney Engen.
I actually remember having a bit of a giggle to myself, that 'hah as if you'd bump into her on the street' and then the sheer panic when I realised it was really her. With seconds to go until we would cross paths I had a quick glance around to see if I could go another way - 'but would that be even weirder'. The brain is a crazy thing. Anything in that split second I decided to continue crossing the street, and just maybe politely let on if she recognised me.
But she did end up recognising me and we had the weirdest but greatest catch up right there, in the middle of the street in Montreal. Nothing in my life will ever be as bizarre.
2. U2 concert.
The day I first ventured further than a few blocks from my hotel to meet my friends Ley and Oonagh for dinner - my now infamous serving of french onion soup - and to watch U2. It wasn't so much the concert - which was very good in itself - but more the knowing that I could get out and about and back to my hotel in one piece, that and the company.
We had a brilliant night, a few drinks before the concert, a few drinks there and a few unreturned waves to Bono.
1. THE WHOLE THING!
As I said earlier, at first I was genuinely scared to leave my hotel room. The first full day I drew a map for myself and wrote a list of directions on the hotel pad before leaving to explore the local area - no further than three blocks away.
Watching England play in a World Cup game for someone as unpatriotic as me was a strangely wonderful experience.
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