my walk to work

(The top photo is my house, if anyone was wondering! I'm gonna do a more detailed post of where I live at a later point.)

I am so friggin lucky, right? And I'm only just beginning to appreciate this opportunity I have - if I'm honest when I first got to Lake Louise I absolutely hated it. I spent the first week hiding giving myself salt burns on my cheeks I cried that much. At the time I would've been embarrassed to admit it - well, I'm still kind of embarrassed now if I'm honest - but now I've moved on from that it seems ok to talk about it. It sounds strange, but it's taking me a while to accept that I have to settle down now, even though when I first got here that's all I wanted... For the first two weeks my life was going at a million miles an hour, I slept for maybe three hours a night so the days felt like forever, and something crazy and exciting happened every day. I went to sleep sometimes feeling like absolute shit but always in anticipation of what would happen next. It means I completely understand how people catch the 'travel bug' - I think the excitement would have been more intense if I wasn't always like WHAT THE HELL I'M IN CANADA ON MY OWN WITHOUT A JOBBBB and instead was just travelling the world with my best friend (which is gonna happen one day, I'm making sure of it) so I've been slightly apprehensive about what my life is going to be like now - in a moment of madness I was thinking, now I'm settling down life is going to get boring.

Um, no. :)

It's more just like I need to accept that I'm making a life here, I'm not travelling, so some days are going to be off days and things may get monotonous. But one thing I am now totally sure of is that I am so friggin' glad I came here. I cannot imagine being sat on my arse back at home working full time at maccies. Even if I had gone to uni I feel like it would not beat this... The idea of having responsibilty, hahaha :) ! I'm NOT looking forward to going back to education... I'm scared I'll just end up back like the workaholic zombie I did back in college. It's going to be a strange transition - at this moment in time I really don't want to go! Maybe I'll crave education after a year of chillinzzz but I'm not so sure about that... When I was 16 all I saw in life was education. Go to school, go to college, go to university, get a good job. It was almost like there was nothing else to life except that - and that thought is something I had a massive issue with in the last year of college, and one of the main reasons I took a gap year. I've met so many 20-29 year olds who have never even been to university and have just travelled and worked everywhere, and it sounds so exciting... the boring part of me goes blah blah blah it's not sustainable what're they gonna do when they hit 40, but they seem so happy with their lot it makes me envious...

Oh dear, I've gone all 'I'M ON MY GAP YAHHHHH' on you already, and I've not even been here a month yet! Please forgive me!

So I was chatting with Sophie yesterday and we were saying imagine if my blog was still a fashion blog - it would go something like this:

Monday: So today I got up and it was cold and snowy so I put on my walking coat and boots

Tuesday: So today I got up and it was cold and snowy so I put on my walking coat and boots

Wednesday: So today I got up and it was cold and snowy so I put on my walking coat and boots

... you get the idea (:

I LOVE that about here though. Don't get me wrong, I miss my clothes back home, but I don't miss that horrible competition I used to feel with my friends - when you have as fashionable friends as I do (who also have more disposable cash than me, hah!) it can be really difficult because, let's be honest, there's a certain competition... like, we all shop at the same shops so sometimes it's almost a race to see who can get the item first and it can be so horrible when someone gets something you wanted. it's so good to get away from that -for one, I live in the middle of nowhere, the nearest mall with normal high street shops is three hours away! And I don't have the cash anyway - I would much rather spend my money having a good time (aka SNOWBOARDING!!!) than clothes... Although, I am going thrift shopping in Banff on tuesday with Grace! I am SO excited - hoping to pick up some crazy shirts, because I left all mine at home... All you British lot might appreciate how much better and cheaper american bloggers seem to have it when it comes to thrifting, and I can second that for Canadians! I had a glance in one of Banff's thrift shops whilst I was there and it looked awesome. It'll be funny 'cause when I come home it's likely I will have no idea what is currently in fashion and won't have anything current from topshop, so I'll probably swagger in something hideously tie-dyed etc...

I love fashion, but back home I think it was becoming an unhealthy obsession for me. I enjoyed it but I worried too much, and I wouldn't want something that is so rooted in consumerism to be my focal point in life. (Argggg, I sound like such an arse, I'm really not!) I'd like to come home and still love fashion, but be a lot more chilled out about it. Fingers crossed! 

Getting my nose pierced soon! (Um, hi dad, yes I haven't told you about this yet... er...) I cannot wait, I have wanted it done for three years now but haven't been able to because of restrictions at school/maccers. It's gonna hurt though - not the piercing itself, but the stud in the cold... when I'm walking around my ear cuff kills!

Speaking of my dad, I'm gonna give a big up to my old man :D Haha he was saying about how he was sad that I hadn't mentioned him on my blog yet, especially on the post where I said about staying overnight in London and I didn't mention him even though he came with me (and we spent like, two hours in some strange heathrow area-suburb trying to find a legit taxi) so yes, hello dad :D !

One more thing - I've finally got a board!!!! Bought second hand off some Austrailian girl for $90, which is a friggin good deal. Slightly worried that it might be an incy bit too long, but Grace said it'd be alright so I'm trying to trust her. It's a beaut though, I love the design, I'll take a photo of it at some point but the colour theme is black & white with green & pink accents. Now I just need to get everything else...

So my schedule for the week: Tomorrow I'm off, hoping to hike up to lake louise and go ice skating on it :) Maybe going with a guy I met on the ski hill called Pat (who, wonderfully, is ginger) and is from Harrogate, the toff hahahah. Tuesday I'm going to Banff and on Weds I'm working + then going christmas grocery shopping in Canmore... 

So yes. Thank you for reading, if anyone does (: !

Speak soon, love!

Alsos, happy ten months jam, i miss you (: