Hello, hello from Buffalo.

Two weeks since I've been here! (:

Classes have started for the Spring semester this week. And so far, it's still winter.
We've had a lot of snow, inches and inches of it and I'm waddling in all the snow in my boots. Today when I got back in the afternoon, there was even snow on my front door handle. Someone, ask me how much I like it when the other day, we had -17C!

There's so much that's different here than back at home, I cannot say enough.
I've transferred my studies for my last semester over to UB's campus here in Amherst, Buffalo, a small suburban town in Western New York and boy, do I feel far away from New York City alright. It is VERY suburban, meaning we have hardly any public transportation here, everything is far and apart and everyone drives to get to the nearest supermarket or mall. It's a well, different experience living in snow, piles and piles of it and walking to school when it's snowing in your face, or eating ice cream in the freezing cold (:

Aside from all that snow, Buffalo can really be quiet and beautiful.

I'm staying in a house with 4 other housemates.
We each have our own rooms and I'm high up on the third level, with my own bedroom, a bathroom and a pretty nice view from my window of when the sun rises every morning and sets very early around 4pm.

Last weekend, we visited downtown Buffalo and passed by Delaware Park.
The park was far and wide, covered in tons and tons of snow which made everything glow in white. We made a couple of snow angels, and had a snowball fight. It was all pretty good fun :D

And it's a different feeling to be walking on the sidewalks when everything just gets buried deep in snow! D:

The same weekend, we drove near Lake Erie, stopping at Times Beach.
It was so chilly near the lake but the view of the area here was magnificent <3

We went there when it was almost sunset and it was deserted (:

And we were all on campus for orientation most of last week too.
It gets really dark by the time it passes half past 5 and I keep thinking it's really late and then I get sleepy.

Other than being on campus, we've been shuttling between Wal-marts, Wegman's, Targets and malls trying to buy bits and pieces of a home to settle in. I wish I have here everything I had at home ): I can't even bake now even if I wanted to!

And foooooddddd here, omg.
Cheeseburgers, pizza, subs and fries and chips and fries.. and more chips.
Chinese food is practically not existent here, or should I say good chinese food. Because the bastardised version of chinese food they have here, on campus and everywhere else is just too much D: Which also comes in large portions one of us cannot finish on our own so we share all the time. I still have not found good chinese food so far, only really good ice cream and pancakes in people-filled pancake houses. And oh, surprise, even though everything is sugar-laden around here, I suspect the sugar packs we add into our tea or coffee aren't really sugar because they taste like nothing. Everyone here just loves artificial sweeteners, Splenda comes in pounds. Everything else here also comes in huge, large, mega, family, club sizes, all the names you can use to describe "big". My deodorant is such a humongous thing of spray stuff it's comparable to a can of insectide at home and fresh milk comes in a gallon which I have to lug all the way home before my arms will break down and cry.

Some days, it just snows and snows and we get really chilly winds, like today, it was horribly windy at -12C while we were making our way halfway back from campus because the shuttle had stopped for the weekend. Having no car around here means our legs are our only means of reliable transportation and it's so much worse when everything is so far away.

This past weekend, we also drove out to sightsee.
This time, we were near Niagara river.

The river was fast flowing with pieces of ice floating down and while we were there, the wind was so cold our fingers and toes froze and hurt in the snow and our noses turned red before we ran back into the comfort that is the car.
I can't wait to go and see Niagara Falls (:


All that being said, I miss everyone at home so much.
It's a different thing to be coming home to an apartment alone, and cooking for one.
I really miss having someone around the house to share supper with, watch late-night TV with or just a companion in the next room when I'm rushing out homework all through the night.

Honestly, can you believe we crossed the world while it's asleep?
I'd never trade it in, cause I've always wanted this.
It's not a dream anymore.
It's not a dream anymore,
It’s worth fighting for.