"Oyy Yeahhh" Toronto

I've always wanted to go to the airport without any idea of where I would go next.  I love the idea of taking spontaneous trips.  So I am always thinking about easy opportunities to go to new places.  I was in class and a thought about going to Canada for a weekend popped into my head.  I immediately texted one of my roommates and without hesitation she said she wanted to go.

Unlike adventures you say you are going to plan, but never do...this one actually became a reality. 

It only took us a little over four hours to get there.  We arrived in Toronto just in time for lunch.  I told my roommate we had to go to this dim sum restaurant on the harbor of Lake Ontario.  The Pearl has one of the best dim sum menus.  My mom goes to Toronto just to eat at this restaurant.  Dim sum is a Chinese dish that is made of a variety of different foods served in steamers.  The different items on the dim sum menu are pushed around the restaurant on carts and when they come to your table you can chose what you want to eat.  They have all different kinds of steamed dumplings, from pork to shrimp to vegetable.  They have sticky rice that is served inside a lotus leaf and many different types of noodles and wontons.  And of course they have dessert.  I get the same dessert no matter where I get dim sum:  Jin deui.  It has an unexplainable consistency.  It is a ball of dough that is rolled in sesame seeds and inside is a sweet bean paste.  Delicious!

I believe eating is a huge part of exploring a city.  But that is not all we did while we were in Toronto.  We walked through Eaton Centre, which is an enormous overwhelming shopping hub.  It was so crowded, we decided we did not need to buy anything.  Once we left, we just walked.  Looking up and down and all around.  We took a break from walking and enjoyed the live entertainment in Dundas Square.  And the last touristy thing we did was to glide to the top of the CN Tower.  At the top level of the tower, there is a section of the floor that is completely glass allowing you to look 1,465 feet down.  I am not afraid of heights, but I definitely felt an uneasiness in my stomach as I lifted my foot and lowered it onto the glass floor.  A lady caught on to our laughter that was generated by an uncomfortable emotion and told us the glass is actually stronger than the concrete!  I found that fact to be absolutely incredible. 

We ended our trip by driving to Greektown, which was only a ten minute drive from our hotel.  And besides walking down the street peeping through windows, we stopped to eat lunch at Mezes.  We ordered Dolmades (or grapeleaves), lamp chops, Gemista (which I tried for the first time and loved), and Skordalia.  This is my favorite way to eat:  trying a little bit of everything!  That saying is also true for how I like to live my life!

Air Purification in Pulaski, NY

For my International Entrepreneurship class, the Executive Vice President of HealthWay, Vinny Lobdell came in to talk to us about his company and his experiences in international business.  I was so intrigued by what he had to say, I decided to further research air purification systems.  For my fourth story in my Broadcast and Digital Journalism class, my partner and I went to Pulaski, NY to see where the manufacturing of HealthWay purifiers took place and what the whole operation was all about!

Colors of Fall

Green Lakes State Park in the Fall...

Enjoyable Sunday Run...

I could spend all day here!

Four Loko!

At less than three dollars a can and four times the amount of alcohol in a light beer, the alcoholic energy drink, Four Loko, has been a popular drink of choice at college campuses.  There have been many mixed reactions and concerns about its affects at Syracuse University.  For my broadcast journalism class, my partner and I put together a story about these popular alcoholic energy drinks.

Hidden Escapes in Central New York

Green Lakes! New York State Fair!! Skaneateles and Otisco Lake!!!

Three fabulous experiences that kicked off my senior year.

1. Green Lakes State Park: Fayetteville, NY

My one roommate, Sarah, and I love to run around the trail that outlines the glacial lakes known as Green Lakes. Running around the largest lake ends up being just under a two mile run. But if you add in the smaller lake, known as Round Lake, the run turns into about a three mile run. The scenery is gorgeous. When I run I completely forget I am running because I become consumed by my surroundings.

The water looks like a pond of blue Kool-Aid. You know what would be a better description of the color of the lake...the color of the blue raspberry fruit by the foot snack! The lake is intermixed with greens and blues of multiple shades, and the green trees that outline the lake further accentuate the incredible colors of the lake. Green Lakes and Round lake are known as meromictic lakes, which means the different layers of the water do not intermix. Because of this characteristic, distinct layers of color can clearly be seen.

2. New York State Fair: Syracuse, NY

The fair for the entire state of New York is located in Syracuse. This was the first time I went to the state fair. It was just what I thought it was going to be like except it was a lot bigger than I imagined. Hundreds of cows were lined up. We saw: chickens, alpacas, sea lions, a butter sculpture, a man playing more than 10 instruments and much much more...

But the best part of the fair was of course the food!

Let me clarify that....the FRIED food. We had deep fried oreos and deep fried reese's cups. Followed by a wine slushy. The state fair was the first time I have ever heard about wine slushies, and they were delicious. I also tried a barbeque pulled pork sandwich. And finally, four of us girls split a bag full of sugar and cinnamon donuts. I am pretty positive I didn't leave anything out!

3. Two of the Five Finger Lakes: Skaneateles and Otisco

The drive down 81-S to the Finger Lakes is an adventure in itself. The landscape of Central New York makes a car ride so much more enjoyable. My roommate and I could not wait to pull over to take a picture.

We went to a cabin that was situated on Otisco Lake. There was a dock right on the water and you could see almost the entire lake and its surroundings. It was beautiful.

After we stared into the distance for quite a long time, we went to a community fair.

A firework finale is always an incredible way to end a night...

***

I love being outdoors. I love hiking. And I love exploring. The more I get away from Syracuse University the more I realize how much of a bubble the campus is. Syracuse University sits on top of a pristine hill with a capsule surrounding it. I do love the university, but sometimes you just need to get away and explore your surroundings.  I plan on continuing to explore what Central New York has to offer!

If you could go anywhere in the world...

CONNECT is the name of a one credit class that focuses on producing a half an hour public affairs show.  For each show we try to include a Vox Populi, Voice of the People, piece.  Members of CONNECT went to four different locations downtown at Armory Square, at the intersection of Fayette and Salina Streets, on the Syracuse University hill at the corner of Marshall and S. Crouse Streets, and at Carousel Mall and asked 110 people three different questions.

1.  What is one interesting thing most people do not know about Syracuse?

2.  If you could kick one state out of the United States, which state would you like to see go and why?

3.  If you could go anywhere in the world right now where would you go and why?
 
I put together the piece for the last question for my third semester of CONNECT...

So if you could go anywhere in the world right now...where would you go and why?!


Voice of the People

Apples. Apples. Apples.

There is a first time for everything...Apple picking in Central New York.  There are many apple farms throughout Central New York that are set up so people can pick the apples right off of the trees.  The one I went to this fall was called Beak and Skiff.  I never picked apples off of a tree before and I've never baked an apple pie by myself.  Well I can no longer say "never have I ever" to those two things because I managed to do both in one day.

With two of my roommates, I took a tractor ride to the apple trees and immediately began pulling apples off of trees.  It was an unusual activity to me, but I now know the attraction.  We did not stop picking apples until our entire bag was filled.  Pulling an apple off a tree created a slight thrill!

We could not help, but try the apples as we pulled them of the trees.  Since we figured we got all our needed nutrition for the day, we decided to fill up on the sweet delicious apple treats that were being sold at the apple farm.  We ate warm apple fritters and apple donuts.  Followed by a glass full of warm apple cider.  Since our tastebuds wanted more, we went into the store and bought apple bread and a jar of peach salsa.  The salsa was so good, we knew we would need to go back to Beak and Skiff to stock up on peach salsa to get us through the winter!