Living Life in the City.

After months complaining about waking up early, inconvenient TTC buses and long rides dry-humping complete strangers on the subway, my parents decided it was finally time to invest in an apartment downtown.

Needless to say, getting an apartment for school has a lot of benefits for me.

Yes, a pricey investment, but perhaps worth it in the end as the opportunities are endless. We live around Yonge and Bloor-just steps away from the luxurious Yorkville area where designer clothes and accessories, celebrities and fancy cars are not uncommon.

Not that I can afford anything from Yorkville, living in the area has proved to be not only convenient for all of us, but also quite an adventure. And with that, I cannot thank my parents enough.  I am truly blessed.

While I love outdoor adventures like climbing, biking and jogging, I am a city girl at heart.  I love the rush Toronto brings and all the good things it has to offer.

But that is not to say that I can't imagine myself not living in the suburbs.  Growing up in a suburban Scarborough neighbourhood, that's all I really knew. While downtown is a great area to live, I still can't imagine myself not being part of a suburb with a nice house, backyard, park, car, friends and family nearby.

Though at the end of the day, journalism and the city do make a great match.

But that is the future.  And the future is quite a long time from now.

For now, I should just live for the moment.

Taking the streets of Downtown Toronto.

 These photos are a couple weeks late, but I finally got a hold of them from my good friend Nicole Caguiat, a budding marketing student who wants to start her own blog!! (By the way you better get on that because I need to add you to my blog roll!!)

We toured around Yorkville and various locations downtown for a few nice photos...mainly because Nicole wanted to take some photos for her blog.  And knowing me and my dream of becoming famous (HAHAHA...), I couldn't help but model for a few pics as well! 

But to say the least, I am unfortunately not the most photogenic person on the planet.  If I don't smile, I end up having this "chronic bitchface" look that makes me want to bite everyone's head off!!

But I am nothing like that!! I am a kind-hearted human being with lots of love to share!!

Exhibit A...on the right --------->

 I guess a smile really is a girl's best accessory!!

 

And here is Nicole in a lovely dress! 

 Nicole looking modeltastic!! Do you think she could pass off as a model??! I mean, a guy did hit on her while we were walking out of Starbucks!!! 

And here is me...with my Chronic bitchface

  AND here is me...Without the Chronic bitchface!!

Okay but seriously, here is a pic I am proud to say is a good one.

J-skool adventures

I feel like I haven't posted in ages. Though if you click here, it is my interview with Rocco Rossi in which I have posted last night.

On Monday, I exercised my right as a Canadian citizen and voted for the first time.  I'm glad to say that I knew who I wanted to vote for, but unfortunately I am upset with the results.

I did not vote for Ford, and I will tell you why in a later vblog.

Tuesday classes have become my favourite. I know, everyone should dread going to an eight-hour class, but I find it quite fun. I have met several interesting people downtown, and I really enjoy networking.

I woke up super early yesterday to go downtown to interview people around the city on what they felt about the election. I probably arrived TOO early, but I headed down to City Hall anyways. I kind of regret going up to the first person, because he kind of scared me.

He called himself 'THE CAT' and he told me some pretty frightening things. I don't know if I should be revealing them here, so I won't. All I can say is that he kept me there for 10 minutes accusing City Hall of things that I don't even know if they are accurate or not. I was so glad that my friend Arti came along afterwards, to save me from talking with him. (When you're doing Streeters you have to be really careful!!)

I'm so glad I had someone to venture around downtown with. Arti and I ended up walking a huge square around the downtown core. We headed to Queen St. W., but there weren't a lot of people so we went to the Ontario College of Art and Design.  I didn't think students would really have a lot to say about the election, but it turns out they really did.

They were not pleased with Rob Ford being Toronto's new mayor, especially because he did not support funding for the arts. I really enjoyed their opinions and it was very nice to add their input.

Realizing that I finally had a focus to this story, my friend and I ventured to art scenes all around downtown. AND I HAD AN EPIPHANY. I LOVE ART AND I LOVE ARTISTS. They are some of the nicest people in Toronto.

I even went into Vtape, where our film class went last year.  I need to go to these indie film places more often, let alone the NFB... I think I should make that a priority no?

Another cool place I walked into was Next Models agency, where I met Glen, who is a booker. It was super awesome to walk into the studio as he has met such big names like Coco Rocha and Stacey McKenzie which is really exciting. MAN, I LOVE FASHION.

But of course, the highlight my day was when my friend and I met Matte Babel!!! Not only is he incredibly gorgeous, but he is also really chill and cool. I was taken aback for a little bit when Matte told us to get out of J-skool because we won't make much of a difference locally, which nearly crushed us of our dreams.

He told us that if we really wanted to make a difference, we needed to go big, and apply for overseas places as well as top news networks such as CNN.  That, I will try and do.

Alas, the wondering meet-and-greet had to end, and we had to go back to school to write an article.  Too bad I couldn't write about how awesome it was, but here's to hoping for a good mark to that article. (AND I REALLY HOPE I DID OKAY *crosses fingers*)

Matte Babel and I!!! <3 <3 <3

Culture Days proving Arts and Culture are here to stay in Canada

This past weekend (September 24-26) I had the privilege to attend one of the Culture Days events taking place in my city.

Culture Days is a pan-Canadian volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities.  This means that through these three days, several free activities will be held all across the country to promote the arts and cultural life in provinces and Canada as a whole.  This is an event that will take place annually.

Aubrey Reeves, who is one of the coordinators of the Culture Days activities taking place in the Greater Toronto Area, says that the event is incredibly important for Canada because the event relies on volunteers all across the country to put out arts-related activities for Canadians. "Celebrating creativity that happens in Canada and culture play a huge part in our lives. Culture Days is not just about professional artists, but it's also for those people who do art everyday in their daily lives." she says. 

In the province of Ontario, there were around 900 activities taking place such as Musical Theatre Workshops taking place at the S. P.A.C.E, film screenings at the NFB, and Salsa Lessons at the Lula Music and Arts Centre to name a few.  All across the country,  over 4,000 activities took place. 

The event I went to was conveniently located at Yonge and Dundas Square, which is right beside my school.  That day, CBC was there to celebrate the art of broadcasting.

"Perfect!" I thought, as that is the field I want to get into.  And how glad I was to have went!  I met five CBC news anchors, and some of them actually attended Ryerson!

Anchors such as Deana Sumanac, who is a CBC Arts News reporter, told me that Ryerson is the place to be to study Journalism.

 "It's in the center of downtown Toronto, there's always so much action going on, and the school actually helps students find internships!" she said. 

 She was really nice, and offered me a lot of helpful advice. She even gave me her autograph, and signed a note saying:  "Good luck- maybe we'll even work together at some point!"
Another journalist I had to privilege to talk to was Anne-Marie Mediwake, who is a news anchor at CBC.  She too, is a huge supporter of this event.  "In Canada, it is hugely important because funding has been cut back in the country.  So this is a way to show Canadians that we're still here and culture and arts are here to stay." she says.

Though in terms of advice for me and my future career, Mediwake offers much needed insight. "Work hard.  Look for opportunities, ask for opportunities and do a lot of reading."

I guess I should get off the computer then, huh?

For more information on Culture Days, go to http://www.culturedays.ca/

I am attending next year again for sure!
(first photo from Culture Days website) 

TIFF and then some

I attended the Toronto International Film Festival yesterday and boy, was it exhausting.  Though as tired as I am, lining up for 6 hours just to get a hold onto some rush tickets was well worth it.  You may think I'm crazy for doing this, but if you love movies and seeing famous people, the experience never gets boring!  I was lucky enough to have a ledge to sit on, and while waiting in line, we met some very nice and interesting people!  I have found a contact to buy English Textbooks from, AND I also got to take pictures of movie stars...and Canadian Rapper K-0s!!!

It's the HOT Andrew Garfield (he's the new Spiderman FYI), and Carey Mulligan! Carey is wearing a modified Christopher Kane Dress that looks very intergalactic and space-like. Love the print, unsure about the design.

Toronto's Kier Gilchrist (starring in It's Kind of a Funny Story) looking very sharp, on the red carpet.  I thought he was much taller!

Here is the cast of It's Kind of a Funny Story.  Directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Kier Gilchrist who plays Craig, Zach Galifianakis as  Bobby and Emma Roberts as Noelle.

It's Kind of a Funny Story was a great, coming of age film.  It is serious, but still offers the humour and talents of the cast such as Zach Galifianakis, and Gilchrist to name a couple.  As well, the soundtrack is filled with Canadian indie band Broken Social Scene! Best part of the movie?  An 80s inspired music video using the song Under Pressure by Queen.  The downfall?  Watching at the very front to see distorted faces up on the movie screen. But who cares!  I saw the movie stars up close!!!

And to prove that waiting in line wasn't so boring, I met K-Os!!! 

P.S.  I LOOK LAME!!!