Halloween = Birthday + Free Candy + Screams

Happy Halloween!

Not only is today Halloween, a day where I get to eat a tons of candy without feeling guilty, it is also my little sister's birthday!

Happy birthday BonQuiQui*! I wish you another year filled with happiness, love and much success!
* name has been changed

Lighting up the candles on the cake

On another note, today is also Monday meaning I had office hours with the lovely Anastasia! In honour of Halloween, we spent our office hours watching Scream. Two hours well spent if you ask me! I think it was the first time the office was that quiet. Anastasia, Tuan and I watched silently and followed the plot carefully, so that we don't too scared or surprised (I could definitely use some of that amazing concentration in class!). Despite that, Tuan still managed by let a few screams here and there. The fact that he screamed like a little girl towards the end almost made the horror movie turn into a comedy! Good times, good times...

Afternoon Tea

So, what did you do on this quiet Sunday afternoon?

I had some wonderful afternoon tea at the Maitre Chocolatier with my parents! It sounds lame and boring (especially with the parents), but after a busy weekend - celebrating Halloween by hosting a "Fright Night on Friday, and leaving for Ottawa early Saturday morning- having afternoon tea was a perfect way to mark the end of easy and fun days, and the start of hell, also known as school.

Having already experienced The Queen Elizabeth Hotel's Afternoon Tea, I had an idea of how it would be. But the Maitre Chocolatier's service differed very much from the Queen E's. First of all, to my big surprise, there was live music, provided by a guitarist and bassist! The duo played some nice ambiance music while I enjoyed my wonderful cherry green tea and patries. The food, as I expected, was all homemade. Just like at the Queen E's, I was offered a variety of sandwiches, scones (which came with 3 marmalades : figue, vanilla and strawberry) and various bite-size desserts. What I like about the Maitre Chocolatier is their vast choice of tea leaves. At he Queen E's, only a few flavors of tea bags were available. The tea room was cozy and superbly cute. It brought me back to my French days, which I miss everyday. The service was impeccable. I was served by courteous, bilingual and knowledgeable attendants, who informed me about the teas and the food. It's a great spot to spend time with girl friends, chitchatting over tea!

Sandwiches

Scones & marmalades

"Hi, I'm Harry, Harry Potter"

Just how many Harry Potter die-hard fans do you know? I actually happen to know a few, with many of them who happen to be part of JMAS with me! A wonderful girl with enormous amount of love for British Harry's (Harry Potter & Prince Harry, that is), Anastasia is one of them.

Every Monday, Anastasia and I share office hours. Two long hours of sitting in an office, hoping some students will show up and ask us questions. Sadly, they never do, so we just basically hang out in the office the the sake of formalities. Having office hours with another girl is always fun because you can talk about anything, especially when it's with someone you get along with. But you know what's even better? When you share your love for Harry Potter! We spent part of our office hours watching the very first Harry Potter movie until I decided to make some tea (how English of us!). As we sat down to continue the movie, I decided I wanted popcorn (yes, we had popcorn in the office). Unfortunately, and fortunately, we never made it back to the office to finish the movie. After the popcorn was ready, Anastasia and I just sat down on comfy couches in a quiet corner and chatted away! It was so good to have a some girl time after all the midterm madness! We chitchatted until our JMAS meeting at 6 pm! Well we actually had to stop at some moments to go eat, but you get the idea! Can you imagine all the stories we told each other? I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait for next week's office hours!

Many might say Harry Potter brought magic to their lives, but Harry Potter brought me a new friendship!

At Last, Freedom!

Freedom, oh how I have missed you! It feels so good to know that I can read, watch movies and surf online as much as I want without feeling bad and panicking. Indeed, midterms are over!

Of all my three years of university, this is the first year that I got a really, but really crappy midterm exam schedule. The first one being on the Saturday right after Thanksgiving - which was fine, because I had plenty of time to review. The second exam was Business Law and Ethics (COMM 315) and it was scheduled on the following Wednesday. Then Friday Oct 21, I had both Advanced Managerial Accounting (ACCO 430) and Financial Reporting II (ACCO 320) were scheduled at the same day and same time. This is where things got a bit complicated. I had to come up with a schedule to allocate my time between all three classes. It sounds simple and nothing too crazy, but it was a heck of a week.  All those late nights and early mornings have drained me from all my energy.

To make things worse, since I had two exams scheduled at the same time, I registered to write the alternate for ACCO 430, after hearing my ACCO 320 professor saying that he will not providing an alternate version. Unfortunately, the alternate ACCO 430 exam was still on the same day, but the time slot was just moved to the morning. In other words I had ACCO 430 from 10 am to 1 pm and ACCO 320 from 7 om to 10 pm. How lovely.... Just when things couldn't possibly be more stressful, I find out there was actually an alternate exam for ACCO 320, which is scheduled on Sunday morning. That means I would have had extra time on Friday day to review for ACCO 430 and the entire Saturday to study for ACCO 320! It was at first super upsetting because I can't switch alternates. But then, I told myself I'd finish my exams earlier this way. So, instead of reviewing for ACCO 320 in the morning,  I'll be sleeping in!

Thank You For the Long Weekend

After receiving the devastating news that I didn’t get my internship (and crying over frozen yogurt with my dear friend Sunbul), my parents came to me with an interesting proposal. Since their restaurant is closed for renovations, they suggested  we go to Toronto for Thanksgiving weekend. Normally, I wouldn’t agree to go, just because it’s so close to midterms – the first one being this Saturday (Canadian Income Taxation). But I desperately needed time away from everything and get all things related to recruitment out of my system.  So, how was my long weekend you ask?

On Friday, it was my very last shift at Gap. As much as I enjoyed working there (and the employee discount) it didn’t provide me the flexibility I was looking for. So, as unfortunate as it was, I had to make a choice: school or Gap?  The answer was obvious, of course. But as a normal human being, I got attached… Yes, it was sad, but my Friday did have a happy ending. That night was also Patil’s birthday party at Suite 701! Good food, good drinks and good people – I had a blast! Coolest part: cruising down Crescent Street in Gurjit’s ballin’ ride. 

Beautiful blue sky

In the early hours on Saturday morning, I rushed home to pack and get ready to leave for Toronto. I had about 2-3 hours before departure time (4 AM). I packed as fast as I could, while watching Material Queen on my laptop (that show is so goddamn addictive, so I had too. Multitask FTW!).  Then I went to bed for about an hour or two. Four o’clock came along and I woke up completely exhausted and drained.  We loaded the car and drove away. When my eyes opened again, we arrived had at our destination. Six hours felt more like 1 hour.

People say Toronto isn’t that great, but I like it. I can’t exactly explain why, but I do. My parents and I spent three days, walking around, shopping, and eating (no worries, I packed my Tax notes and studied at night). It wasn’t like going to Paris, walking around the Louvre and enjoying delicious pastries by Laduree. However, it was just as good because I got to spend some quality time with my parents and bought and ate tons of Asian snacks that cannot be found in Montreal. 

Best Chinese restaurant name ever.

Climbing poker chips