an ode to couchsurfing

i'm slowly getting settled in toronto... so here's a little update sorted into work, life and beyond. (i'm not sure what to sort under beyond, but i'll jump off that bridge when i get to it.)

WORK
i've started my internship at the princess margaret hospital, specifically at the ontario cancer institute. starting next week i get to inject mice with tumour cells, wait for those to grow, inject them with a DNA-repair inhibitor, irradiate them and then hope the tumour cells die since they don't have the ability to repair themselves. sounds good, right? lots of pre-experiments to be done first though, so this may take a while. and very first i have to gain the right to abuse little rodents. in a nice way.

the people at work are all great, easy going and incredibly international (as all of toronto is).

LIFE
uhoh, whereas i'll have nothing to put under "beyond", "life" will have to be split up into several subtopics. here goes.

accommodation:
i live in homestay, with jane (61). its convenient, close to town and work and the bed is comfortable and i get towels and toilet paper. yay! i hope that in a bit i can move into a shared flat of some sort, but everything ive seen so far (including dorms) are more expensive. and money is a little short at the moment, so homestay is perfect right now.

i'm in the cellar room, with my own bathroom, a bed, chair, desk, comfy chair, set of drawers, and lots of pictures on the wall (which YOU, dear reader, are probably on).

weather
that's part of life, right? the weather is snowy and COLD. but snow = tobogganing, so life is good :)

people
i technically know NO ONE in toronto (enjoying the dramatic capital lettered words?), but i've gotten to know so many great people through couchsurfing. which is why this is named the ode to couchsurfing. i'm in love with it. it means i have stuff to do and people to do it with who are international, interesting and open! yaaaay :)

we've gone salsa dancing, out for italian food, bangers and mash, gone on a photo trip of nearby waterfalls (half frozen, very impressive), gone dancing in a disco, been tobogganing as previously mentioned and are currently planning a trip to ottawa for this weekend to go ice skating on their canal. yay for couchsurfing and couchsurfers!

city
as ive mentioned about a million times: i'm very impressed by the international feel of the city. we walked to the italian restaurant on the street called carlton and then college (changes names midway). start was in cabbage town (where i live, irish origin), we walked through china town, kensington market (with lots of international food and thrift stores and such), past a part of greek town, into italian town. had we kept walking the street would have taken us through portuguese and brazilian town. the city also has a vietnamese section, a korean section, and indian section and about a million others. and it's not just restaurants which make up the country specific town: greek town even has bilingual street signs!!

while i'm missing all the familiar faces from marburg and from the trip, i'm enjoying the adventure of meeting new people and discovering some of canada. yay :)