Hi everyone,

How are you doing? Hoe gaat het? Wie geht's? Como éstas? How are your vacations/summers?!
I arrived in Toronto (together with Kaja and Tinka--the 2 other German girls who will be spending their semester abroad here with me) yesterday evening after a delayed flight from Düsseldorf. After holding a nice little chat with the immigrations officer I was allowed into the country;)...I apologize for writing this e-mail only in English..but I figure that is the only language you all understand;)..and i am too tired to write more than one e-mail...

We picked up our luggage and were ready to go to our "youth-hostel" which will also be our "dorm/appartment/residence" for the remainder of our stay! We learned that about 14 huge bags can indeed fit into a small minivan..along with 7 people in a crammed taxi with a weird russian taxi driver. But we can't complain..we made it to Tartu college and after waiting for someone to show up at the front desk we were given the keys to our rooms for the weekend;)!! We took all our luggage upstairs to the 18th floor on which we all have a small room (which reminds me of a youth hostel in a bit more clean and large) in a "suite" of 6 rooms with 2 joined "washrooms" and showers as well as a shared and clean kitchen!! The only thing that was horrible was the heat in the rooms...it is like 35° outside and the rooms felt worse than any sauna i have ever stepped into;) This is probably one of the first buildings i know in North America without an air-conditioning:(

I think living here will not be too bad..although the luxury I had in my last appartment definetly can't be found here;)!! When the house is full 400 students stay here at Tartu college..which should make my stay interesting! We met people from all around the world..and hardly any Canadians..

This morning we all headed out to grab some coffee after having a simple breakfast with the stuff we had managed to buy the night before, before dropping into our beds and sleeping for a few hours..seeing as we had been awake for like 20hours..After breakfast we decided it was time to find some camping equipment which led to the beginning of our "walking marathon" through Toronto..After having seen most of the "Midtown-area" (in which we live) we walked to the "Downtown" area where we found tents for 230$...which we seriously considered buying after having been to 3 other stores..But miracles can happen and we found a store which had a super-clearance sale and bought ourselves a 3 person tent for 39,99$....The search for camping equipment led us past our "faculty" at which we will be studying..which is conveniently located right next to a huge shopping mall..right downtown:)...(though it will be quite a hike to get there on a daily basis)! The downtown area of Toronto is quite big as our feet have had to feel;)...but it is a nice city! We feel just as safe as in Groningen...although it would be a nice challenge for any cyclist to ride a bike here;)..

On the way back to our hostel we walked right through a movie-production which was being filmed in front of the University of Toronto main hall (which seems really old and beautiful)...and are already jealous of all the students who get to live/study in the beautiful old buildings....

As we are dead tired we decided to call it an early night...so that we can explore more of Toronto 2morrow!!

Monday we leave for our road trip to the East-Coast and we'll see what we manage to do before then! With this hot but beautiful weather we won't be staying inside;)...I hope you all get some of the nice weather we have here as well...and are all doing great!

I already have a cell-phone number for those of you who are interested the number is: +1 4165153245

I am off to bed..more when i am less tired;)..

Ik wens jullie alemaal een heel fijn weekend! Laat maar iets van jullie horen..
I wish you all a great weekend and hope to hear from you soon..
Schönes WE! Meldet euch mal!

Groetjes uit Toronto,
Sarah