Love at first sight (Cuba Part 2)

"It is very hard for Cubans to go to Canada. We could get a work visa, but the based way to immigrate into Canada would be through marriage. But you know I want to find love. Like love at first sight. Forgive me for saying this but you are beautiful. And you have such a nice body. You know I am a personal trainer so I like girls with nice bodies. Now don't be mad at me, but you have very nice legs, just very nice legs. So, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes"

"Well next time you come, divorce your boyfriend and come back to Cuba"

And that was my conversation with the Pilates guy. This is the paraphrased version, considering we talked for a little over an hour. It only started to get this personal [and uncomfortable] closer to the end... then I left.

But you know which Cuban boy I did really like? Our server. He was the sweetest guy! And he was just so cute. We had some nice moments together... mostly of me being a complete idiot. Also it was really funny because he could hardly speak any English, and well, the only Spanish words I know are: "Ola" and "Gracias". During our last dinner in Cuba, he served us one last time. We then said goodbye, I told him about France, and he said that next time I come he'll learn some French for me. Who knows maybe I will see him again, but he really was just the nicest person.

He handed me a souvenir before I left. It is a little notepad that has a picture of a sunset on the front, but it is the back of it that is the most special. 

I made a good friend in Cuba. Her name is Anna, Russian, from Montreal. Hopefully I'll be visiting her this summer. I spent most of the vacation with her. 

We also met some other met other Russians as well (wait no technically they were Ukrainians), and they were a pain in the ass, not just for us, but for any worker on the resort. Oh those poor Cubans. "The Ukrainians" - this was their nickname around the resort, it was a mom, her two daughters, and one grand-daughter - had a complain almost every hour of the day, and every day they met with a manager to voice their complaint, and every day we heard them rant about their problems. These people were so loud in general, but when they complain they get even louder. By about half way through their stay, the entire resort knew them as the "loud Ukranians". Now it is different if you complain about big problems, but they complained about things like - mosquitoes, the weather, not getting in the full buffet at the time that they want to (god forbid they miss a minute of the 8:30 show). Yeah stupid things like that. It was ridiculous. Anyways enough about that. 

My mom and I had a wonderful stay! I want to go back so badly. Hopefully soon... you know, after France. 

My mama and I in the ocean

This was during one of the "club" nights. The guy next to me was one of the entertainers (the best entertainers) at the resort. The blonde next to him is Anna, and the girl next to her is a girl we met from Argentina. 

If only I could go back <3

One more blog post about Cuba to come. 

Welcome to Paradise (Cuba Part 1)

Wake up at 2:15am, plane leaves at 7:30am. Thank goodness my mom woke up before me, because silly me decided to put my alarm clock at 2:00pm..

I had probably only slept about 3 hours, but I didn’t even care. I was so excited to finally get to the airport and get out of Canada and country life.

My mom and I arrived at the Santa Clara airport at around 12pm. We were freezing in the airplane with the air conditioning. Once we got off it, took a step into the sunlight, we were overtaken by humid, hot air. It was such a shock at first I thought I couldn’t breath for the first 10 seconds. We went through immigration pretty quickly, the people are pretty nice there. Especially considering the very foolish move I did:

Person at immigration: how old are you?

Me: shoot.. How old am I…. 19… wait no… I am 23… well 23 in October, so I am 22.

Embarrassing…

After the airport we climbed onto our bus, drove 2 hours across Cuba to our resort – Melia Las Dunas. Driving through Cuba you get to see the tiny, run-down houses that the locals live in. Their “wildlife” (aka horses, cows, and cats) were all so skinny you could see the rib cage of every animal. But now matter all of this, I was sort of jealous of their simple lives. Here in our first-world counties we have no lives. We depend so much on technology we do not even realize how we are not living our lives through our human bodies, instead we live it through our iPhones, laptops, instagrams, twitters, facebook… It is really sad. Better not get off-track here, we’ll save this discussion for another post.

Our resort was beautiful! Palm trees, ocean breeze, fantastic food, great entertainment, and a hell of a lot of dancing. It did rain for the first 3.5 days of our stay, but its warm rain so it really does not bother me (better than snow).

For these 3 days of rain I found new friends (mostly Russian), we learned Salsa, Meranguias (sp?), some sort of Zumba, and just had a whole bunch of fun. The food was amazing… wait no, the FRUIT was amazing!! I am so obsessed with passion fruit after this trip, I ate a minimum of 3 full plates of it every day/ when it was available. I had also tried coconut water right from a coconut for the first time! I must say it does not even compare to the ones in the can. The canned coconut water is disgusting. I made a mistake of trying it one time, it was awful.

Well I think that will be it for now. I’ll write up a Part 2 for tomorrow. Look forward to love, marriage, proposals, and friendships that will hopefully last [forever].  

Conference video is finally up

Hopefully people enjoy. 

Great opportunities arise if you put yourself out there

This week was pretty amazing. I got to go to an evolution, ecology conference. This was my first conference ever and let me tell you - best experience ever!

The first day I arrived (Thursday) I got my registration folder which contained the schedule, lunch voucher, parking pass... and [best part] a $10 gift card to indigo! Books.. yes please. I've been wanting to buy a North American bird/ amphibian guide (yes nerdy.. whatever) and now I can!
The first day was a bit awkward for the first 30 minutes, because I did not anyone there, and I was actually forced to make friends and talk to humans (preposterous!). I met some great people on the first day that I ended up hanging with for the rest of the weekend.

The rest of the weekend it was all about lectures, my presentation, and a lot of really good food. I met some really interesting researchers and professors. Additionally, I got informed of a Masters project I could get involved in (yay networking).

I don't have that many photos of the actual conference; instead I have selfies. I also made a video for some peoples entertainment, that I hope to put up pretty soon (my internet sucks).

The first picture I took after arriving. Took me a while to find parking.

Poster day!

Movie day with my friend after the last day of the conference. We went to see "The other woman" and it was hilarious! Most definitely recommend. 

Best driving songs: 

Problem - Ariana Grande

Rude - Magic! (I have listened to it 8 times so far.. today only, it may as well stay on repeat)

Lalala - Naughty Boy

Body... what is your problem.

As it happens, once I move out I get sick. Being sick is the worst thing that can happen to me. I feel useless, and I hate being useless. I hate sleeping around, I hate not having enough energy to do my work or simple things around the house, I really just don't like being a couch potato.


But this weekend was pretty amazing, and totally worth this cold. On Friday my stepdad and I drove down to Toronto (the big city) and I got to spend some quality time with some amazing people.

First stop was my friend Ray. She is probably my most treasured friend. I have never met a person like her. She is truly an amazing person and an even better friend. We had a lovely time of sushi, movies, and a fantastic breakfast in the morning.
I left the next morning to see my dad, who happens to be leaving for England in less than a week. He let me practice on his standard car (very helpful as that is the car I'll be driving in France) and I must say I am getting pretty awesome at it. We mostly practiced on the hill, as this is where most standard drivers freak out. After saying goodbye to my dad I left him to travel back to downtown Toronto.

This area was much quieter than the area I was in on Friday. It was lovely! I stayed the night at my friends Sofie and Dave's place. They have a lovely little pooch, Scout. She was just the cutest.

I thought I was lost in Toronto (scary), also this was right after a hobo came up to me and mumbled something..

She looked much better than us in the morning. 

If people are that curious about my life you are welcome to follow me on Instagram, where I update as regularly as I can... sometimes even taking awkward selfies in public #letmetakeaselfie. 

 http://instagram.com/itsstasi

P.S I am listening to the Game of Thrones audiobooks, best thing ever! The only good thing about being sick and having to lay in bed the entire time. 

Un jour ou l'autre/ Христос Bоскрес

My goodness I am lazy. I haven't really been writing because there hasn't been much to say. This past Tuesday I moved back home. I will be here for almost 3 months. I must say it is exhausting, my little sister definitely keeps me busy, which helps in the procrastination department. However at times it can be so boring, I find myself continuously searching for things to do. I do have many things to do like work on my thesis.. Yes, yes, I've handed everything in but not really. I've handed in my final corrections to my professor so hopefully everything gets approved. Then I'd like to work on publication. Oh and don't forget the conference that I am going to in less than 2 weeks (which I am not ready for... I've got to redo my poster...)!

I must say my last couple of days in Kingston were pretty fantastic:

I had a "Last Year" party at my place that was creatively named: 

KANYE'S MILEY TWERK #YOLO GENERATION HASHTAG #PARTY SHOTZMAGEDDON #SWAG

Before that we went to the campus pub... which wasn't a good idea for me

Then later the next day I went herping (from the word herpetology - the study of amphibians and reptiles, but yes yes, we can laugh at how it sounds like I went looking for herpes). We found wood frogs, many salamanders, peepers and I finally got to hear the first frog chorus of the year! Fantastic feeling. 

Home isn't that bad though. There is so much nature where I live.. given I live in the middle of no-where in a forest. I caught a leopard female frog today (Lithobates pipiens), saw a ribbon snake (Thamnophis sauritus) which is really cool because they are quite rare, and, lastly, I got spooked by a Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus).

I visited our horses today. This is the new addition to the family, a cute little foal. He really likes to jump on you (like a dog) which is terrifying because it looks like he will hit you right in the face with his hoofs. 

This was my lovely easter breakfast. So perfect, so peaceful. 

Well happy easter everyone! Now that I am not doing much I'll probably be writing more, but then again what will I be writing about if I have nothing to do... #firstworldproblems

Salut!!

So many things happening!

Lets begin with the most exciting news: I AM MOVING TO FRANCE!
Not for a long time, just for 10-11ish months. I will be learning the language and will hopefully become very fluent in the language quickly. I want to blend in with the crowd, rather than stand out like a tourist.

Secondly: I DEFENDED MY THESIS
Now I just have a couple of changes to make on it, submit it one last time, and then hopefully get it published somewhere. I also have the conference in the beginning of May. Which reminds me I better get working on my poster.

Thirdly: I am moving out in less than a week! Next Tuesday to be specific. Back home. Which is somewhat exciting. Meh. I guess it'll be nice to change things up a bit.

Fourth: This:

Our security guard social was this weekend! It was so fancy shmancy, with food, wine, and much later into the night, a keg. 

Lovely time! 

Lastly: My Society for Conservation social was last night. I made a huge oven roast, it was delicious. 

And this Friday I am having a party at my place to say goodbye to the people that are left over in Kingston. It'll probably be sloppy. 

Once I am hope I'll definitely be able to blog more! Promise..