Le Fin

 It's really over.

I flew back to reality on June 29th, and started working immediately afterwards. It was tough to see Europe go, with all of the beautiful places I saw and fantastic people I met along the way. It was especially hard to say goodbye to my girlfriend Justine, but she had decided to fly over for Christmas and realistically that was all the time we had off, anyways.

After adjusting, I was working as much as I could on the farm, knowing I was leaving in seven weeks to come back to Ottawa for my final year. What I didn't know was Justine had starting scheming on coming to Canada to visit some time this summer. Although working at the farm normally consumes most/all of my time, I promised that if she came down, I would take the time off.

So she did.

Justine flew in on July 27th in the morning. It was really wonderful to see her, and over the next three weeks she and I would travel to Niagara Falls (with my family), across the border to New York State, Ottawa, Quebec, and Toronto. The weather was beautiful and it was a great time.

It was also nice to catch up with some friends - Jamus (the friend of mine who flew into Graz with my brothers for Reading Week) spent some time, and Rachele (a long-time friend from University) came down for the August Long-Weekend to visit the family and meet Justine.

Some pictures below!

Justine and I at Niagara Falls, Ontario

The gang - Left to Right: Justine, Me, Rachele, Jamus and Ryan at Canada's Wonderland.

Justine and I in Ottawa, Ontario at the Downtown locks

Awww...

 It was a great way to spend the summer, and I had a great time catching up with my family again, if even for a short while.
This blog has been a lot of fun to make, and I really appreciate everyone's support! I've received over 4000 page views, and I have to thank everyone who contributed in any small way, from something as small as being in a picture, to those who housed me during my travels, or those people keeping me sane throughout the year. These are unforgettable memories that I will keep forever!
For the millionth time: Thank you. Your support has meant the world to me.

Love,

Kyle.

It's been a while...

Hey guys!

I know it's been over two months since my last post. I've been getting a lot of complaints from anonymous people about how disappointed they are that their son doesn't update, so I figure it's time! (Haha)

To start, I feel great. A couple weeks ago I came down with a pretty serious case of tonsilitis, but I'm happy to say I've fully recovered.

So what else is new? Well, my computer completely crashed. For the techies out there, the Hard Drive can't boot. I have literally tried everything, even down to opening cmd.exe and prompting Format C:.... still, there's a hardware problem. There's no solution but a new hard drive which Dell will install when I return to Canada. Good thing I have awesome flatmates; they're really good about lending me their computers to finish my work, (I still have one assignment left this year, due in 3 days :|) I hope it goes well!

On a positive note, I received notice a couple of days ago that I was accepted as a Residence Advisor for next year, which I'm really excited for!

Well, who decided to show up in Graz but my parents! Graz was the second stop on their European adventure (after Vienna). Then they travelled with their long-time travel friends Rob and Vera to Salzburg, (all three cities are in Austria, if you didn't know!) then they went West to Switzerland (more specifically, Bern) for a couple days, and headed along to France, passing in Beaune, and finally in Paris.
They said the trip was wonderful, and I suspect Graz was their favourite stop! (Haha, not.) But in all seriousness, it was fantastic having them here to see what my life here is like. I think they were a little jealous, and keep insisting that if I don't show them my university (which is on the other side of the city) then they won't believe I'm actually studying here.
They didn't see it.

Happy to see them after a long long while!

Breakfast before they took off for Salzburg!

My travelling days are pretty much over now. I've been to a lot of beautiful places and have seen some wonderful things. Most recently I went to Bratislava with some friends for a couple days. It was really nice going to somewhere that we know (my flatmates live in Slovakia, near Bratislava) so it was a very first-hand experience. And it was amazing. You've never seen such inexpensive restaurants in your life. Traditional Slovakian food at a good restaurant, enough that you can't finish it, for 4-5 euro with a beer. Some pictures are below!

Landscape beyond a castle ruin.

I was in the city center when Slovakia played Czech (and won). GOAL SLOVAKIA!

Team Slovakia. In this picture you will find Two Slovakian boys, One Spanish Boy, Two French (one girl one boy) and Three Canadians. Can you find them all?

The weather here is weather. That is all I will say on the subject. Austria doesn't understand "April showers bring May flowers". It feels like their expression is "April showers bring May showers". But I can't complain. The weather is still warm and it has been unbelievably perfect all year!

It's crazy to realize. I'm home in 4 weeks. I'll probably send one more blog entry before the end of the road.

Thanks to all for reading, and commenting throughout the year! Much love!

Kyle

Two In One!

Hey Guys!
As my parents often remind me, I'm not updating the blog lately as much as I should be. Well, lots has been going on, so I think it's time to make a giant post for y'all!

To start off, it was my Birthday on March 20th, so thanks for all the well-wishes from a great many people.
I decided as a birthday gift to myself that I'd travel a little bit, and after some consideration the decision was London for 3 days, just to check out the city and get some cultural input from North-west Europe.

I had a great couple of days, met some really interesting people in the hostel I was staying at, and my only minor complaint about London is it's SOO EXPENSIVE! Especially after travelling places like Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, and even Austria. The cost of living there is unbelievably high! Here are some pictures below!!

So that was amazing! I got back on the Friday afternoon, and my flatmates had confirmed that they were going to drive to Venice the next day and asked me if I wanted to join.

So I joined.
Some of the 600 pictures we took are below, just to give you a taste!

So that's some of what I've been up to! Life is pretty amazing, I have to say.

In terms of scholastic updates, I have three large assignments this year due around May 1st. I'm almost done one of them, and am proud to say I'm not falling behind this semester!

Also, April hosts a 20-day Easter Vacation here, which gives me lots of time to get some serious work done.

In other news, my parents are coming in almost exactly one month, which I am very excited about - The warm weather's already here, so I don't know what they're waiting for! haha.

 Something I thought was interesting here is the Daylight Savings switch is on March 25th in Europe. In Canada it's two weeks earlier.... Weird!

Anyways, if you have any comments, concerns, suggestions, the usual, be sure to send them my way!!!
Enjoy the weather as it warms up and remember to stay in School!

Love, Kyle.

Video Update - in the sun!

I know it's been a while since my last post, sorry guys! Hope you enjoy!

Pictures!

Yeah, I had to edit that one... too much fun not to.

So there's just a VERY VERY small snippet. All of the scenery pictures were in a train from Salzburg to Graz, it was gorgeous that day!

Thanks for checking this out guys, and again: comments, prayer requests, anything - don't hesitate to let me know!

Kyle.