Canada, Cairo, Chiang Mai, and Everywhere Inbetween!

I never thought in a million years that my college study abroad experience would include an almost 4 week long trip to Canada to visit the love of my life, but it did! I'm back in Chiang Mai now with only a few more weeks left of my fall semester. I've noticed that for a few years now, I have had a constant and persistent feeling of bittersweetness almost every single day. Today, and everyday that I am here in Chiang Mai, I feel bittersweet to be where I am. I am constantly exploring new places, expanding my knowledge, learning new languages, trying new foods, and overall changing my life. But the trade-off to all of those spectacular things is that I am always away from my family, best friends, and now my other half. It isn't ever easy, and I'll be the first to admit that I sometimes breakdown and cry my heart out. But I know it will all be worth it one day. I am not a person who was born to stay in one place for too long.

Kristen, Arielle, Paige, Caroline, Allie, Me, and Annarose
in our treehouse on the beach!

Anyways, a lot happened before I went to Canada! I got a new tattoo, and went to Krabi for a fun beach weekend! I decided on a travel-themed emoji tattoo, because I always want to remember how my life has been impacted by travel, technology, and the ability to communicate with the people I love from wherever in the world I am. In Krabi, we had a lot of boat rides to various places. We visited Krabi town and Koh Phi Phi islands. Friday night was a night in Krabi that I barely remember, and saturday night we stayed in a treehouse on the beach in Koh Phi Phi. Apparently, on Friday night, I completely broke down and sobbed about how much I loved Vinny (lol). My life seems to always lead me to crazy places and crazy things. I love it.

Piccadilly Circus in the morning

I departed Thailand on October 12th and had a couple layovers in Mumbai and London before reaching Toronto. I didn't have much time in Mumbai, but the airport is absolutely stunning! While in London, I had to transfer airports, so naturally I decided to take the long way and discover a bit of the city along the way. I visited London back in 2009 when I was just 12 years old. Since then, London has transformed drastically. Part of the city has sprung up with towers and skyscrapers that weren't there 10 years ago. I got to take the tube and visit Piccadilly Circus, King's Cross, and passed by the Tower Bridge while on the train to Gatwick airport! I then flew to Toronto, and met Vinny that night at our Airbnb. That weekend, we visited University of Toronto, ate chicken souvlaki at this hole-in-the-wall Greek restaurant, ate poutine, went shopping at the Eaton Centre, went back to our favorite Jamaican restaurant to eat jerk chicken, and spent a ton of time sleeping because I for one, was exhausted. That sunday, the 16th, we went back to his school in Guelph.

Guelph, Ontario

Not too much happened during the 3 weeks I spent in Guelph. Most of the time, Vinny and I would go to his classes, eat on campus (usually burgers or poutine because why not?), hang out, get coffee from Tim Horton's, and go on Walmart snack runs. Since it was the middle of Fall, the leaves were really gorgeous! For Halloween, we dressed up as Dr. Mcsteamy and Dr. Mcdreamy from Grey's Anatomy! And although we didn't really do too much, those 3 weeks were some of the most joyful, formative, and loving weeks of my life. Some people may question why I left my study abroad program for so long just to spend time with Vinny, but I do not regret it in the slightest. After all, I am here for an entire year. I needed those almost 4 weeks with him, and I know he needed them with me. Being a long-distance couple, we search for any possible time to be together that we can, and I am so grateful that we were able to spend this time together.

Mcsteamy and Mcdreamy ready for operation

I love Vinayak with all my heart, and I do believe he's the person I will spend the rest of my life with. This young man is my best friend in the whole world, and he's changed my life in so many ways. He has loved and supported me from the very beginning when we met, and he has never judged me, hurt me, or made me feel inadequate. In fact, he provided me the constant encouragement I needed this past spring to start my health and fitness journey, which I am still on and doing well! He helped me not only come out to my family, but to own and feel comfortable in my sexuality (And let's be real here; It's 2016, literally everybody is a little bit gay!). Also, he has made me a more emotional person which I have had trouble with in the past. This little brat annoys me constantly with "funny" things he finds on the internet, likes to make sharp turns and randomly change directions while we're walking together just to piss me off, thinks it's cool to trick me when we play Monopoly Deal, and likes to hog all of the chips and dip. But, I secretly love all of those things. I want you all to know how much I love him, how much he makes me smile, and just how much joy he's brought into my life. It hasn't been the same since, and I can't wait for more adventures with him. I'm quite the lucky guy, eh?

Me, Narjis, and Marshall

Little Monkey and Koala Bear

This picture is probably my fav

In the middle of my time with Vinny, he had to go home one weekend to celebrate Diwali with his family, so I went back to Loyola to visit my friends! It was so much fun to see everyone again.









On November 5th, I departed Toronto for... Cairo. Freaking Cairo, Egypt. It wasn't really any easier to say goodbye to Vinny this time than in August, and I cried quite a bit. This time, I knew when I would be returning. I'll actually be going to Canada for a little more than two weeks in January, so that comforted me a bit. My flight to Cairo was alright,and I arrived at about 5 in the morning. I had about a 6 hour layover... so hell yeah I decided to leave the airport! I immediately got into a taxi and headed to Giza which is about an hour away by taxi (with no traffic). Once I arrived, I hopped onto a camel and explored the pyramids!!! It was early in the morning and a little bit before the pyramids opened to the public (and I paid quite a bit more as I found out --- my whole situation with the taxi and the camel tour company was very shady). Therefore, I was there during sunrise! It was absolutely beautiful! The air was cool, and the sun wasn't beating down on me. My guide took me around to all of the pyramids and stopped in the middle of the tour so we could enjoy falafel together on the back of the camel. At the end, we saw the sphinx. My guide was quite the photographer and took about a hundred photos of me. He had me doing all sorts of things to get good shots. After it was all set and done, my driver swiftly headed back to the airport. There was major traffic, and it took 2 hours to get back to the airport. I was cutting it close to get to my flight! At times (out of the traffic), my driver was going 120+ mph. IT WAS TERRIFYING but also electrifying. I made my flight, and was on my way to Dubai. the Dubai airport was very dead while I was there, but it's very nice. I got food, and skyped with Vinny. My next flight to Bangkok was on the Emirates A380 (the double decker plane!), and it was the fanciest flight I've ever flown on! I arrived in Bangkok and eventually ended up in Chiang Mai and slept for a good 18 hours.

I only have a few weeks left, and I have some major adventures coming up! First, I'm going to Australia (?!?!?!!?) for 10 days starting on December 10th with Brie, who's also doing the yearlong program. Then, my best friend Ashley Cox is flying out to Bangkok and we're backpacking through Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia! We both fly back to North America early on January 5th. I'll have long layovers in Beijing, China, and Calgary, Alberta. I can't wait!

I will try to post again before I leave, but no guarantees. Haha.

Until next time,
Brandon