In Halifax - Sweetest Hostel EVER

Hey from Halifax!

So I left the states today for the beginning leg of my trip around the world. I left Albany at about 6 am, and got into Halifax (after losing my toothpaste in Toronto) at about noon, local time. The flights were great, my plane from Albany to Toronto was TINY. Only 9 rows and one seat on each side of the isle; but I met a girl on the flight who goes to Albany College of Pharmacy who was going to vacation to Vancouver, and we talked the whole flight. That made it a whole lot less scary. We went through customs together in Toronto, and I'm pretty sure they searched my pack just because they hated how tightly packed it was, and they took my toothpaste parce que il est trop grande. Boo. However, if that is the extent of my traveling difficulties, I'm happy.

In Halifax, I met up with Rebecca and after collecting my [almost] missing luggage, we bought bus tickets (first Canadian money exchange!) to get dropped off near our hostel. We met a bunch of other SAS people all taking the shuttle to their various hotels while we waited, and...man, so far, everyone is awesome. I've met people from all over. Rebecca is from Houston, I met two girls from Colorado, a couple people from California, someone from New Jersey and someone else from Honduras. Awesome. We got dropped off sort-of near the hostel, but we had to walk with our giant heavy luggage up a pretty big hill, but once we got to the hostel, our attitudes totally changed. This hostel is awesome. I'm not sure, because I've never stayed in a hostel before, but I think my idea of a hostels is getting rather spoiled. I may be disappointed in the future. It's so cool here. First of all, there is a cafe in the front that has a quite delicious tuscan chicken panini. Secondly, there is free laundry and multiple bathrooms and showers. There is also free internet. HELLO! All of the people here (other travelers, and the workers) are wicked friendly, and conversation-y. The bedroom we're staying in has (I think) 10 beds, and most everyone staying in the room is a Semester at Sea-er. And the people we met here in the hostel that are SASers are awesome. They are from Arizona, Spain, NYC, and Korea. This trip is going to be amazing.

Right now, I'm going to take a shower (get the airplane off of me), take a nap, and then there is a free party for the Semester at Sea crowd at a "super cool nightclub" in Halifax. Not really my scene, but it's free, and I'll get to meet people. But there's also a chance that the nap might just take me into tomorrow.

Until next time...