inked spines and old pages

2015 was the year I officially moved out of my family home, and for the first time had a place of my own. Kind of... I mean I wasn't totally alone, I live with a roommate and my family was just a call or text away but I live about a three hour journey from them so let's be real, it was scary.

I moved from Vancouver to the Island, specifically Victoria to go to school and I was terrified and excited. Things were hectic and crazy the weekend I moved out, I packed a week in advance (due to excitement and fear I would forget something), and shoved everything I had to take with me into my mom's Volvo. Away we went, I wasn't scared or anxious like I was my first year of University. I was excited and wanted to get away from my family as quickly as possible, missing the "freedom" I had when living in my tiny dorm room. 

Living alone means taking care of yourself, not having someone else to depend on for the day to day life obstacles. Being so young and going from constantly being in a support system to only seeing or talking to your family every few days to every few months can be hard. I find living alone to be extremely rewarding and fulfilling. I make my own schedule and decide what I want to do in a day with no pressures from others.

While living without your parents can seem like a thing with only plus sides there's also many negatives, and can end up being incredibly destructive. For example when I first moved out I finally had free reign over what I wanted to eat, when I wanted to not work or study, and I basically decided that I wanted to take the easy way out. I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, I rarely exercised, and slept away the weekends.

I realized after a few months that I had gained loads of weight and was devastated (I know cliche college girl gained weight and it ended her life as she knew it) I decided I wanted to feel better, look better, not have terrible break outs! I changed the way I was living (which was also a lot easier as I had no pressures from the many people living with me!). 

 This experience has taught me so much, how to put out a fire in my oven, how not to panic when your apartment is on fire, how to cook a wide array of easy meals, how to be by myself, (which I think is the most important, although putting out fires and evacuating is important too).

 From a young age, we're usually surrounded by people who project the image of certainty. Every adult knows what they're doing. Everyone has a rightful place. The way of the world is set in stone. The secret that no one tells us is that no one actually knows anything for certain. Even your parents are fumbling through life like we used to playing hide-and-go-seek in the darkness of our basements. So, what I'm suggesting is to live in the darkness, and eventually your eyes will adjust to it and you'll see a little more clearly.

A week ago I went on a trip that I had dreamed about many times throughout my life. If you grew up in North America you probably had a multitude of conversations with your friends about Disney World/Land and Universal Studios. Personally I had so many that all began with my friends being shocked I had never been, even in to my 20s, (a little ridiculous, I know).

I never really thought that much of Disney parks as they seemed a little pricey and honestly, boring. However, my oldest sister and I are HUGE Harry Potter fans and had been wanting to visit Universal Studios Orlando for some time as we had heard how amazing the Wizarding World experience is there. So we booked a birthday trip to Orlando for right after my exams.

We were so excited and began telling everyone of our plan, our mom decided that she wanted to come along. We arrived May 10th and immediately I was ready to put on my robes and head to the park, however we arrived late that day and the park was closing early for their Grad night experiences so we had to wait until the next morning.

We stayed on site at Universal Studios allowing us to get in early and literally run to Diagon Alley (I recommend staying on site as the hotel was amazing, the employees were great and getting to the park was super easy). The moment we walked through the brick archway I teared up. I first read Harry Potter when I was about 10 years old and basically never turned back, so walking into the world was an extremely surreal and happy experience for me.

We immediately bought wands at Olivanders, which got super busy almost immediately and began to wander through the shops. We went on the Gringotts ride, my personal favourite, and ate at the Leaky Cauldron. Then took the Hogwarts Express from King’s Cross to Hogsmeade station with our park to park tickets. Taking the train was amazing and I recommend taking it both ways as the experience is different in each direction.

One thing I was a little disappointed about is the lack of rides in the Wizarding World. The three open while I was there were Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, Flight of the Hippogriff, and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Let me start by saying I wear glasses and I would recommend if you do also, that you wear contacts to the parks if you’re going to ride rides. The first day I was so worried my glasses were going to fly off on every ride that I wasn’t really enjoying myself. Moving on, Flight of the Hippogriff is a fun, short little roller coaster that barely ever had a line, loved it. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was another story. This ride can get a long line pretty quickly if you need to put your bag in a locker, we often skipped a whole bunch of people who were waiting around to put their bags away by bringing a small bag with us that we were able to put under our clothes so it wouldn’t move at all on the rides.

The Forbidden Journey line is amazing, you get to see the Castle and you get to see some of your favourite characters while you move through the line. The only thing about this ride is that after riding it a few times I was starting to get a little motion sick from the screen.

One thing I was prepared for when going to Orlando was the rain that people said would last only a few minutes and then clear up. While we were there it rained 2 of the 3 days. On the 3rd, and last, day it poured rain so hard that the park was basically a shallow pond. It made it all the more magical in my opinion but we were not prepared for the amount of rain that occurred so we had to buy some extremely stylish ponchos that I loved to rock.

I don’t want to go in to great detail about my experience with Disney World as if I’m completely honest it wasn’t the best. I was hoping for a just as magical experience as the one I had at the Wizarding World but it was lacking and a little underwhelming.

Now for my final thoughts. Universal Studios can be expensive, especially if you get sucked in to buying souvenirs and trying all the amazing foods that the Wizarding World has to offer, which we obviously did. In my opinion it was completely worth it and I made memories that I will cherish forever. Now every time I watch the Harry Potter movies I can say that I have been there or tried the things they’re eating, which is crazy to me. We enjoyed our experience so much that we have decided to take a trip in January to London and Edinburgh to have more Harry Potter fun!

So I moved across the country alone when I was 21 and I immediately decided that I needed a dog because firstly I find it very hard to be alone, and secondly, I love dogs.

I got a Bernese Mountain Dog (Aspen), who was 8 weeks old, now almost 2 years (where has time gone?). She is the light of my life and I literally do not know where I would be without her, but it hasn’t been easy. I raised her almost entirely alone and lots of people told me I was making a mistake when I got her. They had many questions like “Are you ready for that commitment?”, “Are you responsible enough for this?”, and “Why would you want a dog?” - I basically told them all to shove it and got the dog anyways.

I have had dogs my entire life, but Aspen was a new adventure entirely on my own.

6am wake ups, 9 - sometimes 8pm bed times, constant pee breaks, and sometimes trouble being left alone in her crate were all worked through. Biting, eating shoes, and chasing the cat all forgone, well maybe not the one with the cat…

Aspen is an extremely intelligent dog and has been relatively easy to train, the one problem that I continue to work through with her, however, is her excitement when it comes to people and dogs, (along with her extreme infatuation with eating goose poop in the spring and summer months).