By Lisa Scott (Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada).
As my first semester at Queens University had ended and my second semester would be starting in two weeks, I decided to make the most of my Christmas Vacation and visit the states. My first stop was Chicago where I eagerly awaited at the airport for my brother to arrive from London, England. It was lovely to see a member of my family after four months away from home and we certainly had lots to catch up on whilst we traveled to our hotel.
Chicago was a little warmer than Canada so it was nice to put the snow boots aside and wear some nicer clothes. We spent our first few days touring around the city and we visited the museum district, wandered along navy pier, ate a lot of chocolate in the Hershey’s shop, shopped until we dropped on magnificent mile, sang our hearts out at the candle lit carol service and took lots of photos next to the big bean that acts as a huge mirror. When Christmas day arrived and we were over 3000 miles away from home we decided to make it a Christmas to remember. We started our day ice skating in the snow, then we went out for a lovely Christmas dinner with cocktails followed by a trip up the tallest building in Chicago which had a very scary glass box to stand in and then we finished the day by relaxing in our hotels rooftop heated swimming pool and sauna.
On Boxing Day we left Chicago and flew to New York City. It has always been my dream to visit NYC and I loved every minute of being in the city. We celebrated the New Year at central park, where we watched the sky light up with amazing fireworks and danced in the open park until our legs were tired. We spent a lot of time being tourists and visited; the empire state building, Rockefeller center, Times Square, Brooklyn bridge, Statue of Liberty, New York public library, Central park, 9/11 memorial and watched Spider man the musical in Broadway. After seven days it was time for me to say goodbye to one of my favorite cities and head to Boston.
Luckily we managed to catch a flight just before a snow storm hit New York which lasted several days and cancelled most of the departing flights. We spent the last few days of our vacation in Boston, visiting Harvard, playing in the snow and tasting more of America’s amazing food.
Christmas Vacation away from home was a totally new experience for me and it was very strange not being surrounded by family and friends opening presents on Christmas day. However, I can definitely say I loved every minute of it and can’t wait to visit the states again on my next vacation.
