My First Month as a Buffalonian
Well it’s October, and I have so much to tell you guys. I’ve been doing a lot with my roommates and the friends I’ve made here so far, but I, being the genius I am, would either forget the camera or, like one incident, not have batteries for the camera. To sum up what I’ve been doing, I went to more restaurants, went to a "Party at the Plaza" gala before a Sabres game, reserved a ticket home, celebrated Halloween and have just been doing my own thing.
First off what you need to know about Buffalo is that everyone, at least almost everyone, LOVES hockey. I’m from New York City, and even though we have the Rangers and Islanders, I never got into it. I can’t even recall a get-together in my family for hockey; it was mainly baseball and football. I personally love basketball. For the Buffalo Sabres' first game, they throw what is called the "Party at the Plaza." There is a GIANT TV with speakers everywhere in front of the HSBC arena and anyone can come by to cheer for the Sabres from the outside. My friends Samantha, Ben and I went to cheer them on. It was great, except for the fact that they lost, but it’s cool to do something different. The train back to Canisius was jam packed with people; me being from the city, however, made it feel just like home. (Oh yeah, and did I mention that we get to ride the metro system for free with our Canisius ID cards?! It's pretty cool!)
I really wanted to start learning my way around in order to go out on my own; especially because I wanted to attend an orchestra that was taking place not too far from here. It was a compilation of songs from some of the most popular video games including Zelda, Halo, Mario, Final Fantasy, and my favorite, Metal Gear Solid. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go because I couldn’t get tickets. It was too far for walking, no trains ran near the place, I don’t know anything about the buses in Buffalo yet, I don’t own a car and none of my roommates had the time to drive me. Plus I didn’t have a credit card to do it over the phone. What an opportunity gone!
In an attempt to show me around, my roommates first took my to Spot Coffee, a hot local coffee joint which everyone seems to love (look out Starbucks). Personally, I don’t know what the big deal with coffee is; I just ordered whatever my roommate ordered. After we all got our drinks and a cinnamon sugar cookie for me, we all sat outside and enjoyed a nice discussion of babies and dogs. It came up when this little baby was looking at us through the window from the inside of Spot Coffee.
This wasn’t the only time we went to eat though, my roommate wanted to introduce me to his Italian heritage and we all went out to Olive Garden. It was my roommate, Joe and his girlfriend Jenna, my suitemate, Dave and his girlfriend Brooke, Dave’s roommate and me. I wasn’t sure what to order for the meal but we had some breadsticks and my favorite Bruchetta for the appetizers. I remember this particular appetizer because it was the same thing I ordered when my friends and I went after high school graduation. I asked for advice on what to order: it was either the Chicken Alfredo or the Chicken Parmesan, I chose the Chicken Alfredo and it was delicious!
We then headed for the mall to rack up on DVD movies including Saw II and III for my suitemates to catch up on since Saw IV was right around the corner. They absolutely loved it. I personally purchased a Jordan collection and an old comedy named Life with Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. I went to some more restaurants as well. Ben, his friends and I went to a Chinese Buffet not too far from here.
Well it’s that time of year for the witches to come out, but first I needed a costume. It only took one stop to the costume store in Walden Galleria to find what I wanted. It was evil but funny at the same time. It was an evil court jester. It had a skull for a mask and a staff with a skull on top. This visit, however, was 3 weeks before Halloween so I decided to just hold it off until later. BIG MISTAKE! I never went back and I celebrated Halloween without a legit costume. All I did to get ready was a self-haircut and throw on a scarf and a fisherman hat. The self-haircut thing is just to save money.
Work-study is a great and I appreciate it. I appreciate it so much that I hardly spend it. It’s good too because all I do at work is homework, or if I’ve already finished, I just start reading on my own or do my own thing on my laptop. The biggest spend was on my NY tickets back home for the Thanksgiving break. It was only $90 for a roundtrip bus. It’s also an 8-9 hour ride, but I really don’t mind it. It’s thanks to my friend Jessenia who goes to University of Buffalo. That’s where they were selling the tickets and if it weren’t for her I probably would’ve never gotten them because UB is HUGE! Well I digress; time to talk about Halloween.
After I left Jessenia, I went out with my friends Samantha and Jennifer. It was a whole group of us and it was loads of fun. One of the girls said I looked like an artist. So I guess you can officially say I was a handsome artist for Halloween.
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| Me on Halloween |
Other than that I’ve just been attending classes and living up to my expectations. Also, every now and then I just have nothing to do. In those times I just pop some popcorn, get me a bottle of soda and watch a DVD. Some people try to do all these extra things just to have fun, but it’s those simple things that get me by.
Well that about sums up October. It was another great month here at Canisius. It almost makes you wonder how fast November came by. I love November because of Thanksgiving and it just so happens to be the month I was born in. November 19 just might be the greatest day ever. I also get to go back home for the Thanksgiving break 2 days after my b-day so I expect a VERY warm welcoming. Well not really, seeing that I told my parents I’m not coming in order to surprise them. So please, don’t tell anyone and I’ll keep you guys updated.
Jonathan's September Journal