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Fuck, Canada is hot.
For some reason a part of my brain thought it wouldn't be that humid. But the second I get off the flight, even just from the little internal gap between the airplane and the tunnel is filled with a thick humid air that makes a sweat break out on my forehead. I immediately shrug off my jacket when I manage to get through border security, and once I leave the airport I feel like a lost child.
After getting into a text to take me to Kyle's apartment, I tuck my phone away into the back of my backpack and take out the one Kyle gave me before I left. It's the phone he takes with him when he comes over to Toronto and it's probably saving me a lot of time and money to just take his instead of trying to get one myself here.
I take the phone off airplane mode and reactivate the SIM card, waiting for it to start back up again. Once it looks like it's working alright, I slide my backpack onto the seat beside me and look out the window.
We veer to the left and I watch as we drive down from a road above onto the main highway below. The sun is surrounded by a completely clear blue sky and the lack of clouds takes me by surprise for a moment. The sun warms my arm from where the the car hasn't managed to shield me away from it's glare and I childishly flex my fingers along it's path, watching the light bounce off my skin.
The drive isn't too long, and I watch as the CN tower comes into view from the distance before disappearing behind an array of buildings as the car heads in a slightly different direction than the waterfront.
The city is busy but there is an enjoyable calmness to the chaotic. Small coffee shops litter old buildings, with a fresh glass office building sporting a mass array of flowers in someone's office window, pressed up against the windows. Families venture out, people are going for jogs with a partner and it warms me slightly to see that people are also being alone.
That will probably be me for the majority of my time here.
The idea of going on a vacation completely alone does make me feel a little lonely just at the prospect. I'm not sure what to even spend my days doing if all I can do is things by myself. The idea of making a friend just for the short few months I'm here doesn't seem all that appealing either.
The car winds down a few busy streets before finding itself in a quieter area. There is a little park in the centre, with a few office buildings, but the majority are older townhouses with a unique flare to them. It definitely isn't just a residential set of blocks though, and it's strange to feel like I'm still directly in the city yet still slightly hidden away in a little area that's surviving alone.
The driver slows down as he rounds the corner and stops before a short building that can't be more than seven storeys high. There's a balcony on each level and the bottom level is a coffee shop that we don't have in America, but I've already seen five of them on the drive here alone. The driver cuts the engine and I thank him as he helps me get my heavy, bulky suitcase from the trunk of the car.
