Fall Break At (or Away from) Cornell

By Anna Ravenelle '17

Columbus Day weekend at Cornell offers a much-needed break from schoolwork as students have both Monday and Tuesday off from classes. Some students take this time to catch up on schoolwork, others head home, and still more travel to new destinations for new experiences. Some might say that Cornell is in the middle of nowhere, but being only four hours from New York City and four-five hours from the Canadian border means that a short break is a great time to explore some major Northeast cities.

Having never left the country (besides a brief family vacation in third grade), I decided to go to Toronto and Niagara Falls this year with four of my friends from school. We stayed in a hotel on the edge of Toronto’s Chinatown, which put us right next to Queen Street W, a small shopping hub that mirrors the Ithaca Commons.

We shopped, ate, and embarrassed ourselves by asking every small, independently owned shop, “Do you accept American money?” (Hint: the answer was no, unless you don’t care about losing money to the exchange rate). The next day, we headed off to Casa Loma, a castle in the middle of Toronto, where movies like X-Men and The Vow, among others, were filmed. While exploring the twentieth century castle, we actually bumped into another group of Cornellians – the Big Red reaches far and wide!

On Monday, we explored the other half of Queen Street (East) and got the best burgers I’ve ever experienced in my life at a small Canadian chain called The Burger’s Priest. Unfortunately for us, it was the day of observation for Canadian Thanksgiving so many businesses and independent shops we would have otherwise liked to visit were closed. Regardless, we still had a great time taking photos in front of the “TORONTO” sign and cheering on the Blue Jays with the natives (on an outdoor screen airing the game).

 

 

Our ride home Tuesday we stopped at Niagara Falls for sightseeing, food, and souvenir shopping. The weather was beautiful, like it had been all weekend, and there were vibrant rainbows over the falls. Finally, we got back to Ithaca and (after a quick stop at Purity Ice Cream for a snack) were back home at Cornell. Toronto was great, but nothing beats sleeping in your own bed again.

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 Posing in front of the Toronto sign