Blog time!

Arriving in Boston was a shock to the system as it was the first place the cold had really kicked my arse since....well on my whole trip really. I found Pavan and, in true Pavan style, our first action was to head towards alcohol! We went to a bar near his Law School and got on the pitchers.....it was an ominous start to my time in Boston, especially as Pavan was on first name basis' with the entire bar staff!

Although drinking was prominent for my time in Boston, Pavan did do a very good job of showing off his city. I walked through a fair amount of the place taking in South Boston, China Town, Fenway Park, the financial district, the port, bunker hill monument and many other important landmarks that Boston is known for. I feel I can now watch Good Will Hunting, The Departed or The Town and know some of the more important buildings that are on show, I even walked through the college used in GWH!

As well as this touristy tour of the city my good friend took me on, the other side of it I think we both appreciated more, touring round all the different 'dive' bars in the city where $2 beers and $7 pitchers were consumed at a healthy pace.

The night that will be my lasting memory of Boston was one that started early. The beer started flowing at 2pm and we were fairly inebriated not long after! We then ate some truly magnificent Mexican and went to see Boston Celtics vs. New Jersey Nets (they are basketball teams by the way), the Celtics won so everyone in the city were in good spirits as we hit some more of the truly exquisite dive bars, where drinking games were shared with strangers more than words and some extremely interesting people were encountered throughout the night. We even made friends with a group of people on our walk home and very nearly turned there ridiculously expensive hotel room into a post night out rave, however this dream was firmly stamped out by the birthday girl who strangely was the most sober of the party!

A few of the more memorable moments from other nights included a house party worthy, I imagine, of a frat house, with all sorts of weird and wonderful drinking games that only America could come with. We also had our fair share of day sessions and a few night time adventures onto the roof of their apartment building, which although ill advised were very exciting albeit particularly dangerous.

It was a very silly week in which projectile vomit (not from me, I'm still winning the sick game!), the gropping of married women (again can't take the credit), some tussling in a Chinese restaurant at 4 in the morning, the tallest widest bouncer in the world, a comedy night and a pub quiz and a whole lot of reminiscing of our time in Asia all played their part.

As school started for Pavan again though I couldn't condone leading him astray anymore and with a slight blip in that philosophy where I led him and a number of his class mates down a pitcher filled alley I was onwards north to Canada!

I made it to Montreal, Canada to rendezvous with more acquaintances from my travels, Stef and Ashley. This initial meeting happened in Brutopia, an exciting pub but a pub nonetheless, I think I knew fairly well at this point that me and my trooper of a liver were going to have to pull it out of the bag for another while yet.....I was not wrong, the second night of my stay involved an unholy number of shots in a 47 minute window that had the desired effect a little too efficiently!

Anyone who intends to travel to Canada at this time of year be warned! It is bloody freezing! Especially if you are equipped with one jumper and a waterproof coat, the healthy number of shorts and vests I had acquired on my travels were less than useful and I had to head out and invest in some thermals! It got to around -20 on one of my first few days here and got to the stage where I had to give myself a team talk to leave the house.

Montreal is a really nice city though, especially old montreal and although I imagine it is nicer in the summer, the novelty of snow still hasn't worn off just yet and I get giddy when I see impromptu ice hockey games in the park instead of football like you would get in England, I'm fairly sure this is because most Canadians think 'soccer' is some form of foot warmers.

Although Ash and Stef are silly busy with school and employment they have found time to come out and play with a couple of very silly nights. We have also attended a cheeky jazz night together and me Stef and her friend had a 'miracle berry party' which is extremely odd and I'm still not sure I have recovered from!

Miracle berries are a type of berry that alter your taste buds temporarily, we heard about such things and naturally ordered some. Allowing these tablets with the berry extracts to dissolve on your tongue, they blow your mind; vinegar is sickly sweet, lemons taste like lemonade, onions taste like sweets, pickles taste fruity and oranges taste like raw sugar. It's crazy! especially when you forget you have taken them and have a swig of your beer, on this occasion I was drinking guiness which tasted a little bit like chocolate milk!

After such crazy events we tried, and unfortunately failed to make it to Igloofest, a DJ set/outdoor festival with strobe lights and real mini igloos.....it sold out as we queued however so the night was spent bar hopping instead...I can think of worse outcomes to such defeats.

Next on my agenda is to hit the slopes with some skiing! I am very excited although a tad nervous as one of Ashleys friends has a pretty hardcore broken wrist from her adventures up the mountain, couple that with my questionable skiing ability and Canadian skiing to be more of a serious prospect than anything I have done before and I may just be a little bit nervous!

Hope all are well and you enjoyed the read, stay tuned for my survival update!

Luke. X