Return to Waterloo

Time: 9:52pm
Mood: Lazy (after long battle - see below)

Yesterday I headed back to the 'Loo to run some experiments. The last time I was in Waterloo was for Oktoberfest about 1 and a half years ago (the one where I didn't embarass myself!). It was strange driving into Waterloo. First off, they changed the highway number that takes you to Waterloo from 86 to 85 (that confused me at first.. it was way too early in the morning). They had new off and on ramps.. it made my head spin! haha! As I drove along University Ave towards the university my eye caught a lot of familiar landmarks, which brought back a ton of memories. The cost of parking has changed too.. from $2 to $3 (I felt ripped off!).

I finished my experiments in about an hour, so I went to look for Jeremy, an old classmate of mines that was doing his masters at Waterloo. I found him, along with another classmate, Duane, who was doing his PhD there (woah hardcore!). I chatted with them a bit, it was great seeing them again. Then I headed off at met Danny and Wil for lunch. Before lunch, I actually walked across campus to meet up with Danny and see his "lab" (I use that term loosely b/c when I walked into his supposed lab, it looked more like an office.. but then he showed me he real lab! haha). The campus has changed, with the new buildings or new extensions of buildings. The insane massive Asian population hasn't changed (*gag* I'm glad I went to Mac!).

I had pho for lunch, at a restaurant that had changed its name I don't know how many times (it's been shut down that many times due to health code violations, but has that stopped me from eating there? Of course not! It hasn't killed me yet! haha) . After lunch, they took me to DC to show me the changes that have been made to the library. When I walked in my jaw literally dropped. I used to study at this library all the time, I always sat at the same location, the same cubicle and my friends always knew where to find me. I knew this library inside and out. So when I walked in, to find it had completely changed, my heart sank a little. It's like erasing a memory. The library, I admit, looked really good.. really modern. But wow, they took away most of the book shelves and replaced it with more study tables. I think this was the most shocking change out of the whole campus. We bumped into Anita, I didn't know she was at the 'loo! After that, Danny headed off back to work while Wil showed me the new building that housed a mini-museum. It had dinosaur fossil replicas and displays of rocks and fossils. It was like I was at the ROM! After that, Wil and I parted ways and I went to kill some time before I met Steph for dinner.

I headed to Conastoga Mall to kill some time. At first, I completely forgot how to get there, in fact I even turned on the wrong street. But I figured it out! Oh, how being away for this long can erase things that came almost naturally to me! I'm such a retard, because I completely forgot that Conastoga Mall is the dullest mall, and it's not a good place to go to if you want to kill time. I spent a total of.. oh.. 20 min in the mall (I really streched it) until I got sick of it and left. I ended up killing the rest of my time @ Chapters, reading up on some girlie magazines :D

I met up with Steph at around 5 and we headed to Raintree Cafe for some healthy din din. I hadn't seen that girl in about 2 years so it was great seeing her and catching up on our lives. We talked about life after Waterloo, our boys, work, friends, weddings.. the list goes on! After that, I headed back to Hamtown.

What a great day :D