Toronto, Canada.

This post is a collaboration between my two college friends who became family -- Genesis Gonzalez and German Vera.

A four hour road trip with great friends on our way to visit a whole new country. None of us have been, except Genesis, of course she went when she was 10 for some reason ... We were ready for a weekend filled with Maple syrup, nice people, and a whole lot of "ayes." But first, we had to make sure we got some food to eat. We chose to stop by at KFC to get a few family meals. Everyone wanted wedges, but Genesis insisted on the mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes stayed in German's car the entire trip -- a result of a friend being too stubborn and wanting to be a contrarian lol.

The drive was pretty easy, all we had to do was go straight north! We each had $300 and pooled it together to a total of $1,200. We discussed in the car that this was our "turn up money." It was even better when we found out the bills were actually waterproof, a plus for us clumsy college kids who frequently tipped over drinks. When we finally made it past the easiest customs ever, we saw a speed limit sign with a huge 100 on it and German's foot floored the gas pedal. “100 Kilometers!” screamed the three panicked ladies in the car. We weren't used to the metric system.

We only had a weekend to take in as much of Toronto as we could and we wanted to get our hands on everything. We checked into our hotels and immediately got scolded by the security guards for being too loud. How couldn't we? As soon as we got into our room we started screaming with excitement and jumped on our beds! We were literally bouncing off the walls.

For our first night everyone wanted to get some rest, except Genesis (again lol). We decided to take one for the team and went out to get some alcohol. We were 19 at the time, but that's legal in Canada! Could you imagine jumping through hoops to buy alcohol in the U.S., but just walking into a store without being asked for identification leaving with some bomb ass liquor? Unfortunately, alcohol was only sold at this monopolized store -- imagine our confusion!

So, we walked away feeling a bit defeated -- but still looking for the #turnup. Somehow, we ended up on this very interesting strip where everyone was def lit. It was as if we walked into a different dimension! Walking away from the quiet desolate area into a neighborhood full of lights and colors was an interesting experience. This was definitely the definition of nightlife as we danced in a club for an hour! We looked around and Lesly wondered why the only guy in the club was German. That's when we realized we were in the LGBTQ district and it felt normal as ever!

Over the next few days, we got up as early as we could and got home as late as possible. Actually, all of us would be exhausted by noon but “bitch, you tight!” bc we still got other shit to do. Genesis was voted out of doing all the touristy things bc we were still mad about the damn mashed potatoes. Her morning disappointment was quickly erased as we fell in love with the thin sweet scrumptious flavors of Strawberry and Nutella Crepes. In fact, crepes became our little Canada tradition. This was also before they became extremely popular, so we really felt like we discovered something. Maybe even a little bit like Columbus when he stumbled across The Americas. Without all the rape and murder though #chill.

As we were looking through souvenir shops, we even got offered Salvia by a clerk. Obviously, we didn't accept an unknown drug from a random creeper -- but we laughed at the memory he etched into our brain. We never even heard of Salvia and he had a pretty good sales pitch I might say. Have all the fun of hallucinations and good feels without the criminal record! Apparently it was legal, but we were still uninterested.

We went into the wackest strip club ever, and ended up at one of the littest nightclubs out there. It was a three story club with different music genres playing on each floor. We got to see DJ White Boy end his whole career with one very uncomfortable comment about Ebola in West Africa. It was really offensive, but actually hilarious to see the famously nice people of Canada to completely be done with his shit. We almost thought they would pry him off his booth and throw him down the lit ass three story club. Could you imagine falling three stories down through different floors with different themes? It could've been a lit death tbh.

From the moment we entered the downtown area and Genesis waved to a local who waved back with a huge grin on their face, to the great service we received no matter where we were, and asking a total stranger for directions to liquor store, everyone was very friendly, helpful, and stylish! Going on this trip with people we considered family made it even more special. It was an amazing weekend, and on the last night we found out that liquor stores close early.

Instead of moping around, we went out to a nearby bar and celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving like Americans. We gathered around a table stuffing our stomachs with some shots and some beers. From sharing a king size bed between 4 people even though there were two beds, to three of us taking turns yelling at Genesis to get ready bc she takes forever, we stormed through Toronto with loud laughs and hypnotic moves. We fell in love with Toronto and can’t wait to go back. We left thankful for the good memories, and hungry to return for more adventures.