“I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York's skyline." - Ayn Rand

Did you know, it was
actually mostly empty
when it first opened
and right before it
declared bankruptcy,
King Kong came
out? Within
6 months, the
officers were filled. 

I love New York. I am in love with this city. The glamour, the glitz, the work, the atmosphere, the poor, the culture - everything. It's got this really amazing culture and vibe. People are busy, need to get places (hence everyone crossing red lights non-stop, even especially on big roads) but no matter what, they still stop to ask if you're okay, if you're lost or if you need help. It's exactly the city I want to be in and the city I need to be in. It's busy, works hard, plays hard and won't take any shit from anyone. People play by their own rules, and people persevere to get ahead. You can see it in their eyes and the strut of their walk.

Busy streets!

It is completely and utterly wonderful to walk beside them and to experience not one person - not one tour guide - tried to approach me or talk to me. Apparently I can blend in quite well (thanks, Toronto).

this feeling of being so insignificant yet so confident at the same time. Insignificant because I am just one of almost 8 million people in this city but confident because I've made it this far as one. In fact, while walking through all the tourist destinations and areas,

Like, how do I not get fat?

Today was my first day of being able to really walk around and take in the sights. I woke up early because I guess I was just so excited for the day.  Like, 6 am excited. I was supposed to spend the day walking around and getting to see downtown. And that's exactly what I did. Around 12, after eating some lunch, I grabbed my ankle brace (in a previous photo people made fun of me and said I was only wearing one sock, that was actually my ankle brace), threw on a coat and got walking.

Beautiful view of Broadway

I started by walking down Fifth, taking in the sights, enjoying the cloudly but warm weather and just breathing in the city. It was busy. I swear to God I have never seen so many cars run red lights, so many people walk right in front of cars on their green lights and everyone just completely disregarded the rules. It was interesting, after being used to the city and integrating into the culture of crossing red lights, I thought it was silly that people were standing at a red light. Well, didn't take me long to integrate.

This is how they park their cars?!

As I was walking down Fifth, I was overcome with the amount of skyscrapers and high risers in the city. The sheer amount of skyscrapers really blew me away! I walked by the Empire State building and the line up was insane, so glad I wasn't going up. I also walked by so many pizza stores that were only $1 and $0.99 a slice. God I'm going to have high cholesterol. 

Place for everyone to just sit in the
middle of two streets!

Again. Thank god I'm Canadian, right?

I was honestly just wandering through the city and saw so many wonderful things, small boutiques, independently owned restaurants, mini cafes, everything really. And really cute places to sit outside and eat! One of the great things about New York is that there are so many public places to sit, relax and enjoy, like Madison Square park! Where I just walked by and saw kids having fun, couples 

How busy is this market?!

enjoying each other and dogs running around in the dog park! It was amazing and just so nice to see in the middle of the city. 

Well. Some things don't differ
too much from Canada.

As I kept walking down Broadway, I ran into another Park, Union Square Park and it was just completely amazingly wonderful. I ran into an outdoor market. They had everything, ostrich sausage, duck sausage, LAMB sausage (you can tell where I went), fresh cheeses, fresh veggies, flowers, alcohol, pretty much everything. I loved it. I enjoyed and basked in the fresh goodness and the livelihood of everyone and enjoyed it so much!! However... I accidentally walked into a protest.. a cannabis protest. It was... interesting to say the least. Lots of cops (Who apparently all carry semi-automatics?!?!), lots of people.. Apparently the concert and protest happen every year. I didn't find a need to stay, so I

So big, so packed. 

headed out. I kept walking downtown and ran into a few more protests. I then ended up finding this really cool exhibition in Astoria place and checked it out! It was this really cool creative outdoor exhibition. Loved seeing it. 

These older folks were hanging out.
Playing majong?

I then kept walking down and found the Chinatown! It is huge. Holy crap. I cannot believe how much bigger it is than the one in Toronto. It is like 3 times the size of the one on Spadina. It was amazing to see it and I hope I can go back and grab something to eat from there one day! Around it were so many parks and basketball/

Supreme Court is huge.

 soccer fields where I saw a bunch of kids, teens, parents and toddlers playing. It was just great to see them. After that, I headed over to the US Supreme Court, which is this really cool and imposing building. It was huge. I gotta say, it is definitely a beautiful place to see. I sat for a bit and just enjoyed the city and the sounds of the city. . It was so nice to see people out and about, exercising and doing so many different things.

Beautiful well kept park. 

World Trade Buidling

Just down the street, I walked down and saw City Hall! ... And ran into another protest (this one was mothers against gun violence). I walked through the park in front of City Hall (Yes, there was a park and it was beautiful to see). I also got a quick look at the Brooklyn bridge, which was huge and really cool (and where the protestors were actually marching from). I kept marching on past St. Paul's church (which has a huge cemetery, I noticed that all the churches

People placed roses
beside many of the names.

have cemeteries in them?) and spotted the new World Trade Center area. I went by there and noticed that all the tour guides completely skipped over me and kept talking to other people... (Am I a New Yorker now?) I walked by and got to see the new building that was erected as well as the two gigantic pools of

water and memorials that were set up in the place of the original Twin towers.

The memorials were huge. 

It was very sobering to see the names of people etched in and the deep puddles that were in the ground. It was also extremely busy with so many people there. Also a lot of cops and security. And I mean a lot.

Afterwards, I kept marching down. I actually found Wall Street and walked down it, it was very small and very busy with a lot of people. I hung out a bit at Federal hall where there was a huge exhibit going on and I went in to see. Turns out

Standing beside a piece of history!  

it was also the place where Washington was first inaugurated as the first president of the United States! How cool is that?! I also saw the NYSX but who cares about that, really. 

On the ferry over to Staten island!

I kept heading down since my end goal was to head over to Staten Island. Again the tour guys completely by-passed me and went for other people. The line up to get onto the ferry was big. It was pack and I mean PACKED. Wow I felt like a sardine. And it

Close enough. 

isn't even high tourist season yet!! I sat down on the Ferry and watched as I went by the statue of liberty. It is a really cool statue! And I always think it's so funny that it's seen as such an "American symbol" even though it was gifted by the french...When I got off, there wasn't much on Staten island to see and I was super hungry so I grabbed my FIRST NEW YORK PRETZEL and ran into the 

It was ok I guess. 

ferry back to the city. Man was my view gorgeous. I also ended up listening in on tour guide's conversation and listened in on some of the history. Like, did you know that the Brooklyn bridge, about 5 km long, had to take into account the shape of the earth? Crazy facts. 

I was a bit tired (Had been walking since 12pm, it was about 5 at that point) so I started walking back uptown since I had booked a ghost tour for 7:30. I stopped by a Starbucks to rest up and bought my first AMERICAN FRAPPICINO!!! (I gotta be American now). I sat there and

Beautiful, the weather cleared up.

tooled around for a bit before I headed out again to Washington Square park. I saw a lot of NYU kids and buildings  (in NYU territory) before I got to the park.

Some guy playing some music.

Let me just say. Best, and favourite park ever so far. Oh my god, I walked in and there was a guy just playing on a piano.  It was beautiful, he was playing a lot of classical music and there was some girl who was dancing along with it. People were sitting and enjoying the music. I sat down for a bit and enjoyed the music as well. I then walked around the park, saw so many buskers, musicians, people just hanging out in general, people practising guitar, buskers and even people street dancing (Although they were broken up by park cops, yes park cops. Everyone was mad at them). It was quite a sight to see.

Some of the weird "art" that I walked into

Afterwards, I met up with a tour group, Free Tours by Foot, New York to do a "haunted tour of New York" It was pretty spectacular. I really do recommend it. I learned a lot of stuff! For example, many of the New York parks are actually built on cemeteries and dead bodies! They even found some recently. They were put there because back in the day, it was farm land and people were dying from plague and other diseases and because they did not want to bury people near the water (don't want to contaminate it!), they would bury them in what was farmland! How crazy is that to think 

This is what the Disney Symbol
was modelled after!

The tour was about 2 hours and I got to see a lot of cool things, such as a small hidden cemetery, a guy blasting music from a disability bus, lots of bars with these cool front cellars for people to go in and out, I got to explore the West Village where they filmed Friends, see some speakeasies, oh man, just see a lot of really cool stuff, including a place with a small courtyard! (It was beautiful, very European style). I learned a lot too.

Federal Hall

of. That so many places are built like that. Wow. I found out a lot more fun facts about where people were murdered, how there were hangings and what houses I should never ever live in because they're "interesting." Actually, speaking about hangings, which are done on Sundays were very much a 'family' oriented activity, where they would bring picnics, I was told that families would bring everyone and they would all sit around and watch. Is this where the term hanging out comes from? Who knows.

Where money goes to die

After the tour, it was time to head home, so I walked up from the village and while wandering, I found a bunch more places with $1 pizza. While going into one of the places and ordering a pizza, a small man went in, and he seemed ... like not the richest person - by far, and had some construction clothes on. He didn't seem to speak English well and so the guy at the counter switched into Spanish, called him "Friend" and tried to make him feel as welcome, safe and comfortable as possible by encouraging talking. It was actually really nice to see that. They must see hundreds of people who can't speak English, and the fact that the restaurant owners switched into Spanish to try to make people who may not speak English feel more comfortable really resonated with me and made me really happy.

All in all, a really great, long and tiring day. Almost 10 hours of walking! Tomorrow, even more! 

"You're off to great places. Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way." - Dr. Seuss

Today, no one expected Wendy...

Today was my first day at the UN and, much like the Spanish Inquisition, no one expected me. The day was.. eventful and ... it was something. Well. To be completely honest, the reason why it was something was because ... no one planned for me to be here today. I was expected May 17th.

First day at work selfie

I went to where I needed to go this morning, I showed up at 8:30 for my 9:30 meeting. I called a few times - no answer. The doorman called a few times and still - no answer. It was about 9:50 when the doorman/security got frustrated and tried to call every contact I had. Finally, he asked someone to bring me up to the department. When I got there, I found out that the person I needed to report to... wasn't there. He had that day off. DIDN'T MATTER, I WAS STILL STOKED TO WORK AT THE UN! Honestly, I could have probably waited days.

Well, instead I got to wait about an hour and 20 minutes ... and then I was told to wait for someone else who could help me. It took another hour before someone showed up. It was about 11:10 by then... All in all, I took about 3 and a half hours to get to someone to help me. BUT! The person was super nice, super talkative and really kind. She helped me a lot with my paperwork. She also found the people who were in my department and called them to tell them I was there and ask if I could go over.

How badass.

Turns out they thought I was getting there on the 17th. They had nothing prepared for me.

But life must go on, so the UN employee took me over to the card office to get my new card! Man it was so exciting, getting that beautiful baby blue card!! Totally worth the wait. Seriously. it can get me

into most departments, conferences and other places too! Because my department needed some time to prepare something for me, I went out for lunch.

First day at the UN finished!

My friend who is also an intern with the UN came to pick me up from the building and brought me around the UN! He showed me around, where the lunchroom is, where I can get into, all the works! It was so kind of him. After the tour and lunch, I went back to my building and found out my department was ready for me, so I headed back over to the UN with my shiny new badge and met my new office. It was pretty surreal. It's a super high profile office with some highly sensitive information (So I may not post a lot because of the nature of my work).

It was pretty insane first day, lots of getting slammed with information on what's going on, sitting in on meetings, knowing that there are an immense amount of meetings going on and being given an idea of a project that they want me to work on already. Oh and sitting in on a meeting with pretty damn big meeting with an NGO.

So all in all a pretty ... something day. Waiting for 3 hours for a pass and then getting slammed with information and a meeting. Not what I expected at all in the morning and not what I expected in

Yum yum! 

the afternoon. Not what I expected at all.

But you know what? That's exactly what I want, new things to do, new challenges and getting a chance to contribute and do something good! I'm super excited for Monday.

I left the office at around 5pm when one of my co-workers told me to and walked around to grab some pizza for dinner. Very mentally fatigued after today.

"Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do" - Jay Z

Westjet for life

How pretty is Ottawa?

Today was the day! Today I flew from Ottawa to Toronto to New York! Woke up bright and early and the skies were beautiful, sunny and warm. Headed on over to the Ottawa airport where all the staff there were very kind t

o me. Even when I was "randomly" selected to be searched. had to take off my sweater, shoes, everything and then go into the big metal machine to take a look at what kind of metal I had on me.

Of course I had none. But the airport security was nice. Actually, they were pretty awesome in comparison than they are in TV. Quite smooth sailing for me. Even the Westjet people were pretty nice. Explained explicitly what I needed to do. 

When I got on the plane, it was fairly empty, not too many people getting on. My god do I love the feeling of flying, being up in the air, seeing everything from above... the turbulance... it's just amazing. There was an adorable baby that was maybe 8 months only, did not cry once. I was impressed! I had mine and the seat beside me all to myself so there was a lot of space for the 50 minute ride to Toronto (since we left early). The stewardesses there were awesome. Her one line killed me, "If you would like to smoke, there are 4 exits." And she was pretty nice to boot. Great way to start my trip. Once in Toronto, I had to depart and enter 

Ready to go!

again through the American customs (bleh, they are 100% as bad as you'd think). I got into line to get my stuff scanned, forgot about the completely full 1L bottle and chugged all of it. Man was it a bad time. On the bright side, I really impressed the security guy with the pace that I drank all the water!  

Chris dropped me off and
gave me the prettiest flowers

And then I was selected for another "random" search. I had to go into the big metal machine again. I knew the drill though and it only took a few minutes. Trying to get through American borders was interesting. The border guards do not care whatsoever about being polite. They also didn't seem to care too much about their job either. But I got through them and got on the plane! We departed early again, and this time I started reading up about the issues in the CAR with MINUSCA. We arrived in New York a bit ahead of schedule which was awesome (Seriously my flight to New York could not have gone any smoother). And as I went downstairs, I grabbed my luggage, saw the "Welcome to New York" sign and smiled. Home for the next 3 months!

The bus driver had
to do it for me because
I had no idea what to do

New York was wonderful, from the skies I saw the concrete jungle I so badly wanted to explore. And from the ground, I experienced kindness I didn't expect. I was a bit lost so I asked a lady if she could tell me how to get to grand central. She told me I could skip the hassel and take a bus straight for $15. When I told her I didn't have that much money, she was so understanding and told me exactly what to do and sent me off to the MTA people (They're the New York transit system). The guy could definitely 

Dang, look how many people
liked me leaving.

tell I had no idea what I was doing. He walked me through everything, so I had to take the Q70 bus to the first stop outside of the airport and then switch to the 7 train. When I got into the station, I went into the elevator and some guy started asking me where I was going. I guess I looked lost. Turns out there were multiple floors and I didn't press any buttons (fun fact you need to go to the mezzinine and then switch to ANOTHER elevator). So the guy told me exactly what to do and left. It's the kind of help like it's your duty and leave that makes me really love New York. Getting on the train, someone held open the door for me too. 

Like man, why's New York got such a bad rap?

When I finally got to where I was staying, I was honestly so touched. My roommate had gotten everything in the room ready for me, and even left me a little gift. She was so kind and talked to me, and wanted to make me as comfortable as possible. I can't even believe my luck. I have the best people in mfe life. 

Surprise roses. 

I went out for a bit after unpacking and showering to scope out my path to the UN and to get some groceries. Sheesh, groceries are expensive here! But I bought some food to tide me over for the next few days! I walked around a bit more and noticed a lot of things that are different between Canada and the US. They are definitely not as polite as us, but I feel like they're much more willing to help. No one follows the light rules. No one. I saw a car go barreling through a red light when it was my green and a few people had already walked. I saw some guy back into an old man. Everyone jaywalks. I swear, I thought people didn't have insurance?! There are flags everywhere. People will speak their mind and fight with other people on the streets. People will honk all the time. Literally not a minute goes by without me hearing a honk. There are taxis everywhere. People hail taxis everywhere. And then fight for them. People are everywhere. 

It's a police box and
they're everywhere..

This city is so populated (I love it)! There are police boxes on corners everywhere (especially near the UN?)?  When I got home, I talked to my roommate for a bit and she asked how I liked the flowers. What flowers I wondered?

And then I saw roses on the windowsill. Apparently Chris had schemmed together with her to get flowers delivered to me so that I could enjoy them as a wonderful welcome present. My heart melted. 

Looks imposing. 

After getting on planes that have been smooth sailing, with kind people on them that have arrived early, and then getting into the city with the help of some New Yorkers, all in all, it's been a pretty good first day. 

Now for the big day tomorrow. Got my lunch packed, bag is ready and I have my clothes out. I am ready (I hope!)

"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world." - Robin Williams

Today was the last day of the Amnesty Conference and the atmosphere was electric. There was an air of excitement and energy that could probably light up Paris for a few years. The youth were so excited to march down to Parliament Hill. We were all ready with Amnesty shirts and bright smiles.When it came time, around 9:30am, we all started our march down, and everyone was talking to everyone. We were so excited to go down to our rally. 

We marched all the way from the Amnesty headquarters to Parliament Hill where we had a team waiting for us with signs and material so that when we got there, we could go and head straight to action. When we got there, we organized into groups and many of us wore a blindfold to symbolize torture and to encourage Canada from turning a blind eye to torture. 

We had a huge crowd come out. Like gigantic. With MPs and senators as well! The support was overwhelming. We were able to hear speeches from Amnesty International representatives, youth leaders, torture survivors and Members of Parliament as well. It was insanely awesome. I'd never been so proud to be a youth activist. 

To stand with so many other activist who cared and was just as passionate as I was ... that was truly inspiring and heartwarming. Hearing from victims of violence, youth, Members of Parliament and finally, from those who had been working on the campaign for so long for these past two years really validated that sense of purpose for me. It renewed this spark within me and made me want to push further. While some of us were on the hill, at the same time, there was a press conference inside

the Hill with several people, including Amnesty International Secretary General Alex Neve and my fellow Youth Organizer Athavarn, who were speaking on the importance of ending torture. 

These past two days, I have seen these amazing, passionate youth across Ontario and Quebec who came out to support the issue of torture. I wonder what amazing ideas and things could manifest if we were able to fly out youth passionate about human rights from all over Canada. It would be quite a sight to see. 

As a bit of an old foggy myself, I'm really excited to see this happen in real life one day. With the world becoming a smaller and smaller place, I know a national conference, with all the youth in Canada is definitely possible. I can't wait! Today we took one step of many to combat torture. Tomorrow we take another step. And another and another. And we'll keep going until it is gone and it becomes something of history - something that belongs in a museum. Until then, us youth and Amnesty International will continue our push for torture. And we'll continue the fight for human rights, civil liberties and freedom.

Next stop for me, the UN! But first - sleep.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead

What a crazy, crazy day. I started it off at 5am! It was out of Toronto for me and off to Ottawa for the Amnesty International Youth Stop Torture Conference. We were all getting together to rally to push the government to sign the Optional Protocol Against Torture as well as to learn and receive training. I got on the first streetcar and it led me out down to a subway station.. however, with my luck, there were signal problems and the TTC announced that there would be a delay of "up to 15 minutes." I stood there in emotional turmoil as I battled it out in my brain, would I rather run or take a chance and run down to the train station? 

I ran. 

Wrong choice. As I was running down Yonge, I heard the sound of the first subway train through the sewer grate and ... actually, my internal monologue wasn't appropriate then and it isn't appropriate now. Long story short, I MADE THE TRAIN! And I saw a few of the Youth Organizers from Toronto, but since we were all scattered around, it was a bit difficult to talk to each other. So I took out my computer, read the news, napped a bit and worked on the speech I was going to give later that night to Members of Parliament and Senators. 

When we finally arrived in Ottawa, I got to say hi to all the Youth Organizers and may I just say, what a super cool, motivated and passionate bunch. I know it makes me old to say this, but I'm glad our future's in good hands. We ended up taking a taxi to the office and there we had some delicious lunch, sat down, introduced ourselves and started our first section, which was listening to Osiris and Nora Lopez-Chavez, daughter and wife of tortured and disappeared Honduran journalist Jose Eduardo Lopez. Roy Samanthanam, Canadian Tamil refugee who experienced torture and ill-treatment when returning to Sri Lanka for his wedding, and Naser Al Raas, a survivor of Torture in Bahrain when he went to visit during the Arab Spring.

After the very solemn and eye opening experience of listening and asking question to these survivors of torture, it was time for all of Youth at Amnesty to head over to Parliament for a reception with Members of Parliament and Senators! Unfortunately, no matter how hard we plan, sometimes, things just don't work out as expected. The bus was almost 20 minutes late and at around 3:50, the traffic in Ottawa was bad (especially with all the construction!). In the time that we went 3 blocks, I could have probably walked faster. Yeah. Traffic was that bad. It was so bad that we were afraid that myself and Odelie would miss the opening speeches. So ... we hopped out of the bus ...

... and we ran to the reception. 

✓ Run through downtown Ottawa, through Rideau Centre and through a university campus in heels, check.

My God was I out of shape. By the time we got to the reception... the bus filled with all the students was actually right behind us. And I was drenched in sweat (perfect time to talk to dignitaries right).

I went through the medal detector and ran downstairs where I was greeted by this very lovely room with delicious looking treats (they had these delicious chocolate covered fruits but I didn't get any because I had to go to the front [I was sad]) and a bunch of dignitaries, assistants, senators and others. 

I insisted we take a selfie. He obliged.

I was drenched and struggling to take off my blazer to try to stop sweating. It was not successful. It was also then that I was introduced to Alex Neve, the Secretary General of Amnesty International. I made a joke, saying we ran all the way there because we cared so damn much about the issue of torture and didn't want to miss it and he gave me a hug. A HUG!!! He was laughing and was just an all-around general happy, nice guy. I liked him. Great guy to lead Amnesty. Persistent too.

Stephane Dion, Minister of Global Affairs

And then it was time to start and do speeches. Alex kicked us off and introduced everything. It was really wonderful, he is a well-spoken man. He introduced Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion to the crowd. And what he said blew us all away. 

"As of today, the Optional Protocol will 
no longer be Optional." - Dion

How... How insane is that. My speech, and I'm sure most of the other dignitaries and torture survivor's speeches, were all centered around Canada signing OPCAT. That was what the conference was for. That was what us youth came to Ottawa for. That was why we signed petitions.

And through this advocacy, we did it. 

Chalk one up to for the good guys.