June 2024
- davidshapiro27
- Aug 2, 2024
- 7 min read
After graduating college, I moved back home and attempted to find places to fit all my stuff from college in my house. Easier said than done.
The next week, my family hosted a graduation party for me at my grandparents Marian and Irwin's house. It was so fun to see lots of family and family friends.
About a week later, I headed off on an adventure! And the details of that trip is the first section of this blog!
Niagara Falls and Toronto Trip
For those of you who followed along with the David Upside Down blog, you'll know that I made two very good friends, Rebekah and Skye, in New Zealand. Rebekah lives in Pennsylvania and Skye usually lives in Colorado but also sometimes lives in Concord (believe it or not!)
I saw Rebekah in April (see previous blog post) but hadn't seen Skye since we said goodbye in Wellington last June. Anyway, even back in New Zealand, we discussed going on a reunion trip to Canada and we were determined to make it happen! So we made it happen.
On May 30th, Skye came over to my house and I drove us to Logan airport where we picked up Rebekah. From there, I drove us to Albany where we stopped for lunch at a cute cafe. Rebekah drove us to Watkins Glen State Park where we walked around and looked at the waterfalls. These waterfalls would be nothing compared to what was coming in our future (this is foreshadowing).
From there, Skye drove us to Canada with a stop for dinner along the way. We got through the border (whew) and stayed the night at an Air BNB on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. It was a long day of driving and we had to wake up pretty early the next day for our tour of the falls!
We drove back to the United States the next day for our tour. We got there well ahead of time so we hung out at a cafe until it was time for the tour to commence. Our guide was very funny and loved to tell jokes such as one about the guy who attempted to ride over the falls twice but only survived his SECOND attempt..
Our guide took us to the Maid of the Mist boat and there I saw it: the biggest waterfalls I've ever seen in my life (this is what was being foreshadowed earlier).
We got to see the falls from below on the boat, then we got to see them from the top and then I got to stand under a small part of one of them and get soaked. So, we got a good view from all angles. Extremely impressive.
We got lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and then drove back to our Air BNB where we chilled for a bit. I went to try and find a geocache because I had never found one in Ontario before (mainly because I had never been before)! We then drove to a shop and bought some food for dinner. We watched Mamma Mia, ate, and headed out to explore the amusement park area of town. We rode on a ferris wheel and saw the gorgeous views of Niagara Falls from the air.
We watched the fireworks as we looked out over the falls. It was a stunning view.
The next day we were on the road again. We cruised out of Niagara destined for the big city. We stopped at a Tim Hortons for lunch (kinda like Dunkin Donuts but if it also sold pizza and salads), took in the sights of Lake Ontario and then rolled into Toronto. What a challenging place to drive. I did not envy Rebekah who was doing the driving for that segment. We arrived at our hostel and the woman working at the desk gave us a tour.
I haven't been to many hostels. Only two in New Zealand and two in Hawaii but this was by far the nicest hostel I've ever seen. There was an upstairs patio overlooking a stunning Toronto view, they provided breakfast fixings, had nightly activites such as bingo, a cabinet just for free popcorn, and most importantly, it was incredibly clean. Each dorm room even had its own built-in bathroom.
I settled into my top bunk bed and one of my dorm-mates came in and we chatted for a bit. Turns out he had just gotten back from a tour to Niagara Falls himself. He is a software engineer a year older than me so we had a lot in common.
Rebekah and I walked over to a neat comicbook store I had spotted on the ride in and then in the evening, we all took the tram over to the music garden. We attended a block party concert in celebration of the 50th anniversay of the Harbourfront Centre. They had some linedancing and a band performing. What a perfect day to arrive in Toronto!
The next day, we took the ferry to the Toronto Islands, walked around for a bit (while trying to ignore the rain) and took the ferry back. We grabbed lunch at a diner where I tried poutine and discovered that I do not like it.
The weather still wasn't very good so we decided to go do something indoors - explore the Royal Ontario museum. The content didn't have much to do with Ontario though. The part that really stuck with me was a mummy you could actually see from thousands of years ago. I found it fascinating how this was a person living in Egypt and then thousands of years later, he is relevant again and being visited, in Toronto, Canada.
After the museum, we split off and Rebekah and Skye went back to the hostel while I took the subway to the convience store where the exterior shots for the TV show Kim's Convenience were filmed. The store used to have a different name but they left the sign from the show so it has become a bit of a tourist attraction. I went inside and talked to the man who worked there who was very kind but didn't know much about the show. He'd just point to a picture of the cast visiting the store which hung on the wall and tell me I should take a photo of it. So naturally, I did.
I met up with Rebekah and Skye afterward at the Second City theater and watched a sketch comedy show. It was HILARIOUS. They even did a suprise third act that was just improv.
The next day, we said goodbye to Toronto and drove back to the United States. We stopped in Rochester where we visited Skye's college friend and then stayed overnight at an Air BNB house surrounded by farms in Geneseo, New York. After eating dinner overlooking a lake, I showed Rebekah and Skye my Fresh Start short film and then we watched a movie and headed off to bed.
The following morning, we drove all day to get back to Concord. Skye and I gave Rebekah a driving tour of Concord and stopped at Kimballs farms for an end-of-trip ice cream. We arrived back at my house and had dinner with my parents. Skye headed out after that and Rebekah stayed over for the night. I showed her Kim's Convience because I had been talking about it so much. The next morning, I drove her to the airport. I can't wait for our next reunion trip!
June in Massachusetts
June was a busy month for me! We had birthday and father's day celebrations, I slept over at my cousins' house, played weekly tennis, visited a family friend in new Hampshire, did some zoom calls with friends from college and that was just the beginning.
On June 10th, I had the exciting opportunity to be an actor in a commercial for a dental insurance company. The video isn't out yet but below is a behind-the-scenes photo. The shoot was in Rhode Island so I hung out there a bit after the filming to check out the area!
Because my friend Skye is currently living in Concord, we hung out a lot in June! We went to her apartment's pool, the Boston aquarium and Walden pond.
I also spent a day hanging out with my friend Michael from Brandeis. We went to Nashoba bakery for lunch and then drove to the Burlington Mall to try out the Apple Vision Pro headset. It was an incredible experience. It felt like the Vision Pro could read my mind because it could tell where I was looking and the visuals you can experience on there are just incredible - it looked like a butterfly actually landed on my finger at one point! Highly recommend booking a demo!
On Father's Day weekend, my sister, parents and I went up to Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire and did some hiking.
Back home, I was entering my handyman era. I was working on fixing my tub spout which involved visiting the Faucetorium many times (had no idea this store even existed) and I helped my Brandeis friends move into their new Allston apartment.
I returned yet again to the Burlington Mall (5th time in a month) to audition for a role in the Bluey Immersive Experience that is opening there. I was asked to perform the monologue I had prepared and then do some improv. Defintely not the usual job interview.
My mom and I had gone to Inside Out when it came out in 2016 so we returned together to watch the sequel 8 years later. And in my opinion, it is just as good as the first! The following day I went to a different theater to watch The Watchers with a Brandeis friend.
Later in June, I met up with my Brandeis friends Iva and Petra and we took the ferry to Spectacle Island in the Boston Harbour. We walked around the whole island, ate lunch, bought Italian Ice and then took the ferry back. We couldn't make it to the train we were planning to take so we meandering around the city from air-conditioned store to air-conditioned store until the next train.
Later that week, I visited my friend Alek who I first met in second grade. We got pizza and played a game like we usually do on all our visits together.
One of my local Brandeis amigos was making a new short film so I helped her pick up equipment from Brandeis (my first time back since May!) and then I took the train to Boston where I ate dinner with Elina and Kaba and we went to a disco party that was happening!
On June 28th, Elina, Kaba and I visted my Grammy and we drove to Gloucester the next day. It was too crowded to park due to a big festival going on so we went to Manchester by the Sea instead and of course, got Captain Dusty icecream (reminded me of that super fun senior year day!)
The following day, I worked on set of my friend's horror film. And it involved a lot of fake blood. It was a long day for sure but was also cool to be a part of! I'll refrain from sharing photos to keep it a surprise.
After such an eventful month, it was time for another one, this time in Maine! But that's a story for another blog post.
Until next time, David
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