Day 2 - McMaster, Ryerson, U of T, York, UOIT

Hey friends, so the second day of my trip was probably even more wild than the first. I ventured into the crazy and chaotic world of the GTA, and anyone who knows me well enough knows how much I despise driving in Toronto, so I was in for a treat going into my day. However, before I was engulfed by terrible drivers, I went to visit McMaster since I got to Hamilton too late the night before.

I don't know what it is about the McMaster Fire Ball, but I absolutely love it as a logo. Walking around McMaster campus today, I was very happy to see the Fire Ball everywhere! There was even a giant Fire Ball painted on the floor in front of the John Hodgins Engineering (JHE), which was cool. But one thing that was arguably cooler than the Fire Ball was the Iron Ring statue that was also located by JHE. I had taken a picture by it in 2014 when I last visited the McMaster campus, but it meant so much more to go see it now after I had received my very own Iron Ring, so that was one of the highlights of my day. I then met up my my friends Dziugas Nausedas and Michael Meier, who showed me around their Engineering buildings. I got to see their Engineering Lounge, walked by their EngSoc Office, and even got to see the infamous "Titbird" statue. I've always loved the culture at McMaster, and it was great to get to be a part of it for a day!

After finishing up from McMaster, I drove down to DT Toronto, and Alessandro Cunsolo was gracious enough to let me park my car by his condo, and he even made me the best meal I'm likely to have throughout my trip (steak, cheese and veggie omelette... SO GOOD!). We then went on a tour of the Ryerson Campus, and given that we were in our coveralls, so many people wanted to take pictures of us because they hadn't seen anything like us before. We felt like celebrities making our way downtown, so that was interesting. Ryerson has a place on campus they call "The Beach", which has steps layered like sand, and a blue mat to resemble the sea, and it was basically a relaxation zone with some of the comfiest seats I've ever sat it. As with every other school, there were many random pieces of art, so it was cool to see that as well. One thing that was very strange was the fact that Ryerson didn't have a school sign; they have a bridge connecting two buildings with the school's name on it, but that was pretty much it. I ended up tapping my ring on a campus map because that was the most I could do.

Given that I don't know that many people at University of Toronto, Cunsolo and Jeffrey Lee ended up giving me a tour of the St. George campus. While walking around, a U of T engineering student complemented my coveralls, so I asked her for recommendations on places to go. She recommended that we go to "The Pit", located at the bottom of the Sandford Fleming Building. Going into The Pit was honestly a very cool experience; there were so many amazing murals depicting the Engineering culture of U of T. These murals included the SKULE logo, the BFC crest, the SUDS logo, the Cannon Guard symbol, and the Lady Godiva Memorial Bnad (that was not a typo). Actually, there was so much emphasis on Lady Godiva and Godiva's Hymn, which I loved. We stopped by their EngSoc office, it was massive, but unfortunately there were no students around to talk to. I also managed to get a really cool photo with the CN Tower, which I surprisingly have never taken, so today was a day of many firsts. For the last thing I did in DT Toronto, we stopped by MaRS, which is basically U of T's equivalent to Waterloo's Velocity, so that was cool.

If I thought getting into DT Toronto was bad, leaving DT Toronto was even worse as I made my way to North York. The drive there was terrible, but the time I had at York University was worth it. I met up with Emily Secnik and Tiffany Joseph, who took the time to show me around the Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence, and take me through a tour of the York campus. Their campus is significantly larger than I had anticipated, so it was awesome to get to learn more about it. We went to the rooftop of one their buildings and I was able to get a fantastic view of the Engineering side of campus and one of the ponds that surrounds York U. The Lassonde School of Engineering is relatively new, so the buildings were drastically different from the typical architecture I've seen at most schools.

My last stop for the day was the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in Oshawa. My visit to UOIT started off in interesting fashion. The only school sign that UOIT has was very high up, so Anthony Vieira carried me on his shoulders so that I could tap my ring on it. That was fun, and the video we took was pretty hilarious. The UOIT campus was quite small, but very cozy. I learned that there are geothermal heating and cooling systems and simulated reactors under their buildings, and that almost every part of their campus was built with a specific design intent in mind. The UOIT library was pretty big and had a good chunk of the school's study space in it, but what got me was the fact that it has a fireplace setup for "Fireside Reading", which is pretty neat. We then went out to dinner with some friends from Oshawa, where I had the best quesadilla of my life from a place called St. Louis Bar and grill.

Starting tomorrow, Anthony will be joining me on my entire trip out East. We will be heading to Kingston and then Montreal, so I'm looking forward to being outside of Southern Ontario!

McMaster: www.instagram.com/p/BiQx6fglNcA
Ryerson: www.instagram.com/p/BiQyd2ZlH_7
UofT: www.instagram.com/p/BiQzHrAlPeU
York: www.instagram.com/p/BiQz1iFlv0e
UOIT: www.instagram.com/p/BiQ0PP2F0FX