Toronto is a city of four seasons, but the autumn with its red maple leaves can be the most charming time of the year. For me, it is great fun to explore the different areas of the city during a cool autumn day. 

Try to picture this: clear sky, maples leaves falling from the tree as you pass by, squirrels carrying chestnuts and climbing up and down. What a wonderful scene! Don’t you think? The author of the following passage has experienced all four seasons in this city. She says September in Toronto is fabulous and she has found a sense of belonging from a hotpot dinner in the chilly winter. Let’s find out if there is something else that she wants to share with us.  

Stepping onto the airplane to Toronto was both exciting and uneasy for me. I started to imagine what life would be like on the way here. But what welcomed me was a sense of disappointment—the first impression of Toronto was desolation. Chilly winds and dark roads saddened the new-comer in me, but this feeling faded away immediately as soon as I moved into my dormitory. The campus of University of Toronto is located in the downtown. And the last thing it lacks is hustle and bustle.

I was quite excited in the first few days of arrival and I explored the unknown city together with my friends.

September in Toronto is so beautiful. You can enjoy the sunshine and see the trees, pigeons and squirrels everywhere. While walking through the city, I feel the freshness it brings me. I don’t know whether it is their tradition or not, but the residents like to keep their lights on every night until the sun rises up again the next morning. I enjoy that very much; walking down streets dotted with lights everywhere after I finish my class in the evening makes me feel safe and warm. 

Though I cannot escape from feeling homesick, fortunately I have a bunch of good friends with me. We gossip together, share delicacies together and miss hometown together. Someone once told me, “Taste is the most deep-rooted among all memories”. For us, the best place to find this memory is Chinatown.  

Chinatown in Toronto is a magical place. You will find yourself surrounded by colorful neon lights, advertising boards with traditional Chinese characters and all kinds of Chinese specialties, which gives you a sense of delusion that you are back in China. Once you step in, you are at home again. 

We eat a lot in Chinatown. Among all the Chinese food on offer, hotpot is the most appealing to us. While it is freezing cold out there, the vapor above the hotpot and the chili oil brings us home. 

The winter in Toronto is freezing cold. It is always minus 30 degrees, with never-ceasing gales and blizzards. So, walking out of the dormitory is just like a game of survival. What’s more, the tuition in my school is pretty expensive, the exams are pretty hard and the food in cafeteria is not appealing to me. However, I still love the city very much. 

I love to see the sunshine cut through the leaves and dapple the lawn below. I love to watch the squirrels chasing up and down. I love to eat the food from the red and white van parked in front of the library. I love to sit on the steps of the art and science building, watching students passing by in giggling packs. I love to laugh with the professor who likes to joke about president Trump. I love to stay in the quiet corners that I find accidentally.

Anyway, I love it here and I am chasing my dream. It provides me with all the possibilities to be the best I can be. Since I am here, I have experienced many “first times”, and no matter whether they bring tears or laughter, they are all precious moments of my life. I am already in love with the city and I think you will be as well.