That was an awesome trip.
We left Toronto via EYCI on a bus at about 9 Friday morning. We loaded on our luggage, and boarded the bus.
At the border, there was a bit of a delay: one person on our bus wasn't a Canadian citizen, and had to be processed, slowly.
We arrived in buffalo about 45 minutes later. This "downtown" was lame. The buildings were unimpressive (save for City Hall), and the sidewalks mostly empty.
We headed to Pearl Street Grill for lunch. Considering that DECA Ontario picked up the tab (love free meals), it was surprisingly decent. I did regret getting the chicken salad though: those quessadilas looked awesome.
Back to the hotel we went- boy, Buffalo is chilly. Adam's Mark hotel is a bit dated, but pretty nice, and right downtown. I was on the fifth floor, end of the hallway. The guys in my room were great. The provincial officers were genuinely funny, and all amicable.
We had a whole bunch of workshops to attend Friday afternoon (unfortunately, in fully business attire). The first one I went to was kind of lame. It was run by the New Hampshire state executive, and truth be told, they weren't very prepared. My wallet (with all my money and ID) fell out- but thankfully, a girl from Danbury, Conneticut returned it, money intact. There are angels everywhere. Thank you, whoever you are.
The delegation from my school decided to wander Buffalo, hoping to find a place to have dinner. I must say, Buffalo after dark is rather sketchy. I had this disconcerting feeling the entire time. A creepy twentysomething (probably inebriated) actually stopped his car to watch us walking by.
We asked a random stranger where to eat, and he told us to walk a few blocks north, to the Chippewa Entertainment District. I think he thought that we were older than we were (wasn't that an awkward sentence). We ended up in a neon-lit few blocks of shady, dark bars, and adult video stores. We ended up eating at Subway.
We came back- and went to a Sabres game. The home team lost, which was rather disappointing, but we had kind of crappy seats anyways (again, free)- so I wasn't overtly angry. After all, it's just Buffalo. The Leafs never win.
Headed back, hung out in someone's room 'til curfrew, and hit the sack. Love free toiletries.
Woke up early the next morning (7), so we could make the first workshop. I seem to remember it was decent, but the exact content eludes me, so it couldn't have been that great.
Then off to competitions. We did a Sports and Entertainment oral, then a 50 question Travel/Tourism cluster exam. I was horribly unprepared: but I really wanted a medal- so I just made some stuff up during my oral. More on that later.
After competition was another free "Taste of Buffalo" luncheon- this time provided by DECA International- at the hotel. It was better than average banquet food, but still mediocre.
I boarded another bus to attend a workshop at Niagara University, which sucked. It was a thinly veiled pressure pitch to convince us to attend their school. I must admit though, despite the lack of prestige, the grounds were beautiful.
Again, back to the hotel. I was getting sick of bus rides by now.
We had pre-planned a chapter dinner, and we decided to do the Cheesecake Factory. We took a cab to Galleria, and entered the crazy line. For a group of two, the average wait was 2 hours. Our group of ten, even with a private arrangement with a manager, still waited an hour. But oh man, the food was phenomenal. I had a Burrito Grande: a giant burrito with all the fixings.
Oh man, I love that place.
We came back at ~830 to see the hypnotist show. It was pretty funny, but the performer shamelessly interrupted his show (multiple times!) to do self-promotion. It was still good though.
Back to our rooms for the final night. SNL was on, I should watch more often. The cameos are hilarious.
The last morning, we packed to leave. We went down for the closing ceremonies and keynote address. It started off with award presentations. To my great shock, I won for my oral. Our chapter did really well, with 5 of our 7 executives winning something. Hopefully, we'll/I'll do as well at the real thing this Saturday.
Amy Gallimore, the speaker was engaging. But when we went back to our room, one of my room mates checked out her story. One of the tales she told was greatly exaggerated. I don't have time to cover it here, but watch this.
And then we left.
We stopped off at an outlet mall, where I bought almost nothing. Just some soap and sanitizer from Bath&Bodyworks.
We arrived back in Toronto at 430. I slept 13 hours last night.
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