Published January 6, 2022 · Updated September 15, 2026
Looking Back at My First Niagara Falls Adventure
Some stories become more meaningful with time.
I originally wrote this post in January 2022, only a few months after moving to Canada as an international student.
But the adventure itself happened much earlier—only two weeks after I arrived in Canada and completed my quarantine.
That’s important to this story.
Because the woman standing happily in front of Niagara Falls was at the very beginning of a new life. She didn’t yet know how difficult the next few months would become.
By the time I finally sat down to write about this adventure, I was balancing school and part-time jobs, worrying about tuition, watching my savings disappear and learning what it really meant to start over.
And yet, somewhere in the middle of all that uncertainty was this memory:
I had stood in front of Niagara Falls.
One of those places I had only ever seen on television and postcards was suddenly part of my own story.
I’m keeping my original words exactly as I wrote them because they capture both sides of that season—the excitement and the struggle, the gratitude and the uncertainty, the silliness and the seriousness.
Here is Niagara Falls through the eyes of the woman who had just begun again.
The Original Story — January 2022
Phew! What a journey it has been! From N Seoul Tower to CN Tower! I am now in Canada! Or should I say, I have been here in Canada for already 4 (now going 5) months!!!!! This is the looooooongest span of time that I’ve been putting off writing because I’ve been anxious in balancing school, part-time job/s, and how to save up for my tuition! Scrimping for my second semester tuition was really a great ordeal, all my life’s savings have been emptied, and now I am experiencing what they call as isang kahig, isang tuka (from hand to mouth)! My Philippine salary (because I am still working with La Salle University through online classes) cannot sustain me here. I’ve been doing different part-time jobs from time to time but the 20 hours a week is just enough for rent and groceries. But the great thing is, I never asked money from my parents and I never borrowed money from people! I am proud to say that all of these I am having and spending are my own and it is only God who is backing me up financially with the prayer support of my parents, aunties, and friends!
Since classes have been off for a week now (actually for almost a month already), I have the luxury of time to post something “Canadian”. So from my last post dated July 2021 about South Korea, here’s my very first post about Canada really hoping not to put this off for next year (but it’s already “next year” now. Haha!)! I became occupied with a holiday job, okay. It is school break so we are allowed to work full-time. As a result, I am sick at the moment due to overfatigue from long work hours, holiday partying, bad weather, and playing in the snow last New Year’s Day (I hope to be writing about this soon also). So without further ado, my dear readers (if you are still there), here’s Niagara Falls for you!
Never have I ever dreamt of seeing Niagara Falls in person! Well, I am letting you in a little secret; actually I literally dreamt of being in Niagara Falls perhaps in the year 2011 or 2013. In that vivid dream, I was with a special someone (whom I exactly know) putting his arm across my shoulder. We were both wearing raincoats and smiling to the camera with the cascading waters of Niagara Falls as our backdrop. I never knew where that dream came from because I do believe that you dream of things you are imagining and seeing on television before sleeping. But as far as I can remember, I did not imagine nor see on TV nor hear about anything Canada and that someone those days. So I just shrugged that dream off and only remembered about it when my student visa got approved. Shall I meet that someone here again? That I don’t expect! We’re 13,000 miles away and he’s long been let “go’ed”! Haha!!!! Anyway, though I never wished to see Niagara (and him) at that time, I was beyond blessed to be there in the flesh (even without him)! Thanks to Tito Tonet and Tita Lorna for bringing me there right after my 14-day quarantine!
Tito and Tita picked me up after lunch at Etobicoke, the first place here where I stayed for 2 months. We dropped by Mississauga first for something Tito to leave at their home and off we went to a long drive to Niagara! The highway drive was exhilarating! With a minimum speed of 80-100 km/h, I couldn’t imagine myself driving here in Canada with my maximum speed of 20 km/h! Lol! On our way, I saw vast network of roads and bridges linking to the US, vineyards and mansions, those I only see on TV. It was so surreal that I was on North American soil! I also didn’t dream of that though I admired the sights and feels of American films. As soon as we arrived, we said our prayers first at the Monastery of Mount Carmel Spiritual Retreat and Conference Centre. With the French Gothic architecture, it was like being in Montreal!
Soon after, we drove around the city and tried to cast bets at Fallsview Casino Resort. The slot machines were not friendly to us so we went around sightseeing and picture-taking instead.
Then we went down to the falls, did more of picture-taking and I was surprised that Tito and Tita were game for Tiktok! So we shot our Tiktok entries under the heat of 40-degree summer!
To cap off our adventure, we went down to the Floral Clock and Clifton Hill to see the night lights. I jeopardized my dancer pose at the upside-down house though. That was only two weeks after my arrival and I already gained a lot of weight here in Canada!
Never in my wildest dream to be in places I only saw on TV and postcards. Never in my wildest imagination to have come and see one of the wonders of the world! When God gives you surprises, surely they’re always grand and awesome!
To the coolest and swag couple, Tito Tonet and Tita Lorna, thank you so much! Watch our vlog, guys and see how we slayed Niagara Falls!
Looking Back, Years Later
Reading this story again years later, I notice something I couldn’t have fully understood when I wrote it.
The beautiful parts of life and the difficult parts don’t always take turns.
Sometimes they happen at the same time.
Only two weeks into my Canadian journey, I was standing in front of Niagara Falls, amazed that I had somehow made it to a place I had only seen from afar.
A few months later, I was worrying about tuition, watching my savings disappear, balancing school and work, and wondering how everything was going to work out.
And yet both belonged to the same chapter.
I think we sometimes imagine that once something we’ve hoped for finally happens—a new country, career, relationship, opportunity or fresh start—everything afterward is supposed to feel wonderful.
But life rarely works that neatly.
Something beautiful can be happening while something else feels incredibly hard.
One doesn’t make the other less real.
Don’t Let the Hard Part Make You Miss the Beautiful Part
When we’re navigating a difficult transition, it’s easy to focus entirely on what’s unresolved.
I know I did during my first months in Canada.
But looking at these Niagara photographs now reminds me that while I was worrying about everything that wasn’t settled yet, life was already happening.
I was already exploring.
Already meeting people.
Already collecting stories.
Already experiencing things I once thought belonged only on television screens and postcards.
I just couldn’t see the whole picture yet.
Maybe we rarely can when we’re standing in the middle of a transition.
And Then Came My First Canadian Winter
There’s a little sentence in my original story that means more to me now:
“…playing in the snow last New Year’s Day (I hope to be writing about this soon also).”
I eventually did write about it.
That first Canadian winter became another chapter entirely—one of feeling uprooted, adjusting to a new life and slowly finding my way back to myself.
→ Read: My First Winter in Canada: Dancing My Way Back to Myself
Sometimes that’s what happens when we revisit our old stories.
One post leads to another.
And together, they reveal a journey we couldn’t yet see while we were living it.
A Beautiful Place Can Mark the Beginning of a Life Chapter
When these photographs were taken, I had been in Canada for only two weeks.
I didn’t know the jobs I would eventually work, the people I would meet, the difficult seasons I would experience, or how much Ontario would eventually become part of my story.
I was simply standing there thinking:
I can’t believe I’m actually here.
And Niagara Falls was only the beginning.
In the months that followed, I would find myself exploring Old Town Toronto on my own, wandering streets and places that once felt as though they belonged only in movies.
→ Read: Exploring Old Town Toronto on Foot: What a Solo Afternoon Taught Me About Starting Over
Then came an unexpected invitation to Canada’s Wonderland, reminding me that even when I couldn’t afford to travel much as a new international student, life could still surprise me with experiences I hadn’t planned.
→ Read: Canada’s Wonderland: An Unexpected Day Out in My New Country
And the following fall would bring another first—my first Canadian fall festival in Bala, where a town bearing my grandmother’s family name unexpectedly connected my new life in Canada with a little piece of home.
→ Read: Bala Cranberry Festival: A Little Piece of Home in Muskoka
One place led to another.
One experience became another story.
And slowly, without realizing it at the time, I wasn’t simply exploring Ontario. I was building a life here.
That’s why Niagara Falls belongs in my 20 Beautiful Places in Ontario That Could Capture Your Heart.
Not simply because it’s one of Ontario’s most recognizable destinations, but because for me, it marks a beginning.
→ Explore: 20 Beautiful Places in Ontario That Could Capture Your Heart
You Don’t Have to Wait Until Everything Is Perfect
If you’re navigating a transition of your own, perhaps this is what I want you to take from my Niagara story:
You can worry about tomorrow and still be grateful for today.
You can be uncertain and still experience wonder.
You can be building your life and still live it.
The difficult parts are real. But so are the beautiful ones.
Looking back, I simply wish I had understood sooner that an unfinished life can still be a beautiful one.
The Beauty Around You
Niagara Falls is the kind of beauty that’s impossible to miss. It roars, towers in front of you and demands your attention.
But most of life’s beauty is quieter—a familiar street, a shared laugh, sunlight through a window, or an ordinary moment we don’t realize we’ll miss until years later.
The extraordinary teaches us to look. The challenge is learning to keep looking in ordinary life.
That’s why I created The Beauty Around You: A 7-Day Journey to Slow Down and Notice More—a gentle invitation to notice the beauty and meaning already around you.
You don’t need to stand beside Niagara Falls to find something worth noticing.
→ Begin the 7-Day Journey
Continue Your Journey
Beautiful places are often only the beginning. Sometimes the places we explore lead us toward things we didn’t expect to notice—and stories we don’t understand until much later.
Explore Somewhere
Keep discovering the Ontario places that have become part of my journey, from iconic destinations to small towns, lakes, waterfalls and quiet nature escapes.
Notice Something
The spectacular places teach us to look. The ordinary ones teach us to keep looking.
Become Something
Sometimes we don’t understand what a season of our life meant until years later. Looking back can help us see how much was happening even when we thought we were simply trying to get through it.