In Continuum.

Lance Rintamaki has a small office up in Baldy's, a small little corner down a long hallway dedicated to himself and various other artifacts related to his life. There's a potted plant in the corner of his room, a carton of bottled water with the plastic wrapper torn open next to his desk. Books are stacked on top of one another on the tables and the floor, weighing down even on the shelf above our heads as we sat close to each other on the old beat up sofa. Most of the communication students were at his office that day after a meeting with the student advisor, and Lance invited us into his office to see how we were doing and getting used to things. He told us about what to do and see around the Buffalo and Niagara Falls area, and suggested us to head down to Letchworth State Park if we have the time, because it has been known to be the Grand Canyon of the East. Also on his must-see list is the Niagara Falls obviously, because he said that it'd be ridiculous to come all the way to Buffalo and not make a trip up there. Unfortunately for us, the tickets to go to Niagara Falls were sold out on the very first day of orientation, which means that we could only go for the second trip, if we even get the chance to. Lance told us that if things doesn't work out for us, he'd personally bring us all the way up there. Yeah, my lecturer is that cool, so suck it NUS students.

Niagara Falls has always been a somewhat mythical thing in my mind somehow. People always talk about how amazing that place is, and how many times it has appeared on the list of eight wonders of the world thing. The truth is, though, I cannot care less about that list anymore, considering how it changes from year to year, and there's actually board of people voting on whether or not a natural wonder or a man-made wonder actually makes the list for the year. That to me is completely ridiculous, which is why I'd rather come to my own conclusions as to whether or not Niagara Falls is amazing or not. I've already been to Taj Mahal, and I must say that it'd be difficult to beat that one, considering the sheer beauty of that place. Niagara Falls is in a different league altogether, and it sure was an exciting idea to head up to the border between the United States and Canada just to check it out. I remember seeing the falls for the first time on video when David Copperfield went over the edge and survived the fall, not to mention the sheer size of that thing mentioned in books and documentaries. I've never even considered it possible for me to visit that place, but now just seems to be the perfect time to do so. I mean, we are merely half an hour from one of the most amazing creation of mother nature, so why not make a trip up to check it out?

I remember that chilly Sunday morning, and the sun provided little warmth on my exposed hands and cheeks. I had to make my way down to Flint Loop to take two chartered buses to the Niagara Falls, and they looked like the school buses you see in movies, those big yellow buses that took Forrest Gump's son to school. I was excited to be in one of those buses, and the guy from ISSS did a head count down the center aisle before we were good to go. Some of the girls looked dazed as they sat across the aisle from me, and apparently a long night of partying with no sleep has took a toll on their faces. Glitter could still be seen on Shenny's face, and Gaby was in a trance when the bus started moving. A bunch of people who were supposed to be on the bus with all of us weren't there because they were stuck out in some ranch an hour away or something. At any rate, the buses weren't going to wait for anyone, and we were off! I stayed up in the bus most of the time while most of the other passengers fell asleep. The Sunday morning sun was gentle on my skin as it streamed through the windows, and the bus sped down the highway and through the suburbs of the rest of Buffalo.

It wasn't long until the little towns pulled away into a small industrial town of sorts. The bus drove onto a big metal bridge that spanned the breadth of a mighty river below. The guy from the ISSS then explained to us what to do when we get there and what not to do, particularly the whole issue of our SEVIS database and how our names may not have been entered into the system yet. At that, if we do cross over to Canada (which is connected to the United States by the Rainbow Bridge), we'd probably not be able to come back. Anyway, I was too distracted to listen to him after that point for the most part, as I busied myself with the view outside the window. The driver gave us a little commentary on the things that were passing us by along the way, including the Niagara river that ran parallel to the road that we were traveling on. My geography background immediately kicked in as I saw the calm river quickly turn into rapids as we drove down alongside it, and there was a sign to warm boats of the point of no return. It looked pretty menacing, and I presume it'd probably be too late for anybody by the time they reach the sign to turn back anyway. So, the river turned into a great blanket of folded waves, piling on top of one another like hungry people outside of a shopping mall on Black Friday. The entire river was that way, from our side of the shores to the other, stretching out before our eyes as far as the eyes could reach. In the distance, a tower of smoke rose out from the horizon, and the driver explained that it wasn't really smoke, but the mist from the Niagara Falls. By this time, the geography student inside of me was geeking out.

The visitor center and the trees surrounding the park very cleverly concealed the falls from the outside. All we could hear as we got off the bus was the roaring of the waters from the other side of the park. We got our packaged tickets at the ticking booth and made our way down the stairs in the visitor's center and through a clearing. As we came through the door on the other side, the sound of the falls pounding on the rocks and the river below was already deafening. It was Joyce, Ting Ting and myself walking through the park that morning with squirrels scrambling down from trees and across the pavements on all sides. Then there it was, the river that we saw on the bus ride here, suddenly falling off the edge of the cliff and into a cloud of mist. A rainbow shot up from beneath and made a curve in the skies, bending back down like a ribbon of sorts. I stood by the railing that ran along the river and took a bunch of pictures there. There's always that moment of wordlessness that hits you whenever you are face to face something so wondrous like that. It was like the time when I came through the gates and witnessed the Taj Mahal for the very first time. Anybody who has ever been to that place would tell you that they were dumbfounded the first time they saw it in the morning sun. The same for me when I was right next to the Niagara Falls, there is always that sense of surrealism. It becomes difficult to comprehend that you are there, like most part of the first song at a concert. And then it kicks in halfway through the song, and you know that you are there. You are there.

Moving closer and down the walkway, you find yourself right next to where the river spills over the edge. You walk up all the way to the edge of things and you look over, and you see the giant body of water spilling over the sides and then plunging down into the river below. The rocks below would receive it with opened arms, and you start to wonder if the water would ever stop flowing at the Niagara Falls at all. But it just kept coming, thousands and millions of gallons of water, coming at the Falls, as if they were tiny soldiers trying to fight this great beast. A beast, yes, the Niagara Falls was a great beast instead. You cannot help but stand in awe of mother nature all over again and what it has to offer. People always credit God for such creations, when it really is mother nature doing all the job. Mother nature is really a concept anyway, the idea of how nature works in its own ways within an organized system of things, with the erosions and the currents all playing small parts in the creation of this amazing sight. The three of us made our way up onto the Observation Deck that rose up from the bottom of the cliff, and we watched the American Falls from a completely different point of view. From where we were, we could see a bird's eye view of the falls from a higher ground, the river that the falls fed, and Canada on the other side of the river. The Hard Rock Cafe sign glittered in the morning sun, and the hotels lined the edge of the cliff, like eager tourists all trying to find the best spot to see the wonders of nature.

We made our way down to the Maid of the Mist, or the boat ride with a fancy name. We were given blue ponchos to prevent us from getting drenched, and the line for the boat stretched all the way from the dock to the base of the observation tower. So we waited, we took pictures of ourselves looking like reporters in the middle of a hurricane, and pictures of the American Falls crashing down from fifty meters above us. The seagulls came and went, left their feces on the roof of the dock, and then it was time for us to board. The lot of us made our ways through the walkway and onto the boat. Most of the people there went straight for the upper deck, while I convinced my friends that going to the front of the boat would make more sense. That paid off as we were at the spearhead of pretty much everything that was about to happen. The boat went pass the American Falls where the rocks piled up at the bottom. We were right in front of it at this point, the mist pouring into the boat and all around us. I pulled the hood of my poncho down closer and tightened the plastic strings at the base of my neck. The boat rocked a little bit as it battled the waves below, and the voice over the speakers told us the tale of the boy that went over the falls and miraculously survived. I stuck my hand out and took pictures with my eyes closed mostly, and took my time for the rest of the journey to stare at the falls in utter awe.

The boat continued on, and we went pass Bridal Falls and towards the midst of the Horse Shoe Falls. On this end of the river, the waves are much stronger, and the boat rocked in every direction. I started to think about the possibility of a capsize, and also about which idiot next to me would try to grab hold onto me and push me into the freezing waters below. The mist engulfed us at this point, and we could no longer see the buildings on the Canadian side by now. We were sailing into a dreamworld of sorts, like the edge of a dream, diving into the unknown. It was a little scary, especially with the waters foaming up around the boat and the roaring of the waterfalls from all sides. Amidst all the action, there is always that thought in the back of your head when you are witnessing something amazing, something extraordinary. You start to think about all the people back home, your family and friends, your loved ones, and you start to think about how great it would be if you could share the experience in ways more than just photographs from far away. I wished dearly that Neptina was there with me, because I know the experience would be completely different on that rocking boat that morning, and we'd probably be frantically taking pictures of ourselves while the mist embraced and overwhelmed us. So I sang my favorite song by Pink Floyd under my breath, or at least just the chorus over and over again. I wish you were here, I wish you were here.

If any of you is keen on visiting the Niagara Falls, the Maid of the Mist ride and the Cave of the Winds are probably the only two things worth doing at the state park, because everything else hardly matters if you ask me. In between the Maid of the Mist and the Cave of the Winds, the three of us took some time off to grab lunch at a little cafe. The Cave of the Winds can only be reached via a trolly, like a tram that goes around the state park. While at the state park, I fed bread to hordes of hungry and desperate sparrows, and it was fun to see them coming closer and closer to the piece of bread in my palm. You know, to see who is the bravest bird out of them all, kinda thing. Anyway, Cave of the Winds is probably the best part about the whole visit to the Niagara Falls. What happens if that you take an elevator all the way down to the base of the cliffs, and you follow a trail that takes you all the way up to the bottom of the falls. There are these wooden staircases lodged into the rocks beneath the cliffs, and you pretty much follow the stairs up until you reach the falls itself. A random trivia here that I found out only after I got home: The staircases aren't secured to the rocks by any screws or any bolts. They are merely wedged between rocks, which means that the entire structure has to withstand not only the force of the waterfalls, but also the weight of all the visitors. If I had known this fact about the Cave of the Winds, I might have hesitated a little while climbing those stairs. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss indeed.

If you've ever ran through a really heavy rain before, you'd know how much it hurts when the rain hits your face. That is exactly how it was like for this particular trail up to the bottom of the falls. As you move closer and closer, the mist starts to get thicker and the water starts to hit you like rubber bullets. I was wearing a t-shirt underneath the dual-layer of ponchos (one from Maid of the Mist and one from Cave of the Winds), and I was still feeling the pain whenever a sudden wave of water came down on us. There are various platforms along the way whereby you could go up all the way to the edge, and that is exactly what the lot of us did. We enlisted the help of an old couple of take a picture for us while we were there, and the waterfall beat mercilessly into our backs as the old man took his time with the picture. The water was ice cold, and I remember tasting it with my tongue as it dripped from the top of my hood. We could hardly hear each other over the pounding of the waves, and it wasn't long until we realized that taking pictures weren't an option anymore. For the most part, I kept my camera safely in my pocket while I braved the crashing waters all around me. It was an awesome experience that day, to be this close to the might of mother nature, to be surrounded by the elements - it was awesome!

As I was saying, if you are going to visit the Niagara Falls, spend more time at the above to mentioned attractions. Everything else like the Science Center or the Aquarium, just give those a skip - they aren't really worth it. Anyway, I must say that the Niagara Falls experience was truly worth the entire trip, though that is not to say that the "adventures" that happened afterwards weren't either. It was my first taste of a foreign country outside of school, and it was definitely a whole lot of fun. Hopefully, I'd be able to head up to Canada again this weekend to go to the Niagara Falls from Canada's side of things. Anyway, for now, I highly recommend visiting it for anybody who decides to drop by Buffalo. For those that are coming in December, I'm not sure if it's stay open through spring because of all the snow and ice. But try to make it anyway, because it is the most awesome experience you are going to have with nature - ever.