It's grey and it smells like an old castle - and it's where I'm studying. I tug at my uniform: a crisp, white, collared shirt, striped tie and boxy skirt. Welcome to Bishop Strachan - the oldest girls' school in Canada.
I saunter up the school circular drive and head to the orientation booth. I can already hear chatter about the summer. Bishop Strachan is more than a school - it's a community with girls from all four corners of the world.
We dive into conversation about 'Starbs' - our slang for Starbucks. Girls here have a knack for abbreviations and caffeine hits.
'I need a Starbs. I'm on Scotland time, and I'm like twenty billion hours ahead of Toronto time,' pleads a close friend.
I join an endless line for school photos. It feels like the MTR at rush hour - orderly chaos and no food.
Eventually I get out of the orientation scrum armed with a class schedule and a group of friends. We compare timetables. We're happy to find we have spare lessons at the same time as friends - free time! And we're frustrated that the intensive maths course is scheduled for Friday afternoons. But it's orientation day, which means a free afternoon.