As most of you may know, Detroit and Windsor are boarder towns. Detroit has a reputation of crime and blight. Windsor has the reputation of being a small Canadian city focused on the auto industry.
![Detroit is pretty nice when you look at it from Windsor.](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-11-22.05.42-300x225.jpg)
![This shot is from Fiona's apartment. You can see Ceasar's casino in the far distance. That is Windsor.](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-04-17.26.55-225x300.jpg)
Literally 5 minutes from the boarder is the Eastern Market. I went there on a Saturday morning, and it is much livelier.
![There is a TON of grafitti in downtown Detroit. I personally like it when it is done in good taste.](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-11-14.46.04-300x225.jpg)
![2014-10-11 14.46.40](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-11-14.46.40-300x225.jpg)
![2014-10-11 14.50.34](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-11-14.50.34-225x300.jpg)
![2014-10-11 14.51.34](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-11-14.51.34-225x300.jpg)
Hopping over the border costs $5 each time. I’ve met quite a few people who live in Windsor, then commute to the US every day. $10/day can really add up. They tell me there is a card which reduces the toll to $4.
I hopped the border to visit Stephan, who has just started at UWindsor. He gave me a tour of the new engineering building. It is very nice. UWindsor was traditionally known for being an automotive-focused engineering school. They have been taking steps to increase their focus to other engineering disciplines, which should do wonders for the whole Windsor/Detroit region.
![UWindsors' new engineering building. Nice.](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-05-21.01.26-225x300.jpg)
![Look at this concrete head!](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-05-21.08.07-225x300.jpg)
![I brought an air matress and set it up in his dorm room. We literally had beds wall to wall.](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-06-00.26.421-225x300.jpg)
Cindy also was nice enough to show me around her hometown. Growing up on a border town has given her an interesting perspective. When you live on the border, you have the option to go to a different country to eat lunch. I bet she knows some areas of Metro Detroit better than I know some areas of Toronto. She was even nice enough to introduce me to some of her local Windsorites.
![2014-10-11 22.33.16](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-11-22.33.16-225x300.jpg)
![2014-10-11 21.21.39](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-11-21.21.39-300x225.jpg)
I don’t gamble often, because I’m excellent at losing money. I always set a limit, then quit when I hit that. Not this time!
![2014-10-12 12.58.43](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-12-12.58.43-300x225.jpg)
![2014-10-12 00.23.22](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-12-00.23.22-300x225.jpg)
When you live alone you really appreciate the small gestures. I tend to eat out a lot right now because I don’t have any of my cooking tools, and I want to explore the city. Growing up, food magically appears on the table every day without effort. Now, when someone cooks you dinner its really something special.
![2014-10-11 19.49.35](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-11-19.49.35-e1413769805434-300x225.jpg)
I didn’t return home for thanksgiving because I needed the time to adjust to the area. Also, Canadian thanksgiving is on a different day than American thanksgiving. Instead, I celebrated with Cindy’s relatives. They immigrated from China, and this was the first time that they were celebrating thanksgiving. I grew up pretty much Canadian, so this was almost like looking into my grandparents life. I appreciate being both Canadian and Chinese because it gives me twice as many holidays to celebrate.
![2014-10-12 20.31.13](http://adaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-10-12-20.31.13-225x300.jpg)
D etroit and Windsor are interesting places to live. Assuming you have a passport, you effectively have access to 2 large cities separated by a river. If you look at the border guard as a permanent traffic jam, you have one big city with twice as many opportunities.