Your go-to guide for Toronto student life.

Tired of cramped dorms?

HOEM gives you move-in ready 2-4 bedroom suites with bi-weekly cleaning, 24/7 support, gym access, and epic events.

One Unplanned Summer Day in Toronto

Published August 21, 2026 by Allanah Relan

Summer in the city as a first-year Environmental Design student means walking into a café and admiring the colours, atmosphere, and design. Or taking walks and exploring different parks, sounds, human interactions, and nature.

It looks different for everyone. Not every moment is “go, go, go.” Most times, the slower moments are ones that nobody sees. This video captures mainly those smaller moments: a 99% unplanned, unstructured day in Toronto in the summer.

The day started with reading my current book, One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune, at Berczy Park.

Berczy Park

📍 35 Wellington St. E
🚇 King Station

Then a quick six-minute walk to Balzac’s Coffee.

Balzac’s Coffee

📍 10 Market St.
🚇 King Station

I enjoyed a slice of banana chocolate chip bread (which I should have asked them to warm up, but I know for next time). After sitting at Balzac’s for a while, I headed to Grange Park near OCAD University to work on a personal design project. It’s a bit of a walk, so I took the TTC from Bay St. near the Eaton Centre and got off at St. Patrick Station, about a three-minute walk from the park.

Grange Park

📍 100 McCaul St.
🚇 St. Patrick Station

Next up was meeting my former first-year roommate at Sankofa Square. We debated where to eat and headed to Basil Box on Yonge, only to find out all Canadian locations have permanently closed. So we kept exploring and discovered Fresh Slice on Church Street: super affordable, decently sized slices, and a solid option for any student trying to save money.

Fresh Slice

📍 252 Church St.
🚇 Dundas Station

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Kensington Market, where my roommate spotted a matcha café she’d been wanting to try: Wu Wei Coffee. The quickest route from Church St. is taking the 501 streetcar west from Dundas St. E and getting off at Spadina.

Wu Wei Coffee

📍 44 Kensington Ave
🚇 Spadina Avenue at Nassau St South Side

To close out the day, one of my favourite artists was releasing a new album, and KOPS Records on Queen St. West was hosting an early release listening party. From Kensington, we took the 510B streetcar south on Spadina to Queen St. West.

Kops Records

📍 395 Queen St. W
🚇 Spadina Avenue at Queen St West South Side

That was my spontaneous summer day in Toronto.

Allanah Relan

Allanah Relan is an Environmental Design student at OCAD U. Born in Australia with Indian heritage, she’s spent the last 18 years in Toronto. She’s passionate about music and live concerts, reading, content creation, and all things Gilmore Girls.