Surely I am out of things to write about by now? Well as you should know, the spirit of misadventure is eternal. Only when I leave here will my Albertan misadventures end.
So for starters, why did I name this post Flurries and Fall? Because it's a catchy name! It's just not true though. After giving this title, I realized it was actually snowing-- yes snowing -- in mid October. In other words, right now. As I write this.
The temperature here keeps bouncing between subfreezing and significantly above the point. But we always find our way back to a snow-friendly temperature. We first hit the negative temperatures during the day time in September, which was frightening enough.
And add onto that my mom insisting I do something fun for Canadian Thanksgiving. Fortunately, I found something that was right on campus, and was in fact just this past Saturday. (It turns out celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving not on the 'proper' day is totally okay!) In fact, it was set in my dorm on the first floor in the meeting room.
On the day of, feeling comfortable with the fact that the event was in my dorm, I decided to pay a trip to the city library. Yes, it took me two months to head there! But I had made a mistake in thinking it was nowhere near me...the library actually had a few branches, one of which was not far from the university. The trip there was fairly confusing for me....and I chose to not take my scooter....but somehow I made it work!
But I must say that the layout was quite confusing; they had most of their books in the basement, and it took a while to find their manga section. Yet it was still rather incomplete, with many series only partially represented. I decided to go get the card. Getting my library card itself was much easier -- it was just an add onto my student card. Stunned by how easy it was, I actually stepped out of the library, changed my mind, and came back in. I returned to the basement and picked up a Murakami book (his first two books actually) and checked it out.
Then I returned home for the Canadian Thanksgiving feast. I came right about on time, it turns out, and found two people to sit with; both were people I had played bingo with just the previous month! The event organizers forced us to hear about the history of the holiday, which was rather uninteresting, but when it came time to eat it was quite fun! The two people I ate with hadn't done Thanksgiving before, which added a layer to this experience. But the main items -- turkey and mashed potatoes -- were as appetizing as I expected.
There was a surprise. The friend I had invited, who had seen Toy Story 4 with me and also coincidentally had been at the bingo table, made progress on her paper last minute and was able to come to the event. But I found out short notice, and quickly got a plate of food ready for her before it was all gone. When she finally arrived, I realized I had gotten too much. But I shrugged it off as something my mom has done.
Making matters more exciting, I spilled lemonade on the table and myself....in front of other people. Oh the inhumanity!
And then they made us watch a video about the history of Thanksgiving, which was also incredibly dull (and repetitive). But they gave us pumpkin pie, so who am I to judge!
Of course, one last surprise was the final member of that 'fated' bingo table coming very late into the event; but there was no food left. In retrospect, I wish I'd saved food for him but hadn't known he was coming.
And actually, the event mostly simmered out then, and all four of the people ended up leaving. The ending was rather anticlimactic, in all honesty, but it was a fun event that made me reconsider building up social ties. This was my first time sitting with people I did not "know" that well while here, but it felt like a good way to build those ties. So I see why my mom wanted me to do this. And I think it was successful! At least for Saturday. Sunday and Monday, the proper Canadian Thanksgiving, have felt slower.
But, some more good news is that I am going to see Harry Potter films today!
So take care and thanks for reading!
Monday, October 14, 2019
Flurries and Fall Part Two: Misadventures
We all know this is the part of the post that everyone is looking forward to. My mom is scanning very carefully for every little thing (even though she hopefully knows all of it already.)
Let's start with how last week (on Thursday, Oct 10th) I won a $10 Tim Horton's gift card from winning a quiz game on mental health. That's not a misadventure right? Well on Friday I went there for the second time (Sunday was my third time) and this one time I was somehow not careful enough. Maybe the door just was being even less cooperative than normal. But i accidentally hit the door and the upper right footrest of my scooter fractured and was just barely on. I had to use my foot to keep the piece in place as I made my way back home. To make matters worse, I was streaming a series for my friends, so I felt pressured. In the end, no glaring damage happened. But this illuminated how vital my Muscular Dystrophy Canada connection would be -- tomorrow I have to ask them for help! As I've already had to paid for some scooter repairs here, I was not in a hurry to pay full price agian.
Same pattern here. On September 23rd, I went and saw Promare with my supervisor! I was surprised that he had time to go with me. But he was exceptionally well organized and told me to get my ticket ahead of time. (This is not a concept I"m that familiar with yet.)
You may be wondering how I excused *myself* for a Monday. Well, simply put, the professor was gone that day, and I had my animal training (with live mice) in the morning (and Promare in the afternoon) That animal training was demanding both physically and emotionally...to the dismay of one of my friends. After that, I was ready to go and see an action anime film. We both had a lot of fun, though it must be said that this cinema was quite far. It was near where he lived, but it was around an hour of transit from the university. Going with him, it was quite smooth, and we talked about many things, both research and not research. It was a great experience and a nice way to spend 2 hrs!
However, I decided on October 4th to go again to that same theater for the anime sequel film Rascal Does Not Dream of Dreaming Girl (not how I would localize that title personally). But I quickly realized that the film was sold out....this was why I needed to get tickets ahead of time. I spent an entire hour to come here but it was for nothing! I had to be responsible though so I bought a ticket for the next day. This gave me my chance to check out the Indigo bookstore, which is very close to the theater. It honestly reminds me of Barnes and Nobles down to the layout and the Starbucks cafe. It gave me a chance to call and complain about misadventures with my family. It also led me to contact the person my mom had sent "goodies" with for me.
So October 5th, I went out that direction again and me with this person, and got my items! By now, these items have generally been eaten because of course I would. (Things like cookies, Goldfish crackers, etc, and also a shirt!) That person was quite kind but we only met briefly. After that, I realized I had several hours before the film and that....I was too tired to spend all of them at the mall. Or to go to the bookstore early. So I grabbed sushi at the mall, which tasted good as sushi tends to with the right amount of wasabi and soy sauce, and then headed home. I made the hourlong train-bus-walking journey again back to the theater and ended up in the auditorium a solid half hour before the film. It was already filled with people. The film, with its solid blend of comedy and tragedy, was quite moving, and aided by the many people excitedly watching it. It was a great time and well worth all the misadventures.
Misadventures aren't all bad I tell you! Seems like I got to know the city way better than I would otherwise.
Which is why I have one last misadventure to tell you about. I made the trek to the Pakistani Association of my city, but it was not straightforward given how far out the place was. First I had to take a bus from my university station (the easy part)...but then this bus was late! And I had to transfer bus stations immediately, but could not even find the other bus station. It was actually just a pole on a sidewalk next to a fence. That frustrated me a lot. Then I waited half an hour for the next bus, making me late, and then I transferred to the train. This got me fairly close but not close enough.
I entered the event at 7 pm, which was late enough, and I was feeling pretty annoyed. But you know what, seeing middle schoolers and high schoolers trying their best at public speaking was a great sight to see! I actually came out there in connection with Toastmasters. I even got a chance to deliver a speech of my own, letting them know how to keep improving at public speaking.
But there was a catch...I learned after the fact that I could have gotten a ride to the place. But because I brought my mobility scooter, I could not. So I braved some decently chilly temperatures (not subfreezing though) to get to the nearest rail station. Going straight on scooter would have been 50 minutes, but after 20 minutes or so I knew I needed to take a bus. Once I got to the transit station and to the platform, I finally got to relax shortly. I called my parents and explained the situation. My mom was frightened by the news but my dad took it calmly. By this point, the worst was over, and I made my way home.
For those finding my description of this Youth Leadership event sparse....don't worry! I will be doing it again, and this time actually getting a ride! So next time I can focus more on describing the event proper.
But there were some miscellaneous misadventures. From September 23rd through about October 7th, I was feeling sick; my body kept making me feel like I had to cough to clear my throat. This whole time I kept battling my throat, but at some point, things returned to normal. I do not remember the exact moment I stopped being sick...yet I feel so much clearer in head than I did two weeks ago! Sickness is such a mysterious thing.
As is the trend with these misadventures, I fought the feelings of sickness and tiredness to watch Toy Story 4, on campus, with a friend just the day after I saw another film with a friend. Two friends, two films, two days -- that's definitely a record for me!
Let's start with how last week (on Thursday, Oct 10th) I won a $10 Tim Horton's gift card from winning a quiz game on mental health. That's not a misadventure right? Well on Friday I went there for the second time (Sunday was my third time) and this one time I was somehow not careful enough. Maybe the door just was being even less cooperative than normal. But i accidentally hit the door and the upper right footrest of my scooter fractured and was just barely on. I had to use my foot to keep the piece in place as I made my way back home. To make matters worse, I was streaming a series for my friends, so I felt pressured. In the end, no glaring damage happened. But this illuminated how vital my Muscular Dystrophy Canada connection would be -- tomorrow I have to ask them for help! As I've already had to paid for some scooter repairs here, I was not in a hurry to pay full price agian.
Same pattern here. On September 23rd, I went and saw Promare with my supervisor! I was surprised that he had time to go with me. But he was exceptionally well organized and told me to get my ticket ahead of time. (This is not a concept I"m that familiar with yet.)
You may be wondering how I excused *myself* for a Monday. Well, simply put, the professor was gone that day, and I had my animal training (with live mice) in the morning (and Promare in the afternoon) That animal training was demanding both physically and emotionally...to the dismay of one of my friends. After that, I was ready to go and see an action anime film. We both had a lot of fun, though it must be said that this cinema was quite far. It was near where he lived, but it was around an hour of transit from the university. Going with him, it was quite smooth, and we talked about many things, both research and not research. It was a great experience and a nice way to spend 2 hrs!
However, I decided on October 4th to go again to that same theater for the anime sequel film Rascal Does Not Dream of Dreaming Girl (not how I would localize that title personally). But I quickly realized that the film was sold out....this was why I needed to get tickets ahead of time. I spent an entire hour to come here but it was for nothing! I had to be responsible though so I bought a ticket for the next day. This gave me my chance to check out the Indigo bookstore, which is very close to the theater. It honestly reminds me of Barnes and Nobles down to the layout and the Starbucks cafe. It gave me a chance to call and complain about misadventures with my family. It also led me to contact the person my mom had sent "goodies" with for me.
So October 5th, I went out that direction again and me with this person, and got my items! By now, these items have generally been eaten because of course I would. (Things like cookies, Goldfish crackers, etc, and also a shirt!) That person was quite kind but we only met briefly. After that, I realized I had several hours before the film and that....I was too tired to spend all of them at the mall. Or to go to the bookstore early. So I grabbed sushi at the mall, which tasted good as sushi tends to with the right amount of wasabi and soy sauce, and then headed home. I made the hourlong train-bus-walking journey again back to the theater and ended up in the auditorium a solid half hour before the film. It was already filled with people. The film, with its solid blend of comedy and tragedy, was quite moving, and aided by the many people excitedly watching it. It was a great time and well worth all the misadventures.
Misadventures aren't all bad I tell you! Seems like I got to know the city way better than I would otherwise.
Which is why I have one last misadventure to tell you about. I made the trek to the Pakistani Association of my city, but it was not straightforward given how far out the place was. First I had to take a bus from my university station (the easy part)...but then this bus was late! And I had to transfer bus stations immediately, but could not even find the other bus station. It was actually just a pole on a sidewalk next to a fence. That frustrated me a lot. Then I waited half an hour for the next bus, making me late, and then I transferred to the train. This got me fairly close but not close enough.
I entered the event at 7 pm, which was late enough, and I was feeling pretty annoyed. But you know what, seeing middle schoolers and high schoolers trying their best at public speaking was a great sight to see! I actually came out there in connection with Toastmasters. I even got a chance to deliver a speech of my own, letting them know how to keep improving at public speaking.
But there was a catch...I learned after the fact that I could have gotten a ride to the place. But because I brought my mobility scooter, I could not. So I braved some decently chilly temperatures (not subfreezing though) to get to the nearest rail station. Going straight on scooter would have been 50 minutes, but after 20 minutes or so I knew I needed to take a bus. Once I got to the transit station and to the platform, I finally got to relax shortly. I called my parents and explained the situation. My mom was frightened by the news but my dad took it calmly. By this point, the worst was over, and I made my way home.
For those finding my description of this Youth Leadership event sparse....don't worry! I will be doing it again, and this time actually getting a ride! So next time I can focus more on describing the event proper.
But there were some miscellaneous misadventures. From September 23rd through about October 7th, I was feeling sick; my body kept making me feel like I had to cough to clear my throat. This whole time I kept battling my throat, but at some point, things returned to normal. I do not remember the exact moment I stopped being sick...yet I feel so much clearer in head than I did two weeks ago! Sickness is such a mysterious thing.
As is the trend with these misadventures, I fought the feelings of sickness and tiredness to watch Toy Story 4, on campus, with a friend just the day after I saw another film with a friend. Two friends, two films, two days -- that's definitely a record for me!
Flurries and Fall Part 1: The Rundown
Good afternoon everyone,
What's that? You noticed my posts have been negligent for an entire month?
Well to make up for that I will go through everything. In painstaking detail. You asked for it! (Even if it was actually me.)
One giant reason for the relative lack of posts is simply that I've spent much time here. So we can start with the things everyone reading this should know about: Toastmasters and labwork.
On September 18th, I presented my first lab presentation covering a biochemistry paper of some kind. The most exciting part: getting to lead a short discussion afterwards. I suggested that maybe this paper was biased by the company in question (Sarepta Therapeutics) being involved with the research. Someone, the person who supervises my work even, said that there is likely to not be bias. At least, not intentionally. Yet the study seemed rather flawed for our purposes. Furthermore, the company did still provide their proprietary technology for the study, and this technology may have flaws, which may offer another kind of bias. Though we had no easy answers, we came to a very interesting discussion. The paper itself was fairly straightforward for our purposes, so I felt our more philosophical discourse offered a great break. Fear not, for you tradition lovers out there, as the following lab presentations were back to the usual.
On September 25th, I presented my first speech for the university Toastmasters group! This was, of course, on a Wednesday afternoon. I actually pushed this speech off quite a few times...first was because of the Ottawa trip, and then I ended up having my lab presentation on a Wednesday too! But that gave me plenty of time to wrap this all up into my Icebreaker speech. I told them all about how I had developed a routine in just a month's time, a huge reason I have been negligent with my blog! I told them all about how this city isn't dead. To an outsider, at least. But I also told them about the mission of Fulbright -- to act as a cultural ambassador, not just a researcher -- and how my trip to Ottawa had been inspirational. Going there truly pushed me to get more involved.
This is still not even covering all of September post-Ottawa for me! I attended the first meetings of the University feminist group and the disability advocacy group. On September 10th, I finally got introduced to the Burden of Illness study run by the Muscular Dystrophy Canada. On October 4th, I met with a local representative of the group. Through these two meetings, I got plugged in both as a researcher and a client -- through the former I help support the refinement of services to people with neuromuscular disorders and through the latter I can myself seek support. So this became one of the most unique parts of my trip here. However, all three things listed here -- feminist group, disability advocacy group, and MDC -- are still in progress. Everything is in progress here!
Another thing, my DnD matches still continue semi-regularly on Sunday every 1-3 weeks, helping establish my routine! (But sometimes we have no meetings...)
Just a few other things to note: I got my animal training certificate so I can work with mice, I helped edit a friend's journal manuscript, and I got going on my own literature review for my labwork!
And on September 20th, we had a floor dinner at Joey's Bell Tower....which is honestly like Earl's but farther away and not as good. But the many conversations were delightful! There was a conversation that drifted into controversy, around religion, but I felt we handled it exceptionally well. To be honest, that conversation kept the event exciting, when dinner parties can feel so....dull.
What else, what else....I was sick for about two weeks, from Sept 23rd thru Oct 7th, which was tough! And it's a big reason I lost motivation to write blogs like these.
For convenience, I"m splitting this into three parts:
1) The Rundown (the Big Things)
2) Some misadventures (what you are all awaiting)
3) Canadian Thanksgiving (and how honestly it doesn't feel that different to me)
What's that? You noticed my posts have been negligent for an entire month?
Well to make up for that I will go through everything. In painstaking detail. You asked for it! (Even if it was actually me.)
One giant reason for the relative lack of posts is simply that I've spent much time here. So we can start with the things everyone reading this should know about: Toastmasters and labwork.
On September 18th, I presented my first lab presentation covering a biochemistry paper of some kind. The most exciting part: getting to lead a short discussion afterwards. I suggested that maybe this paper was biased by the company in question (Sarepta Therapeutics) being involved with the research. Someone, the person who supervises my work even, said that there is likely to not be bias. At least, not intentionally. Yet the study seemed rather flawed for our purposes. Furthermore, the company did still provide their proprietary technology for the study, and this technology may have flaws, which may offer another kind of bias. Though we had no easy answers, we came to a very interesting discussion. The paper itself was fairly straightforward for our purposes, so I felt our more philosophical discourse offered a great break. Fear not, for you tradition lovers out there, as the following lab presentations were back to the usual.
On September 25th, I presented my first speech for the university Toastmasters group! This was, of course, on a Wednesday afternoon. I actually pushed this speech off quite a few times...first was because of the Ottawa trip, and then I ended up having my lab presentation on a Wednesday too! But that gave me plenty of time to wrap this all up into my Icebreaker speech. I told them all about how I had developed a routine in just a month's time, a huge reason I have been negligent with my blog! I told them all about how this city isn't dead. To an outsider, at least. But I also told them about the mission of Fulbright -- to act as a cultural ambassador, not just a researcher -- and how my trip to Ottawa had been inspirational. Going there truly pushed me to get more involved.
This is still not even covering all of September post-Ottawa for me! I attended the first meetings of the University feminist group and the disability advocacy group. On September 10th, I finally got introduced to the Burden of Illness study run by the Muscular Dystrophy Canada. On October 4th, I met with a local representative of the group. Through these two meetings, I got plugged in both as a researcher and a client -- through the former I help support the refinement of services to people with neuromuscular disorders and through the latter I can myself seek support. So this became one of the most unique parts of my trip here. However, all three things listed here -- feminist group, disability advocacy group, and MDC -- are still in progress. Everything is in progress here!
Another thing, my DnD matches still continue semi-regularly on Sunday every 1-3 weeks, helping establish my routine! (But sometimes we have no meetings...)
Just a few other things to note: I got my animal training certificate so I can work with mice, I helped edit a friend's journal manuscript, and I got going on my own literature review for my labwork!
And on September 20th, we had a floor dinner at Joey's Bell Tower....which is honestly like Earl's but farther away and not as good. But the many conversations were delightful! There was a conversation that drifted into controversy, around religion, but I felt we handled it exceptionally well. To be honest, that conversation kept the event exciting, when dinner parties can feel so....dull.
What else, what else....I was sick for about two weeks, from Sept 23rd thru Oct 7th, which was tough! And it's a big reason I lost motivation to write blogs like these.
For convenience, I"m splitting this into three parts:
1) The Rundown (the Big Things)
2) Some misadventures (what you are all awaiting)
3) Canadian Thanksgiving (and how honestly it doesn't feel that different to me)
Saturday, September 14, 2019
Ottawa, Sept 5th-8th: A Town of Diplomats, A City of Past and Present
Public disclosure:
Ottawa is a place of many diplomats, where many of the Canadian politicians live, and is also a place of rich history. This city pairs well with the majesty of Montreal, which also contains a strong historical European influence. I visited both together shortly after finishing middle school and found them really enjoyable. It was excellent to return to Ottawa and document my time there; and I want to do the same with Montreal!It goes without saying that this Ottawa trip was incredibly exciting for me. I got the chance to meet people in the Fulbright program -- staff, students, and scholars (who come as postdoctoral scholars)-- and revisit Ottawa.
So I hope this post is enjoyable to read and view!
For starters, I flew from Edmonton to Winnipeg to Ottawa, which was more indirect than I would have liked. But this travel (both ways) was far smoother than my trip from Oregon to Alberta! For that I am deeply grateful, as this time I did not have my parents to guide me. These photos and insights in this post are through my personal lens as both a single traveller and as a Fulbright student.
Winnipeg Airport (on way to Ottawa)
Just a nice modern and not too busy airport. Pleasant place to transit through!
We spent a LOT of time in the Lord Elgin hotel; I arrived Thursday evening before the rest of the group....and utterly famished. I took some photos before leaving because I knew that's what my parents would want!
Lord Elgin Hotel Lobby:
My Room:For those curious, that is a mobility scooter I loaned while in Ottawa; this greatly simplified my air travel. (Mobility scooters go as cargo in an airplane, and that means extended wait times to check in and retrieve the scooter.)
Downtown Ottawa Nando'sAs I mentioned, I touched down THursday evening and was hungry -- I had little but various drinks (including water), almonds, and some cookies on the way there. So I had a craving for Nando's famous peri-peri chicken. Its existence was flagged to me when I passed it by in a taxi on my way to the hotel for the first time. It is just a few minutes walk up the hill from the hotel, which worked for my purposes!
Unfortunately, I only got a 'Hot' level spicy dish, but it turns out this Nando's has a reasonable understanding of spiciness! So the 'Very Hot', which I tried out with some of the mashed potatoes, was actually fairly mouth-warming! All in all, it's a delightful surprise.
I got a chance to sleep and rest before the events started in full on Friday at 11 AM.
Fulbright Canada orientation in Lord Elgin Hotel
We meet in the lobby and then headed upstairs. As you can see below, we were given goodies!
We got a good amount of food upon arrival as we listened to Fulbright Canada people explain the program to us! We met in this room often, giving us a sense of 'home' during the few days in Ottawa.
After getting settled, we visited the Supreme Court of Canada next! This may not be obvious from the photos I took, but the building is hyperfocused around symmetry, even without practical purpose sometimes!
I have to admit: the Supreme Court was excellent, especially with our insightful guide who told us how the US and Canadian systems differ. Ontario and Quebec get the most judges -- 3 each, something like that -- as they have the largest bulk of Canadian population! This brought to my mind a concern that indigenous peoples, some of whom may consider themselves nations, are not represented here or in the US on the highest courts of the land.
There was a more pressing concern for me though...the Supreme Court, being an old building, had no accessible entrance except at the back. This was on a day that Ottawa decided to rain down on me too! Then one had to take a steep ramp with a tight turn to enter the building. This did feel like a failing to me, even if the experience was largely positive.
After that it was time to once again take many photos of Ottawa.
Various photos of Ottawa splendor!
We made our way back from the Supreme Court of Canada to the Lord Elgin once more. We were given a few moments to rest before heading to our big dinner event.
Friday evening we headed to the Rideau club which *required* us to dress formally!
This is a sight we saw in the building that holds the Rideau club.
The Rideau club was actually at the 15th floor or so, and it gave us a first hint at the connections that Fulbright Canada has!
Salmon and potatoes below were surprisingly good~
On Saturday we had a few major events. First, in the morning after breakfast, was the second round of panels and roundtable discussions on the subjects: Environmental Sustainability, Public Health (the panel I lead!), and Discourse in Media (haha it's twitter). If you really need to hear more about this, just ask me! I took good notes for once. But one could mention that my panel asked about how Black Lives Matter intersects with public health -- it was an exciting question!
After this we had the indigenous walking tour which showed us even more of the beauty of Ottawa. But we much better understood the indigenous histories that are obscured by oppression in Canada. Our guide was clearly passionate, delivering us key knowledge while showing us a new side of Ottawa. Without this walking tour, the trip would have felt very incomplete!
Indigenous Walking Tour
Saturday was a rather busy day as I've pointed out! After the panels and the walking tours, we walked across the interprovincial bridge from Ottawa (in Ontario) to Gatineau (in Quebec; the town bordering Ottawa on Quebec side). The bridge itself is cool!
It is *this* below image! This is from the Canadian Museum of History, where I mainly hung around the indigenous art exhibitions and took pictures.
After this, I was feeling incredibly hungry -- like I said Saturday was an immense day! We ate breakfast at 8 am and by the time I went through the exhibits it was....probably 1:30 pm or so. So I ate at one of the cafes in the museum -- just a burger and a soda. It's almost as if I didn't leave the US! But it was an interesting experience being in Quebec if not for the simple fact that French is the main language. I considered ordering in French...but realized I might have to switch back to English anyways.
Someday I'll make my way back to Quebec (proper)! Looking for that excuse to attend a conference or something in Montreal, which I have a personal connection to.
With that, we walked back across.
But then someone pointed out that I had my skates on wrong! That bolstered my confidence to go for a second attempt and begin skating around the rink. My first attempt had established a "no fall" record and I wanted to keep that. Living with a neuromuscular condition makes this activity inherently fraught with risk, especially as I could strain my muscles, and that made this more exciting. Though ordinarily I might frown on calling it an achievement of mine -- I had help from very kind people who held my hand as I moved alongside the wall. But this felt like a tremendous display of strength for me!
Afterwards, feeling exhausted, I grabbed some hot chocolate (provided by Tim Hortons of course) and played a game of Canadian trivia. I successfully identified Cirque du Soleil and Celine Dion (both of whom I had seen earlier this summer when I went to Las Vegas) and even the Tragically Hip. Listing Quebec City as the oldest fortified city in North America north of Mexico was easy! But many of the questions, like what do you call the $1 and $2 CAD coins, tripped me up.
To finish the day on a strong note, we had a farewell dinner of pizza. Unfortunately, the pizza tended to be pork (which I do not eat), but the two cheese slices I had were quite good! This gave us the food necessary to feel alive after such an intense day.
That night I went to sleep and rose the following morning feeling refreshed. On Sunday, we were given the opportunity to eat at a breakfast buffet in Grill 41 in the hotel! ("41" refers to the Lord Elgin Hotel being founded in 1941.) Many of us left EARLY in the morning on Sunday, like 4 am early, but there were still enough people left for company.
Then a newly made friend and I went to investigate Ottawa on a walking tour of our own. He was waiting for a Parliament tour and I was waiting before my 4pm flight (which felt incredibly late in the day).
First are some ducks!
But the great sight we saw was the water control system that allowed a ferry to leave this canal from the Ottawa harbor and go out into the sea! Truly impressive -- it definitely seems like such an 18th century invention, but it remains such a clever work of engineering. My friend and I were both very astounded and decided to walk alongside the length of this canal.
And then I returned to my Canadian home of Alberta. Going to the airport was made less stressful by heading with someone else from the Fulbright orientation!
Ottawa Airport Shots
This shot is over...Winnipeg I think?
This shot is from the skies on the way to Edmonton
Stop me if you've heard this one before, but when I got home I was hungry. I took the public transportation path home from the airport (when I landed around 8:30). Just to get on the bus from the airport, I had to rush to a Tim Hortons and get change so I could pay the $5 CAD to the bus driver.
Then I transferred to light rail to head back to the uni and in the process met a kind person who helped guide me through the process. We actually talked for the remainder of my time on the transit. They were also heading my direction too!
The rest of the way was smoother but the University Station, where I got off, was far larger than I ever expected. Not being with my scooter meant that I had to walk that distance with my backpack and rollon.
So I was truly tired and hungry when I got home. I ate the last of my pre-made noodles (Malaysian rice noodles) to sustain me and then I went to sleep. As you can tell this was quite the experience!
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