Welcome to Hawaii

Aloha everyone! Happy last week of February! And happy last day of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games! I am proud to be a citizen of the country that placed 3rd in the medal count for the Games! I cannot believe that the Olympics are over!! Not to sound like a broken record, but time is flying by! Unfortunately, that also means that deadlines are flying closer and my stress level is flying through the roof. My agenda and to-do list are attached to my hip all the time and I am working hard to climb the mountain of work that I am buried under. In other news, after a long cold spell, the temperatures started to rise this week, meaning melting snow and lots of puddles, but it was perfect for our Hawaiian party this past weekend. All in all, it was a FANTASTIC week for many, many reasons, so here is a look back on it all:

Monday was Jocelyn's 20th birthday so in an effort to decorate at 6:30 in the morning, I tried to put some balloons on her bedroom door, which failed miserably so I gave up on that. I then went to practicum and taught my Olympic-themed lesson to my grade 3/4 class. I set up 4 different stations for my students to rotate through: one had a video to watch, one was a creative writing activity, one was an Olympic discussion and the last was a design your own medal activity, The medal design was the most popular one by far but the others went well also. I got to sit in on the discussion station for a bit where my students talked with each other and shared their opinions on different aspects of the Gmaes. At the end of the class, I got a chance to call them all back to the carpet and ask for some feedback; they all liked the stations and one even said that he wished we could have done each activity for an entire class. I also let them show off their medals to each other and some came up with really creative designs, so I asked them if I could put photocopies in my portfolio. Then, because of the snow storm the previous Friday, many students were absent for the class bake sale so they put out all the leftover desserts during recess and I got to man the bake sale with my students I was so happy when they pulled out the brochures that I had made with them the previous week and put them out on display! Some even showed them to other students and teachers to show off the animals. The bake sale ended up raising over $100 which is double what they wanted to raise! After recess, I did a sharing circle with my grade 6 class and then read with one of my students in the library during library buddies. At the end of each library session, one student reads a story to the whole class, so this week I asked if I could read one. I will have to pick out a book in the library tomorrow morning! 

After practicum, I had my K-E class and a meeting with my prof Sunny, where we talked about differentiating instruction for second language learners. She brought Valentine's chocolates to snack on during the meeting. After that, I went to the gym with the birthday girl, to Provigo and then home to have a birthday supper made by Hannah. She also made Jocelyn a birthday cake and we gave her her presents. I got her a Duck Dynasty "Work hard, nap hard" shirt and knit her a red headband, Hannah got her a "Bed and Breakfast" shirt and Elizabeth got her earrings. We also all threw some food into our gifts. Overall, I think she had a good day. Happy Birthday Bogmate!

Happy 20th Birthday Jocelyn!

It was a late night for homework on Monday and then I was up early on Tuesday to do some more. I went for a run into Sherbrooke and then had a planning meeting with the design team for the Education Gala, which consists of myself, my friend Kirsten and a first year student/former event planner Janet. We started planning a Great Gatsby/Roaring 20s theme but then became conflicted when we remembered that we were serving lasagna, so we may now switch to an Under the Tuscan Sun/Night in Italy theme. We have another meeting Tuesday so hopefully we will finalize it then. After our meeting, I bought my first roll up the rim tea and didn't win, sadly and then went to my two afternoon classes. In my psych class, I found out that I got a 93% on my midterm, which was a nice little surprise. After class, I studied in the Gait for a bit and then met my friends Gaby and Ellen at the student ministry dinner. They were serving a rice and vegetable dish and salad - delicious, as per usual. Then, I had my night class, in which I had a quiz and a Reading Circle group meeting. We are well on our way to putting on a great presentation for Alice in Wonderland. My next task is to find a Queen of Hearts costume! After class, I talked to my mom and dad on the phone before finishing some homework and climbing into bed. 

Wednesday, I got to go to practicum again because one of my friends was unable to go on Monday and was going on Wednesday and offered to take me with her. It was great to surprise my students! It was backwards day so when I got to school I had to do a quick change before they would let me into the classroom! Since it was a last minute visit, I did not have any prepared lessons so instead I helped some students one-on-one in the 3/4 class. After recess, I taught my first full lesson to my grade 6 class, which was an end-of-cycle math exam practice question. It was very nerve-wracking to get up in front of my grade 6s on my own for the first time but overall they were great and really supportive towards me. Tomorrow, I will be teaching them an Ethics and Religious Culture lesson, so wish me luck! They have ERC with a different teacher so it will be interesting to get some feedback from a new source. 

After practicum 2.0, I came back to campus to go to my afternoon class and then I went to the health clinic for the first time because I thought that maybe my wisdom teeth were coming in. The nurse did not really know what it was so just suggested I do a salt water rinse four times a day. Ew. Good thing it is almost reading week so I can go home to my dentist dad. After that, I had planned on going to the gym but Hannah called me from home where they were experiencing Internet problems, so I ended up on the phone with Bell for 45 minutes. When I was finally transferred to someone who seemed able to help me, he said I needed to be at home, so I had to pass the task off to Hannah. After another hour on the phone, the Internet finally came back on, so thank you to Hannah for dealing with the Bell representatives. I still do not know why we had a problem. Ohh technology. Finally, I was able to go the gym and then came home to make pizza for dinner for my housemates. I made one Greek pizza and one pesto-tomato-mushrrom pizza. Both were delicious, if I do say so myself. After dinner, I debated going to the library, which did not end up happening; instead, I watched the Olympic recap in my room and then helped my sister select which high school courses to take next year. I hope I was able to help! Oh yes, and while talking to my family, I got to send a birthday shoutout to my 6 year old puppy Sophie! Happy Birthday Soph the Loaf! Hope all your doggie dreams come true this year (though you can still only have 12 kibble per meal, sorry)!

Thursday, I was able to sleep in a little bit and then got up to do some homework, watch some skating and go for a swim. I had my two afternoon classes; during my second one, a group of girls came in about halfway through and informed us all that the Canadian women's hockey team had won gold which was super exciting!! After class, I went to the Gait to help with our Golden Key fundraiser at Happy Hour, where we were raising money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. We had a "Guess How Many" pitcher of candy, a photo booth which funny exercise equipment, a hula hoop contest and lots of GK swag to give away. The event was a success, though I felt bad because I had to leave about halfway through to quickly run home, grab my bag and run back to Mackinnon to work for the night. But I got there just in time to start my rounds! While I was on duty, a couple of the boys were outside in the Mack courtyard building snow forts and having a snow ball fight. They told me that I could not come outside but that I could stand by the door to let them in when they were finished. I didn't realize doorman was a part of my job description. Later that night, all of the Mack RAs were up in the kitchen together making Kraft Dinner for themselves and some residents, so it was fun to get to hang out with all of them in between rounds. It was a pretty quiet night because there was a big party in Sherbrooke so nothing exciting happened. On my last round, I did not expect to see anyone since the building had been quiet, so I wore my pyjamas...of course every resident I saw commented on them. But it did enable me to get to bed earlier than 4, so despite the fashion violation, it was a good choice on my behalf. 

Vicki enjoying some late night KD

On Friday, I got up, typed out some notes and then went to the gym with one of the Mack residents. I then came home to do some homework, shower and get ready to go the mall with my housemates. I am happy to report that I have so far been able to stick with my one Carrefour visit per month. I was able to get a cute shirt for $5, some Hawaiian decorations from Dollarama and some things from Staples for my teaching portfolio. Around 4:30, my lack of sleep from the night before all of sudden hit me, so Elizabeth and I got on the next bus home to come back to Lennoxville. Once we were home, I passed out for 2 hours and slept right through Sarah's dinner. When I woke up, Hannah's friend Allie, who came to visit for us for the weekend from Ottawa, had arrived. I looked a bit like a drowned rat/zombie when I woke up, but I didn't seem to scare her off too much, which was a plus. We had a pretty quiet night, and I had planned to go to bed early but somehow ended up researching NYC plans until 2am. Oopps! I am just really excited to plan our itinerary and actually go! Just 9 short days from now!!

Saturday, I got up, did some readings and went for a run. The path that I wanted to run on was still covered in snow, so I took a new route through a different area of Lennoxville, which was good except for all the puddles! I then had Big Buddies, at which the theme was Sugar Shack, so Hannah and I got to eat pancakes, build a snowman, go on a horse and carriage ride and have maple syrup on snow. So much sugar! All Hannah wanted to do was ride the elevator in the SUB and play tag, which was fine by me. 

Hannah and me on the sleigh ride!

After Big Buddies, I hung out in Tim Horton's for a bit, streamed the Olympic Figure Skating Gala and planned one of my lessons for practicum. I then went to the SAQ and came home for dinner made by Hannah, which was soup, cheese and bread. I did a bit more homework after dinner but then it was time to get ready to go to HAWAII!! (Aka decorate our house for our "HaWINE-in" themed party). We put up our Christmas lights, a birthday banner, balloons and (my contribution) the current Hawaii weather forecast. We then all got ready in Hawaii-esque outfits, ranging from crop tops to colourful Hawaiin shirts, topped with leis and visors. Then, to really get wild, we gave each other temporary tattoos from McDonalds. Mine was a figure skater on my back. We are pretty cool people. 

After the tattoo parlour shut down for the night, our guests started arriving. Some people really got into the theme - my one friend Sarah brought pina colada drink mix, and her and our other friend Elliot brought pineapples! They were several Hawaiian shirts, a few grass skirts and lots and lots of leis! Unfortunately, our student budget did not allow us to replicate the exact temperate of Hawaii, so that part was left to the imagination. We had 4 birthdays to celebrate - Jocelyn, our two friends Maddy and Sarah and Hannah's visiting friend Allie, so Hannah and her assistant Allie made a carrot cake for the occasion, which was, as usual, delicious. It was not our busiest party but it was a good number of people for our little house and people ended up staying into the wee hours of the a.m. A lot of people were pulling all nighters until the hockey game. To show our Canadian spirit, everyone in my house got up to watch the game, though majority of us dipped in and out of sleep while watching. Luckily, every time I heard the goal buzzer go off I was woken up so I got to see all of the goal replays. We woke up to watch each player get his medal, for both Sweden and Canada. Actually, quick side story here - back at Christmas, my grandpa bet my brother, cousin, two uncles and Darryl that Sweden would win and everyone else bet that Canada would, so now my Grandpa owes each one of them $20! He was probably hoping they would all forget by now - sorry Gramps! I knew I should have gone in on the bet! So congratulations Canada!! We all knew (except my grandpa) that you would bring home the gold! 

Don't forget your sunscreen! 

TLC presents: Lennoxville Ink

Following the game, the normal person thing to do would be to go back to bed, but when I have ever been anywhere close to being normal? I made myself some breakfast and cleaned up the house, did some laundry and then planned my second lesson for Monday. After that, it was time to go to public skating; luckily, Allie had brought her skates with her so Jocelyn, Hannah, Allie, Sarah and myself all went down to the rink together. Elizabeth was catching up on her sleep and writing a paper. We met up with our friends Mitch, Phil, Mark and Chris there and skated until 2:45. At the rink, there was a fundraiser for the Pink Ribbon Society going on, so Jocelyn and I made a donation to get a post-skating hot chocolate and baked good. Then, I had to run over to Paterson for a group meeting for my Alice in Wonderland project, where we made the "invitations" to our presentation. They are little teacups that say "An invitation to play croquet with the the Queen...Don't be late or off with your head." We also planned out our stations and Dom started working on our photo collage that will run during the presentation. Our presentation is the second week after reading week so we still have some time to finish everything up. 

After my meeting, I went to the library to study for my midterm and then came home to have tacos made by Elizabeth and finish up some laundry. I did some prep for practicum, made my lunch (and dinner because I am on duty tomorrow night) and now have to go put my clean sheets on my bed so I can catch up on the sleep I did not get last night. I want to be well rested to teach my two lessons and read my story tomorrow - good thing I will also have a Keurig cappuccino to help me out! I also have knitting club tomorrow, which I am excited about since I have not been in a while! I miss my knitting buddies! I have to start a new project though since I finished my hat and Jocelyn's headband. I think I am going to try leg warmers, Hannah said she would show me how to add stitches. Not that I have much free time to knit at school but with three big bus rides coming up, maybe I can squeeze some time in then! I have just 4 days left in Lennoxville before I head home to Ancaster for few days and then hit the road for NYC! Before that though, I have lots to do here at school, including a midterm and an assignment due before the break. Luckily, we have reached the end of my most recent week here in Lennoxville,  so we can all go to bed now and rest up to enjoy our last week of the shortest month of the year!

Wishing you a wonderful week! Make sure you tune into Glee which starts up again on Tuesday night! 

All my love, Erica xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

PS Here are some photos from the Fashion Show Photo Booth! 

Let's be serious, we should have been models! 

PPS Congratulations to my friends Sarah and Katelyn who are the club heads for the BUMT Reading Circle program. Their club won an award for Outstanding Community Service on Thursday night!

PPPS Shout out to all the Nexxice teams that competed at Nationals this past week! They all came within the top 4 of their categories and I couldn't be a prouder number 1 fan! 

#Fashionista

Good evening everyone! I apologize again from deviating from my usual Sunday posts but have no fear - I am still alive, which in itself is a minor miracle considering the number of times I have wiped out in the snow. Many of these wipeouts have occurred on my own street but no major injuries have occurred yet. Despite the constant battle for winter survival, it was another great week here in Lennoxville and I can't wait to tell you all about it. 

Alright, I left you hanging last Tuesday without talking about my Monday and Tuesday, so to rewind to last Monday, I had my practicum and I taught a really great lesson! At the start of the month, my grade 3/4 students had decided that they wanted to raise money for the WWF and sponsor two animals: the African tiger and the snow leopard. To raise money, they held a bake sale on Valentine's Day. I wanted to incorporate this into my lesson, so my activity centred around making informational brochures about the animals that my students could put out at their bake sale in order to teach their peers about the animals they were supporting. I started my lesson by putting my students into pairs and setting them up with laptops. They were given half the period to research their animals and then the other half to complete their brochures. The brochure template specified what information to look for and most students were able to get all the required info. Some even got to drawing pictures of their animal! They were not all able to finish so I left the brochures with my associate teacher so that they could work on them throughout the week. My students gave me some really great feedback and said that they had a lot of fun doing the lesson, which was really special to hear. It reminded me of the importance of making class activities relevant to my students' lives outside the classroom. 

Following practicum, I had one afternoon class and then went to the gym, to a Golden Key Meeting and to Provigo with Jocelyn. At Golden Key, we spent majority of the meeting discussing our upcoming fundraiser for Jump Rope for Heart which will take place at Happy Hour this week. I came home and had dinner with my housemates and then spent the rest of the night doing homework and studying for my midterm. Tuesday, I got up and did some more work while watching the Olympic Figure Skating pairs' short program event. I then went for a swim and to my psych class, as Reading Process was cancelled. We were supposed to have a Virtual Child Discussion in psych but our prof forgot the discussion questions so she gave us all 100% participation and we did a midterm review instead. I then had a study session in the Gait with my friends Sarah, Sarah and Katelyn to review for our psych midterm later in the week. Following that, I met Gaby and Elizabeth at the student ministry dinner, which was tacos- YUM - with fun Valentine treats for dessert. I then had my night class, where I first met with my Reading Circle group to discuss our Alice in Wonderland presentation. I am going to be playing the Queen of Hearts, which I am really excited about. I am going to be running a station focusing on the symbols in the story. Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar and Lewis Carroll will also be making an appearance on the night of our presentation. We had a lecture and then I went to the library to write my blog, watch the Olympics and pretend to study. 

On Wednesday. I got up to study, study, study for my psych midterm the next day. Jocelyn and I then went to the gym together, but while I was there, I got an email from the library that the book I had requested had been returned and I had only two hours to pick it up. Unfortunately, my detour to the library made me late to class but I was happy to have the Developmental Psychology to take home that night (since I was cheap and did not purchase the book). After class, I helped empty a book donation bin for Golden Key and then worked in the Education lounge until Jocelyn finished class. We went to the Gait to study and watch the Olympics for a bit before heading home for the night. It was my night to cook dinner and I wanted to try something different so I made portobello mushroom burgers. I served them on buns with mozzarella cheese, Dijon mustard and baked onions and they were delicious (not to mention super easy to make). I will definitely be making those again. Following dinner, I locked myself in my room to study the night away.

Thursday I went on a field trip for my EDU 216 class to Sherbrooke Elementary School to see their engine room. The engine room is a renovated classroom that has mats covering the floors and walls, ladders and trapeze swings hanging from the ceiling, punching bags, chin up bars and tons of athletic equipment. Its purpose is to be a place where kids who have a "low" or "high" engine can go to make their engine "just right." We observed three half hour sessions of kids in the engine room and it was so cool! Each group had between 8 and 12 students and throughout the half hour, they rotated around the room spending about 2 minutes at each station. One might think that it was only for students who were overly energetic but there were also students there who needed to boost their energy. The whole premise of the room is that your "engine" needs to be in a good place to learn; you cannot learn if it is too high or too low. We talked with two teachers, many students and the vice-principal and all said that the engine room really does make a difference. The engine room is a part of the ALERT program which was developed in the States by two occupational therapists who saw the importance of teaching kids to manage their alertness throughout the day. Other classrooms in the school have aspects of the program in place, such as pacing lanes, one legged stools, fidgets (which we have at PEES), hand weights, etc. Personally, I was so impressed with this program and hope that one day I will be able to incorporate some of it into my future classroom. 

After the field trip, I did a final review for my midterm and went for a swim. I went to Reading Process, where talked about reading comprehension (which I actually find super interesting) and then I had my midterm. Overall, I think it went really well but I will confirm when I (hopefully) get it back tomorrow. Following my midterm, I had this whole grand plan to come home and take a nap before work but instead I ended up going into town to do buy some Valentine's chocolate for my students and signing up for a library card at the local library. I came home, took a shower, packed my bag and headed to Mackinnon for the night. Overall, it was a fairly quiet night in residence with the highlight of the night being a visit from my housemates after happy hour (who then ordered Domino's pizza and ate it in the common room with me). I was able to watch some of the Olympics and get some knitting done as well. We also got a TON OF SNOW on Thursday night!! Every time I looked at the window, the snow mounds were taller and taller. The other RAs on duty were planning a sledding party after duty but since I was supposed to be going to practicum, I opted to go to bed after work instead. 

So as I mentioned, I had hoped to go to practicum on Friday as I wanted to spend Valentine's Day with my students and help them with their bake sale but my friend Kirsten and I made the decision not to go as the roads were absolutely awful after all the snow we got during the night. My associate teacher even sent me an email saying not to come as she was not even able to leave her house herself. Strangely enough, it was not a snow day though. I was able to have a nice sleep in though and I enjoyed my breakfast in the Mackinnon common room while making Valentine's for my friends. I then went to Provigo to return the chocolate I had bought the day before and pick up some food items for our dinner party that night. Each of my housemates made an individual trip to Prov on Friday and we all left with bags full of red, white, pink and chocolate. I came home and watched the men's figure skating and cheered Patrick Chan on as he won the silver medal for Canada, which was very exciting. Following the skating and some homework, I went to the gym and then came home to begin party prep. I (and my housemates) hosted a red, white and pink themed Valentine's Day dinner party for the 5 of us and our two friends Gaby and Vicki. My rules were: 1. You must bring a red, white or pink food item (no other colours); 2. You must wear red, white or pink (no other colours, only neutrals), 3. No boys and I can't remember the fourth rule anymore. It ended up being my best Valentine's day to date! We set our long table up in the living room with a red table cloth and candles and put all of our food on it. Food included: bruschetta (me), tomatoes and bonicelli cheese (Elizabeth), stuffed peppers (Jocelyn), pizza with heart shaped pepperoni (Elizabeth), raspberries and white chocolate chips (me, thank you Pinterest), orzo salad (Hannah) and bacon wrapped scallops (Hannah). Desserts included: dark chocolate and red wine cake (Sarah) and chocolate pie with raspberry sauce and coconut whipped cream (Gaby). Beverages included: pink lemonade punch (me), strawberry daiquiris (Vicki) and white wine (Gaby). We ate, chatted, took a lot of pictures and played Apples to Apples - pretty much your typical girls night minus a chick flick. I couldn't have asked for a better group to spend the day with. <3

Handmade Valentine's! 

Me with the package my mother sent me!  

Red, White and Pink &hearts;

The feast!

Cutting the cake! 

Saturday I got up and went to the gym with Jocelyn and then went to a focus group for the School of Education to discuss the program and the different courses. Following that, our friend Sara and her housemates, Gaby, Ariane and Ellen hosted Lennoxville's first ever Chili-fest. Each house group invited had to make a chili and bring it over and then we voted on the best one. Each team also had to donate a prize to the winner's basket. Hannah made our chill, which was absolutely delicious. Sara's team made a vegan quinoa chili, our friend Tim made a spicy, beer chili and a group of RAs made a chili as well. The event was Leonardo Dicaprio themed and each chili was named after one of his movies in order to have anonymity when sampling and voting. Tim's chili was the overall champion, made evident from the votes and the licked-clean pot, so congratulations Tim! As the winner, he received a prize bag consisting of a signed picture of himself, a disposable camera, two beers, some mini eggs, purple hair spray and many other fun things. 

The 4 different chilis! 

The champion! 

Following chili-fest, I came home and tried to do my lesson plan, but was just not feeling inspired so I did a reading instead. Then, it was time to get ready for the Fashion Show! We had all been looking forward to it for weeks and the night was finally here! The show did not start until 8 but the doors opened at 7 so we needed to be there early to secure our seats. Luckily, our friends Gaby and Ellen were there and able to save us some seats. It was so much fun to get all dressed up, though maybe chili was not the best food option to choose before donning a form-fitting dress. Centennial Theatre was packed and the show was awesome! The MCs were hilarious and the dance team performed several times in between the different clothing lines. The DJ was great and the models all did such a great job. Following the show, we went to see our friends Mike, Tim and Taylor at their apartment before going to the Fashion Show after party at the Gait. The Gait was so packed that they opened up the grill side to make more space. The DJ was pretty good, which was a nice change for the Gait and we stayed right until closing time. It was a pain getting through the coat check line but I was able to skillfully manoeuvre my way to the front. I got separated from my housemates but a friend walked home with me so that I did not have to do the walk alone. After a long but fun day and night, it was nice to finally curl up in my bed. 

Sunday, after a housemate morning cuddle session, Hannah and I went to public skating and then stopped by Mackinnon where an "anonymous sender" aka Vicki had sent me a Valentine's rose (Thanks Vicki! <3). We then came home, ate some lunch and spent the rest of the day doing homework and for me, lesson planning. I ended up scrapping my lesson from Saturday and designing an Olympic themed lesson, which was a lot more fun to create. We had lots of leftovers from Friday to enjoy for dinner and we enjoyed a nice, quiet end to a very exciting week. 

So similar to last week, I will leave the past three days to my post for next week, but it was Jocelyn's birthday on Monday so here's a big birthday shoutout to the best friend a girl could ask for! We had a small house celebration on Monday night and are having a bigger party here this weekend. I got to go to practicum twice this week, which was amazing so will talk all about that next time. I have been watching the Olympics non-stop and am sad that tomorrow is the end of figure skating. :( I am working tomorrow night, going to the mall Friday and have Big Buddies on Saturday and must also motivate myself to start at least some of my term projects before reading week gets here. It's scary how fast February is flying by! As for now, it is time to get back to the books so I wish you all a wonderful week! 

All my love, Erica xoxoxoxoxoxoxxo

PS Go Canada! #WeAreWinter  

PPS Good luck to all of the Nexxice teams who are currently in British Columbia for the Synchro National Championships! I know you will all be amazing! <3

Let's Go Canada! Olympic Fever and Weekend Trips

Good evening friends! Tonight's post comes to you from the Bishop's library (though may be posted later from home since my computer is about to die). Also, sorry that this post is coming two days late - this is my first chance to actually sit down and write! So as I sit here and stream the replay of the Olympic figure skating pairs short program event, here is a look back on my past week! 

Alright, so last Monday started off with practicum as per usual. You may remember that I wrote last time about my lesson that went horribly wrong. Well, I decided to try my lesson again but made some adaptations so that it would hopefully work a little better. In the first week, I had asked my students to summarize a chapter in their novel study book and then make a short skit about it. Since the summary part proved to be a little too demanding, I made summary note cards for the chapters that I wanted the students to present and then had the different groups make a skit based on my points. This worked so much better! We were able to have 4 performances at the end of the class which my associate teacher videotaped on her iPad so that the students could watch themselves at a later time. The biggest struggle was with the group work itself and I learned that my students need a bit more structure when working together to ensure actual work gets accomplished. We did get to have a mini-lesson on compromise though, which seemed to help a little bit. I also got to help my associate teacher do some marking, which is a really great way to learn about my students and their abilities. We were marking for the grade 6 class though, so now I need to challenge myself to actually teach a lesson to the grade 6's. 

After practicum, I had my K-E class and a group meeting with my professor regarding practicum. I really like our group meetings because we get to chat about our practicums and our prof always brings snacks. Also, in my K-E class, my prof talked about making school like summer camp, so Vicki and I did an air high five across the table and told him about our video that was about exactly that. It was a proud moment for us. After class, I went to the gym with Jocelyn and then to knitting club where I handed in my finished hat. Wendy was so proud of me! Then, Hannah, Jocelyn and I made a group trip to Provigo to stock up on groceries for the week. It worked out well that we all went together because we paid together and took full advantage of the 10% off Monday student special. Then it was time to go home for a family dinner and a night of homework. 

On Tuesday, I got up bright and early to tackle my huge pile of homework and study for my quiz in Children's Literature that night. I went swimming at the pool and to my two afternoon classes, one in which we had a presentation on vocabulary development and got to play two of my favourite games, Scrabble and Bananagrams. I went to the library with my friend Gaby and then to the student ministry supper with Gaby and Elizabeth. Following dinner, I had my night class where I took my quiz, which went a lot better than I was expecting, had a group meeting with my Reading Circle to plan our Alice's Adventures in Wonderland presentation and then a lecture. Then it was time to head home, do some homework and hit the hay. 

My Reading Circle Group (this photo was a requirement for the course) 

Wednesday again was fairly typical with a morning of homework, followed by a gym workout and my K-E class. I then raised my Virtual Child for a bit and then Jocelyn and I did some homework together in the Bus Stop Café. It was my night to came home and make dinner for my housemates. For the first time, I received a dinner request and so made some meatball soup for everyone, aka the easiest meal to make ever, so I was happy to satisfy the request. Unfortunately, everyone in the Bachelor-watching club had a lot of homework so we were unable to watch the Bachelor. We are falling very behind in the season. A marathon may be in order soon. 

Thursday, I continued to plough through all of my homework and then went swimming and to class. Despite starting off the week very stressed, my stress level gradually decreased as I sat rooted at my desk working away. I feel like as I am writing this, I have forgotten some other factor that was causing me stress but it has slipped my mind; hopefully, it wash't too important. Maybe it was all the online discussions I had to do for my one class. After class, I came home for a quick break before heading back to campus to go to Speaker's Night at the Gait. This was an event where all of the candidates running for an executive position on our SRC had a chance to speak and answer questions about what they would do if elected to represent the student body. Two of my friends from the Leadership Floor are running for positions: my friend Jason, who is the current VP student affairs is running for President and my friend Matt is running for VP student affairs. The elections are happening right now, so I wish them both luck in their campaigns and encourage all BU students to go vote!! Now!! I had to leave Speaker's Night early though because I was on duty in Mackinnon. (BRB the Canadian team is skating). Ok back again. I was on duty with a fellow RA Rob and it was a pretty quiet night overall. I was happy to have some company from some of the Mack boys and a visit from my housemates during the night and I was able to watch the recap of the Olympic figure skating team event so it was actually a pretty nice night. I slept over in my friend Amanda's room so did not have to walk home in the middle of the night, which enabled me to get to bed earlier than usual. 

Friday, I woke up and met Jocelyn at the gym and then came home for lunch and homework. For the past two weeks or so, my friends had been planning a trip to Elizabeth's farmhouse in Wellington, Ontario for the weekend and last minute on Wednesday, I decided that I wanted to tag along. While we were eating lunch, we got a call from the boys we were going with that they were ready to go. We had not been expecting to leave so early so immediately we began a scramble to get ready as fast as possible. Right before we were about to leave, we had a bit of a debate over weather and contemplated whether or not it was safe to drive there, but we decided to forge on ahead with the road trip. I drove with Taylor, Kirsten and Jocelyn, and Mike, Tim, Hannah, Cameron and Elizabeth went in the other car. My car was laughing the entire time about how the three smallest people were in the bigger car with less people, but we were not going to complain. We did hit some pretty bad snow when we got into Prince Edward County but due to Taylor and Mike's superior driving abilities we all made it to the farmhouse in one piece. 

Me, Jocelyn and Taylor in the En Route!

 Now, when I say farmhouse, I do not know exactly what you might be picturing, but let me say, Elizabeth's farmhouse is absolutely beautiful. It is like a country home from a home catalogue, right down to every home decor item in the house. It has a huge open kitchen with brand new appliances, a large living room with a roaring fireplace, an art room for her dad, etc., etc. There is ample space for guests, a fully stocked fridge and freezer and a barn right next door to the house. To top it off, it is about 10 steps away from Lake Ontario. We were not able to appreciate its full natural beauty when we arrived in the dark but it was a beautiful sight to wake up to on Saturday morning. 

The farmhouse! 

We had a late night on Friday and then got up and made an eggs and bacon brunch on Saturday. I was able to sneak away for a run in the snow (which was awesome). My friends all made fun of me for bringing all of my running stuff, but honestly, do I ever go anywhere without them? (Answer=no). Then, SPECIAL TREAT my mom came up to visit me. It was extremely last minute but I was so happy she came to visit. We went out for lunch to the bistro café where Elizabeth worked in the spring, hung out for the afternoon and then she dropped me off at the farmhouse and headed home. It was so wonderful to see my mom, even though technically it has only been just over a month since I was last home. She had been planning to come out to Montreal to visit me that weekend, but things did not work out. This was definitely an ok alternative. After she left, I came home and did some homework and then we all went out for dinner to a local restaurant. Following dinner, we came home for a bit of a games night: we played Monopoly, which Cameron got extremely into, and bananagrams and then had some fun before heading to bed to rest up for the trip home. 

Sunday, I got up and went for another run (do not tell my physiotherapist) and then Taylor, Kirsten, Hannah, Jocelyn and I packed up and hit the road. We made a stop at a McDonald's to pick up two Olympic Fan packs (20 chicken nuggets, 2 large fries, 2 drinks and 2 cookies) and I took the collector pins and tattoos. If anyone gets pins 1 or 3, send them my way. I want to collect the entire coke bottle. We made it home in really good time so I was able to get some homework done before heading to work for the night. In Mackinnon, I was able to watch MasterChef Canada while finishing my lesson  plan and then had to hideout in a room to finish some more homework while some residents watched various musical tributes in the common room. Who do they think they are, not watching the Olympics?? Luckily, Sundays are early nights so I was able to head home and rest up for practicum the next morning. 

Obviously, it is Tuesday now but I will save the details from the past two days for next week's post. I will say that my associate teacher wrote "Super Lesson" on my feedback sheet on Monday, so get ready to hear all about that. Also, that quiz I took last week? I got it back tonight and got 100%! Hopefully, I will have the same luck with my Child Development midterm on Thursday! As well, I have made some great progress on my end of term papers, aka I have selected all of my topics. Now comes the actual "researching and writing" part. Wish me luck. This week is going to be another great one, despite all the school work that I have to do. I am on duty on Thursday, going to practicum on Friday for a special Valentine's Day visit, hosting a red, white and pink themed dinner on Friday night and then Saturday is the Fashion Show! Oh and I will of course be watching the Olympics all week! The skating schedule is pretty much tattooed on to me. I will be sporting my red and white lulu hoodie and Canada hat and mitts all week and probably tweeting about the Games as well, so sorry in advance to my Twitter followers. So I wish you all a wonderful week and I will try to find some time next Sunday to update you again! Until then, keep cheering on our athletes in Sochi! 

Oh, and just in advance, Happy Valentine's Day! Feel free to send chocolate my way! 

All my love, Erica xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Happy Groundhog Day!

Good evening everyone! Let me start off by saying Happy February and Happy Groundhog Day! And Happy Superbowl Sunday! I was sad that I did not get to see the game but congratulations Seattle. Maybe I will see some of the highlights on TV at the gym tomorrow. Oh, the struggles of not having cable, though it is probably for the best as I need as few distractions as possible as I try to buckle down and escape from under my huge pile of never ending school work! It was a busy, busy week here at Bishop's and there does not seem to be an end to this busy streak in sight (except maybe the end of April). But I am doing my best and hoping that I can keep up with everything going on. 

So the week got off to a bit of a rough start. My associate teacher was sick on Monday so we had a supply at school that day. I decided to go ahead and try my drama lesson anyway but to say the least, my lesson did not go as planned. I had wanted my students to break into groups and create a skit about a chapter in their books but this is not exactly what happened. There was some confusion with forming the groups and assigning the chapters and with my expectations so we unfortunately had to cancel the lesson and do individual seat work. However, I have revamped my lesson and am going to try it again tomorrow! I have made the instructions a lot more direct and have cut the workload for the students in half and am hoping that tomorrow will go better than last week. As a nice surprise though, my supervisor Connie came to visit at PEES so we had a chance to catch up and discuss my goals for the semester. It was nice to talk to her after my not-so-successful lesson and she helped me regain some of my confidence. She also gave me some great ideas on how to improve the lesson and was happy to hear that I was going to try it again. At the end of our meeting, she said that if I ever need someone to run my ideas by, I can contact her because she thinks that I have a lot of ideas inside that I need someone to hear. How right she is, so I will definitely take her up on her offer. In fact, she asked me to email her about how my lesson goes tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The rest of Monday was just as busy, as I had two classes and then a Golden Key meeting. At the GK meeting, they asked me if I wanted to apply for an executive position and so I thought about it and you are now reading the blog of the GK's new Webmaster. I haven't decided if I am going to take the position or not but I think that I will as I think it would be fun to maintain the website and Facebook page. I just may need some computer training before I begin. I based my application on the fact that I want to help other members of GK be more informed about all of our activities and I hope that I will be able to do this as the Webmaster. So that will be a new and exciting role to take on. After the meeting, I went to the gym and then came home for dinner and to do some homework. It was a long 12 hour day away from home so I was happy to finally go to bed that night. 

Tuesday I got up and did a lot of homework before going for a swim at the gym. I stopped in to see a prof on my way to campus and made an appointment to meet with him again on Friday. I stopped in the SUB to sign up for some of the Mental Health and Wellness activities taking place on Friday, as it was Mental Health Awareness Week and a bunch of free activities were being offered to students and faculty. I signed up for bootcamp, yoga and a quinoa cooking session. After swimming, I went to my afternoon classes and then came home to do some homework and have dinner before heading to my night class. We had our first Reading Circle meeting and my group has decided to read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Matilda and Where the Wild Things Are. We will be doing our group presentation on Alice and we are really looking forward to it. We have named our group The Royal Croquet Committee and I am excited to see the direction our project will take. 

After class, I finalized my exchange application so that I could hand it in the next morning, which I did. So as of now, I have officially applied to study at the Université Francois Rabelais in Tours, France next year. I am still really undecided as to whether I will go for the year or just a semester because picking courses is super difficult so I will keep you updated on what I decide. Luckily, the exchange application process is the same for one or two semesters. After handing in my application and going to the gym, I went to my afternoon class and we watched School of Rock, which our teacher says is the Quebec curriculum in action. I think we may have to write a response on this. I really like the movie, though the one thing that bothers me is that a guy with no teaching experience just takes over the class as I feel it kind of undermines teachers in a way. But at the same time, it is just a movie and reminds us all that school should be fun. I hope that one day my students will be as engaged in my classes as the students are in the movie. (If you haven't seen it, go watch it. (It's often on the YTV kids network)

After class, my friend Amanda and I boarded a bus to head to Montreal because the time had arrived for my much-anticipated interview for Walt Disney World! We took the bus to the mall near Amanda's house where her parents picked us up and took us home for dinner. We had a pretty relaxing night, in order to prepare for our big day of interviews. I could hardly sleep I was so excited! We got up just before 7 to catch the bus downtown. Then, we had to take the metro to the Sheraton and for some reason, we just had really bad luck with the metro that morning. The first metro was really slow, making really long stops at each station. The second metro was so full that we didn't get on the first train and had to wait a super long time for the next one to come. Luckily, Amanda knew someone else at the interview and called her and had her tell the representatives that we were on our way. We got there just as the clock struck 9am and the presentation was about to begin. The presentation was really useful: it talked about the different jobs available, the living experience, the benefits of working there, what to do before arriving, the wages, etc. Essentially, the job would last from May to the first week of August and we would live in an apartment complex with other Disney workers. We would work between 30 and 45 hours a week for US minimum wage, different rates depending on the job. The most jobs are available in the quick service food and custodial sections, which are not really my top options but we will see what happens. After the presentation, the interviews began. Since our interview were not until 1:30, Amanda and I hung around in the Sheraton lobby, doing our homework and then we went out for lunch. Then we came back to be interviewed. There were 3 Disney representatives there, but we were only interviewed by one. My interviewer asked me about myself, my work experiences and how they would transfer to Disney, why I applied for the positions that I did and why I would be an asset to the Disney company. I talked about my work as a counsellor and in retail, as lifeguard and retail and restaurant hostessing are my top interest areas. I think that it went really well! We hear back before the end of the month, so again keep your fingers crossed for me!

Hoping my interview was magical! 

After my interview, I made a stop at the Montreal David's Tea and then caught the bus back home. I made a quick stop at my house before heading to campus to work. It was a pretty quiet night in Mackinnon, but Hannah and Jocelyn came by to hang out with me and some of my residents, so it was nice to have some company. Vicki was there for the last hour so I was luckily never alone or I may have fallen asleep! Amanda Beker let me stay over in her room which was also really nice so I didn't have to walk home at 4am! However, I still did have to get up early as Jocelyn and I had signed up for 8am bootcamp the next morning!

I got up and dragged myself to meet Jocelyn at the gym only to find no instructor there! I got an email about an hour later saying the class had been cancelled due to low enrolment. It would have been nice to have known that earlier but we stayed and worked out anyway so at least we were up and moving (though I was not moving much on only 4 hours of sleep). We then came home and cleaned our house a bit and then I went back to campus for my quinoa session. Only 4 people showed up, which ended up working to our advantage because we got to take all of the leftovers home! We made a hot quinoa stir fry type dish and two different salads - one with chick peas and a red wine vinegar dressing and one oriental salad, with sunflower seeds, tomatoes and a soya sauce dressing. They were all amazing! And now the two salads are in my fridge to feed me for the rest of the week! I put the recipe for the oriental quinoa salad on my Pinterest board, which you can check out here: 

Oriental Quinoa salad! 

After the quinoa session, I met with my prof to help me pick my courses for next year. For three of the courses I want to take, I need to pass a test with a certain level of French, so my prof is going to give me a placement test to see if I am at the required level. Also, it was great to learn that they have reworked the French program here so now all 3 of the French courses I have taken count towards my minor as opposed to just two. I also learned that 2 ECTS credits (credits in France) equal 1 Bishop's credit so that really helped me with figuring out courses. I have a pretty good list so far but have not been able to find the schedule which makes it hard to determine if I will be able to take all the courses I have selected, so more research is required. After that meeting, I went to another meeting with Recruitment as I was volunteering with them the next day and we were running through the itinerary for the day. Following that, Elizabeth (and Taylor, our chauffeur) came down to meet me to pick up our billet students. This weekend, Bishop's hosted a debate tournament as part of our Up for Debate weekend and we offered up our house to visiting students. We hosted two boys from Mount Allison named Clay and Liam. They got here around 4pm on Friday and Taylor was kind enough to give us all a ride to our house. After settling them in here, the 4 of us went to the weekend welcome dinner in the Cleghorn room on campus. The dinner was really nice and we got to meet some of the other students who were here for the weekend and enjoy a catered meal. After the dinner, there was a special lecture from our principal's cousin, Dr. David Goldbloom in Centennial Theatre. Elizabeth and I both went and took our billet boys as well. The talk was pretty interesting, though I have to admit that my lack of sleep did hit me and I may not have been fully awake for the entire presentation. Unfortunately, I was also sitting in the front row so my nap did not go unnoticed. Oops.

Following the lecture, we came home and introduced our boys to Hannah and Jocelyn who had just gotten back from a class trip to a monastery and later to Sarah who had been on a class trip to Quebec City. We all had an early night as the boys had to get up for the debate tournament and Hannah and I were volunteering early in the morning. Hannah was nice enough to get up and walk the boys to campus so that I could go for a run before our busy day. It was such a beautiful morning - the perfect winter running weather. I feel the need to mention that I was sporting all of my new lululemon winter running gear and felt that lululemon might want to put a pic of me on their website as their Lennoxville lulu model. Anyway, after my run, I showered and went down to campus to start volunteering. We were hosting a group of CEGEP and high school students for the day, and we took them to the student debate tournament in the morning and the U4 Symposium talks in the afternoon. I was lucky enough to get to attend the debate that our billet boys were in and my friend from my class was in. They were debating over parents having the right to pull their children our of classes on Darwin's theory of evolution. Though my personal belief is that no they should not be able to do so, the other side of the argument (the boys) were the debate champions. Following that, we went to the championship debate round, which ended up being the two St. FX teams, arguing about Bill 60 of the Charter of Values in Quebec. It was a great debate!! The students did such a good job and I was so impressed! Again, my personal belief is that people should be able to wear whatever they want to their jobs in the public sector but the debaters arguing for the Bill were the champions. 

Following the debate tournament, we took our group of students to Dewies for lunch and then we had a presentation on leadership from a BU professor, Dr. Michael Teed. His wife was expecting twins at any moment so we did not know if we would make it through the presentation, but I am happy to report that we did. He was saying that he wants to name his kids "Garren" and "Warren" Teed. Get it? After that, we took the students to the second half of the U4 Symposium, which was a set of TEDx inspired talks. We heard talks on meditation, perfectionism and depression (which I found super interesting), Ancient Greek literature, and Shakespeare and madness. All were really well done. I was sad to not see the first half of the talks so I will have to look them up online later, in my spare time (<- that's a joke, since I do not have spare time). Following the symposium, Hannah and I bid farewell to the group and met up with our other housemates to attend a formal supper in Cleghorn for all of the visiting guests. We received the invite for hosting visiting students and we were more than happy to attend. It was assigned seating at this dinner and I was at a table with my housemate Sarah, a student from Acadia, two students from St. FX, a prof from one of the U4 schools and Dr. David Goldbloom. We had some nice conversations over a really good meal. It turned out that the girl from Acadia was actually from Waterdown, which is super close to Ancaster so that was kind of cool. 

Hannah and I in are matching BU gear! 

Following the dinner, we came home for a bit before heading over to one of the other billet apartments where there was a party for all of the visiting students. Sarah and I went with our boys to the party which ended up being pretty fun. It was interesting though when all of the visiting students wanted to head to the bar before midnight, which doesn't usually happen here. It turns out that their bars at school close at 2 whereas ours close at 3 so people don't head out until 12:30. Nonetheless, they all decided to hit up the Lion, so I decided to go visit my friends at an apartment close by. When I started falling asleep on their couch, I knew it was time to come home. Just as I was falling asleep, our billet boys came through the door, so I was happy that they made it home safely. 

We had to get up super early this morning to take our boys to breakfast at Dewies for 8 to catch their bus at 9. After saying goodbye to them and all of their friends, my housemates and I spent the rest of the morning eating and studying in Dewies. Apparently, we overstayed our welcome as at around noon, the supervisor came over and kicked us out. She was quite forceful so we quickly got out of there! I then came home to grab my skates and met some of my residents at the arena, as I could not recruit any of my housemates to come with me to the free skating. It was still a lot of fun, as the Mack boys are really, really great. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the library, planning lessons and doing some readings before heading home for more homework and dinner. And as soon as I finish this, there is more homework calling my name and then I will hit the hay to rest up for practicum in the morning. 

Lesson Planning! 

So looking ahead, this week will be busy too, as it is now February and that means I've got to start working on my end-of-term projects. But I am super looking forward to Thursday as the Olympics are starting!! I was watching the arrival of athletes in Sochi on the news today in Dewies. I cannot wait!! I've got all of my Olympic gear ready to go! Oh yes, and in the world of my virtual child, Bridgette is now 6 years old and has a new baby sister named Annie. Virtual Child is definitely my favourite project so far. Anyway, that's all I've got for now, so I wish you all a wonderful week and a wonderful month of February! 

All my love, Erica xoxoxoxoxoxo

PS Congratulations to my former skating team Nexxice Intermediate who took home the gold at Regionals this weekend! You have no idea how proud I am! I cannot wait to watch the livestream of Nationals, though I will be experiencing extreme jealousy when you are all out in BC!

PPS Lauren, I hope you had a wonderful sweet sixteen birthday weekend! Wish I could have been there!! Your dress and cake were beautiful!