End of Classes, Time for the Teaching World

Hello from a very snowy Lennoxville and Happy Reading Week to all my fellow Gaiters! For those of you who have already left town, I hope you’ve found a little more sunshine and a little more grass - unless of course you are skiing, then I hope the snow found you, too! As for me, my last housemate just left town so I have the house all to myself until I leave for Boston on Wednesday!

So much has happened since I last posted - from Fashion Show to being interviewed for the local paper to ending my classes for the term! It’s incredible how much goes on in just two weeks. The jam-packed schedule may explain why I have yet to do some much needed preparation for my practicum which begins after Reading Week, which is why I have scheduled the next three days to plan. But before I share what I will be doing, let me tell you what I have done in the past two weeks.

First off was the annual school Fashion Show which happened on Saturday, February 13th. As I think I mentioned before, my group of friends bought VIP tickets this year, meaning we had seats beside the stage, received the Bishop’s version of a Disney fast pass to the front of all lines, got free drink tickets and got VIP gift bags. We bought 15 of the 20 seats in one of the sections. It was so, so, so much fun! We all got together beforehand and then took cabs to the show, as it was one of the coldest weekends we have had this winter, arriving just in time for the show to begin. The girls from my house all showed up with whiteboards; earlier in the day, we had the idea to write “scores” for the models, so we each brought a dry erase board to write messages for the models. Don’t worry - we were very nice judges (#PaulaAbdul). The show was a lot of fun - exactly the kind of event I like, where everyone dresses up and goes out together. Following the show, we went to our friends Matt and Sarah’s apartment where we used the free pizza coupons included in our gift bags to order pizza to go along with our wine, before heading to the after party at the Gait. All in all, it was a great final fashion show and certainly a night to remember.

On Saturday, Gavin took me out for dinner for Valentine’s Day. We went to a restaurant in Magog called Le Farandol. We had a table overlooking the water, which made for a beautiful backdrop for the evening.  The restaurant was small, with only about 8 other couples there, so we got to meet the chef, who was from France, and the chef’s wife, who was from Niagara, Ontario, which is really close to my hometown. The food was delicious. I had the mahi mahi and Gavin had duck, and we split the chocolate mousse for dessert. Before the restaurant was there, it used to be a bakery and the restaurant still serves the bread from the bakery, which is still operating in town. We had bread with dinner and received a loaf to take home. So thanks to Gavin for spoiling me this Valentine’s Day.

The following week was a busy one at school, with assignments, projects and presentations due each day. It was Jocelyn’s birthday on the Wednesday, so we surprised her after Phil took her out for dinner by meeting her at Boquébière, a microbrewery in Sherbrooke. On Thursday, Vicki and I treated ourselves to a trip to the movie theatre to finally see How to Be Single on the day it came out in English. We were a bit sneaky and brought a tub of Ben and Jerry’s in with us, but it was worth it. The movie was hilarious and everyone in the theatre could tell how funny we thought it was because we definitely laughed the loudest the entire time. It was a great way to end a busy, stressful week,

Happy 22nd Birthday, Jocelyn! 

On the Friday, Vicki and I had our wine and whine and watched Couples Retreat, which was also hilarious. On Saturday, a big group of us went to the Gaiters last home basketball game against the Concordia Stingers. The Gaiters finally took the lead in the last quarter and then the fire alarm was pulled so we all had to evacuate the gym!! The Sherbrooke firefighters had to come and make sure it was just a false alarm before we could go back in. Luckily, everything was ok and the Gaiters were still victorious, despite the brief interruption.

Sunday, Gavin and I went on a date to Costco, and by that I mean, we actually went to walk around and eat free samples with no intention of making any purchases. We then walked around Vieux Sherbrooke and along the river for a little while and went to a café for coffee. A Sunday afternoon well spent. I went to Vicki’s later that night to work on a project, but we ended up streaming the Grammy’s instead. Watching Justin Bieber perform made me so excited for the concert in May!! Less than 3 months to go!

On Monday, our regular 3 hour class was shortened to 1 hour, so Vicki and I went straight from class to Jay Peak to spend the day skiing. I am so glad we did, because it was the best skiing we have had all winter! The mountain was finally 100% open and fully covered in snow! It was the Vermont March Break and also Mardi Gras week so the mountain was full of people, as well. It was hard to convince ourselves to come home and not stay for the après ski party!

Tuesday I had my mock parent-teacher interview, with me as the teacher and my professor as the parent, discussing the student I worked with at Lennoxville Elementary. It was a nerve-wracking experience but great practice for my future career. My professor was a very kind parent, which made the interview easier. It was incredible how much I had to say about my student after only working with him three times. Imagine how much I will have to say about students I see everyday for a full year. I can’t wait. Hopefully, majority of parents will be like my professor.

That night, Hannah and I made veggie burgers together based on a recipe from the Minimalist Baker. While they did not turn out exactly like the pictures on the blog, they were still delicious. They were sweet potato black bean burgers. The recipe yield was 12 burgers and we were originally going to half the recipe, but thank goodness we did not! We froze the extras so we can relive the experience another time. For anyone interested, here is the link: http://minimalistbaker.com/sweet-potato-black-bean-burger/

On Wednesday, the Golden Key had our second annual Tea with Principal Goldbloom. This event was extremely successful last year, so we organised it again and it went really well. The event started with a tea and finger foods with the principal and his wife, and then a question and conversation period with just Principal Goldbloom. Our principal is such an interesting person and has had so many different experiences in his work and personal life, so he has a wealth of stories to share. He talked about everything from meeting Bill Clinton to the books he is reading to the work he is doing at the university. The event ran an hour longer than planned but I hope everyone had as good a time as I did and that the event continues in the coming years.

Thursday was a big work day, with homework all morning and studying for my exam all afternoon and evening. I had a bit of a solo study party going in my room, with two printers hooked up, papers and books everywhere and a glass of wine and bowl of popcorn to keep me fuelled. My hard work paid off, as I think my exam on Friday went really well. That night, I went to the Transformative Praxis Malawi Live Art Show fundraiser. I did not really know what to expect, but the event was awesome! Essentially how it worked was there were artists set up around the perimeter of the Gait working on a piece of art and guests went around to bid on the painting they wanted to take home. When the event started at 7pm, all of the canvases were blank. By 10:30pm, the paintings were finished. It was incredible to watch the artwork come together. We have some truly talented artists in our school and local community. The fundraiser was a huge success, raising over $3500 for the school being built in Malawi.

Saturday, I took a total rest day for myself and did no work except plan my trip to Boston. I found a great new website called Tripomatic that helps plan your trip itinerary. Essentially, you put in where you are going and the days you will be there and a map comes up with the popular tourist destinations in the area. Then, you can select the destinations you want to visit and add your own custom places and addresses and slot them in to the days you want to go there. It is extremely useful for seeing which places are near each other and can be visited on the same day. I hope Gavin is ready for 4 very full, exciting days. I also cannot wait to see my cousin, aunt and uncle while we are down there, and see my cousin’s campus. Just 3 more sleeps!!!

Saturday night, Jocelyn, Vicki, Tara (Vicki’s roommate) and I went to Espace 100 Noms, the by-donation vegan restaurant in town for their Soirée sushi. We had all been craving sushi, so the event could not have come at a better time. It was a three course meal, starting with a miso soup, followed by a salad and different kinds of sushi rolls, and ending with a lycée and mango sorbet. It was delicious! I am so glad I discovered this little restaurant - they never disappoint. Following sushi, Jocelyn and I watched the Bachelor, and we are now finally caught up with the season.

Today, I actually need to start planning my lessons for my practicum. In just one week, I will be starting my 6 week placement at Ayer’s Cliff Elementary in my grade 4 class. My primary focus will be teaching narrative writing, but I will hopefully have the chance to teach in many different subject areas. I am beyond excited!! I am hoping to pick up some new books in Boston to share with my students. I have to admit, I have started following a lot of teacher blogs recently, so who knows - maybe this blog will shift in that direction as I shift on to my future career path. I’ll give it a trial run over the next 6 weeks.

So that just about covers the past two weeks in my life. Oh, however I did mention that I got interviewed by the local paper, so I have included a photo of the article below. The Golden Key is doing a book drive in town, so Simone and I were interviewed by the Sherbrooke Record and the article was published on Monday. It brought our book drive great publicity and our donation boxes are filling up! Hopefully, we will be buried under books at the end of the drive!

That’s all from me for now! Happy Sunday everyone and have a great coming week! Next time you hear from me, hopefully I’ll have some great Boston stories and photos to share!

All my love,

Erica xoxoxo

Pre-Fashion Show Catch-Up: Winterfest and Up for Debate

Good morning everyone and Happy Galentine’s Day! Yes, that’s right, I said Galentine, which is a day for celebrating with your best girlfriends! I’m fortunate to have so many girlfriends, here in Lennoxville, back in Ancaster and all around the world, and I am thankful for everyone of them. What better way to celebrate than by having brunch with my best girlfriends here at school and then going to the annual school Fashion Show?!

So since you heard from me last, winter has returned to Lennoxville. And by that I mean, Vicki and I chose not to go skiing today because it was going to be a low of -33’C at the bottom of the mountain – THE BOTTOM! Since we were not really in the mood for frostbite, we decided to wait until it (hopefully) gets a little warmer. However cold weather will be good for the mountain to help the snow stay and cover up the bare spots that returned during the warm spell we had a few weeks ago.

The highlight to the end of January was definitely my sister coming to visit me. She came to visit over Winterfest Weekend and we had an absolute blast! She flew in on the Friday night, getting here with enough time left in the evening for a sister movie night. We fell asleep watching Pitch Perfect 2. Saturday, she had her first sleep-in of 2016, sleeping right until our friends starting arriving for brunch. Brunch was a great way to start of the day – we had quiche, croissants, mimosas, boozy fruit – DELICIOUS. It got a little bit crazy though when we started getting into our ski suits, courtesy of my granny. Correction, my housemates got into their ski suits with bathing suits underneath for a quick photoshoot before going to campus. I thought it might overwhelm Lauren a bit but she said to me, “this makes me so excited for university.” So I guess it was the right amount of fun! Following the photoshoot, I put on my pink ski oneside and we headed to campus for Rail Jam. Either it was not as cold as previous years or my ski suit was very well insulated, because I was the perfect temperature all afternoon. We ran into Gavin and Chuck there, which was nice for Lauren to see some familiar Wenonah faces. We watched the snowboard and ski competition, bought drinks at the ice bar, ate pizza, gave Lauren a tour of a residence (NoPo) and danced in the heated DJ tent. It was so much fun to have my sister in tow! Everyone kept asking her if she was going to be at Bishop’s in the fall, to which she responded no. I told her to lie so that I wouldn’t be shamed for not convincing her that there is no better choice than Bishop’s. Regardless, it was a great day at Bishop’s University!

After the Rail Jam, Gavin, Lauren and I went back home for a snack and a rest before the basketball game. Vicki and I attended a sushi workshop the day before, so I saved my rolls to share with my guests. They were delicious! We watched the rest of our movie, took a quick nap and then went to watch the Gaiter’s basketball game. It was a great game to attend because it was part of the NBA All-Star tour across Canada, so there was a competition at halftime for tickets to the All-Star game in Toronto. NBA Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo was in attendance to help crown the contest winner, and the Brooklyn Nets dance team performed between quarters. The stands were packed and though the Gaiters were not victorious, it was a great basketball game.

Following the game, we went to Vicki’s apartment before we took Lauren to the Gait. Much to Lauren’s dismay, Lennoxville does not have much of a “club scene” so I took her to the closest equivalent – the campus bar. It was packed with people to give Lauren the full student bar experience. Upon arrival, we went straight to the bar so Lauren could order her first legal drink (and treat her big sister). We then spent the rest of the night dancing to the guest DJ before coming home to bed at 3:30 in the morning.

 

Lauren’s first bar purchase!

It was a rough wake-up at 6:30 on Sunday morning but I am happy to say that I got Lauren on her 7am bus back to Montreal. She called me in a panic from the airport because she could not find her driver’s license – she had dropped it at the Gait so I rescued it from campus security. They tried to tell me I could not pick it up for her because she had to come in person, but after proving that we were in fact related, and saying she was on a plane back to Ontario, they gave in and let me take it. Classic night at the bar. Luckily, Lauren had other ID so she was able to fly home and make it to cheerleading. It was a short but sweet weekend, and really, if she could only stay for a day, she chose the perfect winter day to come. Now I just have to wait 3 years before I can take her to the States!

The following week flew by way too fast. We had our Students’ Representatives Council elections, this year electing only 3 executives, instead of the usual 4. It was also Eco-Week on campus and there was the first Bishop’s Bazaar, featuring local vendors who make their own products. I bought a mint honey from a local beekeeper and it is too delicious for words! I eat it every morning on my oatmeal and fruit. On Thursday, we had an informal class meeting at the Lion and then the Golden Key Exec had a social at happy hour to get to know the new officers. We have five returning officers from last semester and five new additions. We had a good turnout and a lot of sangria – the perfect combination for a great night. Myself and two other officers stayed until the end, which was not the greatest decision since I had 8:30 class the next morning, but after a pit stop on the way home for a McFlurry, I was good to go. 

POST-BRUNCH CONTINUATION:

Last weekend was the annual U4 Up for Debate Weekend, but this year was renamed the U4 Weekend Conference, as a business school case competition and associated workshops were added to the debate tournament and TEDx Talks. The theme for the weekend was “Global Citizenship.” Each U4 school brought a debate team and a case competition team. Additionally, there was the Quebec Model United Nations conference on the Saturday, with all the Model United Nations classes from universities around the province, making Lennoxville a popular place to be. We hosted the Mount Allison debate team of 4 boys for the weekend and they were a lot of fun. We got to go to the opening dinner on Friday with the other debate teams and invited faculty and then went to a see a panel and guest speaker on social justice and human rights. The panel featured a student refugee sponsor from Rwanda, a professor studying international conflicts and peacekeeping relations and the leader of the Sherbrooke Amnesty International chapter. The guest speaker was Dennis Edney, the Canadian lawyer for Omar Khadr, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner. It was a very hard series of speakers to listen to.

On the Saturday afternoon, I went to the TEDxBishopsU talk series. There were 6 speakers, 3 of whom were from Bishop’s. Dr. Murray, the Dean of Arts and Science and faculty advisor for Golden Key, talked about how studying religion is a gateway to understanding the world; Heather Thompson, the campus Chaplain spoke about her work as leader of the refugee student sponsorship group; and my friend and SRC President Matthew Robinson, spoke about how university doesn’t just prepare you for real life, it is real life. All were very interesting and extremely well done. Following that, there was a 3-course dinner for the debate teams, the case competition teams, the speakers and the billets, followed by a debate by the university debate team coaches, and 3 rounds of Guess Who, where panels of students and professors try to guess a mystery celebrity guess on a Skype screen behind them by asking yes and no questions, a spin-off of the former show Front Page Challenge. The celebrity guests were: former Habs player Georges Laraque, a Canadian Red Cross leader and CBC radio host Michael Enright. Following the event, we ended uo hosting the after party, and 27 WP hosted its first and final frat boy party.

On Sunday, Vicki and I went skiing at Jay Peak and it was an absolutely beautiful day. We got a bit of a late start but stayed until the chair lifts stopped running. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up only-available-in-the-US Ben and Jerry’s cookie core ice cream. I was then confined to my study cave for the rest of the night to finish an assignment, emerging for half an hour to watch the Super Bowl halftime show.

Monday was an exciting day because it was the 100-days old celebration for the baby panda cubs at the Toronto Zoo, which by ancient tradition, marks the day they are named. The Toronto Zoo is having an online vote regarding their names – if you haven’t voted yet, here is the link: http://www.torontozoo.com/GiantPandaCubs/. I voted for the last option, Toronto Treasure and Canadian Treasure, I think. I can’t wait to see the results!

Tuesday, I had a meeting with my old boss Chantal to discuss the blog channel. Honestly, I have not had a lot of time to work on since it became a volunteer position, so I thought that in the meeting we were going to discuss shutting it down. HOWEVER, there is currently a social media campaign about to start and the team behind it wants the blog channel to be a component of the campaign, sooooo, the blog channel is going to be kept alive and guess who was hired to run it? It’s not much work but I am excited to be a part of the social media team again. I’ve missed my job so I am excited to work with Chantal and the communications department again. If you haven’t seen the latest post yet, written by special guest writer Alan Zucker, aka my father, here is a link: http://blog.ubishops.ca/blog/bu-a-parents-perspective/

On Wednesday, I got to go to Lennoxville Elementary one final time to work with my grade one student there. He had just returned from a trip to Cuba so was excited to tell me all about it. He got to lie on the beach, play in the sand and swim with dolphins! I was incredibly jealous. We had a great time doing the activities I had prepared and reading the book I had borrowed from my professor. It was sad to say goodbye at the end (for me) but it was a great learning experience and I learned so much from my little guy.

On Thursday, Vicki, Sara, Gaby, Sarah and I went to a little place on Queen Street called “Espace 100 Noms” (Translated from French it means either Space without a name/Space of 100 names, a little play on words). I recently learned that the place runs a vegan restaurant for dinner throughout the week and it is by donation. I had seen an event page on Facebook advertising an Indian supper, so invited my friends to come and we made a dinner date out of it. We had not known that you needed to make a reservation in advance, so unfortunately when we arrived there were no tables left so we ate our samosas at a table on the floor. However, right before our main course came out, a table emptied and we were upgraded to chairs to enjoy chana masala, naan bread and rice, followed by rice pudding and banana ice cream for dessert. It was incredible! Great food, a really cool atmosphere and friendly people. They are hosting a veggie burger night on Tuesday, so I think we might go again.

Following dinner, Gavin and I went to the mall to get him an outfit for Fashion Show. We were successful, including finding a tie for $10 that was regularly $50. For a second deal of the night, I got a free tea at David’s Tea. All in all, a successful shopping trip. He then came back to my place and we searched AirBnB to find a place to say in Boston and I think we have picked a winner. We are going to spend Wednesday to Friday of our reading week in Boston, visiting my cousin who is on exchange from Scotland at University of Massachusetts – Boston. We are so excited!

Friday, following free supper, Vicki and I had a girls’ night, drinking wine, baking and watching Bridesmaids. She helped me make my Valentine’s gift for a certain someone, so I cannot say what it yet in case he reads this! He’s going to love it (I hope). I have to give credit to his roommate Chuck who inspired the idea behind the present. We originally planned on going to see How to be Single, but it does not come out in English in Quebec until next week. Movie date postponed. We then ate our ice cream that we had purchased last weekend, finished our wine and laughed until we cried. Bridesmaids never gets old.

So I’m now going to brave the cold and try to go for a run in order to digest some of the food I consumed at brunch. Fashion Show preparation begins at 5:00 sharp and I have to stop eating my Valentine’s Day chocolate if I plan on fitting into my dress later. (Thanks to my mom for the Walker’s Chocolate and candy corn – my two favourites!). We’re sitting in the VIP section this year, right beside the stage, 15 of us altogether. It’s going to be a blast! Then tomorrow, there’s a surprise planned for me so I’ll report back on what it is. Stayed tuned for photos of the 27 WP girls dressed up for one final Fashion Show!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Love, Erica

P.S. Happy Birthday to my step-mom Terri two days in advance and congratulations to my step-brother Tyler who just got hired to follow in my footsteps and work as a lifeguard in Walt Disney World this summer! I could not be more proud!! (and jealous)!  

Valentine’s of Years Past: