Octobrrrrrrrr

Hi there everyone! I just finished up watching the live stream of Gordon Downie's The Secret Path on CBC, and wow, was it moving. It was the story of Chanie Wenjack, a young boy who was taken from his family and forced into residential school, and then died after he escaped and was trying to walk back to his family. I watched it with my roommate Nicole, and if you did not tune in, I highly suggest finding a time to watch it. What a powerful story.

So October has flown by, as predicted. The fall semester always faster than the winter semester, at least in my opinion anyway. This month has been non-stop, with many early mornings, late nights and jam-packed days. Despite wishing for a tad more sleep and maybe a bit more time to watch Netflix, I cannot complain. Here's a little overview of the past 3 weeks: 

My family made it up to Ottawa and the Panda Game was a great time! There were over 23, 000 people there! We sat in the front row of the stadium with all the uOttawa students behind us. It was certainly a different experience to view students at football games from the perspective of a family watching the game, meaning I felt the need to cover my younger cousin's ears every time the students opened their mouths to chant! Preparing her for university, I guess? Hopefully she didn't walk away too scarred. After the game, we went for gelato and then everyone came back to my cousins' house for dinner. My immediate family stayed at a hotel in town, so they stopped in to say goodbye on Sunday morning as they traveled to Kingston to visit Lauren and I stayed in Ottawa until the afternoon. I can't thank my aunt, uncle and cousins enough for their hospitality! Now I just  need to find an excuse to go back!

The first week of October was a busy one! I think I mentioned in a previous post that one of my classes involves groups planning experiential learning trips for our class, and we had two trips that week. The first one was to the "back of Bishop's campus," where I learned there is literally a whole other world of fields, a pond, a stream, a forest, etc. Fittingly, their trip was focused on returning to  nature and the land. We played drama games, built fires, found poison ivy and did the blanket simulation, a dispossession simulation about the loss of Indigenous land during colonization. It was really well done. On the Wednesday, we went to a girl in my class' family fruit orchard, where we picked apples, learned about pesticides, counted Christmas trees and made applesauce! On Thursday, as a part of my science class, we also went on a nature walk around campus and along the river to test out different outdoor investigations we can do with elementary students. When we started doing tree dates, I felt like I was back at camp! All in all, a great week of outings.

That Friday, I flew to Winnipeg to spend Thanksgiving at my grandparents' house. I arrived before everyone else so got to go for dinner with my grandparents to their golf club for a Thanksgiving buffet. We then picked my family, Gavin and Ron up at the airport later that night. Of course, my grandam, BB and I waited on the hug rug at the bottom of the escalator. My grandpa was too embarrassed by us, so he hid behind a pole. On Saturday, we went to a Blue Bombers football game altogether. We all thought that we were going to have a typical afternoon football game experience, but NO! My sneaky grandparents arranged a limo to take us to the game and then we watched the game from a private box, complete with a BBQ lunch, unlimited popcorn and drinks! We also had our own indoor and outdoor sections from which to watch the game. It was so much fun!! And so great to be able to go inside when it started to rain! So big thanks to Grandma and Grandpa! On Sunday, I went for a long run with Ron along the Assiniboine River and we had Thanksgiving dinner altogether that night. The turkey put me right to sleep, but everyone else stayed up to watch the baseball game and the debate. They filled me in in the morning. And then it was back to our respective homes on Monday! As quick as the time went by, and as cold as it was in Winnipeg, it was so nice to spend time with family and with Gavin. 

Happy Birthday Grandpa (and mom)!

Short weeks always throw me off and the following week was no exception. I had a midterm due Tuesday and then went on another class outing to Capleton Mines on Wednesday, an old mine from the mining days in the Eastern Townships. I had been there before with my Japanese students in second year, but it was still fun to go again and learn some more. It was still equally scary to try and find my way out when they turned the lights off at the end, to simulate when miners had to make a quick exit in the dark without their candles. Oh I forgot to mention that Gavin left on a road trip on the Tuesday and so I was living vicariously through him as he told me about his adventures in Jacques-Cartier, the national park we had visited over Labour Day. I spent most of the following weekend on a date with my computer doing homework, planning for my class trip on the coming Monday, getting readings done and trying to stay on top of my work. However, on Saturday, Vicki and I went into Sherbrooke (way to go us, escaping the bubble) to go to a bar. We went to one called Le Tapageur, which was a good choice, since we were on the market for sangria and they had 6 to choose from. We tried their speciality flavour of the month, limoncello sangria, and it was honestly some of the best sangria I have ever had. We could not stay out too late, as we had a group meeting at 8:30 the next morning and I had more marathon training to do. I asked Vicki to drop me off at the local high school running track and 30 minutes in, it started to POUR! I was drenched to the bone! So I called it quits and ran home for a long, hot shower.

Monday was a busy but GREAT day. My group took our class on our outing to a local bee farm in Stoke, the same one I visited back in September. The morning could not have gone better!!! We started with a bee-themed aerobics routine, led by Melanie, who is a former aerobics instructor. We then crowned as professor as the "Queen Bee" for the day with a crown made by Lisa and Emmy. We had a presentation and video with the owner of the farm, Richard, who is the most passionate beekeeper I have ever met. We then rotated through stations, visiting the human-size honey bee hive (station run by me), seeing the observation hive and learning about bees in their ecosystems. As a group, we had a presentation from Richard of an outdoor active hive - thank goodness it didn't rain so the presentation was able to go on!! Then we rotated through 3 more stations, where students pollinated flowers, built bee safe havens and had a chance to visit the gift shop. We ended with a group debrief and a huge sigh of relief. We felt both proud and ready for a nap!

On Wednesday, we had the Golden Key information session, which went really well, though not as good a turnout as last year. I suspect it was because we did not do a draw for a free membership this year. Next year's committee, take note. However, we had about 30 people which was just fine and it was great to get up and talk about the society that has really shaped me as a leader in the academic community at Bishop's and played a huge role in my experience at BU. It was also great to hear that many of the students in attendance were interested in joining. I can't wait to see them all at our new member recognition dinner in November!

Thursday was another busy day, with class and group meetings in the morning, free soup lunch at St. George's church (delicious as always) and a trip the Sherbrooke Science and Nature Museum. The museum was awesome - we got to go into their collection of taxidermied animals, which has over 65 000 pieces. We saw their permanent exhibit on animals, called AlterAnima, and their special exhibit on vaccines and got to watch an interactive video. We also received an overview of the programs they do for students at different grade levels. Definitely a great resource for schools in the area. Following the museum, Vicki and I went to the Donald Lecture featuring Maureen Dowd and Carl Hulse, two American journalists covering the US Election. They were funny, critical and insightful, providing an entertaining and informative overview of the presidential race. They had some great personal anecdotes from encounters with Donald Trump, and offered a great analysis of his top campaigning mechanism, Twitter. Vicki was cringing over the future of her country the entire time. 

On Friday, we had another outing, this time to a local organic farm, called Ferme Wera. There, we got to play in the vegetable fields, pack crates for shipping to grocery stores, and analyze where our food  and favourite recipes come from. While we were learning, one member of the group made a fresh pot of soup from vegetables on the farm that we got to enjoy at the end. They based their trip on the story Stone Soup, one of my favourite pieces of children's literature. We were then able to buy their vegetables at the end of the trip, so I came home with butternut squash some tasty cherry tomatoes. Friday was also a lovely evening, because Gavin and his road trip partner, Ben, stopped in on their way home from the East Coast. Boy, was I a happy camper on Friday. We had dinner altogether and they shared stories and photos from their road trip. I'd share a photo of Gavin with you here, but he returned with not one single photo of himself from the trip! They stayed over at my place Friday night. We went for a rainy walk around Lennoxville and campus, where Ben tried to join in with the Fall Open House. We then came back to my place for lunch before the boys headed back to Ontario. 

How many cinnamon sticks tall are you, Gavin?

It was not easy to say goodbye to Gavin again, but life must go on. Jocelyn's boyfriend Phil has also been away for the past week, so I went for a sangria and slumber party at her apartment and Sara joined us too. Unfortunately, we did not get to watch Ben and Lauren's Happily Ever After, so I guess we will have to have another sleepover. But we had plenty to talk about clearly, as before we knew it, it was 2am and time to crawl into bed. It had rained all day Saturday so we were hoping to wake up to a little sunshine but NOPE instead we woke up to snow! Winter has arrived in Lennoxville, folks! Or maybe, it's just fall's Halloween costume! Either way, the snow can hold off for a while, thank you very much. 

Yet, as many crazy runners do,  I found myself out running despite the snow flying around. I ran the farthest I have ever run in my life, 22km, and I ran it in 2 hours! I am officially ready for my marathon! Now, I am happy to announce that your dreams of seeing my and my 1000 closest friends run a half-marathon in full Santa Claus costume have come true!! I will be running the Boucherville half-marathon with my friends Sara and Emily on November 20th! If you would like to sponsor me and support me in my crazy endeavours here is the link: http://defidesperesnoel.org/profil-public.asp?i=110 It's Christmas everyone, be generous!! All funds raised go to the Pierre-Boucher Hospital Foundation.

And so here we are this evening, heading in to the last week of October and the week leading up to my final Halloweekend! Confirmed this evening, my best friend from home Alex will be coming to spend Halloweekend in Lennoxville, with his girl friend Kylie and best friend Graham! I can't wait to show them a true BU Halloweekend! Before we get there though, I have to get through this week. I have an outing to Bury tomorrow, find out my placement for January tomorrow and have a project presentation on Thursday! It's going to be another busy one, but I've only got 6 weeks of school left! Crazy! 

Throwback to Halloweekend 2013! 

Have a wonderful week everyone and a Happy Halloween! Can't wait to see how creative you get with your costumes!

All my love, 

Erica xoxoxoxoxoxo

P.S. Good luck to my brother at SOSSA cross country finals this week and good luck to my sister as she takes on her first set of university midterms!!!!

Happy Fall!

Hello from beautiful Ottawa everyone! I am here for the weekend to attend the “Panda Game,” which is the big football match-up between U Ottawa and Carleton, today at the TD Football stadium. I arrived on Thursday night and my family from Ancaster is coming up today so we can all watch Trevor, who plays for the U Ottawa Gee-Gees, in the big game. I have been staying with Zucker East, who have been simply the best hosts! There is nothing quite like a nice weekend with family when you are feeling bogged down by school work!

Photo from my experiential learning outing into Sherbrooke!

So not as much has happened since I wrote my last blog post, but September was a fantastic month and it flew by! Old traditions are back in place, new routines are starting to form and the semester is moving at a very quick pace. For example, I am again working with Golden Key and we are in the busy phase of recruiting new members and planning events for the fall semester, including: our information session, a school supply fundraiser and our new member dinner in November. We have a small but mighty committee and things are shaping up for a busy year for Golden Key members. I have taken on a “past president”-esque role, in which I do not exactly have a defined position but provide insight into how things have been done in the past to help out the new committee members. We are hoping to have our first executive social meeting sometime soon!

I also now officially have two jobs on campus this semester. I am a grader/teaching assistant for one of my professors and a note taker for the student accommodation services office. It makes my schedule slightly busier, but I can’t complain. As a future teacher, marking is actually something I enjoy doing and it never hurts to get paid to take notes in class. The extra income is also nice, especially as I prepare to move out of Lennoxville next semester (more details to come).

My classes are all going well, though to help you visualize how I feel right now, I offer you two metaphorical images. 1) For anyone who has taken swimming lessons, picture the typical “non-swimmer” of someone who appears to be climbing an invisible ladder to keep their head out of the water. 2) For a slightly nicer image, picture the quote about ducks – calm and collected at the water’s surface, but paddling like mad underneath. This is how I feel about trying to stay on top of my coursework demands. However, upon speaking with my peers, we all seem to be feeling a similar way. Graduates of the program have simply told us to hang in there. I do like most of my courses and the corresponding work. For example, in one class, we analyze case studies of different scenarios across Canada where teachers have been taken to court. While some of the cases have nearly scared me out of the profession, it is very informative for guiding my future career choices. For another course, Vicki and I are doing a research project on students who suffer concussions and then must return to school and how teachers can help with their transition back to learning, which is fascinating to research, especially after 2 of my close friends suffered concussions and had to transition back to school. Finally, one class is based on interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and in groups, we have to plan a field trip for the class. Thus, once to twice a week, we get to go on a field trip somewhere in the surrounding region.

In the second week of school, my former housemate Jen came to Lennoxville. We fortunately got to spend a good amount of time together while she was here. We also had our first B.Ed Elementary pre-Happy Hour potluck party. A bunch of us got together for a potluck dinner before all going to Happy Hour together, which was a lot of fun. A big thank you to Kirsten and Emily for having all of us over! On the Friday, Vicki and I went to the Lole Yoga tour, which was essentially a free yoga session in the campus Quad run by instructors from the Breathe studios in Magog and Sherbrooke. The Lole clothing store is sponsoring the tour, so all participants received a yoga matt and swag back. That Friday also saw the return of the free student dinners, which Vicki and I were more than happy to attend. Finally, on the Sunday, we went with our field trip team to visit La Miellerie Lune de Miel, a bee farm in Stoke, which is where we will run our field trip in a few weeks. It was very neat to learn how the keep the bees and how they make the different kinds of honey. Obviously, my favourite part was tasting the different honeys, everything from blueberry to dandelion honey! We are very excited to take our class there on October 17^th.

During the third week of school, we had our Education Wine and Cheese, which was ok, but they ran out of drink tickets and cheese before we arrived, which was quite the disappointment. It was still a nice social opportunity. The following day, I attended a BBQ at the Principal’s house, with other selected students, hosted by Principal Goldbloom and his wife, Fiona. We were supposed to eat in his backyard but it rained just as we were about to sit down so had to quickly shift to covered locations. It ended up working out, and was a great chance to meet some new faces on campus and chat with Principal Goldbloom and Fiona. I extend my thanks to them for welcoming me into their home.

That Wednesday, I went to see Bridget Jones’ Baby with Jocelyn and Sara. Oh my goodness, it was SO FUNNY! I think I laughed for the duration of the entire movie. If you haven’t gone to see it yet, you must, even if you have not seen the other movies! 2 hours of Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey and Renee Zellweger = priceless comedy. Then, Thursday, I attended a fantastic Truth and Reconciliation workshop put on by my friend and classmate, Celine, and then it was the start of Homecoming 2016! Elizabeth and Hannah came down for Happy Hour on Thursday, and my other alumni friends, Gaby, Matt and Julia, came down on Friday for the weekend! It felt just like old times having all my best friends back in Lennoxville. We all went to the rugby game on Friday, where the men’s team was victorious against Sherbrooke. To start Saturday off, we went to the Alumni Pancake Breakfast at the brand new Alumni House and watched the official ribbon cutting ceremony for the new building. Then, we went to the tailgate for the football game at Coulter Field and eventually went into the game. It was a nail-biter of a game, with the Bishop’s Gaiters trailing for most of the game, then scoring but not getting the points for a touchdown and then scoring a touchdown to take the lead in the final minutes of the game to eventually beat the St. Mary’s Huskies! We went to Dewies for dinner, had a party on a roof, and then ended the evening at the Gait. I had to lock myself in the library on Sunday as a result, but it was worth every second I got to spend with all my visiting friends!

Monday we had our first experiential learning trip in which we explored the St. Francis river in Sherbrooke. The group set up 4 different interdisciplinary stations: 1) We walked by the river and the hydroelectric dam that powers Hydro-Sherbrooke, 2) We read a passage from the book Ru by the riverside, 3) we went into the Museum of Natural Science’s Library of Objects to play with taxidermied animals, and 4) we went into the wigwam behind the museum. We ended with a group debrief in front of City Hall, a beautiful location to bring closure to a very well put together morning.

Tuesday, Vicki and I brought back an old tradition with a twist. We started having dinners together again but this time, after dinner we will commit to working on our research project on student with concussions each Tuesday. We have to do this because we wrote in our project proposal that we would. It’s also nice to not eat dinner alone some nights and to have someone else to cook for, other than me. It encourages me to step up my cooking game slightly. We had a very productive first study date, and will continue these in the weeks to come. Is it cheating if I prepare one of the frozen meals my mom made me for one of our dinners?

Wednesday and Thursday I worked incredibly hard to prepare to go away for the weekend. Up with the sun in the morning and asleep long after the sun went down at night, but it paid off to be able to spend a relaxing weekend here in Ottawa. I took off right after class on Thursday and was met by my uncle upon my late arrival. Friday, I went for a really nice run along the Greenbelt Pathway and then went downtown via the Canal Walkway to meet up with my friend Maggie who is in her first month of law school at U Ottawa. We went for sushi at Byward Market during her very short lunch break. I went for a quick shop at Rideau Canal then had to force myself to leave before spending my non-existent money. I had a great evening at home with my cousins, aunt, uncle and granny, who has just gotten her hip replaced and is on the mend her at Hopsital Zucker East. We took Archie for a walk, ate pizza, went for blizzards and then watched Dragon’s Den (while I did homework).

Today my family from Ancaster comes up and we will all meet up at the stadium for the big game! We are hoping Trevor will have a good amount of play time and help lead the Gee-Gees to victory. Regardless, it is supposed to be good weather this afternoon and should be a great day of football!  Let’s go, Gee-Gees! (A rare time you will hear me cheer for someone other than the Gaiters!)

Have a great first weekend of October everyone! Hope the fall is treating you well! And if you don’t here from me before it happens, have a great Thanksgiving weekend! I’ll be off to Winnipeg next Friday for another weekend adventure!

All my love,

Erica xoxoxoxoxo

P.S. Who knew I was quoted in the Bishop's Viewbook?!