UntitledBeautiful British Columbia is what the license plates read. And for good reason, this place is amazing. Vancouver is surrounded by ocean, mountains, and trees, and the people are all very active and spend a lot of time outside. The population is very racially and ethnically mixed, and 30% is Asian. In the morning we went to Dim Sum for brunch at a Chinese restaurant. If you have never been to Dim Sum you should go. The waiters and waitress come around non-stop with carts filled with different types of Chinese food, and all you do is choose and ea [View Full Entry]

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UntitledAfter waking up at 4:00 a.m. and heading to the airport to catch a 6:30 a.m. flight we arrived in Fort McMurray. Fort McMurray is a small town in northern Alberta which is the land of the oil sands. In summary, this area is the largest oil reserve in the world, bigger than Saudia Arabia. This means that a very high percentage of the oil used in the United States is coming from this very place. We went on a 3 hour bus tour of the oil sands to see the production of oil, which is extracted from the dirt, [View Full Entry]

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UntitledThis morning we went to the Doucette Center at the University of Calgary to meet with professors and teachers to learn about the education system of Alberta and the education program at the university. In Alberta there now seems to be a push towards inquiry-based learning. Through this method, all subjects are taught through thematic units in which science, social studies, language arts, and math are taught simultaneously. One of the interesting aspects was learning about an all girls’ schools where the entire faculty works across the grade le [View Full Entry]

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UntitledAfter a late night flight from Montreal we arrived in Calgary! We headed out in the morning for the Kananski Field Station which is located on the Rocky Mountains. The field station houses special enviornmental education programs for students and teachers which were described to us during a presentation. We met with current teachers studying there during lunch, and then we went hiking. We drove some ways and then some of us hiked to the top of a mountain. After our great hike we headed to the famous Calgary Stampede. (I'll be honest and admit I'd [View Full Entry]

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UntitledJuly 8th- This morning we were fortunate to meet with the author of 'The Hockey Sweater' Roch Carrier. He has not only written some of the most important literature he is quoted on the Canadian $5 dollar bill. He gave a great talk on culture and identity in Canada and joined us for lunch to continue our discussion. After lunch a few of us climbed Mont Real (Royal Mountain), the mountain which the city is named after. It was a great hike and at the end we found a park with hundreds of people sitting around listening to drummers and [View Full Entry]

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UntitledAfter breakfast we took a tour of Old Montreal where we learned the history of a very and architecture of the city. We then had lunch and headed straight to a meeting with local teachers. The meeting was great and a lot of information was shared about the school systems in Montreal. Since Montreal is in the Province of Quebec the school system is the same as Quebec City with the French school system and the English school system. After dinner we had dinner headed straight for the Montreal Jazz Festival. The Jazz Festival is an incredible music ev [View Full Entry]

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UntitledWell this morning we went on a tour of the Plains of Abraham, which was where the British defeated the French in Quebec, whereby changing the history of that area forever. It was interesting learning about the military movements and about a war that took 20 minutes. After lunch we headed for Montreal by bus. It was a beautiful drive and we saw a lot of the countryside of the province. Montreal...driving in was a big change from Quebec City. Montreal is a metropolitan with many skyscrapers. After arriving to our hotel we went to dinner at an excel [View Full Entry]

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UntitledSo I have come to somewhat understand the term Quebecois. Quebecois are the people, culture, history, language, food, art, architecture, and much more, which make up the province of Quebec. As some have said, like the professor who presented to the group today, Canada started here in Quebec. And while many may disagree with this statement, there is historical fact to support this idea. Moreover, I have truly seen the importance that language plays into maintaining a person(s) identity and culture. The people of this area do not maintain French as [View Full Entry]

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Quebec CityI woke up this morning at 6:45 and headed for the airport to fly from Ottawa to Quebec City. The plane I rode in was extremely small, and in fact was a propeller plane. After a noisy flight we arrived in Quebec City. We checked into our hotel and then had a guided tour of the city. Quebec City is like a town. The amazing part is I keep thinking I am in France. Everything is written in French, all of the people only speak French and all of the stores are in French. Much of the city dates [View Full Entry]

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UntitledSorry but I have to make this quick. Today I learned about the health care system first hand. Turns out I somehow have vertigo, which is some strange thing that makes me feel light headed and dizzy at times. The doctor says that I could have it from 2 to 3 weeks! I'm hoping it goes away by tomorrow. Although I missed a tour of the parliament house, I still made it to the Fulbright offices in Ottawa where we met with teachers and a superintendent of the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario. Here's an interesting fact- There [View Full Entry]

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