Blogs from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, North America - page 30

I arrived in Ottawa about a week before uni started so i could sort out my units and settle myself into residence life and the study that would necessarily follow. When i arrived the weather was absolutely beautiful - hot, sunny and a lot like the Perth summer that seemed so long ago. Considering our flight from Vancouver left at 11:30am, the duration being around 5hrs and Ottawa being a few hours ahead of time, I arrived in Ottawa airport at about 7:30pm. I was contemplating taking a taxi to residence but the sun was still out. Instead i dragged my luggage onto the bus and took the OC to campus (the transport system in Ottawa is called OC Transport hahah). Just a friendly side note, the bus system is nuts here - in some parts ... read more

Wow almost 4 years have passed since I've last lived in Canada. I can't explain how amazing this experience has been. I loved every minute of it and would do it all over again, exactly the same way (maybe I would extend though.. ;o) I've been back home now for almost 2 months. It is hard to be here & to re-adapt and at times depressing, but it's all worth it in the end when you get to see your family & friends. You come to realise that home is home, it is where you were born, where you lived most your life, this is where your roots are. But sometimes you realise that even though your roots are there, you've grown to be somewhere else, somewhere different. Where that is who knows.. Some day we'll ... read more

Avec mon sac a dos : 15 kgs C'est partis !!!Samedi 14 juillet... Voila une belle facon de feter la fete nationale francaise... en partant a l'aventure ! 2 heures 30 de bus et nous voici dans la capitale. Youri, mon meilleur ami et coloc, n'a pas voulu se debarasser de moi aussi facilement et il a decide de m'accompagner jusque la. Il repartira vers Montreal dimanche soir, tandis que moi je reprendrai le bus lundi matin pour Calgary... seule cette fois-ci. Mais, pour l'instant, nous n'en sommes pas encore la. Directement, nous allons a l'auberge de jeunesse pour deposer nos sacs. L'auberge est en fait une ancienne prison (Ottawa Jail Hostel) avec ses cachots, ses cellules, son couloir de la mort et ... son peloton d'execution... Une rumeur dit que les esprits des condamnes ... read more

Today we took a tour of Ottawa's Parliament building. The building was created in the gothic style and incorporates a lot of very interesting architecture. (Sorry...still no pictures.) The most interesting part of the day was listening to a presentation by Amelita Armit. Ms. Armit is the Vice President of the Programs of the Parliamentary Centre. She has lived in Canada, in the Phillippines, and in the U.S. and has participated in the Canadian government as an Assistant Deputy Minister in Alberta. Ms. Armit basically gave an overview of the Canadian government, while contrasting it with the U.S. system. She also addressed many current issues and challenges in Canada. Canada is a representative democracy, but their governing system is different than the U.S. It is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II serving as head of ... read more

Bratty Comment of the Day: I'm not used to eating this much. I rarely eat breakfast at home. These days I'm eating a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As our Southern group member said "I'm just stuffed to the gills". After another big breakfast at the Phi Restaurant we took a cab up to the Museum of Civilization. We spent a good hour looking at historical artifacts from the First Nations. They had an amazing display of totem poles and the homes of the First Nations. It was a lot of great information. Third grade teachers, I have a lot of great pictures for our storytelling unit! We continued on through the museum and got a Disneyland-esque tour of Canadian history. Everything had a display with characters similar to those in Pirates of the Caribbean. I ... read more