Recently PLP 9 traveled to Ottawa, the capital of Canada.
We were traveling to Ottawa to stay for a week at, Encounters With Canada. Encounters is a week long school away from home, where people from all over Canada, come to learn a specific thing. The week that PLP 9 went, it was Vimy week. Vimy week held a focus, on world war 1 and the battle of Vimy Ridge itself. Little did we know that this week would hold much more than just facts and story’s from years prior, but also our own new story’s, and new experiences!
We got the lucky chance to take a plane, instead of the PLP bus that is our chauffeur for a majority of the trips. We had DI on the day we were leaving for Ottawa, so we had to leave from the competition. (If you want to read about the competition its here) Our plane ride was 5 hours long, and I got to sit next to Luca J, and Isabelle, which was good because I have a hard time on planes. Which made the plane ride ten times worse when I realized that it was going to be quite turbulent. We made it through the plane ride, and arrived in ottawa at 3am. We didn’t check any luggage so packing was a little hard but it made it so much simpler when we got off the plane, and we were able to leave the airport almost immediately.
In the morning we woke up and realized we were at Encounters Canada. We would be spending the next week here.
In the morning we realized that we didn’t have anything planned for Sunday, so it was a relaxed day. We played cards, and monopoly, met new people from all around Canada, and at the end of the day we had an assembly shedding light on what we would be doing this whole week.
Since we went for the specific week about Vimy Ridge, the whole week was aimed to expand on our knowledge of the battle of Vimy, and this is where our week began.
Day 1
Wake up is at 7:30, I think, by some acoustic version of a 2003 pop song, or swan lake, (it just depended on the day.) You then have to rush to get to the bath room before all the other girls could get there, since the bedrooms had about 75 beds, and the bathrooms had 2 stalls. Breakfast was served downstairs, in the dining room, which was also the room where I met some of the people that I would never forget. PLP stayed tight for the first few days, not letting anyone in/out, but after a while, we split up, each of us making new friends.
Every kid had a name tag, on this name tag was your name, where you were from and your group number. I was in group number 5, which consisted of Luca J, Marshall, Kai, Logan, Lauren, and Maggie from PLP. The people in your group were the people you would travel with, and go on field trips with, during the days. Speaking of field trips, we had our first one, on Monday.
The Vimy Ridge memorial, for all of Canada, is in the Center of downtown Ottawa. The day that we went to go to this memorial, they were holding an actual ceremony at the memorial, which was very touching to watch. Many people from around Ottawa gather to participate in the ceremony, and so it felt special to be there. During the ceremony there was a man playing the bag pipes, another playing the trumpet, and we also go to witness a guard change.
We had workshops in the afternoon, one of which consisted of the biggest traveling map, in all of Canada. It was a map of Vimy Ridge, and I found this to be a cool and new experience, since we were able to walk all over the map, and learn new things about Vimy.
We spent the rest of the afternoon back at encounters, but when night rolled around, we got to go bowling. The best part of the bowling experience was going to Quebec to bowl. We crossed the river, and were greeted by a whole lot of french signs. The bowling was glow in the dark, bowling and I had a blast meeting new people!
Day 2
The mornings are the same each and every day. Swan lake or acoustic pop. Today was different though because we were going to the Canadian national war museum. Today was one of my favourite days. I absolutely love museums, and learning about all the cool artifacts, and interesting history, makes me really happy. We were welcomed by a well preformed skit from one of the tour guides, and after which, we were then split into groups, so that we could tour the museum. The museum was absolutely jam packed with amazing things. For example, we spent 6 hours there and still didn’t have the time to get to one of the floors, thats how much stuff there was!
We had lunch, and got to play around with a few things the museum had set aside for us. After we got our own free time to explore. We needed a interview for our book, so I got my interview, and headed on my own tour. On the ground floor I ran into a veteran, and we started talking, and by the time we were done I had to run upstairs to make sure I wasn’t going to miss the bus! This man had so much information, and so may stories to tell. Not specifically about war, but about his life, and he was very eager to share them with me. We talked about many different things such as, wells, war, love, peace, god, etc. At the end of our conversation he gave me this bible, and told me that he only brings one with him when he goes to the museum, and he only will give it away if he finds a kind, compassionate, person to share this treasure with, and who enjoyed spending time with. I’m not religious, but I felt it would be rude to turn down this offering, so I accepted it gratefully and thanked him.
That was it for day 2 and I was already feeling tired.
Day 3
Day three was a very talked about day because we were going to parliament. We had to pack special clothing that was “fancy” so that we would all look responsible, and respectful. Parliament was packed with information, and our tour took us all over the building. The library, the House of Commons, the peace tower, everywhere.
Personally the peace tower was my favourite part because we were able to see all of Ottawa.
The peace tower had four windows, one on each side of the tower. From it you could see the river, all the government buildings surrounding parliament, and some of the war memorials scattered around.
On the way up to the peace tower, in the elevator, we passed the bells, and since the door was glass you could see them all quite clearly, it was really cool to see all of the bells. The biggest of the bells would have been able to fit me inside easy!
After parliament we went on a walking tour of all the war monuments. We saw one that was dedicated to men who fought in the Korean War, and one for the men who fought in the boer war. Also there was one for the animals in the war.
Once we were back at encounters we had a presentation prepared for us after dinner. There was an aboriginal man, who came and had a funny skit that he performed about how to treat this earth, and how we may never get another one. I found the skit really eye opening, and it made me thing about all the ways that I pollute in my day to day life.
Day 4
We had to wake up early this morning so it wasn’t 2003 acoustic pop, or swan lake, it was more a pots and pans symphony, to wake us all up. We got on the buses and bumped our way to the diefenbunker. 
The diefenbunker, was a bunker set up to protect the government in the case of a nuclear attack, around the time the Cold War was going on. The diefenbunker was built in 2 years, which I find amazing, because it is 4 levels underground of bed rooms, food storages, dentists, mini hospital, cafeteria, even a work out room.
The bunker was made to sit 2 miles away from the city in the opposite direction of the wind. So that the wind wouldn’t be blowing the toxic nuclear fumes into the bunker.
I found the bunker to scare me in a way a horror movie scares you. The wall were painted with stripes running vertical on the wall, and horizontal on the floor. These lines were needed because they made the space look bigger than it actually was. Smart huh, well I guess it was made for the Prime minister. Though a fact was, that if there would have ever been a nuclear attack on Canada, the Prime minister would not in fact be staying in the bunker, he would be staying with his family, because it was such a small bunker that they could only house the important people, and they couldn’t even bring there families along. Anyway, the bunker scared me, a lot! On the way our of the bunker we even passed a nuclear bomb, which just made me want to walk faster!
Since it was such an early morning, we had left the bunker at 9 o’clock, am. Crazy. Anyway we had modular for the rest of the morning, but the module weren’t just the normal ones, this time each module had a veteran that told their story to you, which I found so very cool. The only sad part was that we were not able to meet all the veterans, but we were still able to meet 2 out of the 6. The first veteran we met was nice and kind, he was young as well, but the second veteran really sparked my interest. She was in her 40s and had been a part of the army for 20 years. I had so many questions to ask her and not enough time or courage.
She told us about there hero shots, and what her job entailed. It was astounding. She also told us about how the Canadian government will pay for your tuition for attendance at the royal military school, so its a bonus!It really interested me to think about joining the army, though now looking back, I’m not so sure!
We took the bus to a cemetery about a 5 minute drive from encounters. There was a nice service and I was grasping the truer idea of the war at this time, and this just helped me to do that.
After the ceremony we had some time before we had to head out on our night activity’s. I had chosen to go to a play called The Lamentable Tragedy of Sal Capone, and it was absolutely incredible. The story line was, there was a boy and he was part of a rap group, and he was their DJ, and suddenly he was shot by the police, the leader of the group, Sal Capone, really felt to blame for this so he got in a fight with his manager, and things started to get out of hand. The play was filled with free rapping, the truth, and amazing acting. I felt really touched after watching it, and was very thankful that Encounters offered this experience.
Day 5
Today was very looked forward to among all the students. It was our free time in downtown Ottawa. I stayed with Isy, Luca, and Celina, and we started our day in a cafe to get some coffee, to keep us awake. It was nice to be in the cafe, because it was our first meal out side of Encounters. After we found our selfs endorsed with the street vendors, and spent at least half our time looking through there finger puppets, and rings. I ended up buying 5 finger puppets, for 10 bucks, it was well worth it.
We went to chapters, chipotle, Hudson’s bay, and many other stores. I really enjoyed exploring at my own pace, and where I wanted to, and I found as a very nice way to end the week.
We had a talent show that night, and I absolutely loved it. There were so many people that talents that I hadn’t even seen throughout the week. Nolan could yo-yo like no ones business, Erik could vogue like a pro, Luca O.G. could sing and play guitar like a star, (a lot of girls swooned over that performance), and lucas rapped his own song.
After the talent show we had some to pack, and then we had to meet in the cafeteria, for the talking stick circle. I did not have the best thought about this talking stick circle, I thought it would be a uncomfortable exercise, but I could not have been more wrong. All 120 kids came together for the first time this week, mentally and physically. Tears were shed, and hugs were given. There were so many stories that touched me so deep, and these students had the courage to share these stories with the whole group, I was overcome, and I was in shock. Celina, Isabelle, and I got closer than we had all week.
After the talking circle, we had some time, as some people were setting up the party. The party was just a disco ball, some jams, and nutrigrain bars. Which by my standards is the best party I’ve ever been to. I left in the middle, to get some air, and headed out side. There was a group of people outside, and I was listening in on there conversation, and all of a sudden I was part of there conversation. There was a girl outside, we stayed out there long after the rest of the group had left, we talked for like an hour. It was amazing, she was incredible, her story’s were so interesting, and I was so intrigued. The party wasn’t going to end until 3 am, which was when breakfast started, so at 2 we went back inside, it was getting pretty cold. The party was still the same, just groups of people standing on the dance floor, so Celina and I headed out and danced our hearts out for an hour, and had a ton of fun! The end of the part came, and I headed to bed, and realized I would be leaving the next day. I took a good half an hour, to think about all the wonderful experiences that I had participated in throughout that week, all the walks, or inside jokes, the story’s the veterans told us, the new people I had made, and a lot more. I was hit by a sudden sadness to leave, but I knew, that I had lived my week to its full potential, and just because I was leaving didn’t mean it would be forgotten.
We flew home the next day. I have never experienced more turbulence on a plane, it was really scary, but we made it home, and I was able to see my family, and dog, but I promised myself that the experiences that I had at Encounters would never be left behind.
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