Recently the entire PLP9 class has gone to the capital city of our nation, Ottawa. In Ottawa we did tons of super exciting and deep learning about WW1, Vimy ridge, and so many more topics the list would go on. Wether we were going to parliament or talking veterans it was all so interesting. To fit this all in to one blog post is going to be a challenge but here is my best shot at it.
Let’s start at the very beginning of the trip, getting to Ottawa. Getting to Ottawa was very busy as on the same day PLP was competing in in the Destination imagination provincial tournament. Instead of staying for the awards ceremony at 5 o’clock, we left at 1:30 to Catch our plane. After all it takes a long time to get through security, to the boarding gate and on a plane in a group of over twenty people. Everything before the plane ride went relatively smoothly all things considered (I didn’t forget anything for once). Everybody got on the plane and off we went.
The plane ride was roughly 5 and a half hours. It was long but it was good with friends to keep each other entertained. Because the Ottawa time zone is 3 hours ahead of us, we technically arrived at 1:30 in the morning instead of 10:30. This change was hard to get used to at first but in a few days I was perfectly fine. It was a half hour drive to the Terry Fox centre. We ate before bed because we hadn’t eaten in about 8 hours. People were already in the bunks when we arrived because people from all around Canada were coming here to learn. We were quiet walking in and by the time we got to bed it was 3:00.
The first full day at encounters with Canada was really laid back. We didn’t really do anything because people were still arriving on Sunday. Mainly, we just hung around, played sports in the freezing weather and cards inside.
It was finally Monday. From now on every morning we would meet with our groups to talk about the day plan. On our first real day, it was visiting the Vimy ridge memorial. The memorial was in the heart of downtown Ottawa. When we were there they performed the ceremony. This happens once a year in remembrance for the soldiers who lost their lives in all of Canada’s major armed conflicts. It was really cool as we saw the bagpipes being playing but it was also very solemn.
The next day we got up bright and early at 7 O’clock to go to the Canadian war museum. The museum was massive with tons of cool exhibits. At first, we went on a guided tour but then after we got to go where we wanted. Some of the highlights were seeing hitlers car. Seeing some of the actual tanks used in WWII and onwards. And being able to pick up an AK47. Also on that day we got to go mini golfing. This was in the evening and in a super cool facility that was lit purple and everything was glowing inside of it.
On Wednesday was the day we got to finally visit parliament. The first second you stepped in to it, it was amazing. There were detailed and ornate carvings on every wall. As you were walking through the halls you got this sense of “wow, I feel important in here”. After a short briefing we went to the parliamentary library, the last part of parliament made of wood. As you walked in you had to be dead silent because members of the House of Commons or the senate could be reading there. All made of oak and cherry it was amazing seeing it all. We didn’t get to see the House of Commons because people were passing a bill in there. We did get to see the senate though. The senate looked like a throne room. Everything looked as you would imagine a castle. It was super impressive.
One last thing before we left was the peace tower. This is the middle tower that is super tall. We got to go up and we had an amazing view of all of Ottawa and Gatineau (Gatineau is just Ottawa on the other side of the river which is actually in Quebec). After parliament everybody went outside for a walk of war memorials. These were ranging from Korean War memorials to First Nation fighter memorials. We even got to revisit the Vimy memorial and see the changing of the gaurd. Over all this might have been my favorite day, although I did get sick on it. After a long day it was nice to go to bed and have tomorrow to look forward to.
Today was our earliest wake up at 630 (330 vancouver time) so we could drive off to the deifenbunker. The deifenbunker was a Cold War underground installation to prevent The PM from dieing from fallout because of Russia nukes. It was super cool because we had to go down this long tunnell to get there and inside everything looks super seventies ish and it’s almost like going back in time. After that super fun activity (maybe my favorite) we came back to home base for our modules. A couple of nights previous we had chosen which module we wanted to do today. I chose slam poems with my friend kai. We didn’t quite know what to expect going in, but coming out it was definitely an amazing experience. The man running it was super knowledgeable and wise beyond his years. He was also super entertaining.
On Friday everyone knew their week was coming to a close but instead of being sad about it I feel like everyone came even closer together. Friday was pretty much just the day where you chill out and have fun. First thing in the morning we went to downtown Ottawa to shop for about 3 hours. This was lots of fun because you could hang out with all the people you met through the week there. I didn’t buy anything but lots of people spent 2 or 3 hundred dollars there. In the afternoon we did lots of packing and preparing for the night. At night the dance was happening. Every week EWC has a dance and it is the one night of the week where there isn’t a strict bedtime. You can stay up until breakfast if you feel like it. I stayed up for a while until the music turned off at 3 or 330.
It was finally the day of departure but EWC and the PLP teachers still had one last thing up their sleeve. When we woke up we had the option to go to the museum of civilization. This museum was probably the biggest in Canada. It was also in Quebec. I thought it was really cool that we got to cross the river and go to Quebec. At the museum we saw some super cool First Nations art and artifacts from long long ago. I also had poutine in Quebec so now I can say I have had québécois poutine. After our final outing we left for the airport. Everything went quite well from that point in and we got home safely. When we were on the flight we went through some clouds and lightning which was a bit scary not really a big deal.
Looking back and reflecting on this trip really shows some awesome parts of Canada that are totally different from Vancouver. I would say that every PLP trip we do I keep learning more and more. This trip especially I learned so much that it’s hard to put into words. Not just about Vimy ridge and disruption but, about so much more too. This trip really was crazy about how it was so fun and so educational and so fast paced. It was so long but so short and I really think that I’ll have some memories that will last a lifetime. Encounters with Canada put the icing on the cake by allowing us to meet people on the opposite side of the country. This was hands down the best PLP trip ever.