An Experience In The Capital
“The best part of this meal is the juice!”
…and that remained true for the whole week.
Recently, my class went on a trip to Ottawa.
Unlike most PLP trips we have been on, this one was not a road trip and it was not planned out by our teachers.
On this trip, our class participated in a once in a lifetime program in Ottawa.
Encounters With Canada; The Program—
Encounters with Canada is a program where students from all around Canada participate in a one week education program with one specific subject as the main topic of the week.
We participated in Vimy Ridge week, where we learnt all about Vimy Ridge and WWI.
Encounters with Canada is all about learning, but also making friends with people all over Canada.
I have friends in Vancouver, I have friends in Australia, and I now have friends in Ontario and Saskatchewan too!
Making Friends; The Novel—
One makes friends easily when you eavesdrop.
And when you’re quiet and not very noticeable, eavesdropping is easy.
I made two friends in Ottawa this way, Angel and Jaz.
I became friends with Angel while overhearing some of my friends and her talk about a TV show I like, and joining in the conversation…
And I met Jaz in a group, we were just back from dinner and we heard something about boyfriend drama and joined in the conversation and it was great.
Always join in on conversations, and of people look at you weird for it… well… I don’t know, hide.
Pins! From All Across Canada—
When going to Encounters, it is recommended to bring tradable goods to trade with people all over Canada. The most common of these trading materials were pins.
Over the week people would trade and collect pins, putting them on their name tag lanyards and being fabulous.
While many people collected more then me, I am still proud of my collection. The pins I collected are as follows;
Blend In Like A Book On A Shelf—
As per Oregon, we made a kind of eBook. A book that is almost a scrapbook of our trip.
Pictures and information all about where we went, what we did and what we learnt, alongside pictures of all these things.
The book is, a representation of our work and excitement as we went on this one in a lifetime trip to Ottawa to learn about World War One.
And if you wish to take a look at it, well… its right here.
VIMY RIDGE—
Vimy Ridge is known as Canadas bloodiest battle in history.
There were huge amounts of casualties, Canadian and German.
The battle of Vimy Ridge took place in Vimy, France in 1917, during World War One.
Over 100 years later, the battle of Vimy Ridge is known as Canadas 
bloodiest battle ever, and has its own memorial in Canadas capital (Ottawa).
There is a Remembrance Memorial Ceremony every April 9th, the anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge, to commemorate the battle.
Since we were participating in Vimy Week at Encounters, we went and participated in the Vimy Ceremony, which took place at the memorial (in Ottawa).
There is a Vimy Ridge memorial at the actual Vimy Ridge. Its bigger then the one in Ottawa, and only commemorates Vimy Ridge, whereas the one in Ottawa is mainly for Vimy Ridge, but commemorates other wars Canada has fought in as well.
Encounters With Canada; The Accommodations—
These are the rules you have to follow whilst staying at the Terry Fox Centre, when participating in the Encounters With Canada program.
There is ZE-RO TOL-ER-ANCE for these rules to be broken. ZE-RO.
How do I know? Well that’s what the lady yelled at us at 3am when we first arrived at the centre.
The accommodations could have been nicer in our class’ opinion.
The pillows deflated when you rested your head on them, the food was… well the juice was the best part of the first one, and over the week, eating became less and less of an issue as appetite became scarce. My bed squeaked, which is unfortunate when you’re sharing a room with like probably 40 other people. And one last complaint, the bathroom/shower line up was way too long after 6:45am.
CONCLUSION–
Our little PLP family has become closer, we’ve learnt some WWI facts, and we’ve survived our third PLP trip.
Thanks for reading,
And remember, the most important rule will always be; don’t embarrass Willemse.
Bonus Images–
