Ottawa 2018

Only a week after spring break came to an end, PLP 9 departed to Ottawa for a week-long experience never to be forgotten. Knowing very little about what the week would entail other than the broad topic of Vimy Ridge, we boarded a plane for the first time as a class, Ottawa bound. Contrary to what I expected, the plane ride actually went quite smoothly. I think we were all tired of Destination Imagination and this was our first opportunity for a rest. As we touched down in our nations capital in the first hours of the morning, we were greeted by our bus driver. Our class, along with a handful of other students from Vancouver, hopped on the bus and endured the rowdy, uncomfortable ride to the centre. It was pitch black outside, but as we pulled up I could only just make out the words above the entrance; The Terry Fox Canadian Youth Centre.

As we all filed into the doorway, we were given our dorm room and our bed number. Obviously I wanted to make sure I wasn’t alone, so I quickly found out that I was in the same room as Logan. We headed up the stairwell to the second floor. Once we entered our dorm, we tried to quietly find our bed. I found mine quick enough, and as I made my way to Logan to see what he was doing, he pointed to his bed. Lying there in his bed was a boy, knocked out cold, with his stuff all over the bed and floor surrounding it, “Poor Logan” I thought. However, I then proceeded to laugh as hard as possible while not waking up the entire room. I was too tired for all this, so I went back to my bed and made it. This was really tough because I don’t know about you, but I like my sheets to be immaculate, and that’s a pretty tough thing to do at 3 in the morning with no light. Anyways, after my struggle I made my way in to the washroom, and as you can imagine, the door creaked as I went in. As I was brushing my teeth, I remember looking at myself in the mirror and thinking “Wow, you look rough”. So I just decided to go to sleep and worry about everything else in the morning.

I woke up at about 10ish I believe, but this whole day is a blur to me, I can hardly remember anything. However I do remember that our class sort of clumped together as we were all really skeptical of this place. In fact, I even remember that I was legitimately under the impression that we weren’t going to get lunch. Anyways, needless to say, we did end up getting lunch, and it was about the most interesting thing we did that day. There were no activities planned so my day consisted of coughing, sniffling, sneezing, playing on my iPad, and Monopoly. Playing Monopoly was actually really fun. It was the first time in a while I had actually played a real game of Monopoly. Even though we were just playing with people from PLP, it was still something different. I never used to actively talk with people like Maggie, Lauren and Melika but on this trip we became pretty close and I think that’s what these trips are really about.

The following day, Monday, was the first real day of the program. We were woken up by some absolutely horrendous sounds that they had the nerve to call “music”. What felt like fifteen minutes of agony first thing in the morning is not the best way to wake up teenagers. We proceeded to eat breakfast in the big cafeteria/dining hall which was pretty much the first time everybody was together in one room. I was still sick at this point and there is reason to believe I may have by chance unluckily given people my sickness…maybe. This sickness didn’t make things easier for me, as we got on the bus and were dropped off at the War Memorial later that day, my sinuses didn’t exactly enjoy the freezing cold climate Ottawa was displaying. But I delt with it and good thing I did because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate the Vimy Memorial Service; the reason we were at the War Memorial. That day it was 101 years since the Battle of Vimy Ridge, and our whole week was to be focused mainly on Vimy, but also on the topic of war itself.

This experience taught me so much about so many different things. I learned about Vimy itself, World War 1, nuclear war, how to enlist in the army, and many more things about the topic of the week, but I also learned through other students from all across our amazing country. It was extremely surreal to learn that many of the kids who attended the week lived in pretty rural areas. I take for granted how easy things are to live in/near the city, but for some of these kids, going to the Rideau Centre was a special ordeal. All I can say is that this program was so much more than an extended social studies unit, it was an experience I’ll always remember and never take for granted.

We did a lot throughout the week, way too much to write and make interesting for you to read. So instead, I have created an iBook containing tons of photos, videos, interviews, and pieces of writing, all in chronological order from the beginning of the week, right up until the end. I have put a lot of time and effort in to this as I like to think of it as a portfolio of my time in Ottawa. If you would like to read it, click below.