That’s why he’s a vache and not a duck… Saturday, Jul 19 2008

Got up bright and early to go and catch the buses to PEI or Isle du Prince-Edouard! The bridge to PEI has a magnificent view, both in the morning and in the evening.

It was only a couple of hours to drive, and then we arrived at Cavendish to go to the Anne of Green Gables house. It was pretty nifty, and there was a really great walking path, even if it wasn’t haunted. I bought a copy of Anne of Green Gables because a.) I’m a nerd that way and b.) I’ve never actually read Anne of Green Gables, which makes me a terrible Canadian.

We then drove to Charlottetown and had a couple hours of free time to shop and eat, etc. Caleigh and I walked up and down the Whyte Ave-esque road. I bought a blazer from the fantastic little shop called “Just Us Girls” that was a store and a cafe together. Brilliant idea if you ask me!

On the drive back, we stopped in a church parking lot that had a really good view of the uber-long bridge, so we all hopped out and took pictures. When the sun was setting over the ocean, it was one of those pictures that makes you believe in a higher power. There was “God light” through the clouds and everything.

When we got back, Caleigh, Danielle, Amanda, Jamie, Peter, Matt and I schemed to walk down to Champlain Place to see “The Dark Knight.”

** A MOVIE REVIEW **

The Dark Knight

Holy cliffhanger, Batman! According to Caleigh, as far as badass-ness goes, that movie was off the charts!

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Don’t touch things from Wal-Mart. You’ll set your soul on fire… Thursday, Jul 17 2008

First day of the second semester and eight people were missing from class. Last night, I guess, a bunch of people decided to go out and celebrate the end of exams, while Jessica, Caleigh and I finished watching Amelie. We know how to party!

Another afternoon free of workshops and activities, so after dinner, we went to Champlain Place to faire du shopping. It was really just nice to be among the air-conditioning. And Danielle and I ran across the parking lot to the Chapters to drool over Entertainment Today. Stephenie Meyer has quite the gang of groupies here at Explore!

There was a plan to go to the midnight showing of The Dark Knight, but the four of us decided that we’d never make it through Friday (class, workshop, activity, and leaving very early Saturday morning to go to PEI) if we stayed up until three o’clock. 

Caleigh stayed over again. She’s practically my roommate now, just don’t tell the monitors. And the axe-murderer in my kitchen seems to have taken yesterday off, so I actually slept in my bed, for longer than twenty minute increments!

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You like the poncho, but do you like the postman… Tuesday, Jul 15 2008

The beginning of presentations today. Ample proof that when the teacher says “minimum 10 minutes,” she should follow up with a maximum time limit so we don’t have to listen to a half-hour presentation about penitentiary centres in the Maritimes, or a forty minute presentation on nutritional portion sizes. I present my French highland dance powerpoint tomorrow. 

No workshops or activities today (the dance workshop ended yesterday. Beaucoup de sadness…), so I spent most of my day outside WRITING! In English… but I don’t care! The writing bug strikes again!

Caleigh, Jessica, Danielle and I came back to my room and studied for a bit, before Jessica, Danielle and I decided we’d had enough and went to get ice cream. We also rented “Amelie,” so we wouldn’t feel bad about skipping out on some of the French-ness. We got halfway through it before everyone was too tired to go on. Caleigh stayed over, so I tried sleeping in a bed. There’s an axe-murderer in my kitchen.

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Did you see where my ball went? I seem to have dropped it… Monday, Jul 14 2008

FRIDAY

We watched a really terrible Quebecois movie in class called “Cruising Bar.” I had another dance workshop where we did jazz and modern, so I could not have been happier than a fish in water. For our mandatory activity, we went and watched “Bon Cop, Bad Cop,” another Quebecois film that was infinitely better than “Cruising Bar.” It also provided a complete education in Quebecois swearing. A bunch of us Explorers went to the Pump House for drinks, and then when everyone went to The Rouge Lounge to dance at 1AM, I went home. I actually slept in my own room! On my own couch… with my own lamp on…

 

SATURDAY

Paintballing that wasn’t really paintballing. We shot these little rubber balls at each other, using paintball guns. I got three really nice bruises from it. Also, I managed to avoid being shot by Mathieu (one of the monitors, ex-army), which is better than several others can claim. I was also the last one on the field four times!

Everyone was pretty tired from Friday night and a full-day Saturday activity, so everyone mostly stayed in. Played a drinking game called “Kings” and worked on my presentation, which is due on Wednesday.

 

SUNDAY

More homework. I cleaned the apartment a bit by way of procrastinating. After dinner, Jess, Danielle, Elgin-Skye and I watched “PS I Love You.” I was the only one who had already seen it. As Danielle said, “If I ever want to feel like an emotional pile of poo, I’ll watch that movie.”

 

** A BOOK REVIEW **

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

August 2 cannot come soon enough. 

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This is not a reality show… Thursday, Jul 10 2008

Woke up and went back to my own room to get washed up and dressed and everything. At this point, you know the morning drill.

After lunch, I worked on homework until it was almost time for my dance class (!). I went home and got changed, grabbed my ankle brace and stuff, and ran back to the fitness centre. I was a terribly cliche modern dancer with the half-rolled-down sock. 

We had a fantastic hour-long stretch, and then an hour of aerobics, hip hop, jazz and lifts. Thankfully, the teachers didn’t laugh at my very not fly hip hop. It’s actually slightly jazz-y hip hop, which is perfect for me. 

Dinner, more homework, shower, and then la nuit des femmes with Jess, Danielle, and Caleigh. We watched “The Secret” and made deliciously snide remarks. Well… I did until I fell asleep. 

Another night on the couch. Since I’m not allowed to find a replacement roommate, I guess I’ll be sleeping on their couch a lot. If I don’t seek out human contact, I know that three weeks from now, they’ll find me crouched in my room in the dark wearing a dress made of rose petals, surrounded by cats even though I hadn’t left the apartment. That’s totally what will happen.

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Babe watch… Wednesday, Jul 9 2008

There was a big excursion for the Clic and Explore programs to Magic Mountain, a waterpark at Magnetic Hill. Jess, Danielle, Caleigh and I shamelessly ogled the b-e-a-utiful guys monitors. Speaking French in a wave pool is difficult, but I learned that I can tread water for nearly ten minutes when I have to motivation. Then the five of us went down the Lazy River, which is this tube-floaty-lazy thing. Was a very nice way to relax–before we hit the waterslides! We were going to go on the Kamikaze (it’s like the Sky Screamer), but then we saw a slightly smaller version and thought we’d give that one a try first. It was so terrifying, we decided to forego the Kamikaze. 

I finally tried a “beaver tail,” which my Ontario friends have been itching for me to try since they mentioned beaver tails last week. It’s like a deep-fried dessert thing, with cinnamon and sugar and lemon, and it’s in the shape of a beaver tail. I must say that it was worth knocking five years off my life span to eat one!

We were all pretty wiped once we got back on the bus to come home, but not too wiped to miss out on ice cream. There’s this little stall on the other side of the cemetery that’s across the street from our res and it was fantastic (and cheap!) ice cream. I had black raspberry cheesecake ice cream. So. Good.

My roommate, Sarah, hasn’t been feeling well for the past few days, so she decided to go home to Halifax. We helped her carry her bags up to the car and said our goodbyes. I’m glad that she’ll feel better now, but her leaving meant that I was in the apartment alone. I completely freaked myself out as I was getting ready for bed, so I picked up my pillow, my blanket and my book and slept on Jessica and Danielle’s sofa. Still didn’t fall asleep until nearly 2AM, but at least I knew that if I was going to be axe-murdered, someone else would be there to help vanquish him!

C’est mon overactive imagination.

Bises!

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You bring the astronomy, I’ll bring the pie… Tuesday, Jul 8 2008

Sorry I’ve missed a couple of days. Nothing important happened. Homework, homework, food, food, read, read.

Ah, Tuesday! We didn’t have a workshop today, and my activity wasn’t until 10 at night, so I basically had a load of time to myself after class ended at 11.30. After lunch, I worked on some homework. Next week I have to give a 10-minute presentation on highland dance. The plan is that I’m going to waste a few minutes teaching everyone how to do a jig break, and then I’m going to gush too much over the Seann Triubhas, and then everyone will think I’m a crazy jock!

Caleigh and I went swimming at the campus pool. Well… we floated a lot. But I did swim a few laps and do a couple of dives. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I hadn’t lost my diving skills. Then we watched some kids dare each other to jump off the high-dive. One kid–he was maybe ten–did a swan dive! It was very, very impressive. 

Then it was time for supper, after which we returned to residence to do more homework and relax before our late-night activity.

The activity was star-gazing. There’s an observatory on the roof of the Taillon building (where we eat), so that’s where we headed to. There were only twenty people allowed, and all of us had signed up really quickly. 

The smaller telescope had a fantastic view of the moon, but when we went into the observatory with the grand telescope was when it got cool! The professor explaining things pressed this button on his keypad and the entire observatory started to rotate until we were facing Jupiter! Basically, you just type the name of the star or planet into the keypad, and the observatory and telescope adjust themselves accordingly. That’s probably why the observatory and all its fixings were $30 million. So I got to see Jupiter for the second time! Unfortunately, there was no Ganymede this time, like there was in Vancouver, but there were two moons visible. 

I was actually really tired by the time I got home, so I brushed my teeth, curled up and went to sleep.

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Those Halifax sandcastle pants… Saturday, Jul 5 2008

Slept in until a reasonable hour and got ready for the beach. First time I’ve ever worn a bikini before (well, a bikini that wasn’t made of gold spandex…) and I must say that it went fairly well. 

Parlee Beach was beautiful. There was a little breeze, which made it nicer than the sun beating down. Caleigh and I put down our towels and, pale Scots that we are, put on a liberal amount of SPF30 sunscreen. I’m proud to report that I didn’t get a sunburn! Caleigh and I went into the water — my first time swimming in the ocean! — and kept a vigilant eye out for jellyfish. There were a lot. Like… a lot. And they’re reddish. So we waded around and then came back to the towels to pick up our wallets and go for ice cream. 

When we got back, I had to shower to get all the sand off of me, and then prepped to go to out. It was Leigh-Anne’s birthday, and she planned to get everyone out to Club Oxygen. I pre-drank with Danielle, Jessica and Elgin-Skye, which was a total blast. The bar had a really expensive cover charge, so I didn’t drink there. When we first got to Oxygen, it was okay because there was basically just us Explore people. But then it got really, really busy and cramped. I was thankful that Danielle was a bit tired, too, so we cabbed home at about 1.00. I fell asleep on the couch waiting up for Sarah because she didn’t have her keys. Apparently, she rang the doorbell for nearly ten minutes until I woke up. It was 4.00AM though, so I was pretty asleep.

I was so cold in my bed that I had to wrap myself in the beach towel I’d taken to Parlee Beach. I was nice and warm, then, but now I have some sand in my bed. Tomorrow’s another sleep-in day. But a lot, a lot of homework…

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Liberte, egalite, and glass doors! Friday, Jul 4 2008

Breakfast, breakfast, breakfast. Class, class, class. Quiz, quiz, quiz. 

No workshops today, so Jessica, Selina and I walked around the campus, finally setting ourselves under a tree and discussing books, films, politics, religion, etc. etc. That actually took us from lunch until dinner, after which we all had to go off to whichever activities we wanted. Caleigh, Jessica, Danielle, Selina and I went to play Pictionary. It was fun, but there were these really arrogant guys from Montreal on our team. We headed back to residence and Danielle and I were going to sit in my room and talk, but when we got there, Sarah and Troy were already in deep discussion. So we joined them and had a “girl chat” (Troy’s words). 

After everyone left around midnight, I had a shower and prepped myself for going to the beach tomorrow. Nice and clean, I curled up on the couch and finished reading New Moon.

**A BOOK REVIEW**

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Oh. My. God. What drama! The whole _________________________ thing was like, insane! And after all those horrible things happened and Bella had her falling out with _____________, it still managed to have the sweetest little moment (though Bella kind of ruined it with her broken-family complex). Aaaaaaaaaand… onto Eclipse!

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The boom box lost its boom… Thursday, Jul 3 2008

Third day of class with nothing to report. I had my Acadian history class again, where we spent two hours listening to “chiac,” which meant that I couldn’t think in French for a very long time. Chiac is the actual term for what we’ve been calling “franglais.” It’s sentences like “je ne get pas” – which means “I don’t get it.” We also listened to a terribly depressing song about Evangeline.

I went with Danielle and Megan to Champlain Place so they could pick up some shoes and so I could pick up “Eclipse.” I really am obsessed with those books now. At least I only got into them a few weeks before the last book is published. If I’d had to wait for years… I’d have lost my mind by now!

We walked home and temporarily got lost, but then we ran into James (another Explorer) who pointed us in the right direction. Danielle and I went to the payphones to call home. She got a hold of her boyfriend, whereas my parents weren’t home (WINK WINK!)

Then went home, did some homework, read some more… c’est tout!

Bises!

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