As a Nearly-graduated High School Senior, I am entitled to at least one field trip.
One that takes place during said school year
One that takes you out of state/country/safe house-located-on-the-outskirts-of-Mount-Etna
I recently went on such a trip.
A trip which took me to a wonderfully exotic faraway place: CANADA!
Yes, Canada. The land of Hockey, Maple Syrup, and free Health care. A land comfortably located between The States and The North Pole.
But did I drop everything and anything; all the homework assignments, chores and lazy spring break mornings, to watch a Hockey game? No.
Was the comfort of my home abandoned for the sweet, sugary promises of Maple Syrup? Nyet.
Then I must have trekked through rain and sleet and hail, traveled the scenic countryside, for the glory of free health care, right? Nein.
I put off my homework, sacrificed my lazy mornings, abandoned my cats, and trekked the countryside of The US and Canada for The 75th Convention of The Junior Classical League...
A.K.A: A Latin Convention
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The convention itself was nice enough; The hotel was nice, the food was good, the school-turned-convention-center (St. George's) was beautiful.
But it was the people I went with, the freedom we had, and the 'foregin' sights that made the trip...memorable.
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Day One- Our utterly fantastical trip began where most trips do: at a transport station, in this case, a train. Now, this was my first time on any sort of non-self-motivated-form-of-transportation-besides-a-car, so I was pretty stoked. After quote, unquote, “Waiting for a train,” we hopped aboard the next Amtrak that passed by.
3 hours and a few bits of confusing paperwork later, we set foot on Canadian soil.
…and the foreign jokes began.
“Hey look! Canadian sky!”
“Canadian Street signs!”
“Canadian Traffic cone!”
“Canadian Homeless guy!”
“OMG! Canadian Air!”
Short Bus #5 (our form of transportation for the rest of the weekend) was filled with the fanatic cries of to-many-hyper-high-schoolers-on-one-major-sugar-rush. It was not fun.
We finally arrived at our Hotel, The Cascadia, with minor headaches and major annoyances. Of course, the view was the best part:
With a view to die for waiting for us back at the hotel we trudged out to the Aquabus; a miniature ferry that took us to Grandville Island- The Canadian equivalent to Pike Place Market in Seattle. The most embarrassing moment of the weekend happened here:
Whilst pointing out the various sights to my group of friends, I carelessly point out a honey stand. The guy walking next to me didn’t see it that way. You see, as I pointed out the honey stand I said, in a little-than-louder-than-normal voice “Honey!” The guy whirled around to stare directly at me, mistakenly assuming that I was his honey. Which I am not.
We ended the night at the Aquatic Centre- Holy crap that was huge. The building was unnecessarily large, but fun to play in. As a group, we convinced the more hydrophobic members of our group to jump off the 5 meter diving board. My tankini top was almost lost in the process, and I nearly drowned, but I enjoyed it.
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Day Two- Convention time. We all piled back into Short Bus #5 that took us to St. George’s School for Boys.
Now, at these conventions there are always opening statements and the veterans (A.K.A. the seniors who’ve gone to these before) were not looking forward to them.
However, this year wasn’t that bad, as our speaker had a Can-asian accent, which made him easier (and more entertaining) to pay attention to.
During our stays at other schools the general layout never really changed; cafeteria on the lower floor, classrooms above it (if the school was more than one floor), and the locker rooms somewhere obscure.
Not in this school, nothing was where you thought it would be. The cafeteria? Right there as you walked in the door. The classrooms? Most of those were buried beneath the school, splayed out in a labyrinth-esque fashion. The locker rooms? Holed away by the ceramics room, blocks away from the swimming pool.
So, after our great adventure; in which we got lost no more than 3 times, and walked around the school at least 7, we finally returned to the sanctity of our hotel room.
Only to realize we were famished.
Not wanting to risk the streets of Vancouver alone, we rounded up a bunch of freshmen girls (the best kind if distraction) to make a Slurpee run.
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Day Three- Nothing exciting happened until it was time to leave, so I’ll just skip to lunch time.
Long story short? We grabbed out complimentary lunches and got the hell out of dodge. Of course, everybody traded with everybody else. And yet, nobody wanted their apple.
We arrived at the train station at 2:00…only to find that the train didn’t leave until 5:45
So, we wandered around Vancouver for 2 1/2 hours.
>>>Fast forward two and a half hours later>>>
Finally, it was time to get on the train.
Canadian customs? Very nice.
American customs? Not so much. Insanely grumpy, actually.
Next time I leave the country? Remind me not to come back.
...legally anyway.
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The rest of the trip was a longer-than-usual-train-ride and with a brief incident at the border, in which a girl in our group panicked when border patrol inspected our paper work, we were back stateside by 7:45!
Finally returned home at 9:00-ish.
I still don't remember falling asleep that night, but when I woke up, I was half off my bed with my luggage half-unpacked and exploded all over the floor.
And that, my friends was my Canadian Adventure.
Now who's up for some hockey?
Hey! Look guys! Canadian Oprah!
