Winter vacation in the sun
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Sanne
26 Februari 2018 | Canada, Ottawa
Weeks have gone by since my last update so it is time for some new stories. Life in Hamilton is getting more and more normal; early alarms for studying, Wednesday evening classes, deadlines are piling up and stressing/boring people out, the Snooty Fox has been adopted as our local bar for birthday parties and meetups with other students, every Tuesday I enjoy a few hours me-time in my favorite little local coffee shop with a perfect cappucino and a Canadian pastry before doing the Tuesday-student-discount groceries, the lack of basic cooking products (say f.e. cooking cream) during groceries doesn't disappoint me anymore, I have become so good in shovelling snow even the neighbours compliment me, three times per week the lifeguards of the campus pool can enjoy seeing me drown in the water (I'm kidding I really feel like I can almost make it to the middle-speed lane), and I started referring to Hamilton as 'home'. To overcome the repeating flow of activities our exchange group comes up with random activities. We go see movies about climate change, refugees and other Global Health topics and discuss with Canadians and Americans about their, uhm well different, worldview. We put on snowshoes to cross frozen lakes and climb snowy hills anound the city. And we celebrated Chinese New Year just because we felt like making dumplings.
Last week, the long-awaited reading week arrived. A week when no college activities are planned so students can breathe, catch up on assignments and, yes good guess, read. Most of our Canadian colleagues dutifully got to work, but it was time for a self-assigned well-deserved vacation for us. This meant facing up to professors to ask for a deferment of deadlines, but luckily the Canadians are really not that strict with time, dates and appointments and they were happy to grant it. Me and several friends had signed up for a 5-day outdoor trip in and around Ottawa, Gatineau Park with the McMaster Outdoor Club, promising an 'extravanganza range of winter activities'. A real chance to see some of that Canadian nature we came here for. To escape reality for a full week, I spontaneously decided to leave three days early and explore the capital city before I was marched to the outdoor cabin. What a fun idea that was... So, I booked my bus to arrive at Saturday midnight, happily started making plans with my travel buddy and then thought it a good idea to rent our hostelbeds. That weekend was the last weekend of the famous Winterlude festival in Ottawa, several big conferences were being held thoughout the city, plus the Monday was Family Day National Holiday (made up a few years ago by some minister to win votes, just give everybody a day off without reason) making it one of the most popular weekends of the year to recide in the capital. The result? No beds within normal distance of the centre or in an even slightly affordable price range were left. In the course of the next three days the prospect of experiencing homeless life became more likeable, untill Saturday 23:55; we found our warm cozy bed in some shady motel an hour from the city. Another wise lesson learned there.
The next day we found ourselves in a winterwonderland of beautifully ice sculptures, workshops how to carve them and brightly lit snow sculptures in the dark of the night. We stuffed ourselves with famous beavertails dripping with maple syrup and free hot chocolate to keep everyone warm. The day after we went ice skating on the Rideau Canal, world´s largest iceskate rink that takes you straight through entire Ottawa downtown. The sun was shining and temperatures reached above zero, getting ice and snow to melt all around us and making the skating Canal more slush than ice: those 8 kilometres were the hardest I've ever had to skate. After 2,5 hours we finally reached the end and none to early because straight after us they closed the Canal. The sun had called for the end of the winter season. And with sun, comes pouring rain. I spent the rest of the day huddled up in the National History Museum to learn about the many attempts we Europeans had done to overtake this wild land. The last day we decided to act as real Dutchies, ignore the rain and stride out on a tour through Ottawa, a city filled with castle-like buildings and monuments. This left us completely soaked reaching the Supreme Court for our tour; and all the while the Netherlands had stolen our snow. In the meantime, we had moved from our motel to the former Jail Hostel. This huge grey building functioned as a county jail until 1972 when it had to be closed due to the inhumane conditions for prisoners. Being a part of the UN heritage list not much could be changed to the building, leaving all the cells (now tiny creepy one-person bedrooms), the confinement cells, the torture alcoves and the working gallow (the only key is in the government safe) intact. Although officially only 3 persons were hanged, over 140 bodies were dug up around the jail; just playing dolls for the guards to pass the time. After this jail tour, the creaking floors and slamming of bars easily took me back in time; when would they come and get me?
After drying and warming up in a chocolate fondue coffeeshop, where everyone looked at me weird cause I was friendless by then and looked probably very alone surrounded by couples, I went to welcome the outdoor group to jail and give them a tour of my own (it would be better if everyone would lay awake at night). However, the busy outdoor activities of the next 5 days would prove tiring enough to knock us all out by midnight. The sun and rain had done a very good job at completely ruining all the snow in the region, forcing us to change the schedule and lose some (most beloved) activities. The cross-country skiing was a no-go and so was our entire promised day of dogsledding and huskie-cuddling; the wet snow would damage the dogs' paws. Instead we went snow-shoe climbing to the top of a mountain, where skilifts don't go and the views were amazing. We went snowtubing and sleighing, where we got beaten by a bunch of little kids. We went skiing for an entire day and evening, where one guy flew from the piste through the barriers straight into the lift (even I never managed that, yes I did fall out of the lift again..), a girl broke her hand and another broke her toe. We spent a night in the oldest bar from Ottawa, where some old men played their guitars and sung old songs. On Friday, we packed all our stuff, food and water in our backpacks and hiked into the Gatineau Park for a night in a cabin in the woods. No water, no electricity, but there were big packs of wolves. There was enough snow left in the park, all covered by a beautiful layer of ice rain, as we're we (shiny icepeople). We hiked for a bit, passing frozen lakes and trees, we made a fire and melted snow for pine-tea and the dishes, ate s'mores and did a ghost pepper challenge, then huddled up in our bunkbeds for a last night of sleep. After hiking out of the park, trying not to crack through the ice and fall in the snow holes, we went back to the city for some last sunny iceskating, an extensive sushi-lunch and the long roadtrip back home. A true winter vacation in shiny sun.
Last week, the long-awaited reading week arrived. A week when no college activities are planned so students can breathe, catch up on assignments and, yes good guess, read. Most of our Canadian colleagues dutifully got to work, but it was time for a self-assigned well-deserved vacation for us. This meant facing up to professors to ask for a deferment of deadlines, but luckily the Canadians are really not that strict with time, dates and appointments and they were happy to grant it. Me and several friends had signed up for a 5-day outdoor trip in and around Ottawa, Gatineau Park with the McMaster Outdoor Club, promising an 'extravanganza range of winter activities'. A real chance to see some of that Canadian nature we came here for. To escape reality for a full week, I spontaneously decided to leave three days early and explore the capital city before I was marched to the outdoor cabin. What a fun idea that was... So, I booked my bus to arrive at Saturday midnight, happily started making plans with my travel buddy and then thought it a good idea to rent our hostelbeds. That weekend was the last weekend of the famous Winterlude festival in Ottawa, several big conferences were being held thoughout the city, plus the Monday was Family Day National Holiday (made up a few years ago by some minister to win votes, just give everybody a day off without reason) making it one of the most popular weekends of the year to recide in the capital. The result? No beds within normal distance of the centre or in an even slightly affordable price range were left. In the course of the next three days the prospect of experiencing homeless life became more likeable, untill Saturday 23:55; we found our warm cozy bed in some shady motel an hour from the city. Another wise lesson learned there.
The next day we found ourselves in a winterwonderland of beautifully ice sculptures, workshops how to carve them and brightly lit snow sculptures in the dark of the night. We stuffed ourselves with famous beavertails dripping with maple syrup and free hot chocolate to keep everyone warm. The day after we went ice skating on the Rideau Canal, world´s largest iceskate rink that takes you straight through entire Ottawa downtown. The sun was shining and temperatures reached above zero, getting ice and snow to melt all around us and making the skating Canal more slush than ice: those 8 kilometres were the hardest I've ever had to skate. After 2,5 hours we finally reached the end and none to early because straight after us they closed the Canal. The sun had called for the end of the winter season. And with sun, comes pouring rain. I spent the rest of the day huddled up in the National History Museum to learn about the many attempts we Europeans had done to overtake this wild land. The last day we decided to act as real Dutchies, ignore the rain and stride out on a tour through Ottawa, a city filled with castle-like buildings and monuments. This left us completely soaked reaching the Supreme Court for our tour; and all the while the Netherlands had stolen our snow. In the meantime, we had moved from our motel to the former Jail Hostel. This huge grey building functioned as a county jail until 1972 when it had to be closed due to the inhumane conditions for prisoners. Being a part of the UN heritage list not much could be changed to the building, leaving all the cells (now tiny creepy one-person bedrooms), the confinement cells, the torture alcoves and the working gallow (the only key is in the government safe) intact. Although officially only 3 persons were hanged, over 140 bodies were dug up around the jail; just playing dolls for the guards to pass the time. After this jail tour, the creaking floors and slamming of bars easily took me back in time; when would they come and get me?
After drying and warming up in a chocolate fondue coffeeshop, where everyone looked at me weird cause I was friendless by then and looked probably very alone surrounded by couples, I went to welcome the outdoor group to jail and give them a tour of my own (it would be better if everyone would lay awake at night). However, the busy outdoor activities of the next 5 days would prove tiring enough to knock us all out by midnight. The sun and rain had done a very good job at completely ruining all the snow in the region, forcing us to change the schedule and lose some (most beloved) activities. The cross-country skiing was a no-go and so was our entire promised day of dogsledding and huskie-cuddling; the wet snow would damage the dogs' paws. Instead we went snow-shoe climbing to the top of a mountain, where skilifts don't go and the views were amazing. We went snowtubing and sleighing, where we got beaten by a bunch of little kids. We went skiing for an entire day and evening, where one guy flew from the piste through the barriers straight into the lift (even I never managed that, yes I did fall out of the lift again..), a girl broke her hand and another broke her toe. We spent a night in the oldest bar from Ottawa, where some old men played their guitars and sung old songs. On Friday, we packed all our stuff, food and water in our backpacks and hiked into the Gatineau Park for a night in a cabin in the woods. No water, no electricity, but there were big packs of wolves. There was enough snow left in the park, all covered by a beautiful layer of ice rain, as we're we (shiny icepeople). We hiked for a bit, passing frozen lakes and trees, we made a fire and melted snow for pine-tea and the dishes, ate s'mores and did a ghost pepper challenge, then huddled up in our bunkbeds for a last night of sleep. After hiking out of the park, trying not to crack through the ice and fall in the snow holes, we went back to the city for some last sunny iceskating, an extensive sushi-lunch and the long roadtrip back home. A true winter vacation in shiny sun.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
