The Nitty-Gritty

The End! The end...

2010-08-17T14:46:00.002-03:00

Situation: The summer is coming to an end. In less than two weeks I will be back in Canada, back in New Brunswick. I will be leaving my 6 roommates, 14 other coworkers and France.

While I am looking forward to a lot of things about home and Canada, there are a lot of things that I am going to miss about being here, and being with most of the people I live, work, travel and do everything else with.

My last weeks here will be spent between France and Spain. I am making my way south to Ibiza for a week. Beaches, bars and clubs! It should be an interesting week. I am heading down with my friend Jesse, he has a studio apartment in Ibiza for a while. Couch surfing!

Once I am back in Canada it looks like it is going to be a bit of a tight schedule. I get back to my parent's house on the 29th of August, and from there I am spending a few nights at the Cottage with a friend or two. Then I have to make my way back to the city to get things together for Sackville, which will amount to a day or two of shopping and stealing groceries from my parents. Gotta love grocery shopping à la student.

Well I guess this is the last update until school starts! To those making their way to Campus for the first time, safe travels! To everyone else.... good luck, I'll see you on the first day of classes!

History in-Context

2010-07-20T18:38:00.004-03:00

I have one of the best jobs a student can have. Honestly, I live and work in France with 14 other Canadian students, could it get much better? I love my job and most mornings I look forward to driving up to the 34 meter structure that is Canada's National Historic Site in France- granted there are always mornings when I want to sleep in, but that is just because I enjoy my sleep as well!

It may sound bizarre, but while it is one of the best jobs around, it is a job that makes you want to cry almost everyday. I work on and around the battle fields of the First World War and everyday people come with stories of their grandparents, their great-grandparents, great-aunts and uncles, other friends and family members- and some come with the stories of people with whom they have no relation to. These people put a face to the history that we talk about everyday, to the names of the people whose stories we use to put history into context...they give us, as guides, the context within which these stories exist today.

I met a woman on the Canadian monument at Vimy Ridge last week. She was from Newfoundland and her grandfather had been a part of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, he fought at the Battle of the Somme and was one of the few Newfoundlanders to make it home.

She was the first one of her family to come to the Canadian Memorial, as well as the Newfoundland Memorial.

When she walked into the interpretation centre at the Newfoundland Memorial, she saw her grandfather's name listed around the centre as one of the first men to enlist as a member of the Newfoundland Regiment. She didn't know much about her grandfather's past, he didn't like to talk about his time in France. She was the first member of her family to come over to France, and see the memorials since they had been constructed. She was in tears about this, because if she hadn't come- if she had not stopped to see the interpretation centre and the monuments, no one in her family would have ever known that their grandfather and his efforts during the First World War were recognized and commemorate beyond their own community. While he passed years ago, she was telling me, he couldn't have known his name was listed throughout the Newfoundland Memorial site as no one from their family had been back to France since the war and a story like that would certainly have made its way through the family at some point.

The thought, that for years and years no one knew, neither he nor his family, that he was commemorated and recognized in some way...

Like I said, I have an amazing job, but nonetheless it is one that really humanizes what happened here.

Below an image of the gravesite where the soldier who rests in the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa was taken from. There are 11, 285 names listed on the Vimy Memorial, representing those who fell in France with no known resting grave. On the Menin Gate there are 6, 940 Canadian names inscribed, commemorating those who fell in Belgium with no known resting grave.

Countdown

2010-07-17T15:06:00.005-03:00

Things that will be missed when I return to Canada:

Cheap Wine

Wine here is so cheap here! It is going to be hard to go back to paying $20 for a bad bottle of wine, compared to $2 for a great bottle of wine.

Kebab- every 5 feet in a city anywhere in Europe.

It is the European solution to fast food and a good meal after too much of the above product.

Miniature cars...like Kebab, they are everywhere.

So with a bit more than a month left at Vimy Ridge, I am trying to appreciate Europe to the fullest extent. I am planning on traveling a bit to the Netherlands to visit with a few friends there, to Germany to see other friends and to tour around Berlin and Munich a bit and if I have time I would love to make it to Switzerland. Thoughts, suggestions and reco's are always welcome! Leave them below in the comments!

London or Paris?

2010-07-14T20:22:00.004-03:00

If Paris and London were both an option on your list of places to live... how would you decide? Where would you end up?

Both cities have ups and downs. Is either better than the other?

Tourists, crowds of people, busy streets, and foreign languages are constants of either city.

Paris is a big city and it felt like it. I have this odd thing that if I don't feel comfortable in a city when I get off the plane, or off the train- it is something about that first impression that does it for me.

London happened to be one of those cities- one where you sit down at a café or a restaurant in the first hour of being there and it just feels like home.

Mind you- Paris has the summer sales! London is expensive to shop, to eat and to play. Paris is as well, but at various times during the year- everything goes on sale. It is a miricle across France.

Nonetheless... I think London stole my heart. I can tell you exactly when I fell in love with the city- that my be in part because I was there only a few days ago- I can even tell you which restaurant I was sitting in.

What would you choose? How would you choose?

Go and Tell - Go and No?

2010-07-14T20:15:00.004-03:00

Places to visit without telling your parents:

Places you tell your parents you visited:

European Update!

2010-07-14T17:35:00.004-03:00

It has been a while since I have posted, but I thought I would catch-up! Living in France has been pretty amazing- one of the best experiences I have ever had!

My job is interesting, I give guided tours of Canada's National Historic site in France, Vimy Ridge. I spend part of my day around the monument:

And I spend part of my day in deep dark tunnels:

Every place I go...

2010-04-16T22:41:00.005-03:00

Well well well. The time has come to pack it in, and say good-bye! For the summer that is, I won't be away from Sackville for too long, just 4 1/2 months.

Here is what the next few days look like:

- Finishing up papers that seem to never want to end. I honestly don't see myself getting these things done until after I leave... Writing essays in Europe? I don't think it'll be very fun, but it'll be necessary.

- Sunday evening: Last drinks at Ducky's! Regardless of if I am done my papers, I have to go out for a drink or two at Ducky's to say goodbye to some people before heading out. This will probably happen from 11-1, we'll see what happens.

- Monday:

- The moving/storage company comes to pick up my stuff, store it, charge me too much money, and then move my stuff into my new place in May. If I didn't have these guys, I don't know where my stuff would end up for the summer... My parents were not too keen on having it in the basement for 4 1/2 months.

- Move out! My landlord will swing by some time before 11am (hopefully, but with Charles, you never know...)

-Drive, long drive home, with whatever is left of my stuff.

-A late lunch with my Aunt, at my Uncle's restaurant and swing by to see the great-aunts and bid them farewell. They would probably disown me if I didn't stop by before going on a trip.

- Pack, pack, pack, pack, pack. I still have to pack all my stuff up, try and fit everything into one suitcase, and when that fails, into two and a carry-on. This will extend into early Tuesday morning, accompanied by food from my favourite chinese food place at home! The Soo Guy is delicious.

Tuesday:

- Finish packing. Make sure I have the last minute important things, my work Visa, passport, some cash, and of course Peanut Butter- you can't get peanut butter in France apparently!

- Fly away! Paris bound via a stopover in Toronto for a night, and a quick stop in London.

On top of this stuff... I need to finish these ridiculous papers. I wish I had done more of this work earlier in the term, it just gets so crazy when everything gets really crazy the last three weeks of school. Redbull and diet coke will get me through this.

I will be positing some pictures and updates from France, and I hope to keep you guys in the loop about what I am doing over there!

Stay tuned for updates and info to come about my summer and experiences in France, as an Interpretive Guide at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial!

À bien-tôt!

See you in September Sackville!

2010-04-14T01:56:00.003-03:00

These are the types of things you Mother tells you not to tell her about before you do them, but call and let her know you're okay afterwards:

I really want to skydive again after watching this!

This isn't procrastination... the last two minutes are all about Kittenger, he was the topic of conversation in one of my classes for about 5 minutes... this counts as school work, I promise.

Dinner, Lunch, Snack, BREAKFAST!

2010-04-14T01:14:00.002-03:00

Oh exam time, I love and hate thee.

I just made breakfast, after 1am for the 5th day out of the past 7 days.

Also, this is funny:

Proficient Procrastination

2010-04-13T20:27:00.003-03:00

I have moved beyond the simple methods of procrastination and distractions. I no longer cookcrastinate (cooking to procrastinate). That is a lie, I still do it, but it accompanies other things, such as:

-watching ridiculous Youtube videos, then going to ask my prof for an extension on a final paper, getting the extension, and spend 10 minutes discussing ridiculous youtube videos!

-Apply to law school in foreign countries

- Facebook creep to an extreme

-Build new Google Maps of Mount A, stealing the photos from the University's website...

-Blog/Vlog/rant online via Blogger, Twitter, and Facebook.

-Enjoy reading Blogs- especially my favourite foodie blog !!

-Watch TV online...

-Try to remember the name of that song I heard at the bar last week and find it on YouTube using fragments of lyrics I vaguely remember, and only because I thought that the pepper-grinder like move was good for something like 'break your heart' or something. I really don't remember the logic behind it.

-Once that song has been found 40 minutes later, listen to 40 different covers of it

- Drift off an start thinking about how I am going to France in 6 days...

- Blog about my unproductiveness...

The Easter Bunny does Toronto & End of term!

2010-04-09T02:37:00.003-03:00

Well well, how are you today? Tonight is night, or morning, number 4 of my late-night/early-morning marathons for academia! I think the record thus far was made on Tuesday, the good ol' 5:30am bedtime. It was great, I knew I didn't have class until 1:30pm on Wednesday, and I was going to sleep all day. That was my plan, until the construction crew started things up at 7am right outside my window... Coffee, Redbull and Diet Coke have reaffirmed their friendship with my body, gotta love end of term craziness.

I am really looking forward to being done and finished with this year, it has been a good one, but a challenging one.

I was in Toronto over easter, it was great, love the city, love being able to be independent now that I am pretty familiar with the basics of the TTC.

My twin brother, the one who will some day be more famous than he already thinks he is, was in a show at his college over the weekend, Pride and Prejudice. Now, I went into this hoping I wouldn't fall asleep 10 minutes in and be the awkward guy snoring in the 2nd row, leaning on what's-her-face's great aunt (they call them Ants in Ontario though...) who'd come in on a tour bus with 30 other family members but was the only one not sitting with the family and got stuck next to the snoring guy in the 2nd row... And turns out I wasn't that guy. The show was hilarious!! I loved it! It was one of the best performances I've seen all year!!

I got to see some friends from home when we went out over the weekend- I haven't seen my friend Sarah since she graduated from our high school- and I was in 9th grade at the time!

Now, I've been mentioning and dropping hints that I'm MOVING TO FRANCE for the summer through my past few posts... and well, it is all happening over the next 12 days. I have close to 60 pages of written work to submit, 2 final projects, an exam, a defense, and a lot of packing and cleaning then repacking to do before I can board the plane and say Adieu! to New Brunswick- and Canada- for the summer! Don't worry- they have internet in Europe... I hope! So I will be posting from there, some pictures and updates about the trip... the wine.. and the food! Oh the food is probably what I am most looking forward to, second to just being in Europe!

Alrighty, back to work for me. As my mother would say...and I am already embarrassed that I'm putting this online... Pitter Patter, let's get at 'er!

Montreal Shenanigans

2010-03-28T16:06:00.008-03:00

I want to move to Montreal. After I get back from France that is. I had such an awesome time there last weekend, and I felt comfortable in the city, and got around without even using the metro (that'll be another trip).

My friend Alex and her roommates were my hosts and their pink couch my bed for the weekend.

I got in Saturday morning, and made my way downtown to their place, and out to breakfast with Mitch and Sarah. Sarah is Alex's roommate and probably one of the highlights of my weekend, so much fun to hang out with. We've already made plans for the next trip up to Montreal. Sunday we all settled into a few hours of studying, paper writing, and all that fun stuff. After reaching part of our goal of 'a few hours' of studying, we needed to go shopping. The one thing Sackville does need more of, but my credit card doesn't, is retail. Socks and Undies are abound in Montreal though... not so much in Sackville.

Monday morning I had to get down to business and do what I'd gone to do. I made my way to the French Embassy with my soon-to-be co-worker, Del where we were going to apply for our Visas.

We ran into a few bumps in the application process, a few tears were shed, phone calls were made, hours flew past, and by the time we thought we were going to miss our flights, we got our Visas around 3pm, ran back to the hotel we'd ditched our stuff at, and had a cab driver that thought 10degrees was so cold that we were dripping warm by the time we got to the airport. Dude had the heat cranked in the cab.

After being switched on and off about 4 flights to Toronto from Montreal, I got there to find out my Toronto to Moncton flight, that was supposed to leave at 7, wasn't going to be leaving till 11pm. It was a long wait, but I ran into a bunch of Mount A people in the airport, so it was not as bad as waiting all by myself could have been.

2:30am is when I finally got into the car to drive back to Sackville. It was a long day of traveling, and Visa issues, but at least I got back, French Work Visa in hand, and more about France to come!!

Told you so...

2010-03-28T14:54:00.004-03:00

I made it to the library. I found myself a desk- no luck getting a table, but whatever I will just cram in a cramped space.

I rarely see my profs in the library, but I guess today is the exception. One of my favourite german profs was scouring the stacks when I came up onto 2nd floor. I stopped and said hi and we chatted for a few moments, and much to my amusement she was doing the exact same thing most students stuck here (on a lovely afternoon no less) are doing, cramming and searching for a last minute source for an article she has due early this week. Too funny, you never think your professors have the same bad habits you do, but I doubt she's blogging about running into me as a way of procrastinating...

With that, I should go. But I wanted to tell you about my Montreal excursions and embassy drama, I still haven't talked much about the weekend in Halifax my class had a few weeks ago, and I am going to write anyway, when I know I should be writing my Gender Studies essays.

So, a few weeks ago my Gender Culture & the City class made our way to Halifax for a field study. It is sort of a crossover class of Urban Studies and Gender Studies, and with diversity lacking in many ways in Sackville, we thought we'd be study the Urban and Gender in a more Urban setting. Torontonians and Vancourverites may balk at the idea of Halifax as a city or a metropolis, but compared to Sackville, there is a lot to say for Halifax.

We started off at 'Canada's national Immigration museum' aka, Pier 21. It was an interesting tour, we had one of their research directors take us around and explain a lot of the exhibits. He wasn't shy to call out certain misrepresentations or deletions of history in certain exhibits, which was really cool and refreshing.

After the museum, we grabbed a snack and a pack of beer from Propeller , a microbrewery in Halifax, and made our way to the Hostel on Gottigen Street... apparently it is a sketchy part of town, but few of us knew this till we showed up. The whole hostel experience was an interesting one for someone who's never stayed in one before. It was cool that our entire class fit into one room though, since there are only 11 of us.

Chabaa Thai was where we went for dinner, it was delicious!! One of the girls in our class, Jenna, kind of took control there and made her recommendations, which we all pretty much agreed with. The Spring rolls were SO good.

After that, we went to a disappointing 3D movie, and then got ready to go out for the night!

A long night, and a few distractions later, ended up back at the hostel really late. Got a few hours of sleep before we all made our way to the Halifax Market, one of the best markets I've been to. Mind you, my Crepe was a bit burnt, but at that point I was just happy it was something other than Bridgestreet Cafe or Joeys.

To 'cap' it all off, we stopped in Truro on our way back to Sackville, checked out the Glooscap Heritage Centre and made the last leg of the trip home.

Ok, more about France next post, this one is too long already!!! Happy trails.

New Addictions

2010-03-28T12:40:00.003-03:00

As exam time creeps up on university students everywhere, our internet and use of other procrastination tools goes up exponentially. At least, I know mines does. With the thought of 4 final papers that need a lot of work to be done, 1 pretty intimidating exam that I am really not looking forward to, and a daunting formal lab report due next week, I've got beyond the usually online streaming of Grey's Anatomy or Gossip Girl or checking the news updates at CBC or The Globe, and Facebook just wasn't cutting it anymore. These seemingly harmless procrastination tools, combined with my other addictions/obsessions, such as food have come together like a really really bad storm and I figured out the Food and Procrastination potential of twitter and blogs!!

The first one that I stumbled upon is a blog called It All Starts with Butter (I know, it sounds like a Paula Deen quote). It is written by this guy who writes all about events, restaurants, recipes and other amazing stuff in the Toronto area. Now, I know I'm not in Toronto, but with my siblings living there, I feel a bit left out of the city life, so this is a way for me to feel as if I know a few things about the city. There are also some mouth watering pictures of amazing food, like Toronto's best Meat Ball, and this guy must have been reading my mind when he wrote about this place called House On Parliament, which I hope to get to this weekend while I am in the city. Any of my friends will tell you, I love a place that makes good french fries and pub food- a good beer is always a plus too- and it seems like this place fits the bill. We'll see about that this weekend though, I'll keep you posted.

Through this blog, I've found countless other ones that have kept me entertained and distracted for what has probably amounted to hours this weekend. Combine that with all of the stuff going on to get ready for France... It's been a bit of a crazy week/(end). More details about France in my next post. Time to hike over the Library for the afternoon/evening.

Hope you're having a more productive Sunday than I am!!

Summer...or should I say Été!

2010-03-08T15:40:00.002-04:00

Got a call last week- moving to France for the summer to work for the Canadian National memorial at Vimy Ridge!

Stay tuned, more details to come. So excited for this opportunity! Now to sort through the Visa application process...

Updates!

2010-03-06T15:28:00.000-04:00

Hey! Sorry it has been a while since I last posted, things have been just as crazy as ever around Sackville. I guess I should start with Reading Week break... well, less break, more reading.

I stayed here over the break to take a class with the head of the Geography Dept., Dr. Fox and an amazing person and friend of mine, Natalie Gerum. The week long intensive class was centered around Place-based pedagogy and learning, so it was very much a geography class, with a lot of academic philosophy thrown in there. I've come to refer to it as Existential Geography. It was probably one of the best classes I've ever taken at Mount A. I loved the fact that it was intensive- it made the classroom feel more like a community, though some may say place of commiseration, and we had a great week overall. I still have to give my final presentation, but I am really looking forward to it.

Since then, things have just been ridiculous. I almost wish I'd had another week to get the things the other profs expected to be done over the break, so that I could do them and do them well! A break to recover from a break? Reading week could turn into reading month...

I am off to Halifax this weekend with a class, we're doing a Field Study of the city. The class is called Gender, Culture, and the City. We've got most of those things in Sackville... But we're off to study a bit larger scale and experience what it is the city has to offer that Sackville doesn't. Purely geographically and academically, of course. :-)

We had an open house on campus last Friday that seemed to go pretty well. I don't think they got the numbers they were looking for, but I think that those that were here really enjoyed it.

Props to Rory F. for a pretty amazing day.

A few busy weeks ahead, then classes are done! Just over a month and they are done. More exciting news in my next post. Summer Plans!!

Wowza

2010-02-19T22:46:00.002-04:00

Well, it has been a while since I've posted! Life has been hectic over the past month, lots of school stuff, some computer issues, and general ridiculousness that accompanies being a student.

Reading week has officially begun- for most people. I on the other hand, am going to be stuck in Sackville for the week. Natalie Gerum, a brilliant Mt. A grad will be teaching a course with Dr. Fox over reading week, an intensive Geography class. That is how I will be spending my week, so I guess I can't complain much, until the fact that an entire term's worth of work needs to be done in a week hits me, and I start to regret the fact that I signed up to take the class, hahaha.

Global Medical Brigades left on Thursday morning, off to Honduras for Mount A's 2nd brigade. I have to admit, I wish I was going again this year. It was a pretty amazing experience and I learned a lot from it. Learning from experience is something that has come up in a few of my classes this year, and I think it will be a large part of the intensive class over reading week. I've been reading a lot lately on how post-secondary education limits the ability to learn from experience, or how our learning isn't necessarily associated with direct experiential applications. It has made for some interesting thoughts and some ridiculous conversations with a few of my friends.... I don't know where I am going with this, but it's been an interesting few weeks of school and thinking.

Anyway, I am going to enjoy my reading week-end at my parents, just finished the best meal I've had in a while- lamb and an amazing bottle of red wine :-)

I will be back in Sackville on Sunday- weather permitting, and I'll give you an update when I am back up and running with my computer there. Happy march break/reading week! Safe travels to those heading home or elsewhere!

Babette!? Una nuova voce!

2010-01-20T23:04:00.006-04:00

Tonight was a pretty cool night. I got a lot of reading done this afternoon after one of my labs, so I thought it I'd take a stroll up to the Stereophonic concert that was at the chapel tonight. They had some amazing performances, not all that I could stay for, but the ones I did get a chance to see were amazing.

My friend Elizabeth (Also known as Liz, Lizzy, Eliza-beth, Lizzard, and most recently Babette) was performing tonight, and it happened to be the first chance I've had to see her live since her emergence as an artist on the East Coast music scene. If someone had played me one of the pieces from her Myspace Page a few years ago, I would not have believed that it was the hippie hearted Liz Hayward. If I had to figure out a way to describe her voice and style, I would have to say she's got a voice like Imogene Heap, but with more of a folk voice and a guitar focused accompaniment, though Liz plays a mad glockenspiel.

Pat Lepoidevin played right after Liz, and he was amazing. He is always a good act to watch because it is more than just the music, it is the production of the music that is really interesting to watch and listen to. He uses peddles and some pretty fancy footwork to loop his own harmonies and accompaniment. I would really like to see what Pat and Liz would sound like if they did a performance together. I'm not sure if it would be too much of a good thing, or if they would make an amazing sound, but I think it would be interesting nonetheless. This is going to sound really weird, but he reminds me of Dolly Parton, in the sense that he plays so many instruments when he's on stage, and likewise Dolly does too. And to answer the burning question in the back of your mind, Yes I have been to a Dolly Parton concert and it was one of the best shows I have ever been to! She sits way above So You Think You Can Dance, and just below the Rankin Family, who are pretty much on par with Coldplay (if for no other reason than blind loyalty to them). I'd have to say that Stereophonic beats SYTYCD by a bit, it was just that good.

When I was going through Pat's MySpace page tonight, I remember that he had a song on the Conduct Becoming album a few years ago. I remember this song pretty well, because it is one that I associate with traveling, having left home and making your way back and how places change after being away. I looked back through my old iPod playlists, and it happened to be on a playlist from when I moved out west for a while, when I lived in Whistler, and traveled around Vancouver a bit. It also happened to on the playlist I made for my flight back from Vancouver to New Brunswick.

I can't forget to mention Landon! He was the first act of the night, and Babette was such a rarity for me to see that I forgot to mention Land0(n) and his Rock-opera stylings! He's been writing a few different shows over the past few years, even had a workshop perform one of them last year. He's had some pretty awesome reviews on campus, you may remember him from his MtA Blog - and now his MySpace page!

Well, not that you've found out a bit about my very weird music tastes, go check out Babette's MySpace Page, and Pat's MySpace Page and check out their tunes!

If you didn't notice, though I am sure you did, I figured out how to hyperlink text (make text take you to a website when you click on it) so I went a bit crazy in this post... but with the best of intentions!!!

Till next time!

Valor; Valeur; Value

2010-01-13T15:06:00.005-04:00

I'll be the first one to admit it, I love getting presents. I love birthdays and other occasions like them for that very reason. My favourite one this year sort of caught me off guard. Not that I didn't appreciate each and every gift my family sent (or Deposited!) there was something to be said for the type of value that comes along with any gift.

My cousin Hannah had posted a picture of her Grandfather, my Great-Uncle, on facebook. It was an amazing picture of him when he was probably 9 or 10 (at most) during the great depression, standing on a train car with a giant grin on his face. I had mentioned it in passing or in an MSN conversation to her, and yesterday I got an email full of pictures of my Grandmother from when she was growing up. This one was probably taken during the late 1940's or early 1950's, from what I can tell. It is amazing to me to see these pictures, I've never known or thought of my Grandmother in any way but as, well. An older lady, a grandmother, or as we always called her Nanny.

There is something to be said about reevaluating how we value and see different things (or people!) as we get older (and hopefully, but not always, wiser). Thanks Cousin Hannah, and of course her Grandfather (Lou Lou) Louis, these pictures made my birthday.

Till next week!

Moving On, settling in.

2010-01-11T17:51:00.003-04:00

So it has been an interesting few days. Since council last Wednesday evening I've just been tying up some loose ends with SAC business, getting settled into this terms classes, the usual. The question that keeps coming up when asked about my resignation is, What now? I guess I haven't a specific answers, there are lots of things that I want to get more involved with on and around campus. I haven't burnt all of my bridges... at least I don' t think I have.

I've been working with a few friends to try and tighten up the Young Liberals group, at the provincial level. It's been a lot of policy review so far, but I'm sure it'll turn into something I put a lot of time into this term.

Tomorrow I will be legally allowed to drink in the US, Gamble in the US (Las Vegas anyone?), and pretty much do everything in the US that I've been able to do in Canada since I was 19 (some provinces 18!) That's right, it's my 21st birthday tomorrow. I will end up celebrating in Sackville on Saturday evening, when everyone else is free to have some fun. I think I will end up in Moncton for the night though, go out with a friend there. My twin brother has the benefit of being in the city. Happy Birthday Kevin, hope you're enjoying your big city birthday bash!

Just getting out of Sackville is usually exciting enough, getting to "go out on the town" in a city bigger than Sackville, makes it a night I am looking forward to. Love the small town, but I've been enjoying spending more and more time in Moncton, while I've had a car here. You'd be surprised how much you just forget about certain things when they aren't in front of you every day. It's a good thing and a bad thing, I guess.

One thing that any student at Mount A can tell you, is that there is no where to go shopping in Sackville, aside from the Salvation Army and the occasional Jean Coutu emergency "I'm too lazy to do laundry, so I bought myself another weeks worth of underwear for $15" (Yes, Suzette, I did that once...), there isn't much beyond restaurants and one café to spend your time and money in. As much as I love Joey's Pizza...it gets a little old after a few nights. I didn't notice this until I spent some time in Toronto this summer, and realized how much someone could spend on any given day if you were walking down a street that had lots of things to catch your eye.

So that has been my week really, spent some time in Moncton, getting settled into courses, and tying up some loose ends with the SAC. If anything exciting happens, I'll let you know! I'll try and take some pictures of birthday festivities to go up here or on Facebook.

Till next week! Cheers.

A learning experience...

2010-01-07T00:24:00.003-04:00

Have you ever had that gut feeling, that feeling in the pit of your stomach. It usually shows up when you're waiting for that grade you weren't too sure about, or that you're going to tell your parents that you want to quit university and become a performer in Cirque de Solie. Well, I have that feeling in the pit of my stomach today, and it was there yesterday, and it's been there for the past month or so. I think it is there because I am not 100% sure of myself in the stance I've taken on an issue, or perhaps that I don't know for certain that my stance and course of action will be supported.

Well to start with, I've resigned from the Students' Administrative Council, from my position as Vice President Campus Life. I resigned because of what I see as an unethical decision that was made by other members of the SAC executive committee, that I did not agree with in any way. While I know that I will lack their support in my decision, I look to the student body and the members of the union to see if I have theirs, to see if I resigned for a good reason or not. Essentially, I'd made arrangements for the funds from an event that I coordinated and ran through the SAC to be donated to two charities, UNICEF and the local food bank in Sackville. The event went really well (it was a halloween party), the best attended and financially successful event we'd run all year.

I was so excited that we'd raised over $4000 worth of food goods that night participating in Trick or Eat, and on top of that, we'd brought in over $5000 at the door of the event we'd held. After the basic costs of the event itself, the money was to be donated, the event itself was advertised as a fundraiser. It was really upsetting to me, as the coordinator of the event, as the one who'd made the arrangements to have this money donated to these two charities, to be told that they were only going to be getting a portion of what we'd raised, and that nearly $1000 was going to be kept by the SAC to cover the costs of other unsuccessful events that were held in November and December, and to help pay for one of the parties hosted by the SAC in January.

Last year the SAC sued a bar owner in Sackville for not honouring a verbal contract. In doing this is the organization not doing the same thing that they fought against?

I know that I see this as taking food from hungry community members, from our own neighbours. I see this as taking a step backwards with respect to AIDs/HIV prevention education, preventing families from ensuring that their children survive and reach school age healthy and well nourished, intellectually curious, socially confident and equipped with a solid foundation for lifelong learning. These are the things that the donations from the event that I'd coordinated through my position on the SAC would have helped with.

While some on the executive argued that they thought that the charities should be happy with what they've received and we should move on, put the issue to bed one might say, I can't help but think of what the difference in our donation could have meant to someone. I am outraged as a student who'd contributed to advertised an event as a fundraiser, to be the coordinator of this even and to then be told that it was more of a money-grab for the SAC than the fundraiser it had been advertised as. It was in my opinion such a dishonest decision and has made me dislike an organization I've put so much of myself into over the past 10 months

I resigned on the basis that the other executive members made these decisions after students gave us money, that they thought would be going to a charity, and that the organization is changing the way it is distributing the funds, after the fact to benefit itself. I just see it as wrong, and unethical.

I hope that the SAC council can keep the executive accountable, and make sure students know what is going on with the money they're giving to an organization that does dishonest things like this.

As a student, and as a member of the union, I no longer trust all of them to lead the SAC as an organization. How can they? This incident was a misstep on their part, and I hope that students and community members see it that way, and I hope that this gut feeling I have, that little knot in the bottom of my stomach, is because I am right. And not because I am scared of being wrong.

**Edited January 13th 2010**

Back at it! Bring it on 2010!

2010-01-05T20:01:00.002-04:00

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a good break!

It's funny though, I was discussing this with my friend Ryan today, that we always feel more exhausted after a vacation than we did before. I could use another week off, but to be honest I am very glad to get back into classes and get back to book-learnin'!

I spent my holiday at my parents house with my family, but not all of us made it home this year. It was my sister Katie's first time away from home for Christmas, but I doubt she noticed the difference, with her husbands family being just as large and perhaps as loud (maybe louder? I doubt it...) than ours. Next year is our turn to have them both for Christmas. My mom and I have bets on whether or not she'll be pregnant by that point, and if she is, she may be too pregnant to travel... Perhaps her husband just wants to spend Christmas in Toronto again? Who knows, we'll have to wait and see.

Classes started today, and I screwed up my schedule a bit. I thought my first class started half an hour later than it really did. I ended up walking into a lecture hall with half the class staring at me while the prof was still going on about the Syllabus, and of course the only seat left in the entire room was in the most inconvenient place. I spent a good 40 seconds saying, s'cuse me, pardon me, sorry, while trying to shuffle past a row of already seated, comfortable, and on time people. I was a few different shades of red I was so embarrassed for disrupting the class.

Beyond that, my other classes are really small, the smallest is probably going to end up around 5, others around 20, and then the largest one- the one I was late for- has close to 60 students. It's not a bad mix of seminar and lecture classes, I think it should make for an interesting semester. Lots of reading to get done, lots of papers to write. It's only just beginning and I'm already at the library for a good chunk of my evening.

I love Sackville, I do, but at times it does feel rather small. When you've been here for 3 years already, and lived here during the summer, it feels even smaller. My parents let me bring a car up for a little while this term, and it has made a world of difference so far! Groceries in Amherst or Moncton, just knowing that I don't have to stay here all the time, is really really relieving and making life a bit easier for now.

Beyond that, I don't know what else there is to say! I'll be back on later this week, but for now I'm off to watch the gold medal game with some friends!

Quikie.. or Quick one, I guess?

2009-12-11T01:35:00.003-04:00

Hey,

Exam time crush is getting to the point where it is like... well, you know when you're eating a wrap or something gooey and messy, where everything falls out of the back- well it is sort of like when you're on the last bite, and there is so much to try and cram in, but so little to do it with...Now I want a souvlaki wrap...

My first exam is in about 7 1/2 hours from now. I've set 4 alarm clocks to make sure I get up at some point, and sent my mom and email asking her to call me 20 minutes before the exam starts to make sure I am up and out the door. This exam I am confident for it, I think. I am only worried about my Physical Geography exam, simply because it is much more of a science based course than those that I've taken over the past few years. It took a while to get into the course, but I hope the exam goes well, I've been prepping all week for both, so it comes down to Tomorrow morning, and Saturday evening. I prefer the evening exam, if for no other reason, I know I will be awake... And have had the day to cram that last minute stuff in.

All the best to those writing exams over the next few weeks, I'll post an update before the holidays are over! Happy Holidays! Enjoy the break... I know I will =)

Ignorant and Free?

2009-12-01T03:39:00.004-04:00

I've been going through the TED talks Youtube videos lately, and I happened upon this one. It is a talk given by Bennington College's president, Liz Coleman. It is an interesting video, interesting perspective. Not quite sure what my thoughts are yet... what do you think? Post a comment, let me know...

I think that Liz Coleman says it much better than others who have tried to express similar ideas lately...

Disappointed...and distraction free!

2009-11-27T03:42:00.002-04:00

Well, I ended up getting an invitation to Google Wave, or at least the preview version they have up and running at this point... And I am very disappointed. It just reminded of when Hotmail switched to the new version a few years ago, and I still find it annoying- well, Wave is just like that!

I didn't get distracted by it at least, otherwise I might not get the 4 hours of sleep I will tonight!!

That's all folks!

Because I need another distraction...

2009-11-26T16:19:00.002-04:00

Google came out with a new program, called Google Wave. It looks pretty interesting, sort of like a hybrid of Facebook, Gmail, Blogger, Skype, ICQ, AIM, Jabber, and MSN all in one program, maybe throw a little twitter in there.

The thing with Google Wave is that you need an invite to use it...as if I don't have enough to worry about right now with exams...I really want an invite to use Wave!!! It'd be a great distraction, figuring it out and how to use it over the Christmas break... or between exams...

Anyway, if you've got invites left, feel free to send one along to saccampuslife [at] mta.ca

If you don't know what Google Wave is, here is the release from Google:

Crunch Time!

2009-11-24T16:19:00.002-04:00

T'is the season! It is that time of year, crunch time. Christmas is just around the corner, you've got to figure out what to ask Santa for, what you've got to get for everyone, decorations, etc...and of course exams... I don't think it is a secret, I generally dislike exam time. Though I don't have a full exam schedule this term, I'm not looking forward to the ones I do have.

My friend Alex likes to brag about that fact that he doesn't have a single exam this term. What he usually omits from that conversation is the fact that he has 6 papers, of several million words each... Which is equally gross to so many exams, but at least you know what you're handing in, not walking into an exam blind to exactly what the prof is looking for. Ok, ok. Neither are fun options. With the end of classes though, comes Last Class Bash!

I don't know exactly what is going on for Last Class Bash (LCB) but, I'm sure it will be fun. The university Calendar is a bit funky this year, we usually end classes on a Thursday, have the weekend to study/get over LCB, and then exams start the Monday or Tuesday after. This year, our last class in on a Monday. So, we go from Monday Classes right into exams on Wednesday. No time to celebrate, unless one looks at it like...well, no studying can be compared to a party hahaha.

Well, I've got to get back to the pre-exam stuff that needs to get done; formal labs, papers, and lots and lots of reading!

'til next time!

Olympic Torch comes through Sackville!!

2009-11-24T16:16:00.003-04:00

For 20 minutes yesterday, the entire university shut down and lined the street between the Academic Quad and the Student Centre to welcome the 2010 Olympic torch Relay.

Canadian SVP?

2009-11-24T16:10:00.001-04:00

Trick Or Eat- Thank You Video!

2009-11-23T20:26:00.000-04:00

Like a truck...

2009-11-13T15:41:00.004-04:00

I've been on a bit of a YouTube and other online distractions rampage over the past few days, and I wanted to share some of them with you all.

My friend Aly and I were having a bit of an office dance party/TGIF afternoon today. I decided it'd be fun to do a bit of a 'happy childhood' flashback moment. One cartoon came to mind, Duck Tales.

After our brief flashback moment, we moved on to other hilarity. At the beginning of the year the SAC exec did a little dance in front of the Frosh. It went a little something like this:

Now while my, self-proclaimed triple threat, twin may not approve of that clip as a dance, we thought we were pretty awesome, and ended up doing a Christmas themed dance too...ok, it's really just our faces pasted onto Elves, dancing to disco music, but it is pretty freakin' awesome.

If you're interested, check it out: http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/WCTQ0JXTo7MrISpS?cmpid=ey_fb_self

Beyond the above, it's been a busy few days, with some good distractions. A friend introduced me, via their facebook status to a new website. Much like FML, this one is a submission driven site, and has entertained me for HOURS this week. The site is called MyLifeisAverage.com

There are posts such as:

"Today, my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I thought he would be really depressed or sad, but apparently he's really excited because now he can hide his own Easter eggs. MLIA."

Anyway, time to get ready for the weekend. Lots of work to be done, Allie's basketball game to go to on Sunday, and the SAC Presidential race is underway...again.

Welcome to the Family!

2009-11-11T23:06:00.005-04:00

It's official! Peter Mansbridge is going to be Mount Allison's next Chancellor!!! It is pretty exciting news on and around campus. The school had a lot of publicity around the "Big Announcement". None of us knew what to expect. There were rumours of course.... but a lot of people were surprised to hear that John Bragg was done his term, and that Peter Mansbridge is going to be taking over.

This was one of the best kept secrets at Mount A over the past few weeks. Students, Staff and Faculty were all sent hints and invitations like this:

And we were all asked to show up Monday, November 9th at 11am. The university put a lot into the event, CBC showed up, they had free food (essential when trying to attract students to an event) and after the ceremony, gave out over 250 copies of Mr. Mansbridge's book! Unfortunately, I didn't get a copy, but I'm sure there will be a few floating around campus. To the gals over at University Advancement, awesome event! Maintaining the tradition of excellence across the board!

That was the big excitement of this week. In SAC news, nominations for our 3rd Presidential election in this academic year (...4th over the calendar year...) close this Thursday (tomorrow) and we'll find out who's running officially. So far, only two people have put their nominations in, Trevey Davis, and Mike Glover. We'll see if anyone else drops off a form.

I find it so weird that the past few elections have had a consistent few candidates in the race, and now we've got two brand new candidates. One of them boasts some SAC experience, while the other is running for a SAC position for the first time. Both of them are or have been varsity Athletes and I guess we'll have to see what else they've got going for them once speeches and campaigning starts.

That's all for tonight folks, I hope you all had a nice day off from classes, and a good Remembrance Day! Till next week,

Patrick

Happy Anniversary!

2009-11-10T18:43:00.004-04:00

I realized today, as my twin brother who is an actor and lives in the big city and I were talking over the phone, that my blog has now been up and running for a year + one day. I also came to realize...my family is now reading my blog... I just don't know how I feel about that.. While I come up with something:

Finished the song yet? Too bad, I'm still trying to come up with a witty post that will make my, soon to be successful actor twin brother, and non-chancellory Peter father, laugh.

Some recent snaps

2009-11-09T03:43:00.006-04:00

Delivery!

2009-11-04T23:16:00.003-04:00

Today we made our delivery to the Food Bank here in Sackville with all of the food goods we raised on Halloween, during the Trick or Eat campaign. $4400 worth of food, 1759 meals, and a lot of happy, less hungry people!! I am beyond amazed at the success we had this year, and a huge shout-out has to go to the Campus Life committee, and the rest of the SAC exec for making it a big success, Thanks guys!

Saturday night was the night of many events, after running Trick or Eat, I moved onto getting the student centre ready for the Halloween party that we were hosting that night, THUD.

THUD could have been a huge FLOP, we could have not been anywhere near ready for when the doors opened at 10pm, the bars could have been empty or understaffed, people could just rush the doors and trample over everyone trying to collect money and ID them. None of those things happened. The doors were staffed, the bars were great, the dance floors were packed, and it seemed as though everyone was having a good night.

The past few days have been recovery and clean up, and I ended up pretty sick and stuck in bed Monday and Tuesday. I've been in recovery mode today, still exhausted with a wicked cough, but I am on the mend...for now. H1N1 has hit Sackville, and a lot of people are sick around campus, but it is also that time of year when people start getting colds, and the regular flu, and other stuff. If you're sick, stay home! Don't go to class, it makes other people sick!

That has to be one of my pet peeves, sitting in an exam or in a class with someone in my immediate vicinity that has a cough or runny, sniffley nose, and of course doesn't have any tissues or won't step out of the room to blow their nose... but I am also aware of the fact that I've also caught myself as that person once or twice. Oh the joys of being a student, you know you have to go to class, but if you're sick, how sick do you have to be to justify staying home? Ever the question!

That's all for now folks, I'll try and upload some pics from Saturday night's Trick or Eat and THUD festivities.

Patrick

Food Bank!

2009-11-04T12:10:00.001-04:00

We're delivering over $4000 worth of food goods today to the local food bank! So exciting, so proud!
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Brevity

2009-11-04T00:41:00.002-04:00

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. I haven't got time to post much about it tonight, I am still sick and need to get some sleep, but I will have some time tomorrow to post. Until then, check out this youtube video, pretty cool.

A quick synopsis of the past few weeks:

1) New SAC elections for president...again.

2) Trick or Eat- HUGE success this year, I am beyond happy about how it went.

3) THUD- the super stud party that happened the same night as Trick or Eat, went off pretty well, and we even did better than making it break-even. Yay for UNICEF and the local Food Bank!!

4) Sick. After a crazy few weeks, I ended pretty ill, but I'm on the mend.

5) I am going to bed now.

6) goodnight.

Mid-Term Mania!

2009-10-15T00:42:00.002-03:00

I wish I could post a longer blog tonight, but I am just Blogcratinating right now (blogging as a means of procrastination).

Two Mid-terms tomorrow. One I am pretty prepared for, the other...less so. Dr. Jordan, go easy on us... please?

We had our first SAC council meeting tonight, it went well, for what was discussed. A lot of councillors are new to their positions, our bylaws and constitution, and rules of order, so I feel as though a lot of them were a bit more timid than they usually are...or will be.

The major point of discussion on the agenda this evening was our Presidential situation. A few talking points were presented as potential options. I really don't know what council is going to decide to do, all I know is I have my one vote in council, and who knows how far that will go.

It made for some interesting albeit occasionally circular discussion.

We transfered power back to Council, from the Executive- we hold power over the summer while there is no elected council, so we can get stuff done and still function as an organization- it was as simple as a motion, a 2nd, and then a vote. No more executive control. It is a bit of a relief. At the same time, kind of disappointing.

Physical Geography and Women/Gender Studies midterms tomorrow... not looking forward to the two of them, back-to-back, and a morning full of meetings just before.

I'll survive to blog again another day.

Back to the books, night!

Home Sweet Gravy

2009-10-11T00:30:00.002-03:00

One of the perks to being home- amazing food. My mom makes the best Roast Beef, with gravy that cannot be beat.

I'm going to give this mobile blogging/blog by email thing a try. It seems a bit like Twitter...without the tweeting.

Hope you're having a great thanksgiving weekend! Off to the country tomorrow for the big family dinner, so excited! Food is involved, of course I am!

Night
P

*Monday, October 12th, 12:28 am: Dinner was amazing, we did a little family photo before hand (see above). It wasn't a large turnout this year, just about 15 of us. Can't wait for Christmas now!

Turkey Time

2009-10-10T00:05:00.002-03:00

Thanksgiving, much like Christmas, is a time for the Forestell Family to get together, eat way too much food, see enough of each other until the next major holiday (or Saturday morning at my uncles place in the City Market), and have the perfect excuse for a nap both before and after the meal/event. It's how we roll. There is a set order to which Aunt/Uncle/Cousin hosts which event/dinner. Aunt B does Thanksgiving, at she and Uncle J's cottage. Christmas Eve is our thing, which always works out that we've got a few too many left overs... Now I'm just hungry.

I am happy to be out of Sackville for a few days, it has been getting pretty busy with school and SAC stuff. We're now on week 6 of the Presidential By-Election. We thought we were going to have a president elected by the first few days of October... we've been through 2 different presidential elections -one voided because of balloting errors, and the other the result of the voiding- and we just got the results from the 2nd election. Looks like we're out of luck again. We had enough people vote to make it a valid election, but no one candidate won by the required 50% + 1 vote. We still don't really know what is going to happen, but I'll post an update once I know what's going on. I wish the elections were over, it would make my life a bit easier.

I've got midterms through next week, and a few papers due, so I really hope that the election stuff doesn't get in the way of those. I am enjoying classes now that they are getting into more than just the intro stuff. We've done a lot of outdoor labs for Physical Geography, which has been good...and bad. The day we had our "Soil Lab" scheduled...it was pouring rain. It was honestly the most rain I've seen in Sackville since the Landsdown Field flooded and was a pond for most of campus for a day or two. Conveniently, I had a very important meeting which happened to be scheduled at the same time, inside... not in the rain... I don't think I'll ever live it down from Jess, she was not pleased that I didn't show.

I've been missing bigger cities, and the west coast a bit the past month or so. I think what I really miss is having a regular pay-cheque, ha! Anna Chujunian wrote about the reasons to miss big city life in the Argosy this week, so I'll leave it to her, and to you to read it. I do love Sackville, everyone just has a day or two every once in a while when they want to get out. I think that is commonplace, no matter where you live.

I am excited about next year, I just signed a lease or a house! It is a gorgeous house, pretty close to campus, the grocery store, all the good stuff. And I am living with some pretty wicked people, one of them being my cousin, Hannah.

Ok, pretty long post. But I guess it's been a while. I'll be back on after this weekend, I am going to turn off my computer and blackberry, disconnect for a few days. I think everyone should have a few days a month like that, techno-detox. Thank goodness for digital cable though... oh I miss even having TV in Sackville. I opt'd not to get cable but I am starting to question that decision...

Have a happy Turkey Weekend! To those traveling, safe travels! See you back in Sackville in a few days. To those in Sackville... Go Skydiving or something! I can't wait until I can afford to go again!

Mr. Currie, for you:

Urgent Update!

2009-09-23T01:36:00.002-03:00

I forgot to mention this in my last post, but I think it is one of the most notable things to happen in Sackville over the past few months; Jean Coutu now carries Socks and Undies! They are cheap and they saved me from having to do Laundry for a few days...Suzette, you were right.

Thought you all should know.

Happy Equinox! Down with the Leaves!

2009-09-23T01:08:00.002-03:00

It is now officially Fall, Autumn, that thing after summer and just before the snow gets here, whatever you want to call it; Summer is over.

School started a few weeks ago, and the assignments and tests are already starting to pop up. Stuff in the SAC office has been steadily busy, with the SACtivities Fair (where all the clubs and societies on campus recruit for 5 hours one sunday afternoon in the same cramped room), Homecoming (which we lost, but it was still fun to go to. I organized the Half Time Show and from what I've heard, I think it went well), and the elections coming up. If you hadn't yet heard, the SAC is holding elections this fall for House Counc. and Off Campus Counc positions on the SAC. We are also holding a Presidential By-Election due to the resignation of our former president-elect, Paul, who did end up back at Mount A this year. It has made for an interesting and somewhat stressful summer/fall. It is very weird being guided by Mike (our Interim-President), but to know at the same time that he's not going to be the one helping us along, and guiding us through the next portion of our terms in office. Mike Currie, a big thanks for all the work, help and guidance over the summer months, and just over the past few weeks I think I've come to value the leadership a lot more. So yeah, Thanks!

There are three people running for the Presidential position; Mayme Lefurgey, Ryan Robski, and Chris Durrant. We had our first round of speeches tonight, which I thought would assuage some of my concerns about several of the candidates, but in all honesty, it seemed to affirm some of them. They are all great candidates, with very different personalities and working dynamics, so it will make for an interesting year regardless of who ends up getting elected. I almost feel bad for them, having to come into an executive committee that has already been working together very closely for nearly 6 months now. It is going to be a difficult transition for both sides, but I am pretty sure the current exec is hoping to make that as easy as possible for whom ever is elected.

Aside from election stuff, not much else is going on right now. I've been back and forth to the doctor because I was an idiot and injured my knee one night just before the first day of classes, but I hope it isn't too serious.

Alrighty, well I think I am all caught up with you guys. I will post some pictures from Orientation events soon, they all went pretty well. Sex with Sue, Mudsliding, the Trews, all pretty awesome events. Shout out to everyone who helped out with Orientation! Good job everyone.

Here is a song that pretty much got everyone through Orientation weeks:

Pictures to come soon!

Cheers,

Patrick

Welcome and Welcome back!

2009-09-09T00:25:00.003-03:00

It seems as though Sackville has gone from the sleepy picturesque place it is during the summer, to a sleepy picturesque place with about 2800 more people in it, and one more pub open now. Residences are full of frosh!

It is nice having people back in town, but what I am enjoying most is classes resuming! A regular schedule is something I missed more than I expected to.

A few weeks ago the SAC exec (All the VPs and President) went on the annual Executive Retreat. We made our way to the French River area, on PEI, where one of our exec members has a cottage. It was pretty nice there and we accomplished everything we'd hope to and had a lot of fun. The only weird thing was that there was a hurricane while we were there, and it got pretty wild right along the coast. It was amazing to see, but really loud when we were trying to sleep. The day after we got back was the beginning of International Orientation.

International Orientation and Orientation went pretty well. It was a really busy time, lots of events that the SAC coordinated and others that we were invited to. The busy time has really begun. Meetings, election stuff, and classes are all underway, so I am juggling a bit...but enjoying it.

That's a bit of a brief update, but I'll post again soon.

Patrick

P-Faux & the Amazonian Queen

2009-08-07T00:35:00.013-03:00

So Chris Martin and I are pretty much best friends now. Allie and I saw Coldplay live last week. It was one of the most amazing concerts I have ever been to. The music was pretty amazing, but the performance is what blew me away.... They played every song we hoped they would, even the ones we weren't expecting them to perform, they ended up playing most of them!

The music was pretty amazing, but the performance is what blew me away.... They played every song we hoped they would, even the ones we weren't expecting them to perform, they ended up playing most of them! Our seats were also pretty amazing, we were right there on the stadium floor. Oh! And to top it off they gave everyone that showed up a copy of their new album as we left the stadium, for free!! I guess that makes up for the fact that 1 beer cost me $10!!

Aside from Coldplay, I was able to take in a few other shows while I was in Toronto. My friend Leah organized a show with some of her fellow Masters students at U of T, and they put on an amazing show. She conducted the Wind pieces, and performed a bit. There was a good 10 minutes worth of 12-Tone pieces that I think everyone just accepted that we had to sit through... but overall it was pretty good. Oh! And they gave everyone that showed up a copy of their new album as we left the stadium, for free!!

My twin brother goes to a Performing Arts/Musical Theatre school in the city, so I was able to stop by and see his school for the first time. I went by on my last night there, and they were having their graduation performance. I think the show they were putting on was called SMILE, something about a Beauty Pageant. It was really odd how many people from home, and from Mount A I ran into at that show! There were at least 10 people I knew, at this tiny little theatre off Bathurst, it goes to show you that the world is pretty small.

I would love to live in a big city. If for nothing else, for the food! I love being able to walk down a street and see 15 different types of restaurants. My favorite place is off Yonge and Bay, Indochine. It was amazing. And CHEAP (ish)! I nagged my brother to go there with me for the entire time I was in the city, but he ended up wanting to go elsewhere with friends the night I decided to go for dinner there. So, I went by myself, and I honestly, could not have been more content. I usually find it a bit awkward to go out to a restaurant by myself, but I was enjoying the food enough that I really didn't care. They've also go really good homemade Iced Tea.

I had the chance to go out to lunch with a few friends who're spending their summers in Toronto, who are working, or rehearsing, or doing summer research. I am a bit envious of their summers simply for geographic reasons. I enjoyed catching up with them, and I really am excited for the Fall, once most of my friends start coming back to town. Sarah is flying back from Bangkok tonight! She's staying in Toronto until just before our SAC executive retreat, so I will get to see her around the 25th. Very excited to see her pictures from her summer in Thailand.

The summer is winding down now. Less than a month until new students move in! I am really excited to start the academic year, and to get SAC stuff up and running. It is going to be a busy year, but I think I can handle it.

Well, I think that is enough for one post. Lots more to talk about, but I guess I will save it for another time. This is the most ridiculous thing I have seen since being back in Sackville. I can hear Suzette laughing in her office already, just check it out (shout-out to Sacha and Rach for showing me this during non-work hours, of course):

The Reunion and the Return!

2009-07-27T00:16:00.002-03:00

The Amazonian Queen has landed safely in Saint John, New Brunswick. Back from her research in Peru, she can't stop talking about the people and the things she did there, and when she does take a break...it is to talk about Coldplay!!! Which is pretty exciting, because we're off in a few days (Wednesday!!!) to see them play in Toronto!! I've probably ranted enough about that over the past few weeks.

I just got back from the annual Forestell Family Reunion. It is always a good time. Though this year, it felt very much like a continuation of my sister Katie's Wedding. KT & POD Get Hitched Part II; The New Brunswick/Nouveau-Brunswick Edition.

We've bounced around from a few different spots since we sold our old cottage, but it always seems to work out. It was foggy and wet, but we still had lots of fun, the kids seemed to enjoy it, and there was plenty of good food!

On my way back to Sackville, with my parents, we stopped into a few different artisan galleries along the coastal drive between Fundy National and Moncton. There are some pretty amazing artists that have taken up residence in Albert County. I wonder what people do for work out there. I can't imagine trying to make my way into Moncton during the winter, on those back roads.

Well, I'm off for the night!

Shiny Times

2009-07-12T19:19:00.003-03:00

This weekend has been more eventful than others spent in Sackville.

Friday was such a nice day in Sackville that it seemed like everyone's boss said they could have the afternoon off...

If I'd had the afternoon off, I would have spent it sitting on my front porch, with a summer-themed drink in hand, and a good book. My friend Maggie probably would have driven through town and stopped off at my place with her mom. I probably would have shown them my place, and Maggie would have jumped at the chance to see anything that I bought while in Toronto. After that, a few friends would show up, we'd have some cold beer on the front porch, and just enjoy the afternoon sun while it lasted. That is what my Friday afternoon would have looked like if I'd had the time off...

Saturday was pretty fun, a group of us ended up going to the Beach after the Shinerama bottle drive. We'd planned to make our way to Shediac, but ended up at Silver Lake instead. It was a chill afternoon. Sarah and I took off to Moncton that evening to see Brüno. It was ridiculous, hilarious, and the best laugh I've had in a while. Beware though, it is pretty...interesting. If you're not a very open-minded person...stay away hahaha. It is rated the way it is for a reason.

Saturday night, 6 of us on the Shinerama team headed out for a Bar blitz. We went to the O2, a bar in Moncton, and we were fundraising from midnight until the bar closed. The bar-blitzing is a pretty itneresting way to raise money, we had buckets of candies and condoms, and we asked for a small donation, and people could take what they wanted. We raised over $450.00 in 2 hours. Shinerama is a fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis research. CF is the most common, fatal genetic disease affecting young Canadians today. For every year of fundraising that has happened, a year has been added to life expectancy of those who suffer from CF. It is a pretty shitty disease, that affects multiple organ groups in the body, mostly the lungs and digestive systems. Our school's goal is to raise $20, 000 this year, and the national goal is to raise over $1, 000, 000.

Mayme is our Shinerama chair, and has been doing a pretty amazing job so far organizing hte events on and around campus all summer, and planning for the fall Shine Day. I think we are well on our way to meeting the $20, 000 goal.

Today was just a day to recover from being out until 4am, I lounged in bed (my new bed!) and I got a fair amount of reading done. I don't know what I am going to do once I'm done this book, I don't think there is a 3rd to the series, at least not yet. Any suggestions?

Until next time,

Patrick

PS, this is the song I had to keep asking Sacha about, it was one of the last songs played at the 02 last night, we all had it stuck in our heads:

Back in the Sack

2009-07-10T11:06:00.003-03:00

There is nothing quite like Family reunions, or Family Weddings. I always come away from them wishing I had another week to recover from them. This time, it was my sister's wedding.

Most of our family flew up to Toronto, then drove to Haliburton, to see my sister marry her then fiancé-now husband (still getting used to that!)- Patrick. Yes, his name is Patrick. A bit confusing when you're around both his family and ours.

She married into a family that is almost the mirror image of our family in New Brunswick;

there are too many to count, keep track of names, and you're always being introduced to Aunts, Uncles and cousins you never knew you had. If you had to give it a title, I think everyone would have agreed on "My Big Fat Irish Catholic Wedding"

It was nice to get out of Sackville for a week, get some much needed shopping done (there isn't anywhere in Sackville to buy socks!), and see my siblings. My twin brother (kevin) and sister (Katie) live in Toronto, and I get to see them a few times a year. Between family reunions, trips to Toronto, and holidays. I was also able to pencil in some friends while I was up in the city. Laura is working up there for the summer for MSF (Doctors without Borders) and we went shopping for my wedding outfit together, and finished off the outfit by running around the Eaton Centre frantically with 5 minutes before all the stores closed, to find the right tie.

I got an email from my friend Allie's parents the other day, they forwarded along the email she sent out from the Amazon, she seems to be having a great time, and I am looking forward to hearing all of the interesting stories and of course, like I've been saying for the past few weeks, to see Coldplay!

We've been getting the housing assignment letters ready for the past few days in Isobel's office, and I have had this one song stuck in my head, and I just cannot seem to remember what it is called, so I have to keep asking Sacha. Nothing too interesting, just a good upbeat to keep us motivated while we're stuffing the close to 800 Residence letters... which will go out this week! I still can't remember what it is, so this one is going out to Keleigh

Well, that's all for today. I am off to lunch, the café has a BBQ on today which Sarah and I usually go to, but since she's enroute to Thailand/in TO for the time being, I am going to have a 2nd burger for her.

Until next time!

Late nights, early mornings

2009-06-17T22:25:00.004-03:00

Summer time in Sackville, though quieter, is not lacking things to do. I am spending lots of time in the SAC office (student union) getting ready and organizing my year as Vice President Campus Life. I am really excited about it, but at the same time I am nervous about it. I've got a lot of different ideas, a great campus life committee, and I hope that the Byelection we're holding in the fall, to elect a new president goes well.

I've started the planning for our meal exchange events on campus come the fall. I hope to have a few new events this year. We're also in the stages of booking some of the concerts and shows for the fall, which is pretty exciting. Orientation is going to be a pretty awesome event come September.

The kids that have been through our camps this week have been pretty good, there are always a few difficult ones, but we've handled things really well the past few weeks. We've got a few more days of school groups, then we start the planning process for our Go Global Camps, if they end up happening. If you know anyone interested in a summer camp and a bit of exposure to what university life is like check out: www.mta.ca/summer Most of the camps are open to 11-17 year olds, with a few exceptions. Check out the site if you think you're interested.

My friend Allie and I are off to Toronto in just over a month to see Coldplay, and we're getting pretty excited. We've been bickering about what their set list is going to be, which song is the best one haha, stupid stuff that is just getting us more and more excited to see them live.

Allie is off to the Amazon this week, which is pretty exciting. This one is for her:

Shinerama events have been starting up, the summer Semi-Formal raised a good chunk of money, a great start to the $20, 000 goal for this year. A few more events are going to be happening on and around campus, when I know more details I'll post them. Mayme is our Shine Co-Ordinator this year, and has some great ideas for events this summer/fall.

Ok, time for me to head home. The internet at my apartment sucks, so I've been stopping into the SAC office to use my computer here more and more lately.

Till next time.

Where does the time go?

2009-06-15T15:18:00.002-03:00

Wow. I looked at my calendar today and realized it was the middle of June. My summer break is half-way over... or only just beginning?

On the go over the next few weeks/month, I've got to work. I am still working for Summer Camps Mount A, I really enjoy working with the students. Most of them are really engaged and get into the activities we do.

I am set to go to my sister's wedding the first week of July, flying in the 1st, and staying until the 6th. I am also heading up to Toronto to see Coldplay on the 30th of July, and meeting up with a few friends while I am there. Allie Mayberry, a close friend got the tickets, and we're meeting up in Toronto. It is sort of a mid-summer reunion, because she is traveling back from the Amazon, in Peru, where she'll be doing her summer research. I am pretty excited to catch-up with her, and see one of our favorite bands.

Sackville is slower than I expected, but I am still enjoying it. There is a great crowd of people here, and my travel plans get me out of town enough that I won't go crazy.

I am at work, need to get back to the kids.

Post soon.

Patrick

Con Weekend

2009-05-26T14:32:00.002-03:00

Hey Guys,

This past weekend was an interesting one. Sleepy summer time Sackville woke up to the return of the, now, graduates, parents, alumni and friends of Mount A. It was like cramming the past years worth of parties and events into one long-weekend. I know it wasn't a long week-end, but Sackville sure seemed shut down on Monday with the exception of Convocation and its receptions. It may have just been that fact that I was inside Convocation Hall from 7am until just before dinner. I was ushering for the day, which was pretty great because I got to see a lot of my friends graduate, and get paid!

Speaking of getting paid...I should get back to work. Our first campers showed up today, which is pretty exciting. We were pretty nervous and running around covering our last-minute details this morning, but it has been fun so far.

I am off to do a geography session with some kids from Deer Island, here's hoping it goes well.

I'll post some more deets about con-weekend later today, it was pretty interesting, and there sure is lots to tell haha.

Ciao

Done, gone home and came back.

2009-04-29T15:19:00.003-03:00

Well, the year is over. I'm pretty much done my 2nd year here at Mount A, and could not be happier that the summer has come at last, even if it still isn't as warm as I wish it was. That being said, I am still wearing short and flip flops around every day.

I've started working, I should be working right now, but I thought I'd take a minute to give you guys an update. I am working for Mount A's summer camps, Go Global, Go Global Canada, and the Explore camps offered through Mount A. I get to work with kids from grades 3-12, from Canada, Saudi Arabia, India and Japan. This week and next we are programming for the activities and stuff we're going to have them do, and the weekend excursions for the International students. I am also in charge of teaching them the Geography/Environmental Science Seminars and organizing the Athletics portion of their camps. I am excited about it.

I've moved into my apartment and it is nice. I have no furniture, aside from 2 chairs, a table and a Lamp. My bed isn't even in my apartment haha, I am sleeping in my room mate's room until I move it from my friends house. I would love to get a couch at some point too, it is just a matter of moving everything. I don't have a car or a truck, so it makes things tricky... anyway, it will get figured out.

Since I don't have cable yet, I have been reading a lot lately. I am reading the Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet. It is pretty interesting so far, I love having time to read for pleasure again. I never have any time during the school year to read things outside of required readings/class texts.

I'm off to lunch! It is sunny in Sackville today, but it won't last. It has been raining for pretty much the entire week, less Saturday. I'll try and post again this week. Hope everyone's summers are going well!

My new best friend...

2009-04-16T17:16:00.002-03:00

Ralph P. Bell and I have become better friends over the past few days. He is full of information, though his connection to the internet isn't always reliable, he always provides me with a nice little place to try and study. R. P. Bell, is the library, and usually I don't like to study in the library, but as it has been an essay heavy exam period, I have been spending a lot more time here.

My term papers have been in the process of being researched for a few weeks now, but they are really just coming to fruition in the last few days (or hours in some cases hahaha). I should be working on my Cultural Geography paper right now, it is rough-going. I am drawing on a lot of info for it, I think I am being a bit too research oriented for it, but you never know with Dr. Huff.

I wrote my first exam yesterday, Geography of the Developing World, for Dr. Reiffenstein. I think it went really well, I was happy to have it over with. He gave us several essay topics to prep with, and the ones that I had hoped to be on the exam were, though the multiple choice were a bit tricky and very detail oriented.

I have 2 exams and 2 papers left to do. I am writing the first of the two essay right now, due at midnight, and the next paper due tomorrow at some point. I've then got to find time to study for my psychology exam on Saturday. This is such a fun week!! hahaha. I did get an email from my great Aunt, Sister Barb (yes, she's a nun) and she said I was in her prayers. I'll take any help at this point!!

Alright, back to my studies. I'll post more later this weekend, or after Tuesday, when I am DONE!

-P

Last class...

2009-04-09T13:06:00.002-03:00

I am sitting in my last class of the term right now. Yes, I should be paying attention to Sacha's presentation, but it is too nice out, and I am just not that interested right now... I will wait till Prof. Burnett starts talking about the final. This may be my last class, but I've still got 2 1/2 papers to go, and my exams start on the 15th, with my most difficult one first.

I'll update you a bit later this weekend, post-last-class-bash. Have a good one!

All you've got to do is ask...

2009-04-01T01:32:00.001-03:00

Hey!

I mentioned last time that I was waiting for Sara-Beth Harrison to get a myspace page to post some of her stuff on here. Well, she did! Check her out. Pretty freakin' amazing.

http://www.myspace.com/harrisonsarabeth

Ah, it's summer time.

2009-03-30T12:57:00.004-03:00

Sometimes I really dislike living in Atlantic Canada, like when it snows during the last week of March. It was so close to being spring!!! So close. From Birkenstocks and long sleeve t's to Long johns and hats that mess up your hair. Great start to a week.

Hopefully the rain forecasted for the weekend will help spring along, and take the snow with it.

Mountie Music Shout-Out

2009-03-30T00:29:00.003-03:00

I forgot to mention the other great performances from the ASCARs in my last post, so I thought I would give you guys the links to Kellen Barrett, Corey Isenor and Pat LePoidevin won the Best Solo Artist or Band of the year award jointly, as three solo artists. Individually, they are pretty amazing and talented musicians and songwriters. If you're broke, and need a birthday gift for someone, Corey's song, "Birthday" is perfect. Saves on postage stamps too :) Also, the way Pat performs, with the looping, is pretty amazing, especially to see live.

I wish Sarah-Beth had her myspace page set up, but alas she doesn't, I accosted her about it today.

So here is a sample of what each of the guys has to offer, enjoy!

George the Polar Bear

End of Term Busyness!

2009-03-29T14:56:00.002-03:00

Things are winding down for the term, the weather is starting to get nicer (we've got lows in the Positives more now than Negatives!) and of course the stress is starting to pile up. Exams start in a few weeks, my are all between the 15th and the 21st of April. I have several papers and drafts due this week and next, and a lot of reading to try and get through before the end of term.

This weekend was also pretty busy, with the ASCAR Awards on friday night, where I was the Voice-Over with my friend, and soon-to-be graduate Claire Kelly. There was an After Party, and the After After Party, which made for an interesting night/morning. It was pretty fun night all around, especially the performances. Sarah-Beth Harrison was one that shocked me, I mean I've heard her perform before, but it has always been in the pub or a noisy venue. I was really happy that she got to perform in Con Hall, and everyone could actually hear her, and hear how amazing she is! I wish she had a myspace, or some of her solo performances on Youtube. Instead, I've decided to leave you with the Decemberist's The Crane Wife, pt. III, by recommendation of a friend. Enjoy and I hope you have a great start to the week!

Back to Bagtown; stress and studies

2009-03-29T03:20:00.000-03:00

Hey!

It has been a busy couple of weeks getting settled back into life in Bagtown. Honduras was amazing. I'm not sure how much I mentioned about it before I went down, but I will give you guys a brief recap of what I was doing, the organization I went with, and what it is like being back in Canada after such an amazing trip, and trying to settle back into school.

I went to Honduras with a group of almost 35 Mount Allison Students, and 12 Medical Professionals. We went down with the Global Brigades Organization, an organization that coordinates volunteer groups from Universities across the US, and now Canada for various projects, such as Medical, Dental, and Public Health.

It was a rough trip, we left Halifax several hours late, an "air traffic" issue we were told. Since we left Halifax later than expected, when we go to Newark, to catch our connection to Houston, they had closed to gate 5 minutes before we landed. We ended up missing the flight, they wouldn't open the door for almost 40 people, almost half of the flight. It was an annoying start to the trip, and especially annoying after close to 40 hours without sleep.

After a lot of argument with Continental, our wretched airline, we ended up in Houston, but that would be our last stop for the day. We stayed at a hotel for the evening, hung around Houston for the day, and finally left for San Pedro Sula, Honduras that evening. The travel issues we had weren't the most prominent of my memories, but it was a rough start to an amazing trip.

Once we got there, we traveled for close to 9 hours, from the Airport in San Pedro Sula, to a pee stop about 3 1/2 or 4 hours away (it was a rough ride too, so we all needed it a good hour before we got there) , to Tegucigalpa, the capital city and the location of Global Brigade's headquarters. After lunch in Tegus, we kept on going to Nuevo Paraiso.

After a quick tour of the compound, the clinic, and the rest of the facilities, we settled in just before supper. Our first night was pretty hectic. We had to unpack all of our medication, supplies, and donations. We separated everything Dental and Medical, and divided what could be used for both. When we were unpacking, we had to divide medications into 30 day doses, label with directions (in spanish) and then organize it into our little pharmacy.

Everyday, our group split into two brigades, the Public Health, and the Medical/Dental Brigade. For the first day, I was with the Public Health Brigade. We went to a small community, an hour and a half away from Nuevo Paraiso, and we were working in and around homes of people who needed things like, Sanitary Latrines with sealed Septic tanks, Safe water storage units (called a Pila), cement floors where they only had dirt floors, and properly ventilated, and more efficient wood-burning stoves. The rationale behind the Public Health Brigades comes from the Medical and Dental Brigades, the projects help prevent the problems we saw with almost every single person we saw in the Medical Clinics. I have never really done much by way of construction or manual labour, so this was quite an experience. Mixing cement on the ground, with a shovel, and a bucket of water, is a lot harder than you'd expect. I think I was still in a state of shock during the first few days of the trip, the overwhelming amount of poverty and the amount of culture shock really shook me.

When the second day rolled around, I was on the Medical/Dental brigades for the rest of the trip. I spent most of my time in the Dental Bus during the 2nd day, with Dr. Stymiest, Kerrie, Dr. Chandra and the Cuban Dentist. Kavish, Tarek, Brent and I got to observe and do intake on the bus. One of us would be sterilizing the dental tools, another would be assisting Dr. Chandra (don't worry, we were just handing him instruments) and Dr. Stymiest, and the other 2 would be translating and doing intake in the front of the bus. This bus was literally a school bus. It had 2 dental stations built into the back, and 4 rows of seats in the front, which we used as a storage and waiting area. If I were more science oriented, I would have strongly considered looking into dentistry as a career after this experience.

The Medical Brigade aspect of our trip was the largest part. We had all of our Medical Professionals set up in several areas, some doing intake/Triage, with others working more in their speciality. Every Medical Professional had a student translator with them, and those of us who's spanish was, well, less than proficient, worked more often in the Pharmacy. I really did enjoy working in the Pharmacy, most times we were set up in a classrooms. We walked in to the class room for the 3rd day, and it was obvious it was a science class, with the charts and diagrams mounted on the walls. The really amazing thing was, they were all hand-drawn, every single one of them. There was everything from the Periodic Table, Skeletal, muscular, and organ diagrams, to the structure of a Neuron, and again, all of them were hand drawn!

Though the primary function of the pharmacy was to hand out prescriptions and vitamins, we also used it as a way to distribute the donations we brought with us. We would look at the age of the patient when we received their patient form/prescription and would pick out a toy, or some clothes depending on their age. One of the things I wish we had brought more of was glasses. We had several pairs with us, but not as many as we could have given out. The very first person we saw on the 3rd day was an older woman who's form said she had difficulty seeing signs and reading, so we thought we'd try out a pair or two with her. We gave her one pair, didn't do much, the 2nd pair, again, not so great. When she put on the 3rd pair, her eyes lit up. She looked at the sheet of paper I was holding, she could read it, she looked at the sign down the street, she could read it. It was pretty cool, an amazing start to the day.

Those are only a few of the many amazing experiences that I had while we were in Honduras, there are so many to talk about, but so many that are really difficult to talk about. I thought you guys would enjoy a little glimpse of what we were doing.

It has been difficult to get back into the swing of things with school. There was a short time after the trip that I would say I was really sad, having left a place with so much poverty, a place where there is so much that should be done, that needs to be done. It is weird to try and explain it.

I was also unfortunate enough to have experienced some post-Honduras health issues. I was really not feeling too well for about 2 weeks after we got back, and still have some days when I don't know if it is just me not feeling well, or if it is something to do with the trip. Fortunately, I've got some prof's who've spent a lot of time in Central and South America, so they were pretty sympathetic when it came to certain things.

I'll give you guys another update at some point this week. Things are just about to go crazy, with a lot of receptions, dinners, banquets, and end of year things coming up just before exams, and while term papers are due.

Until then!

2009-03-16T01:59:00.002-03:00

What ever happened to your imaginary friend?

Back from Latin America!

2009-03-03T23:38:00.000-04:00

Hey! Sorry I didn't mention that I'd be away for a while in my last post!

I just got back from Honduras on Saturday. There is so much to say about it, but at the same time it is all so hard to describe. It really put a face, and a name to so many of the statistics that we've studied and read about. I will post more about it later this week. I have a ton of school work to catch up on, and several mid terms later on this week that I need to cram for.

Check back in a few days for more info about the trip, until then enjoy the pictures I've posted below.

Patrick

Honduras 2009

2009-03-02T17:16:00.009-04:00

After we were done with the Clinics, we played soccer with the local kids.

3rd Grade Classroom

The school we used for Day 3

Working the Pharmacy- Day 3

Hand Drawn and coloured Periodic Table

Hand drawn charts in the Science Class we put the Pharmacy in.

The cake GMB Made for us...

When the surprised us with this!

Day 2-Medical & Dental Groups

El Pharmacy

Dental Bus Action!

Post rural-bathroom experience.

The school we set up the clinic in on Day 2.

Public Health Brigade - Day One

The House we were working in.

What our Latrines should look like at the end of the day.

Laying the Foundation.

This is the little boy, Garvin, who lived with his parents in the house we were working in.

He didn't like taking pictures, but smiled when he saw them!

Mixing concrete and Mortar is not the easiest thing to do.

The neighbours..

The group at the bottom of the hill, the other half of the group was working up the hill.

One of the houses in the Orphanage.

The Dental Bus!

Yayy! Canadian Flag! This was up before we got there.

In Tegucigalpa

First views of rural Honduras.

Online baby-fame

2009-02-07T22:24:00.003-04:00

Can you imagine, if you'd just graduated University and you were going through interviews and everything for prospective jobs and a potential employer said something like:

Potential Employer: Well, we've looked over your application and qualifications, you're perfect for the job. When I googled your name though, a YouTube Video came up.

So you were that laughing baby (or crazy person with a singing dog).

I cannot figure out why parents put their kids on YouTube or create facebook accounts for them... it is a little odd. Anyway, I noticed a friend had posted this video on another friend's wall, and I thought

you guys may get a kick out of it.

Ohh!!!

2009-02-06T01:23:00.002-04:00

Hey,

So I remembered a funny YouTube video, after reading Noah's posts from the 27th. I thought the video he posted was hilarious, but I think this one is just as funny, with a classical twist... Check it out!

2009-02-06T00:53:00.003-04:00

Late night snacks, and a nice tall glass of stress!

2009-02-02T01:33:00.006-04:00

Hello,

So sorry about how long it has been since I last posted, school has been getting pretty busy, and I've been spending a lot of time trying to manage that and keep it under control.

It is already february, where did january go?!

One thing I noticed this week is that I need a haircut. The odd thing with my hair is that it doesn't really get longer, at least it doesn't look like it. It just gets bigger, and curlier. I am very tempted to buzz it all off, but I hate the in-between stages of a buzzed hair-do and the curls. Just looks pretty freakin' awkward! That's what I think at least.

So this week is going to be another crazy one. 20 days, just over 2 weeks until I leave for Honduras with the group from school. We're trying to make sure we've got everything together, get the school work that is due as soon as we get back, done, and generally maintain what bits of sanity remain.

I had a low-key weekend, just some school work, and watched a movie or three. I did miss out on an apparently amazing party on Saturday night, and a concert by one of my eldest sister's favorite artists, Justin Rutledge (George's is a long walk...Ok, not really. I was just being anti-social and enjoyed a bag of Doritos instead)

I bought one of John Mayer's albums off of iTunes the other day, and I've been enjoying the acoustic version of this song, a lot:

Well, that's all for now, I'll post again this week, I promise.

Until then,

Patrick

Short update....

2009-01-14T21:15:00.003-04:00

What's new this week:

1) I'm OLD! The big 2-0 was on Monday, didn't do anything too exciting, supper with Laura, and a glass of wine (ok, it was sangria), and then I fell asleep pretty early, in the bathtub! I decided to relax a bit, and take a bath, and I guess I was relaxed enough to just fall asleep. When I woke up the water was, well, less than warm.

2) CanCun Campbell! AMAZING party! I served the entire night, but I had so much fun and it seemed like everyone else was enjoying themselves too. The clean-up took forever, and there were a few things that hindered the clean up process. We'd had a bubble machine next to the dance floor, which made the floor pretty slippery when someone spilt a drink or something on it. My friend Sue was just standing in the middle of the dance floor, chatting with a few of us, and took one step to get off the dance floor, and ended up on the floor. I think she's fine now, but it was probably pretty painful for her at the time. Someone left frozen vegetables in the freezer on the first floor, so we "borrowed" those to let her ice her knee. Aside from that, I think things ended pretty well. I will post some pictures next time!

3) GMB, Global Medical Brigades had a little get together on saturday night for everyone who's going down to Honduras next month, a way for all of use to get to know each other outside of the info-meetings. We ended up playing Scatagories and dancing to really old music, like Aqua, and left for the pub close to midnight. It was pretty fun, especially getting to know some of the more shy members of our group.

We're leaving in just over a month for Honduras, and I am getting pretty excited. There is still lots to be done though. Most of us have had our vaccinations and have filled out the forms the school needs us to, but we've still got to take an international travel exam required by the University, since we're a school group. I've heard from some people it takes a while to get through, but is pretty common-sense based stuff. I will post some more info about the group, what we'll be doing, and maybe when I'm back, some photos and videos of what it was like.

4) School: School is getting into the swing of things. I am a bit worried about this semester, not because of the work or anything, but I just hope that I can settle down and work a bit more than previous terms. I always start off with the best of intentions and goals, but I don't always end up fulfilling them, or I self-sabotage. We'll see how it goes, I am taking a lot of courses I am really interested in, so that should help.

5) STILL OLD! Hahaha, I still feel like being 20 is...well, it is odd to wrap my head around it.

Well that is my update for now, I am sitting in the library and should get some of this reading done, I've got plenty to do.

Until next time!

Patrick

Signed the lease!

2009-01-08T23:30:00.001-04:00

Emily and I signed the lease and paid our deposits today! We're going to be living in a 2 bedroom place in a big yellow house! I am pretty excited, I have friends who're living there right now, so I'm going to see the place again to take some pictures and a few measurements.

Thought I would share that exciting news.

Nighty night.

2009-01-07T20:50:00.007-04:00

Cancun Campbell!!

Gettin' ready for the party...

This friday is Campbell Hall's annual house party, Cancun Campbell!!! The house is pretty busy trying to get everything ready for the party. We've got a lot of the decorations in the works, and on the wall, and it is only Wednesday night! Last year we were still painting stuff the afternoon before the party. The house Exec has got a good mix of things planned for this party, and are much more organized than last year's.

I went apartment/house hunting today, with my room mate for next year, Emily. I think we may have found our place! We looked at this cute 2 bedroom place close to campus, has everything we were really looking for. Emily loves nice bathrooms, and I like to cook, and this place (once the stove and fridge are replaced, like the landlord promised,) so we're just waiting to see what Emily's parents have to say, and hopefully we'll sign a lease tomorrow.

I miss my swim team. I never see any of them anymore. I left the team earlier this year to try and focus on Academics. After the first round of mid-terms it was kind of obvious to me that I needed to spend a bit more time in the Library than in the pool. The down-side, I don't get to see the same 15 people I saw for 3-4 hours a days as much as I did before. I am lucky if I get to see most of them once or twice a day. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to find time during their non-pool hours to catch-up.

I am off to late-night for a snack before going to bed. I've also got some readings to do before classes tomorrow. I'll try and post again this week, time permitting.

Patrick

Back to school, and back out in the cold...

2009-01-06T18:37:00.003-04:00

Hello All,

Today was the first day of classes, it started off pretty early for me. After having most of my classes start at 11:30 during the Fall term, 8:30 & 9:30's every morning is going to be a little different. My sleep schedule was pretty odd last term, so perhaps having early classes will fix that.

A lot of my friends go to their classes on the first day, and they come back half an hour into a two hour class, and they say the professor let them out after reviewing the course outline. Ah! I wish I had these professors, I had two full classes today. I'm not too upset about it though, I enjoyed the ones that I had. My day started off with GENV 2231, Intro to Cultural Geography with Dr. Huff. I had her last term for Human Geography, so I feel good about having her for this class. It looks pretty interesting, and correlates to my other Tues/Thursday class, Linguistics 3011, Language and Society. That also brings everything I've taken thus far at Mt. A, with regards to my major and minors, together.

Ok, so aside from Academics, this term is going to be an exciting one! I am off to Honduras for reading week in late February! The Global Medical Brigades group on-campus has organized this trip, and there are close to 30 people going. We'll be doing lots of different things, both medical and non-medical in remote villages throughout Honduras. I am pretty excited for this trip, a great cause, and a really good group of people should make for a fun time.

We had a group meeting tonight, and we had some group-bonding exercises. We laughed a lot, and I finally got to know everybody's names.

Aside from that, my semester is going to be pretty standard, lots of work and probably a lot more time spent in the library this term than last.

At the end of this term, I am off to Europe for a while!! More travels! I was accepted into a summer program there for Canadian students! I'll be living and going to school in Norther Germany, in a town called Kassel. My first assignment for the program is to find 6 or 7 places in the town and surrounding area that I would like to visit, and research them a bit. Eventually, I think we'll get to visit most of the places I've heard people talk about. The program fees also include a few trips to cultural hot-spots in Germany, like Berlin! I think it is going to be an amazing experience.

Classes start on May 7th, so I will be flying into Germany some time the day before, or during the week before to get settled and maybe do some site-seeing. Ahh, so excited. It was a very German-Themed christmas because I got the acceptance e-mail about 2 weeks before christmas. I got a few books in german, some about Germany. But my favorite German themed gift was a Calendar, it has some pretty awesome pictures of so many different places all over Germany. I hope to get to see a few of them while I am there.

Ok, enough about that. I am off to bed, early classes all this semester! I'll try and post again this week, but it is shaping up to be a busy one.

Patrick

Here, we, go!

2009-01-05T10:49:00.002-04:00

I'm back!

It is nice being back in Sackville, and back in Campbell Hall. I was getting a bit lonely at home. Compared to living with around 162 other 17-22 year old, when all of my siblings left to go back to their respective homes, living with 2, 58 year olds who are "set in their ways" felt very odd. I love my parents, but I don't think I would be able to live at home for too long again.

Well, it is the day before classes begin, again. I am all unpacked, with almost all of the right books for the right classes. Now, I just need to make sure I wake up tomorrow for my 8:30 class. To be honest, I think it is going to make for a rough term. Cultural geography, you'll be the death of my bad sleeping habits!

I just thought I'd let anyone who's interested know I'm back, and the blog postings will be starting up on a regular basis again. Today, I've got a few class schedule and book issues to sort out, so I am off to do those now!

Till next time!

Patrick

Done, Done DONE!

2008-12-14T13:39:00.002-04:00

Exams are done! Well, for me at least. I am home now, sitting in the kitchen enjoying some home cooked food and a bit of rest before I attempt to write my last paper for the term. I will post again some time early this week, about exams and the holidays and such.

Ciao!

Patrick

Oh Exams, here they come!

2008-11-26T03:39:00.006-04:00

Hello there!

So I changed the layout of my blog a bit, but I tend to like occasional change, it keeps life interesting.

I just thought I would let you guys know that life is getting a little crazy right now, exams coming up, in-class finals already here, and submitting final assignments. Just a heads up that I may not be posting as much until after exams (done the 13th!) I will try and post a few smaller things, but I'm not making promises!

Hope everyone is enjoying the snow, good luck to those with exams, and talk to you all soon!

Patrick

A few things...

2008-11-25T16:33:00.000-04:00

The Snow has arrived!

A little hippie swing? A typical night in Campbell Hall...

Vegetarians beware...

2008-11-22T03:38:00.001-04:00

Well it has come at last! The snow is here! I left Sackville on Tuesday afternoon when the ground was bare and came back Thursday to find snow!! I was only gone few days, but I’ve had a lot of work to catch up on, so I apologize for the delay in posting. I’m writing on the bus right now. I seem to be spending lots of time on the bus this week, though I still don’t like traveling by them. They make sense when you think about it, but they are just not as convenient as my own vehicle would be. Well my life hasn’t been overly exciting of late, aside from traveling around Southern New Brunswick. I was asked to go to Saint John for a presentation on the 19th at Samuel De Champlain, the francophone high school in the area. I think it went well for the first one that I did by myself, but I did learn a lot about how to deal with an unresponsive crowd. I think out of the 73 people that came to the presentation there may have been 4 or 5 of them considering Mount A for their post-secondary choice. It isn’t too bad for a francophone school, when you consider that Mount Allison is an English speaking university. I think I may have convinced a few more…they were just too shy to ask questions.
--
Random though:
If I had a MasterCard commercial it might look something like this:

Spending 13 hours on a bus: $124.34

Waking up at 6 am to catch the bus back to Sackville in time for class: 4 hours that I could have been sleeping.

…I couldn’t figure out a priceless moment, leave one below and I might post it next week….
--
I did get to spend some time at home, in Rothesay while I was down for the presentation, lots of good food. A change from meal hall is always nice, though they usually have some good options. I think now that I am in my 2nd year I am starting to get tired of meal hall. I do like having a kitchen in Res. but I just don’t use it that often. I think the reality of the matter is that I would have to buy groceries if I were going to cook for myself, which I am just too lazy to do sometimes. If only I had a Barbeque. I had a conversation with one of the guys I work with, Josh, all about BBQ and how it can just become an event. I think that it is more of a lifestyle choice than anything. Perhaps I will start an organization. PET=B, people for the ethical treatment of Barbeques. I respect Vegetarians, and Vegans, but to be honest, I don’t think I could enjoy food if Meat wasn’t considered food. I would probably be limited to Popcorn and French fries at that point. Oh, and Chips and Diet Coke, but still, I enjoy a good Steak, and Bacon is good with anything.
Vegetarians beware, if it ever came down to it, you may be fair game for BBQ as well, “Humans, Free Range & Grain-Fed”...
I had the chance to go to the World Barbeque Championships this summer, while I was living in Whistler; it was like Meat-Heaven, mountain side. Ok, enough about food. I am hungry now.

I think my next blog just might have some pictures of the snow I’ve been talking about, and maybe even some funny YouTube videos…never know what you’re gonna find.

Alrighty, the bust is pulling into Fredericton, and I will post this once I’ve got an Internet connection. I guess I didn't really post too much about Mount A today...maybe next time there will be more Mountie thoughts.

Talk to you next week,

Patrick

P.S.
Oh, I forgot to mention in my meat mania, that Mount A was named Canada's most Vegetarian Friendly University in Canada...

2008-11-14T01:28:00.000-04:00

Well, it is yet another late night of studying for me. Mid-Terms are coming to an end, and the pre-exam preparation will soon begin. I had an early start to my day, bright and early, 10 am English class! I know it doesn't seem too early for most...but I do enjoy my sleep when I can get it. The most interesting part of my day had to be after classes were over, I was walking through the breezeway between Crabtree Building and the Library, and happened upon a photo shoot! I decided to stick around and got be in a few group shots for something the school needed pictures for! It was rather exciting! Perhaps nude-modeling for the Fine Arts department is next... kidding! I'm waiting for the call from Calvin Klein hahaha.

So Mount A received the #1 spot in Maclean's Magazine again, so campus has been buzzing about that, though most of us have too much going on to get too excited about it. It is nice that we got the spot again though, I think it is the 13th year out of 18 that we've been up there at the top. We're also in a competition right now for the most Vegetarian Friendly Universities in Canada. It's pretty cool...even though I'm not vegetarian, mmm I like steak. That is beside the point, vote or Mt A, here is the link:

http://www.peta2.com/college/vegfriendlycollege-08/index.asp

Pretty sure there is only a day or so left in the voting time, but give 'er a go anyway.

Hmm, anything else of interest today? Nope, don't think so. I am off to bed, 2 mid-terms in 2 different Languages tomorrow, and I'm not really looking forward to writing them back to back. That's the life of a Mountie!

Night!

Oh, Hello there!

2008-11-09T19:29:00.000-04:00

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Patrick Forestell and I am from Rothesay, New Brunswick. I am in my 2nd year at Mount Allison University, studying Arts, with a particular interest in German. It was a long and interesting summer, and I am so happy to be back at Mount A. I spent my summer in Whistler, British Columbia working as a front desk agent and concierge at a boutique hotel in the middle of the Village. I went out to BC by myself, and though I met up with some Mount A friends while I was there, being away from the East coast sure made me miss it, and all the people I made it through my first year with.

This is my 2nd year living in Mount A’s newest, and of course the best residence, Campbell Hall!!! It is an amazing place to live. I love the people, the North Side quad, and the facilities the house has to offer. We’ve all got pretty suite (haha) single rooms, and share a bathroom with only 1 other person!! We call the person we share the bathroom with a “Suite-Mate”. Campbell Hall is on the North Side of campus, which means all we have to do is walk across the quad and we’re in Meal Hall, it is nice not to have to walk too far when it rains, or even worse, when it snows. Last year we won House of the Year, and one of our Frosh, Sacha Nadeau, won frosh of the year. We were really spirited and we were always up for a cheer off in meal hall. Most of them we’d start, and finish.

Hmm, what else can I say...A lot of my time was spent at the Athletic Centre, in the pool with Mount A’s Varsity Swim Team up until a few weeks ago when I left the team to make some more time to study. I also got involved with a group that is new to campus this year, Global Medical Brigades. Global Medical Brigades is an international network of more than 50 university clubs and volunteer organizations that provide communities in developing nations with sustainable health care solutions. We are fundraising to go to Honduras for reading week, to volunteer at one of their clinics and to help with other infrastructure projects they’ve began. Living on campus has given me many opportunities to get involved, last year I sat on my House’s Council, as a Floor Representative. We planned our house parties, and coordinated the Campbell Cares campaign, our house’s community service campaign. We did everything from Coffee houses for the Retirement home, to making blankets for several Women and Children shelters around New Brunswick. I’m not too sure what we’ve got planned for this year, but I’m sure it will be fun!

Class-work and assignments are an ever present part of a Mount A student's life...of course I’ve got far too much procrastination to get to before any of that will get done, hahaha. I really do enjoy most of my classes though, my favorite this term is a German Culture class, Turn of the Century Vienna. The class is taught by Dr. Schelleberg, the head of the German Dept. If you ever get a chance to take a German language or culture class from her, do it. She makes things pretty interesting and is always willing to help you out with class work or understanding the readings. Human Geography is proving to be an interesting class too, it is a good mix of everything in one class; economics, geography, anthropology and even a bit of marketing.

Last year, I had the chance to be involved with the prospective students Facebook group, Mount Allison Class of 2012, which was lead by Sue Humphrey. This year I was given the chance to moderate the group myself! If you have any questions about Mount Allison, student life, academics, admissions inquiries, etc. send me an email at: plforestell@mta.ca or post a question on Mount Allison University Class of 2013’s Facebook wall:
http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28613011228

If you want to take a virtual tour of Mt. A, book a campus tour, or see what other student have to say about Mt. A, check out www.mymta.ca It is packed with information for prospective students, applications, etc.

Ok, so there is my plug for the website, tours and such.

Like I mentioned above, there is always a lot of work to get done, I say as I am sitting in the Library looking at a just started essay due pretty soon. I had best get back to that, as it seems like I've got a long night ahead of me. Night All!

The Nitty-Gritty

The End! The end...

History in-Context

Countdown

London or Paris?

Go and Tell - Go and No?

European Update!

Every place I go...

Dinner, Lunch, Snack, BREAKFAST!

Proficient Procrastination

The Easter Bunny does Toronto & End of term!

Montreal Shenanigans

Told you so...

New Addictions

Summer...or should I say Été!

Updates!

Wowza

Babette!? Una nuova voce!

Valor; Valeur; Value

Moving On, settling in.

A learning experience...

Back at it! Bring it on 2010!

Quikie.. or Quick one, I guess?

Ignorant and Free?

Disappointed...and distraction free!

Because I need another distraction...

Crunch Time!

Olympic Torch comes through Sackville!!

Canadian SVP?

Trick Or Eat- Thank You Video!

Like a truck...

Welcome to the Family!

Happy Anniversary!

Some recent snaps

Delivery!

Food Bank!

Brevity

Mid-Term Mania!

Home Sweet Gravy

Turkey Time

Urgent Update!

Happy Equinox! Down with the Leaves!

Welcome and Welcome back!

P-Faux & the Amazonian Queen

The Reunion and the Return!

Shiny Times

Back in the Sack

Late nights, early mornings

Where does the time go?

Con Weekend

Done, gone home and came back.

My new best friend...

Last class...

All you've got to do is ask...

Ah, it's summer time.

Mountie Music Shout-Out

End of Term Busyness!

Back to Bagtown; stress and studies

Back from Latin America!

Honduras 2009

Online baby-fame

Ohh!!!

Late night snacks, and a nice tall glass of stress!

Short update....

Signed the lease!

Back to school, and back out in the cold...

Here, we, go!

Done, Done DONE!

Oh Exams, here they come!

A few things...

Vegetarians beware...

Oh, Hello there!

London or Paris?

Go and Tell - Go and No?

The Easter Bunny does Toronto & End of term!

Babette!? Una nuova voce!

Welcome and Welcome back!

P-Faux & the Amazonian Queen