I think itās because weāre all on vacation and we donāt have to deal with real life, that weāre having so much fun. Everyone is available to hang out everyday, no one has any prior obligations or responsibilities and itās amazing!! How often do 75 people get the change to escape real life for 5 weeks at the same time? Exactly! Thatās why this chance must be taken advantage of to have as much fun as possible.
Here are some of the fun things Winnipeg has to offer ā in the summer, because apparently winters are FREEZING and I would NOT want to be here for that, haha, so Iām taking advantage of the daily heat waves.
I couldnāt decide which ones to cut out, so thereās a lot here. Enjoy
These here are pics from Super Spike (http://www.superspike.ca/home/), a huge 3 day volleyball tournament with 336 teams (we were too late to sign up by the time we heard about this), bands, beer tents, food, lots and lots of fun!
Pics of the huge concert at night after it was too dark for volleyball.
The next day we went to Fringe (www.winnipegfringe.com/) which was awesome. Ā Itās a travelling theatre festival of all different types of plays. Lots of very interesting ones; some conservative, some radical, some group performers, some one man shows, some comedy, some drama, mystery, stand up, improvā¦ all sorts of stuff. All unique and stuff you probably wonāt see again ā maybe some, I donāt know. But a good experience. There was an outdoor stage with non-stop entertainment, food venues everywhere, so many people.Ā
Fringe comes to most big cities in Canada I think. I know theyāve come to Toronto (close to where I live) and Iāve never even gone. I love having the freedom to go to festivals and do fun things instead of working or being busy with school all the time.Ā
At the Fringe Fest I also tried this yummy food!!
Again, we also have Smokeās Poutinerie in Toronto, but obviously Iāve never tried it. I usually donāt even like poutine because Iām not a huge fan of gravy ā but this was a WINNER! This was the Pulled Pork poutineā¦ soooo goooooood!
Something that is different for me is the love for country music that exists here. I thought I loved country music, but people here are SERIOUS about it. We went to a bar called āCowboysā and it was just PACKED with young people. And they all knew the words to all the country songs! The music was a mix of DJ and live band, but all country. Thatās another nice thing about Winnipeg; the music scene here is really good. Thereās live music almost everywhere you go.
But donāt get me wrong, there is a lot of learning and mandatory activities we have to participate in. Itās hard work.
Like here, one day we had to all prepare short skits or games to use the vocab weāve acquired so far. One of the classes, to practice French, set their activity up as an ice cream restaurant and they went to every person to take their order and deliver it to them. Just like a real restaurant. But with ice cream. And it was for school Ā
Other mandatory activities include long French nature hikesā¦
We got in touch with mother nature and perched like owls ā not a mandatory activity.Ā
One of the mandatory activities included watching a concert of a Winnipeg tap dancing group called āCa Claqueā. They were awesome, and they got the whole crowd up to dance and have fun.Ā
Some people bought their CD so after the show, we danced to their music in the common room. Some people who can dance (DEFINITELY NOT ME) tried to teach the rest of us salsa, chacha, line dancing, jive, etc. There are security cameras everywhere and the security guard admitted to witnessing our performance. If anyone is interested, I may be able to pull some strings and get the recorded video of this night.Ā
We saw Winnipeg car artā¦
We tried slackline with a professionalā¦ This was so difficult, we all did it holding on to someone on both sides as they helped us walk across.Ā
We may have failed slackline, but there were many other talents displayed at the talent show. Lots of surprise talents too.
Three of us were the MCāsā¦ first time doing something like this and it was so much fun. I meanā¦ hard workā¦ lots of challenging mandatory activities here at French campā¦
There were some less exciting activities though. Like going to the Legislative building. Itās not all fun and games here. We learn stuff too.Ā
And there was a pretty fountain in the backā¦Ā
And polar bears!! (http://www.canada-photos.com/picture/bear-statues-manitoba-legislative-building-winnipeg-city-4260.htm#continue)
On other tours we got to see old stuff. Random I know, but I thought they made good pics lol
Pretty much every tour referenced Louis Riel. Heās an ongoing joke because heās a really big deal here, and all the tours preach his story, but because itās all in French, our understanding of Louis is still pretty limited. Lol. I do know that he was a controversial political figure who tried to win rights for the Metis people, and was later hung. Donāt ask me anything else about this topic. Lol (Note to self: Wikipedia Louis Riel later. In English.)
This one isnāt Louisā¦ but check out how cool we are, no?
On another tour we went to the Royal Canadian Mint (http://www.mint.ca/). This one was fun, and because there was a lot of visuals, and something we could relate to (money), it was interesting and easier to understand. This is where they make all your coins! And coins for many countries all over the world.They make 20 million a dayā¦ thatās 750 per SECOND!Ā Canada pride!
The Mintā¦ where they sell coins at 300% profit which you canāt even use. Sneaky coin makers.Ā
Another tour was to CBC Radio (http://www.cbc.ca/radio/). Really interesting. We got to play around in the news room which the weather green screen, and the news anchor seat and all the cameras. Pretty sweet.Ā
Some other cultured activities included seeing the Royal Manitoba ballet at the park. Manitoba is so friendly. Aka we love free things.
All this learning is really exhausting!!Ā
Some time is spent studying because we have a test every week.Ā
Studying with wineā¦. just like the French do it. Weāre so cultured.Ā
Wineā¦ martinisā¦ 1 drink or 3ā¦ whoās really keeping trackā¦Ā
It does explain where all my money is going. And why on the weekends when we arenāt fed I donāt have money for food so I live off of peanut butter sandwiches. We donāt have a toaster so we had to get creative. And I only set the fire alarm off one time
Ps. I never want to eat peanut butter again.
Other really good ideas we came up with on our ownā¦. We actually ended up buying all of this stuff. It was necessary. Seriously!Ā
Some of the stuff went to celebrating birthdays. Everyone got a cake for their birthday. Thereās 75 of us hereā¦ that means lots of cake.Ā Ā
This is Linda (Chrisā car). It wasnāt her birthday but we did a surprise decoration one night and made her beautiful Luckily Chris appreciated the makeover. Phew..
One day Nancy and I were blowdrying our hair at the same time.
Nancy said āhair blowdrying party!ā
I said āblowing a fuse party!ā ā and literally right after I said this, a fuse blew. Luckily our other roommate isnāt from the big city so she actually knows how to do things, like, fix the fuse.
This is a proud moment for Nancy and I though. City girls have SOME good ideas. hahhaha!!! Very helpful in the morning :p
Okay that was a long blog. Time for pink slippers and sleep time or maybe a martini down the street, lol
