Encounters With More Than Just Canada

Encounters With More Than Just Canada

Media Arts Assignment #1

It’s a life-changing experience, they said, you won’t come back the same person. Of course they say that, I thought, but I’m sure it can’t be that incredible. Yet as I handed in that form, I’ll admit I was a lot more than excited. The Law Week of Encounters With Canada didn’t seem like anything enlightening or inspiring, but it did seem like a lot of fun and it offered the extra bonus of a week off school. So of course I took the opportunity, but I never did expect it would be something so important to me, and something that made me grow so much as a person.

It started off with the train ride, the part that Anna - my friend who also went on the trip - and I definitely thought would be the best. On one hand, it was such a liberating experience, boarding a train all on our own to go somewhere so far away from our parents, and stopping in Toronto to visit the CN tower was great. But, we had no clue what other amazing stuff waited ahead of us in the heart of our capital city, Ottawa. When we first got to the building that would be our home for the next week, we were beyond nervous. All these new people, different food and beds, and worst of all, we were in separate dorm rooms. But before the day was even over, we had already made two new friends, Devon from Quebec and Andrew from Newfoundland, who would soon help us form our self-proclaimed squad. By the end of the week, we had met so many people from all over the country that we could hardly keep track, and we even made two more additions to our squad of long-lasting friendships : Will from Newfoundland and Bennett from Alberta.

As if the amazing people weren’t enough, we had so many opportunities during that short week. Instead of just sitting and listening to a lot of presentations like I expected, we went on tons of bus trips to different places like question period at Parliament Hill, Supreme Court, the Ottawa Jail Hostel, museums, malls, and so much more. Every single moment there was fun packed, exciting and eye-opening. We learned so much, not just about law, but about the culture of our country and the differences between each province and territory. I had never realized how much more there was for me outside of small-time Bruce County, and how much I had to look forward to. But of course, after no time at all, this crazy, adventure packed week was over. But before we left, there was a big circle talk with only the students, where each person passed a stick around and talked about their experience, where shy people spoke out and everyone had their final moments of bonding. It was the perfect end to a perfect week. The end was filled with heartfelt goodbyes, and I realized how attached I had become to this place and to these people, in such a short time. And after the tears had passed and I arrived home, staring at the countless pictures I took, I realized that the world had been opened up to me in a completely new way and I had in fact, returned a different person.