Day 17-18 - July 13-14

Hiiiiii,

So yesterday we went to Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, in the mountains, just outside Vancouver. They call it the lower mainland, similar to the GTA in Ontario. We had no idea where we were going until we got there. It was a 2 hour bus ride and I slept :) We listened to a speaker, a Shad alumna in the morning who gave us more cliche advice. She said she also had heard this advice all her life, but never actually listened to it, but that she wished to engrave it more in our heads, so that maybe she would be the one person us Shads would listen to. She was in her 5th year at SFU in Biochemistry, but was on her way to becoming an elementary school teacher so that she could hopefully influence and share her passion of science with them, before they begin saying "I hate science." We then went to tour some labs, one on mitochondria, optics, and water flow in rivers. We then toured the campus, which I believe is ugly. It is full of concrete, concrete, and more concrete. Most of the campus is covered, so that you can walk between buildings to get to classes, because supposedly it rains there a lot? Oh, and I think they have a high suicide rate too. They seem to be big rivals with UBC also because our guide kept dissing them. We then did a workshop in the afternoon on marketing. We designed a lego jeep and had to market it. We called ours "Boss Authority." And we won best group for team spirit! YAYY! SO I got a little treat bag with an eco-friendly mug. YAYY! Anyways, we left the campus in the late afternoon. We had dinner, and recently I've been playing a lot of soccer. Well, more goalie I guess. We play Fifa World Cup style, and I am also becoming quite the goalie while at it. We then worked more on our House Project. It's going really really well FYI.

Wednesday July 14 we had a PA workshop and I went to this engineering one. We had to design a method to get clean water to people in Haiti following the massive earthquake. We were judged on our product and presentation. Unfortunately, my team didn't win, but we learned a lot. Shonneth, the one who ran it, who just graduated from Dal with a mechanical engineering degree, based our workshop n engineering competitions she goes to. They seem extremely intense. We then had lunch, and had a lecture on materials, which I did not understand at all. We then went to this president's BBQ on the campus. We all dressed up. I wore the dress I bought in Vancouver. We just sat with a person on the UBC administration at our table. No networking or mingling or anything of that sort. We came back and enjoyed a Coffee House night. Some amazing acts for sure. Very impressed with my fellow Shads. Makes me love em even more. I filmed the whole thing, so I will def have to show some clips when I get back. We got more house time after coffee house. Time is running out, so we now stay up till 12 every night. So ya, I am going to bed, it's 1:30am. NBD(no big deal). Lataaaaaaaaa

-Carolyn

p.s. I am in the front row of the pic, wearing a black cardigan, and black dress!