Day 25-27 - June 21-23 - So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, Au revoir, Goodbye, Zai jian, Arriverderci, Hasta la vista, Doviđenja, Adieus, Tot Ziens

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu

So I am finally sitting down to write this closing post on my summer days at Shad Valley University of British Columbia 2010.

From what I remember, I am missing posts on my last three days there. I really have no time constraints, for like the first time haha, so I guess this should be good. Then again, my memory is murky, so bare with me!

So Wednesday, July 21 me and my Shadlings made a trip out to Crescent Beach. House Project was all over and done with, stress levels began reaching an all-time low, and all of us were attempting to recover from sleep deprivation. We all boarded the yellow school bus early in the morning. I remember it being a decently long ride, but not too too long. Of course, I slept, so I'm not too sure. I slept on every single bus ride, whether it was 20 minutes long, or two hours long, you could always count on Carolyn lying her head on your shoulder by the end of the trip. Sarah from Whitehorse was the prime witness of that! Carrying on, we hopped off the bus, and you could tell we were all super excited. We each received $10 from Patrick, our PM, to be used for lunch. The weather was a bit chilly and windy for a beach I thought, but then again, it was early in the morning, so we marched right along down the boardwalk to the sandy area. Immediately after dropping our belongings off, we raced back up in the opposite direction to this other beachy area. It resembled the beaches at Victoria by the Sea in PEI; there were small islands surrounded by shallow water bearing thousands of snails. EW! I was hop, skippin' and a jumpin' everywhere. So me and Sarah, Julie, Marc, Ryan, Jordan, Keith, Adam, Julian, and Jason played a game of soccer while Alicia and her sprained wrist watched. I played goalie because my ankle was still in pain from rolling my ankle 3 times descending Mt. Garibaldi. Did I mention that I received a Rec Award for being the best Shad "Braveheart." Haha, I'll be quick to mention that only like 3 other people received silly Rec awards from Shoneth haha. Still, the recognition for my courageous and mighty fine goalkeeping skills during our numerous Fifa World Cup Soccer matches was awesome. And then BAM! All of a sudden Sarah's foot was gushing blood. Julian, being the man to the rescue type of guy he is, sprang to Sarah's side and whisked her away off her feet on the sandy beaches to a nearby rock...because he wasn't able to cradle her a 10 minute walk back to our bags lol. Anyways, we think she stepped on one of the hundreds of purple shells on our playing "field." The lifeguard came over, and him along with Marc, the lifeguard in training, 'cleaned' and fixed Sarah all up. I must say, I was sitting with Sarah, and she was brave in front of all that blood, because there was A LOT. Anyways, moving on, all the boys and Julie had left. Me, Alicia, and Julian stayed with Sarah and we walked along side Marc giving her a piggy-back ride back to everybody else. We got Sarah a new pair of shoes, and then we walked all the way back to the little town to grab a bite to eat at a little bistro that our PA Mackenzie favourited. We sat down with our PA's Shoneth, Mackenzie, Jason, and Janice. We then grabbed some gelato and walked back to the beach. I jumped in the water right away and swam to my other Shadmuffins standing on the dock. We jumped, splashed, and swam in the saltiest water I’ve ever experienced. It was gross, but lovely at the same time hehe. It was time to head back home on the yellow school bus for the last time at around 4:30pm. But before doing so, soccer was calling my name, and so me and David kicked it around before racing to the bus. We arrived in time for another meal full of carbs, carbs, carbs mmhmmm. Later that evening we had Shad speaks, probably some of the best of the program. Alicia did an intriguing one on optical illusions, while Midila shared with us a cultural dance. Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any better, our PA Patrick (whom told me to include this in my blog: “Patrick was incredibly smart, intelligent and nice the whole month! what a great guy!”) surprised us by saying we were going to see a fireworks display on Jericho Beach. So off we went, for the last time on the yellow school bus. We sat on the nice smooth sand, took some pictures and enjoyed the bright colours in the sky. We returned late that night, only to begin working on our Variety Show acts for the next day. I believe one of my acts began practicing for the first time at 1 or 2am the morning of Open Day!! I think we went to bed around 3:30am?! Well my group did, people were still up...
I woke up the next day to yet another day full of sunshine gleaming through my dorm window. I went to my last breakfast at Totem Conference Centre where I ate sausages, eggs and potatoes for breakfast, along with my daily dose of chocolate milk. I headed back to the residence to brush my teeth, and pretty all up for the big day. I wore my new pink dress (courtesy Winners ) and a pair of shiny black heels, which I would later get stuck in a vent while spinning my flowy dress around like Marilyn Monroe. Anyways, I grabbed the business plans and log book and headed downstairs to the rest of the Shads to walk over the Chan Centre (beside the Rose Garden) on the opposite end of campus. There, each house project was given a table on which to display their prototypes, brochures and binded business plans. Not only were important people from businesses and corporations present, but also family! I was honoured to have shared the afternoon with Aunt Jane and her parents, Sue and Rob. These significant people in our lives were able to witness first-hand the hard work we had put in throughout the past two weeks at the program. The time at the Chan Centre reminded me of science fairs. Explaining our research, findings, and our new product to people who actually seemed to have interest in our project was really rewarding-and my group and I really enjoyed this. We were also able to browse around and look at the other group’s projects and mingle with family and friends, just like at science fairs! And then all of a sudden we were all rushed over to adjacent building for a lovely buffet brunch followed by our Valedictorian speech by Ryan and Yu Xin. The two Shads shared a beautiful poem they comprised together the night before to all present. It relayed our experiences together, and illustrated a perfect picture o f the family and sense of community formed here at UBC. Following lunch was the one and only Variety Show. Woooo. Jordan and Michelle co-hosted the event in front of family and friends at a venue on campus. It was warm in there, but a good time was had by all. At the variety show, Shads were able to showcase their numerous talents in front of spectators. In fact, some Shads participated in up to four acts! This just goes to show the diversity amongst the group. I participated in a musical number where my group and I performed ‘Clocks’ by Coldplay. It was a song my friend Julie played quite often on the keyboard at night. Our voices, along with the keyboard, were accompanied by the drums, the bass guitar and the guitar. I was also involved in the last act of the day, called “Love You Tender.” My group of 8 did a rendition of the music/dance video “I Want To Love You Tender.” All 52 Shads had originally seen the video for the first time when we had this astro-physicist professor from the university come and do a lecture. He based his presentation on the future, and after we all saw it, we were laughing hysterically. All throughout the month this song was ringing in all our ears, so a group of us decided to get together and do it one final time. Let’s just say it was definitely a hoot! And that concluded our Variety Show!
So in brief, we returned back to Totem Park for our last dinner together. After indulging in the most amounts of pasta, potatoes, and jello I’ve had in a long time, we proceeded onto our closing ceremonies lead by the one and only Patrick Crawford – our Program Manager who is notorious for his inspiring opening “secret” ceremony. We endured a long walk to somewhere none of us really knew where until we got there 30 minutes later (oh how Shad UBC!). Patrick took us on the most indirect and illogical route he could possibly think of; we were winding around trees, changing in opposite directions, traversing through forests – anything he could do to build the suspense! After a long, treacherous walk, all 51 Shads and our amazing team of 6 program assistants arrived where we started our Shad UBC journey together. Nooo, not at Totem Park where we were 30minutes prior, but at the Native Aboriginal Museum we had visited within our first week. We gathered around outside at the back of the museum. It truly was the perfect place to celebrate our journey, and our final step together. We were surrounded by tall green grass waving in the wind that enclosed the stones and totem pole where we commemorated. A tall totem pole stood beside us. Mother Nature and Patrick did a very good job creating a calm, peaceful and intimate environment for us all to enjoy. Patrick led the ceremonies – the very looonnnggg closing ceremonies. But it was very well done! We were there well into the night, sitting around a burning fire until we returned around 12am back home. Our closing ceremonies continued there. Or should I say opening ceremony. We did the exact same thing as we had done on the first day of Shad Valley – sat in one big tight circle in the common room, with the PA’s dispersed amongst us, and Patrick, front and centre. But instead of writing out our fears on a piece of paper, we were given the chance to say one last thing to now our best friends (as this was going to be the last time all of us would be together in the same room, a fact all us knew was quite true). A blue and yellow rope held us connected, resting in each of our trembling hands. As Patrick came around with a knife (why not a scissor, I don’t know...maybe the mountain climber in him??), he cut a part of the rope for each of us to keep. To keep as a bracelet, an ankle bracelet, or simply to frame up on our bedroom wall like Andjela did, was our choice. After the ceremony ended, we were able to go outside where Patrick had a fire burning, to burn the two ends of the rope together to form a bracelet. Our Shad gear was also handed out by Ryan and Keith. I chose to buy just the black t-shirt with a unique Shad Valley UBC crest, designed by our one of our program assistants Janice, using her skills of Adobe Illustrator. A full zip sweater and sweatpants were also on sale. I was quite impressed with the speediness of the production of our Shad wear, in comparison to my own school’s spirit wear that Student Council had introduced in school. That took my council more than a semester to accomplish, but at Shad...hmm less than a month! You go team! Anyways, everyone changed into their new clothes. Monthbooks prepared by our monthbook team were also handed out. And boy, were they extremely brilliant. The monthbook team had missed out on so much to have them sent to the copier in time to get them printed for us all to sign and enjoy. We were all up to the wee hours in the morning signing each other’s books, writing full pages about our experiences together. We were allowed to all hang out in the common room, and bring our pillows down to sit with one another. Unfortunately, I was the first group to leave at 6:30am the next morning, so I had to go upstairs and pack, unlike everyone else who had the morning to do so. But, packing took A LOT less time than I had expected. I flashbacked to June 26 when I was packing for Shad – staying up till like 2am to close that final zipper on my suitcase. But on July 22, I learned that throwing things in, unfolded would have worked too, cutting packing time down to half! And, did I mention I bought a lot of goodies in BC too?! Weird.... The night continued. Some of us went to bed, ahem DAVID – a French boy who never seemed to stay up pass 10pm, though I do have to give him props for staying up till 2am  Anyways, together we laughed, we cried, we remembered, we sympathized, we hurt, we loved, we recounted, we hugged, we wrote, we shared, we smiled, we slept, we awakened...until my group of Alisha V, Andjela, and Yu Xin left for the airport. And that’s where we bawled and waved, but smiled goodbye, "until we see each other again."