So it snowed this morning. And last night. This feels more like spring break than summer vacation. For those of you who are unfamiliar with how, in fact, I am spending my summer vacation, I shall tell you now:
For the month of May, I am interning for Essex's very own Conservative Jeff Watson, who represents his people as a Member of Parliament (MP) on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada. MP Watson serves on the Standing Committee on the Environment & Sustainable Development as well as the Standing Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure & Communities. Additionally, he also chairs the Goverment Auto Caucus, and serves as a member of the All-Party border caucus, the Canada-UK Inter-Parliamentary Group, and the Canada-Italy Inter-Parliamentary Group. Furthermore, he is a member of the Executive Chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group, and serves as a member of the Vice-Chair Canada-US Inter-Parliamentary Group.
Tomorrow is my first day of work--ahem--interning, and I am anxious to see how the next month will play out. I have already met most everyone in our group (except for the head of the program, Dr. Brooks himself) and I have a feeling we will grow to be friends fast.
My trip actually began yesterday morning when I met Tony in Dearborn at his house, crammed all of my stuff into his little Volkswagen, and began our little road-trip after Anthony arrived. The three of us set off, had a bit of trouble at the border (but obviously made it through alright), and didn't make a pit stop until 3:30. We arrived in Ottawa shortly before 6 (making great time, as we left Dearborn just before 10 that morning) but we drove around looking for the right dorm building. Ever since leaving Dearborn, the weather was horrible, with rain and wind the entire way but it did not give us much trouble on our drive to Ottawa. The three of us, as well as a train-goer named Amanda, who we met while checking into our rooms, arrived a day early, which allowed us to stock up on groceries (thank you Walmart!), have plenty of time to unpack our stuff in our two-bedroom suites on the 16th floor of a University of Ottawa Residence Hall, and freely enjoy our first evening in this beautiful capital city. We walked around the Market looking for some (cheap) place to eat and ended up settling on Schawarma Place. I was a bit disappointed (as was Tony, whose origin is Lebanese so knows all about true Arabic food) but the four of us were just pleased to finally have food in our stomachs at the end of a long day. You'd think I'd be used to the wind here, as Grand Valley experiences similar windy conditions year-round, but, no, I just became frustrated, knowing I will have the unfortune of walking against this wind every day for the next 30-something days.
To top it off, snow started coming down in little flakes, replacing the rain we had all day, while we were in a little bar across the street. We spent an half hour or so splitting a pitcher of some Canadian beer while watching the Red Wings game on the big screen (enjoying the smoke-free atmosphere, as it has been for the past few decades), and scratching my head as to why everyone else in the bar was getting so worked up over the other big screen TV, which showed half-naked men rolling around on the floor, beating eachother up one-on-one. After the Red Wings lost we left, only to find big ole snowflakes catching on our jackets but we retired to warm and snuggly (if flat as a board) beds, and fell fast asleep of exhaustion from dedicating our entire day to becoming familiar with our new home for the next month.
The weekend was swell, and I will blog a bit about today as well as tomorrow once I get back from the very first day of my very first internship.
Until then, au revior!
~Aubrey
No comments:
Post a Comment