A week to remember
Exactly a week ago today I was sitting on the patio of a small cafe in Wolfville, Nova Scotia alongside seven fellow interns who I had just met that afternoon. While the remaining seven had not yet arrived, I'm sure each of us already there had the impression that the following six days were going to be great and that most of us would become close friends. Having experienced what transpired, I'd say that afternoon's forecast was pretty darn accurate.
It was a week full of fascinating and more often hilarious stories about everyone's experiences, eventhough some, including fleeing to Canada from Bosnia-Herzegovina before the war, were also draped in sadness. It didn't take long for us to begin joking around with one another, particularly when it came to pointing out each others' idiosyncracies. From my vertical-giftedness to my colleague's constant repetition of "good times on the farm" to another's flamboyant verbosity, laughter became the common denominator and good times were indeed had by all.
My days consisted of waking up at 7am (unless the previous night's activities precluded me from being able to do so) to go for a run along the dykes and through the farms of Wolfville with my new found friend from Ottawa who spent her undergrad years at Acadia. The beautiful countryside was coloured by rich corn fields, deep auburn mud when the tide was low, and the gently rolling hills of the Annapolis Valley, while the inhabitants themselves were as friendly as you could ever imagine. Our training sessions ran from 9am to around 5pm with an extended lunch in the middle which was usually a choice between one of four establishments: Paddy's Pub (Irish Pub/Maritime cuisine) Disco Deli (sketchy Depanneur/Super Sandwich establishment which prides itself on its microwaved bacon and reconstituted egg paddies); Subway (boring ol' Subway), or one of three pizza shops. Paddy's was definitely our favourite, as it is where we ended up at least six times for either lunch, dinner, beers or a combination of all three.
The work we undertook in session was half administrative (filling out forms), and half research (writing our initial articles for our online newsletter the Global Byte, exploring our host institutions and countries, and listening to the wise words of our exceptional Director). Since three of us our funded by CIDA, inter-departmental rivalries reared their ugly head a few times: "Should it be 'Acadia's CIDA/DFAIT program or DFAIT/CIDA"; "This one is only of concern to the CIDA interns....'because they need the extra attention'"; "I'll show you bureaucracy"; "let's only get the CIDA interns in this photo because we don't want to ruin it again", etc etc. Topics covered included fundraising for travel costs, writing for our local newspapers, preparing project reports and proposals, "dos and don'ts of working in war-torn countries", safety and security, and issues relating to Education for Democratic Citizenship, INGOs and the UN.
On Wednesday night we all made our way up to the town of New Minas, a short cab-ride away, to catch the movies playing at the Empire Theatre. Thursday we were all invited to the home of friends of our Director for an outdoor bbq on their large property, a swim in their pool, more fascinating conversations in front of their outdoor wood-burning stove and listening to Maritime music while accompanying it with traditional 'spoons'. The good times continued well into the night as we shifted venues to Acadia's campus bar (the Axe). While there were only about twenty people there, including ourselves, we made sure to enjoy ourselves regardless by taking advantage of cheap beer, an uncontested pool table, surprisingly good classic rock and a large dance floor. We decided it would be a better idea to spend our last night in Halifax instead of in Wolfville so we piled everyone into a large van and made our way to town for the evening. Some of us stayed at Dalhousie, while others chose the more luxurious accomodations of a downtown hotel. Dalhousie residences are similar to McGill's Douglas Hall from the outside, but depressingly institutional on the inside with orange doors and beige, cinder-block walls. Luckily the beds were more comfortable than Acadia's. Halifax is great city for night life because of the multitude and close promixity of eating and drinking establishments, and more importantly because of all the live jazz and blues. The food, of course, is another highlight. I took full advantage of the excellent seafood chowder down at the food court close to the ferry terminal; it was so good that it made me forget about the damp yet characteristic weather that we had the pleasure of experiencing that night.
The only general complaints I have revolve around our sleeping accomodations themselves. The beds in the residence in which we were staying at Acadia more closely resembled concrete blocks covered in plastic then actual mattresses, but we made do. I was fortunate enough to snag a double room to myself, although the humidity which accompanies living on the fifth floor of an old building without AC served as a comparably annoying companion. Dalhousie's beds, propped two feet off the floor, posed a risk to anyone likely to roll over when sleeping, but were far more comfortable than Acadia's.
I find myself back where it all began a week ago, but this time I'm cherishing the memories (mostly good, others unreal) of the time that has passed in between rather than looking forward to putting faces to names and substance to vague information. I return feeling motivated, energized, slightly more nervous about the challenges that I will soon confront in a country so ridiculously different from my own, yet also more confident in my own ability to work in such an environment and take advantage of all it has to offer.
Some pictures from the week can be found here at another intern's blog.
It was a week full of fascinating and more often hilarious stories about everyone's experiences, eventhough some, including fleeing to Canada from Bosnia-Herzegovina before the war, were also draped in sadness. It didn't take long for us to begin joking around with one another, particularly when it came to pointing out each others' idiosyncracies. From my vertical-giftedness to my colleague's constant repetition of "good times on the farm" to another's flamboyant verbosity, laughter became the common denominator and good times were indeed had by all.
My days consisted of waking up at 7am (unless the previous night's activities precluded me from being able to do so) to go for a run along the dykes and through the farms of Wolfville with my new found friend from Ottawa who spent her undergrad years at Acadia. The beautiful countryside was coloured by rich corn fields, deep auburn mud when the tide was low, and the gently rolling hills of the Annapolis Valley, while the inhabitants themselves were as friendly as you could ever imagine. Our training sessions ran from 9am to around 5pm with an extended lunch in the middle which was usually a choice between one of four establishments: Paddy's Pub (Irish Pub/Maritime cuisine) Disco Deli (sketchy Depanneur/Super Sandwich establishment which prides itself on its microwaved bacon and reconstituted egg paddies); Subway (boring ol' Subway), or one of three pizza shops. Paddy's was definitely our favourite, as it is where we ended up at least six times for either lunch, dinner, beers or a combination of all three.
The work we undertook in session was half administrative (filling out forms), and half research (writing our initial articles for our online newsletter the Global Byte, exploring our host institutions and countries, and listening to the wise words of our exceptional Director). Since three of us our funded by CIDA, inter-departmental rivalries reared their ugly head a few times: "Should it be 'Acadia's CIDA/DFAIT program or DFAIT/CIDA"; "This one is only of concern to the CIDA interns....'because they need the extra attention'"; "I'll show you bureaucracy"; "let's only get the CIDA interns in this photo because we don't want to ruin it again", etc etc. Topics covered included fundraising for travel costs, writing for our local newspapers, preparing project reports and proposals, "dos and don'ts of working in war-torn countries", safety and security, and issues relating to Education for Democratic Citizenship, INGOs and the UN.
On Wednesday night we all made our way up to the town of New Minas, a short cab-ride away, to catch the movies playing at the Empire Theatre. Thursday we were all invited to the home of friends of our Director for an outdoor bbq on their large property, a swim in their pool, more fascinating conversations in front of their outdoor wood-burning stove and listening to Maritime music while accompanying it with traditional 'spoons'. The good times continued well into the night as we shifted venues to Acadia's campus bar (the Axe). While there were only about twenty people there, including ourselves, we made sure to enjoy ourselves regardless by taking advantage of cheap beer, an uncontested pool table, surprisingly good classic rock and a large dance floor. We decided it would be a better idea to spend our last night in Halifax instead of in Wolfville so we piled everyone into a large van and made our way to town for the evening. Some of us stayed at Dalhousie, while others chose the more luxurious accomodations of a downtown hotel. Dalhousie residences are similar to McGill's Douglas Hall from the outside, but depressingly institutional on the inside with orange doors and beige, cinder-block walls. Luckily the beds were more comfortable than Acadia's. Halifax is great city for night life because of the multitude and close promixity of eating and drinking establishments, and more importantly because of all the live jazz and blues. The food, of course, is another highlight. I took full advantage of the excellent seafood chowder down at the food court close to the ferry terminal; it was so good that it made me forget about the damp yet characteristic weather that we had the pleasure of experiencing that night.
The only general complaints I have revolve around our sleeping accomodations themselves. The beds in the residence in which we were staying at Acadia more closely resembled concrete blocks covered in plastic then actual mattresses, but we made do. I was fortunate enough to snag a double room to myself, although the humidity which accompanies living on the fifth floor of an old building without AC served as a comparably annoying companion. Dalhousie's beds, propped two feet off the floor, posed a risk to anyone likely to roll over when sleeping, but were far more comfortable than Acadia's.
I find myself back where it all began a week ago, but this time I'm cherishing the memories (mostly good, others unreal) of the time that has passed in between rather than looking forward to putting faces to names and substance to vague information. I return feeling motivated, energized, slightly more nervous about the challenges that I will soon confront in a country so ridiculously different from my own, yet also more confident in my own ability to work in such an environment and take advantage of all it has to offer.
Some pictures from the week can be found here at another intern's blog.
posted by Per at 7:47 p.m.
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