Day 13: Home Sweet Home

(Anna's POV)

This morning we woke up still exhausted, because we had to wake up early in the morning. We ended up checking out of the hotel bright and early, but not before eating breakfast at the hotel. We all skipped our showers, and did all that we needed to do, because today we came home!

We packed up all of our stuff and loaded our car with all of the luggage that we needed. Riding to the airport was a blast because Anna was apparently in a good mood, so she ended up blasting the music. We arrived at the airport after not too long, and unloaded everything. After dropping our luggage off and going successfully through security, with Anna very surprised that she did not get pulled again for her pinecone, we slowly stumbled to the gate that we were supposed to be at.

Waiting to be asked to board the plane, we all waited and rested our eyes. We were finally called to board the plane, and we ended up with seats that were located towards the middle of the plane. Everybody was actually loaded onto the plane very quickly, so we were taking off in no time.

The flight was a direct flight form Vancouver to North Carolina, so it was about a 6 hour flight. We all were very perked up when we arrived back in North Carolina, mainly because we all slept on the plane the entire time. Sydney and Georgia were next to each other on the plane, and Kailtyn and I were together on the plane. Sadhana ended up by herself, but it had no huge effect with us all asleep anyways. Our car ride home was relaxing and very exciting knowing that the five of us actually got the chance to go on this trip. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, and we of all people were given the chance to take it.

Our trip to Canada was not only a good learning experience and entertaining experience. It was also a heart warming experience. The beautiful scenic views across the entire country, and the amazing people that we had the chance to interact with, were huge things that absolutely changed or lives. We all had certain things that made our lives a happier life to live. We would definitely encourage each and every person to visit Canada. The cool breeze blowing across your face and the illumination of the cities are worth more than anyone could imagine. (Pathos persuasion paragraph)

With the five of us having taken this trip, we feel that it is up to us to help others understand how amazing Canada can actually be. Some people may call it boring, but you just have to look at it from a different perspective. We have all gone to Canada now, so we can proudly say that it is more than just a few fun facts and interesting tourist attractions. It is all together, a great experience, as well as opportunity. (Ethos persuasion paragraph)

Day 12: A Wild Ride

(Anna's POV)

Today we spent so much time outside, it was so fun. Even Though we had a wonderful time we had to walk so much our legs were so sore. We had to wake up a bit earlier today around 7-7:30 because we had to get ready and go to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. We all got up and got ready pretty slowly because we had to pack our clothes for skiing and our gloves and coats. Although packed didn’t take much time, Sydney lost her hat and she needed it because we were going Skiing. If she didn’t have a hat she probably wouldn’t have had as much fun because it was really cold. After packing everything and getting ready to leave, we when to the Capilano Suspension Bridge (Educational Experience). As we were driving to the Capilano Bridge, we saw the prettiest lake and enjoyed a wonderful sunrise. After we got to the Bridge we walked up about 300 steps to get to it. Once we got to the bridge we had to wait in a short line and got to go across the bridge, it was really fun because we got to wear a harness and we were able to jump around on the bridge. We got to take some wonderful pictures on the bridge and of the view. The view was priceless because we got to see the river that flows under the bridge and the trees that were under it too. It was really weird because usually we see trees above us but it was really crazy to see trees underneath us. After we went across the bridge we went out to lunch at Red Robin. We ate the best Red’s Tavern Burger.  

Once we finished our lunch, we went to Grouse Mountain for Skiing. When we went to the mountain it was SUPER COLD and we all started shivering. After we got out of the car we had a suitcase that we had packed with all of our hats, gloves, and extra jackets and coats. As we slowly started to not shiver as much since we put more layers on, we had to find the place to buy the skis and the ski sticks sticks so we could go down the mountain. After we waited in the 30 minute line, we finally got to get our skis. We all got really big skis since we had really big feet. After we got our skis we walked outside and put our skis on. Georgia being the clumsy one in the group fell down and landed weird because of her skis. We all laughed at her, then we helped her up and she joined in and laughed with us. The best part was we got to go up and down multiple slopes because we had an all day pass. Once we were all settled we had to decided which slope we were going to go down. We decided to start small, then work our way up to larger slopes. It was a bit scary at first but we ended up having a blast. The best part was coming down after we went up. After we practiced for a little on the medium slope, we decided to try the big slope. To get to the top of the ski slope, we had to ride on the ski lift. After we got to the top we all counted to 10 and then went zooming down the slope, it was so steep and curved so we had to be careful. Once we got to the bottom of the slope we all looked at each other and laughed because we knew we had to go again. We kept going down the big slope so many times that we couldn’t even count. Once we were done for the night, we returned our skis and ate a sandwich on the way back to the hotel because we were so hungry from skiing. We were also extremely tired, so after reaching the hotel, we went directly to sleep. We had such a wonderful time today that I want to live in Canada forever.

Day 11: Classic Culture

(Anna's POV)

This morning we woke up with smiles on our faces and refreshed minds, after getting a good night sleep. We went downstairs in our pajamas this morning, because we woke up at about 6:30, so nobody else was up yet, and the dining room was empty. We have all been eating waffles in the morning for the past week, so we started eating Danishes yesterday, along with muffins. Kaitlyn and I had blueberry muffins, and Sydney, Georgia and Sadhana ate banana nut muffins.

After a delicious breakfast, we went back up to the room. We all got dressed and ready, in preparation for the day we had ahead of us. When we walked down the hall after exiting our rooms, it was almost as if we were back in elementary school, because for some reason, we were walking in a single file line. It was a great day that we all had waiting for us, because it was such a different experience. We visited Dr. Sun-Yat Sen’s Classical Chinese Garden, and we had no doubts about whether it was worth it or not.  Walking through the garden was so refreshing because of the fresh smell of the beautiful plants and flowers that were astonishingly laid across the field. All the shrubs were perfectly formed into all sorts of artwork and shapes. All the flowers seemed as if they were hand placed one by one with such perfection. It was hard to believe that anything like it was even possible on this earth.

The five of us took about an hour to walk and enjoy the amazing site of how great nature really could be, when treated will utmost respect. After going through the entire garden, we all sat and each had a cup of tea at the cafe they had on the property. We all were still enjoying the view even after sitting at the café for yet another hour. After we all snapped back into focus and reality, we all realized we were starting to get a little hungry. Not too far from the garden was a Chinatown, so we figured it would be cool if we could go check that out and eat there. We arrived about thirty minutes later and began looking around for where to eat. We noticed a little place called Bao Bei Chinese Basserie. We were not all too hungry after the tea, but hungry enough to get a simple meal. We all ended up getting buttered noodles. It seemed like such a simple dish, until the food was brought out to us. Our jaws dropped with such surprise of how delicious simple buttered noodles could end up looking. There butter was sizzling on the noodles, and there were spices thrown all over the dish. I was the first one to take a bite, and boy was it delicious! My eyes widened with such amazement when I tasted the cinnamon on the noodles. Who would have ever thought that buttered noodles would be good with cinnamon on them!?

 

After getting our excitement out, and finishing our meal, we paid the bill and left the restaurant. The five of us agreed to continue walking around Chinatown together, and explore what was out there. There were people on the streets doing all sorts of things. We saw everything from juggling fire, to climbing a tower made of stacked up chairs. We all loved what we saw, it was just phenomenal!

Loosing track of time, we all walked around for hours, stopping wherever we could to look around. Next thing we knew, the sun was starting to go down. That is when we knew that we had to start figuring out dinner. After discussion, we concluded that we would all eat dinner at Hong Kong Chef. We took a few minutes to get back to the car, and drive to Hong Kong Chef. The service was surprisingly quick, so we could place our orders quickly. Each of us ended up getting the same thing, which was ribs and eggs. Most people may say that it was a weird combination of foods, but it was good considering they cooked them perfectly. They brought out the eggs on separate plates form the ribs. The eggs were fluffy and very well buttered, which is just how I like it! The ribs were cooked perfectly all the way down to the core. The best part about the ribs was that they were absolutely loaded with barbecue sauce. I personally love a lot of barbecue sauce on mine.

Day 10: Broken Bones

(Kaitlyn's POV)

Today we started by doing our normal thing, hotel breakfast. Recently I've been getting so sick of waffles so I've been eating muffins and danishes. We started by going to the Vancouver Art Gallery and seeing all of the crazy things there. We saw some awesome things like graffiti and awesome illusions that make the art gallery look really cool. Anna was the most amazed at all of it. My favorite was an AMAZING painting of a dog that was this crazy illusion so if you looked at it one way it looked like a young woman but the other way it looked like a puppy dog! I also loved how HUGE the building was! It reminded me of a dirty version of the white house! As we were finishing up, Georgia accidentally tripped and hit a sculpture in the corner of museum that completely broke the leg off. We had to pay a fee of $1500
dollars for that. I thick the scariest part about the whole thing was Anna's scream in the background.

After a while of looking at all of the awesome things in the art gallery, with one exception, we started to get pretty hungry so we decided it was time to eat. For lunch we went to a place called Fritz European Fry House (Indigenous Meal). All the had was a really cool meal called Poutine, an All-Canadian food that was originated in the province of Quebec. Even though we never got to visit Quebec, the poutine was still everywhere we looked. It was fries covered in cheese-curds and topped with gravy. We ordered a huge bucket of those to share. This food reminded me of Gnocchi, it filled me us up so fast that we didn't get to eat all of it. And it was cheap too! It was only $5! After we all finished our very filling meal, it was time for us to head to our next activity for the day!

The next event we had for the day was Hootsuite Inc. (Technology). Hootsuite inc. was a social media workplace. Sydney's cousin lives in Vancouver and actually works there. We didn't see him along the trip but he let us into his building with him and gave us a tour around for a few hours. The inside was REALLY cool! There were tons of computers and different lounges that made it feel like you were sitting out in the woods! The lounge had a huge fireplace and deer antlers that hung as lights from the ceiling. It also had bean bags that were brown like wood and tables that looked like stumps. The rug also complemented it all, looking like it came straight out of a cabin. I could live in there for DAYS! We got really lucky because the lounge was just built about a month ago. I was so amazed at it all. We sat in the lounge for a while and since there was no one there we were allowed to talk. Georgia, Sydney, and Sadhana went exploring while Anna and I stayed in the lounge for a while. Georgia was amazed at how advanced all of the technology there was.

After going to Hootsuite, it was time for dinner. All of us got out our Yelp apps and Anna managed to find a place called Medina. Medina was a brunch-like place that is usually opened until 3pm every day but today for some reason was special and it was open until 8 p.m. for dinner! We all shuffled in and you could smell all of the amazing food as soon as we got in. We were all pretty hungry so we all got the Fricassee. This was a huge brunch meal that had two fried eggs, braised short ribs, caramelized onions, apple-wood smoked cheddar, and seasonal greens with grilled focaccia. We were so full from that that we could barely walk. The food made us all tired so as soon as we got to the hotel at about 8:30 p.m.,
and we ended our day and went straight to sleep.

Day 9: Fishy Fun!

(Sydney's POV)

We all woke up this morning with fresh smiles and feeling well rested. We slept in until about 8:30 because we did not have much planned for the day, but we wanted to get up before they closed breakfast in the lobby. Anna was wide awake because she always has so much energy. We all stumbled down to the lobby and ate a good refreshing breakfast.

After breakfast we found our way back upstairs and took our time getting ready. We had planned to go to the Vancouver Aquarium (Educational Entertainment) later on, so we had time on our side. The aquarium was only supposed to take a few hours, which ended up being fairly accurate.

We all finished getting ready and at about 9:00, and we started going out to the aquarium. We arrived at the aquarium and got our tickets, each of us paying individually. Entering the aquarium gates at the front was amazing because the displays they had were so eye catching. They had huge painted murals on the concrete ground. We continued to walk further into the aquarium, passing some smaller miscellaneous fish tanks. Getting even further in, we began seeing much bigger fish tanks.


Walking through the aquarium exhibits, we were all so amazed. When we got to the dolphin exhibit, Kaitlyn started going crazy. She absolutely loves dolphins. We were able to sit and watch a dolphin show that the trainers helped put on. Sadhana and Georgia were most amazed with the sea turtles, and how graceful they were with their swimming. I personally enjoyed the jellyfish the most, but after walking the entire aquarium, we all agreed that the entire experience was an amazing one.

We were at the aquarium for about two hours before we decided to go ahead and eat. We left for lunch and found ourselves at Ciao Bella. We all got a large bowl of Minestrone, which was a vegetable soup. Anna, who loves to cook, said that she thought it had the best combination of spices, and had amazing flavor! It was a great, relaxing meal together.


After we finished up at the restaurant, we all headed back to the hotel. We had a lot of time after we finished our lunch, so we decided to go take a walk around the places near our hotel, which only took about an hour. When we got back, we just rested and did a lot of talking. We have been talking and resting for a few hours now, but surprisingly have not gotten too bored.

We had so much fun just talking with each other, but got really hungry. We had a light lunch so we were all really hungry and wanted a big dinner. We got on our phones and searched for some good places to eat near our hotel. We found a seafood restaurant close by, called Five Sails, that provided a lot of food. Each meal offered six sides and two entrees. The entire table got an appetizer to share at the beginning though. We got two orders of roasted loin and we all shared those two orders. Boy was it good!!

We got back to the hotel after eating that amazing dinner, and began to discuss when we were going to bed, and we all decided it was best that we go to bed early, since we have been up and at it for many days now. We are currently in the process of getting ourselves ready for bed, and we hope that tomorrow is yet another marvelous day!

Day 8: Studying the Science

(Sadhana's POV)

Today was a great day! We got to wake up late and go to many fun places. We woke up to the sound of cars honking which was not the most pleasant sound, but still woke us up. Georgia and I decided to go grab some breakfast first thing in the morning and then went on a wonderful walk. After our walk, we went to eat breakfast at the hotel with Kaitlyn, Sydney, and Anna. Georgia and I ate the most food because they were really hungry after walking. After we all ate, we left to head out to the Science World.

We started by doing our normal routine, waking up, eating hotel breakfast, and starting our day. Our first event of the day was Science World (educational entertainment). Science World is a science centre in Vancouver that has many exhibits and programs for people of all ages. We did many fun things including learning about the molecular structure of things. Our day was full of fun learning activities, including those related to molecules. First we went to a play at Science World about molecules. It was really funny but also really cheesy because the play was meant for little kids. It got even better when we visited many galleries and exhibits, and learned a lot more about molecules than we ever expected. After spending about half the day learning about molecules, we went out to lunch. Kaitlyn was really in the mood for hot dogs today so we went to Japadog and ate the best hot dogs ever. Japadog was a street cart that specialized in hot dogs. There were hot dogs made with chicken and even rice! We got a Japanese Kobe Beef Dog! It was delicious!


After our wonderful meal we went to the Marine Building (Historical Location) to look at the wonderful structure that was built a long time ago in Canada. The Marine Building is a skyscraper that is in a finance area located in Vancouver. It is known for it’s design and being the tallest building in the British Empire. We hung out in the building for a little bit but there wasn’t much to do because it wasn’t an exhibit.

After we looked around the building for sometime we went out to Chipotle for dinner, which was where I really wanted to go because I love Mexican food. We all had the chicken quesadilla which was Georgia's favorite thing to order from there. Then we went back to the hotel and went straight to sleep. We are all hoping for a good day in Vancouver tomorrow!

Day 7: Canada's Quiet places

(Kaitlyn's POV)

Today we started our first day in Vancouver! We all woke up pretty late at about 10 because we were going to the Pacific Spirit Regional Park (Natural Environment)! We had tons of fun exploring what was left of the nature and animals for the year, there were still some squirrels out that were so cute! It even started snowing! We had so much fun walking and we were
so tired from the flight yesterday. We started out by doing what we always do, hotel breakfast. I'm glad we're in a new hotel because I was starting to get sick of the old hotel breakfast. The same old waffles every day gets pretty tiring. But today we got to eat Pancakes! As soon as we finished, we were off for the day! Even though it's cold, we started by going for a hike in the
woods and we all jumped a lot in the snow!

After a few hours of walking in the snow, we started to get too cold, so we decided to go someplace warm for lunch. We ended up going to a nearby place called The Eatery. This was the craziest Sushi place that I have ever been to! The menu was so crazy! We decided to try something that we've never had before, Pork Kastu Don Buri. It was actually really good! Some of it I've never tasted in my life, even though i'm not a huge fan of the egg and sushi.

Next we were off to the University Golf Club! It was kind of pricey to go, but we still had tons of fun trying to golf! Georgia and I have never golfed before, but Anna was a pro at it so she did WAY better than us. Georgia hit her golf ball into the lake a few times, but other than that we had a great time! After a fun day of golfing, crazy sushi places, and the Regional Park, we decided to go someplace simple and quick for dinner. For dinner we ate at Five Guys, and we all got the little bacon cheeseburger, which has always been mine and Sydney's favorite. After dinner we decided to end our day there and get ready for our next big day!