Tofino!

So, after lunch we started packing and we went downtown to go get the car. I have to mention that it was a friday the 13th..... When we got there, everything went terribly wrong!!! We couldn't rent a car because Gen didnt have enough money on her card, and since I was under 25, we had to pay like 35$ more per day plus 10$ per day so Gen could drive if I rented the car. We sent an hour there trying to figure out what to do, to call her bank and talk to the employee and try to work something out. I was finaly able to rent the car after 1h15. So... we got in our Yaris and we went back to UVIC to pick up our stuff. But before that, we made a stop at Genevieve's friends appartment to get his FM transmiter or something (so we could listen to our mp3's on the cars radio). We talked a bit with his neighbor who drew a map to fun in Tofino. He gave us a few contacts of people who could give a us a place to stay and someone else to show us around.
We finaly left around 5h-5h30 and we spent hours enjoying the view. When we got there in the night we got to a hippie camping where we were supposed to find one of the neighbor's contacts. Of course, he wasn't there and people there told us that the other person we were supposed to go see had left Tofino. We gave a lift to someone downtown and I went to the bathroom in a pub and I was a bit scared because one guy there was disguised as Jason "Friday 13th". I came out alive so great! After, we went back to the hippie camping and we slept in the car. Gen slept like a baby. I was feeling sick all night long... Anyways, I'm gonna leave out a lot of details so I can talk about it to you guys when I get back.
The only thing I'm gonna say about saturday is that I ...............................................................Surfed!!!!
Oh yes! Me on a surf board! And I actually got up on the board pretty often, maybe not for long but it's still really good. The weekend before a lot of people from the program went and pretty much only the guys were able to get on the board.
We slept in the car again on saturday night, but this time a at farm... Oh yes! We got invited at this sushi shop by the one who takes care of the farm ( friend of a friend of Gen). We got there, and they were out of rice, so out of sushi! WTH... Anyway, they gave us lots of stuff on the house. Anyone who knows me a bit knows that I didn't eat a lot that night... But they had a few sushi left that they gave us. I ate a tuna sushi... yes.. me eating sushi. It was.... well I eventually swallowed but ugh...
So then we slet in the car at the farm, and I'm wondering if someone around Tofino knows what a toilet is.... There was this outhouse, I can live with that, not very long but still. Problem was, there was no door!!! Grrrr... So once again I spent a horrible night in the car and on sunday, we brought back the car late! So we have to pay for another hole day!!!! Arhhhh!!! And it's on my credit card!!!!! Damn it!
So anyway... we got back alive.
So I left out a lot of stuff cuz I should actually be packing right now.
Next : Week 5 plus pics!!

Ciao

Week 4 part 2

Last time, I was talking about last thursday like it was the greatest day of all. This is why. First, there was sunshine in the morning! It was a really beautiful day. Secondly, our classes in the morning were shortened so we could assist to a symposium that was organised by another program. The subjects were really interesting. I went to "The Canadian Food : What is it really?" and "Food for Fuel". In the first one, the girls actually made some poutine!!! It was a bit weird because it was made with orange cheese, but it was still good. I also won some chocolate in a quizz. Between the two presentations, there was timbits, weird cookies and juice! Awesome! In the second one there was also coockies and fruits. And then... well it was lunch. I wasn't so hungry....Still grabed a sandwich and some veggies. Still a beautiful day and a free afternoon. Excellent! Later on we had a BBQ so even more junk!! Which wasn' so great. Saddly it got cold pretty much at the time of the barbecue. It was burgers, chips, soft drinks and cake. That was too much junk for me in one day. It was still a cool day. Since then the sun has been shinning more regularly which is equaly awesome!!!
On friday, there was class as usual and probably tests as well. But after that was Tofino!!!

Next : Tofino!

Cya!

Pics pics pics!!

More pics!!! Wouhou!

I think it says it all...

Love is in the air!

An invasion of kayaks in the harbour.

Fort Rodd Hill

Oak Bay Tea Party, at the beach because we were too big for the rides. :(

Une tite famille! Cute!

In the whale watching boat when we got back to the harbour. That's why I wasn't wearing my tuque anymore but you can see one on Valérie behind me. ^^

This is the mile 0 of the transcanadian highway. It's the very beginning. Check at what mile you're at and that's how far away we are. But not for long ;)

A cute litle very fat seal!

Week 4 part 1

Hey! I think I had stopped just before talking about the whale watching activity. I think I had been Whale watching in Tadoussac with my family when I was younger. We had to meet in front of the Empress Hotel at 1h30. Before getting in the boat we had to put on a big winter coat with a tuque and some gloves. It was really cute. In the when we got out of the harbour it got really cold so it's a good thing we had all that. We did see whales on the trip, as well as seels and an eagle. We saw the oldest male orca and a few small families with the youngest baby. It was really cool ^^. When we came back, they gave us some hot chocolate that was greatly appreciated.

On monday, we had a FREE AFTERNOON!!! Wouhou!!! It was a great thing to relax and to get a few things done. At night, there was a karaoke night but I didn't go because I had an important presentation to prepare for the next day. On tuesday and wednesday afternoon, it was again the workshop time. This week, I had nature walk. So we went for walks in Beacon Hill Park where we saw some peacocks and the next day we went in Oak Bay where we had a chance to feed some seels. The most awesome activity of all was the Interactive Hand Drumming Workshop. It was sooooo cool!!!!

Very soon I will talk to you about the greatest day of all which was today. Also some pictures comming up!

Tomorow I'm going to Tofino for the weekend! I can't wait!

Bye bye!!

Steph

Week 3

Hey! It's been a while since I've written anything, so here goes a little something on week 3. Let's start where we left of, with the kayaking. For 20 $ I got to go kayaking in Victoria for 2 hours. The first hour really sucked because I realized that we were going to follow the group for the whole 2 hours. Since I was always in the front, I always had to stop to wait for the others. The other thing that went bad is that the scenery was horrible!! It was like an industrial park or something. It was also very windy and we were going against the wind. When we got near to the inner harbour, the guide told us we had to turn back because there was too much wind... When we got back to the docks, we actually kept going further on the other side. Now THAT was something! That's why I really enjoyed the second hour. Beautiful coast with trees and nice houses and wild animals. I even saw a seel that got out of the water really close to my kayak! I saw it a few times coming back up for air. It was so cute!!!!! I was really...not shocked or impressed... maybe surprised and a bit uneasy. You know, we see a lot of animals in zoo or parks or stuff, but when you'Re in the wild, you don't really know how to react. I'm glad I had an encounter with a seel and not a cougar. ;)

On monday it was the culture night where Spoon Master Steph did an awesome performance for the sugar shack. On tuesday and wednesday it was the workshops and this week I had Photo Rally. The first day we went downtown to take pictures of things that were written on our sheets. For exemple : Take a picture with someone wearing rubber boots, take a picture in Fan Tan Alley, take a picture with the big bear on Government street, etc. It's was pretty cool! The next day we did a poster with our pictures. Later in the day I bought an awesome t-shirt made of Bamboo!!! And then I went to Travel Cuts (Voyage Campus) for a school project but also to get idea on what to do when I'll be done with classes here. That night was also swimming night. It was even colder than the time before!!! My face was completely frozen. :S

On thursday we had a beach activity that was planned that got cancelled because of the weather.
I have to tell you that here, the temperature is pretty much always between 10 an 16 degrees and it's always cloudy and raining in the morning. It's freezing!!! Locals actually wear their winter clothes because this is winter for them. I heard that people in Quebec are sweating a lot lately... Well I'm not... But I'm cold!!!!

On friday we went to Fort Rodd Hill. It was... a fort, old army stuff and a lighthouse. It was ok, but it was outside and the weather again wasn't so great.

On Saturday there was a local event to explore on our own if we wanted to. It was called the Oak Bay Tea Party. It was near a beach and it was like a small fair with rides for kids and games to win plushed toys. It was alright but we mostly stayed on the beach.

On sunday was Whale watching!!! But I'll leave that for another time. I'll try to put up some pictures really really soon. I'll also try to take some pictures of the campus, or maybe or my room and the CST building (Continuing Studies), because the campus is HUGE. I haven't really seen mountains since I'm not in the Rockies. We sometimes see a small part of american mountains but they're usually hiding in the clouds.

See you soon! ^^

Stephanie

New pics!

Here are a few pictures for you guys.

This is for you mom. It's pretty much the only really good picture I have of the see and it was at Clover Point.

This was at Goldstream Park. You can see me, Geneviève, Olivier and the waterfall.

A picture just for you dad. It made me think of you.

These were at Butchart Gardens. Now that I see the pictures, I remember how beautiful it was. It's just too bad that you don't have the time to enjoy it while you're there. Seems like it's only a place to take pictures.

Anything else you guys wanna see just ask!

Steph

Week 2

Aldready another week passed. This week went by very quickly for me because i was sick and so i slept in pretty much every free time i had. I had class as usual on every morning. On monday afternoon, we had a meeting about cultural night. We are putting up a show for tomorow with small groups of people demonstrating something from their culture. Our group is doing something in a sugar shack. They discovered my talent of playing spoons so thats probably what I'm gonna do in the show. It's a good thing i practiced almost every New Year's Eve with my sister when we we're young.
Tuesday was the first workshop. I had dance for the first week, but that day I only did the warm up and the stretching and Iwatched for the rest of the workshop. I was too low on energy to do more. The next day, I didn't even go to the workshop, or the meeting for cultural night, or the outside pool. I slept from 1h30 to 6h pm and after supper I did some homeworks. That helped a lot!! I was feeling a lot better the next morning even if I still needed some rest.
On thursday, we visited the historic Craigdarroch Castle. Anyone that knows me a little knows that with just hearing the word castle, I was really eager to go see it!! Well.... it was horribly boring. It's more a manor than a castle and it was from the 19th century. I seem to like my castles better when they are in ruins...
Anyways, on friday we went to Goldstream Park. Now that was way more fun! We saw that nice little waterfall and a nature house. It was a really short trip but still pretty interesting. I'm really glad i got to go there.
Yesterday, saturday, it was Butchart Gardens. It was definitly not worth 25$. I went because my family told me that it was a beautiful place and something not to miss, but it really wasn't all that great. It was just too rushed and too crowded. You had to stop every 3 steps because someone was talking a picture, but then you fell bad when you want to take one because you block the way and everything. I guess I like more natural stuff too. I also like to take my time and to be at peace in a garden like that.
Today is kayaking day. It's in a few hours so I'll tell you about it another time.

See ya

Steph

Bon bon bon

Cpo une joke ctun jeu de mot non prémédité. En fait... la pomme dans 4 semaines ctais un malentendu.
Pour ce qui est de pas avoir rapport.... Amalia tu devrais pas parler ak tes Power Rangers...
Si les seuls commentaires que j'ai c'Est quand j'écris des trucs pas rapport.........c'Est un peu décourageant.

Steph