Live Life to the Fullest

Today I woke up with a wicked headache hours before my alarm.  I was really annoyed.  In typical fashion I turned on my phone to scroll through my messages and whatnot to wake myself up.  The above video was shared on Facebook by my little sister, Amanda.  

I was not expecting what I saw.  It was heartbreaking and inspirational all at once.  I cried at the unfairness of it all and downloaded Zach Sobiech's album from iTunes to honour his memory.

I've just found out that last night my brother, Will's long-time friend Todd passed away in a motorcycle accident.  It is tragic and horrible and many many more adjectives I can't think of right now.  I have fond memories of Todd.  I always thought he was such a cool guy.

Todd and Zach both passed away too soon.

My heart goes out to both their families and all their friends.

The message to take away from these tragedies is that you never know when it is going to be your time to go.  You need to make the most of every single day.  

Live life to the fullest.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Amanda, Charlotte, Melissa, Justine, Me, and Corinna enjoying Afternoon Tea!

I have tried to write a new post at least half a dozen times in the past two months.  I need to face facts and accept that it would take days maybe even weeks to adequately describe everything that has happened.  So let me update you on my current situation.

Today I wrote my second to last final exam. A little over a week from now I will write the final, final exam of my undergraduate degree.  I cannot wait to be done!  With a mixture of final papers and exams the exam period here in England has felt endless.  Basically I have been writing/studying fairly consistently since returning from my Easter break a month ago.  I thought exam period in Canada was bad and that was only a few weeks maximum.

All study, no play has never been, and never will be, used to describe me.  I made sure to fit in a few, well deserved study breaks/trips.  One of my goals when moving to England was to see as much of the country as I could manage to fit in during the short time I am here.  Thankfully there are a couple tour operators that have allowed me to see a good deal of the country by doing day and weekend trips.  During the last month some friends and I visited Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds Castle in Kent (not Leeds like I originally thought), and Canterbury.  Previous trips included stops in Bath, Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, Cambridge, Greenwich, Oxford, Windsor, and Eton.

A couple study breaks were spent in Brighton.  A week and a half ago, my friend from Canada, Aly popped down from London to visit for the day.  It was really great to see her and show her my favourite spots in town.  It felt like ages since we had seen her but in actuality it was only three weeks.  Melissa, Justine, and I spent two weeks travelling in Monaco and Paris with Aly during our Easter Break.

The most recent study break was yesterday.  The girls and I went for Sunday Afternoon Tea at our favourite teashop in town.  We are such frequent customers that the staff at That Little Teashop in the Lanes know us now.  We go at least once a week.  Their scones with Devon clotted cream and jam are to die for!

Well I better leave it there.  Tonight we are celebrating Justine’s golden birthday!

So British

View from my window this morning: English snow.. just as miserable as snow in Vancouver!

Some of my friends here starting using the phrase “so British” a while back to refer to something that was typically British, or for something they perceived was typically British.  I wasn’t there when it started but in theory I like it, except when it is used in a negative way or as a put down.

Part of why I chose to come to England on exchange was to have the opportunity to discover a new culture without the challenge of learning a new language.  Some say it’s debatable that Canadians and Brits speak the same English but that is another argument entirely.  Without a language barrier one can jump into another culture that much quicker.

One of the things I learned while on exchange in Sweden was that 5 months is not enough time to properly learn a language and not knowing the language can prevent you from learning some of the nuances of the culture.  Not speaking the language of your host country can also pose a challenge to developing strong relationships with the locals.

I am very thankful to have met and become friends with some lovely British people.  Who better to learn about the country and the culture from then those that live here?  Now I almost never refer to the garbage as garbage anymore.  It’s rubbish.  Probably not the best example but it is the one that came to mind.

This week I did a bunch of things that could be called “so British.”  But to save time I’ll just mention a few.

First off on Tuesday I went to a pub to watch the football match – Real Madrid vs. Manchester United.  Watching a football, or soccer match, is not just a British thing but it is not something I would typically do in Canada.  My Mom might disown me for saying this but I find football much more interesting to watch on TV than hockey.  For me I find it much easier to follow a white soccer ball on a green field than a small black puck on a sheet on ice.  Plus the atmosphere while watching was electric. 

We watched the first half of the match in a large pub in town called the King & Queen.  Despite being so big it was packed and there was standing room only.  It was annoying to be bumped by people trying to pass through the crowd but kind of cool to be surrounded by people who actually care about the outcome of the game, who would grunt, yell or cheer at the giant projector screen.  For the second half we went to a small pub where the guys typically watch matches and where we could sit with room to breathe.  Overall it was cool experience.

Saturday I went for proper English tea with Melissa and Justine.  We went to a cute little place aptly named “That Little Teashop in the Lanes.”  Tea, scones with jam and clotted cream, and small sandwiches – you can’t get much more British than that.  It was delicious!  Justine was pretty excited when I told her that I know how to make scones so that will be our next baking endeavour.  Justine is passionate about learning to bake and I love baking so teaching her gives me an excuse to make delicious treats.

Yesterday I had my first visitors from Canada – Katherine and Gord.  They are travelling around Europe for two months and came down to Brighton for the day.  Katherine and Gord were some of my mentors from my first exchange to France with Rotary International.  We couldn’t remember how long it had been since we last saw each other but it has to have been at least 5 years.

It was so lovely to see them and catch up.  Unfortunately the weather was pretty miserable, not as bad as it is today but still quite cold.  We spent some time wandering around the Lanes and the Pier but mainly we spent time in restaurants and cafes.  It was almost nice to have an excuse to spend more time inside just chatting.

I learned from Katherine that mushy peas are a very British thing and also a favourite of hers.  Mushy peas is a side dish made from a specific kind of pea that is first dried then slightly rehydrated and mashed.  Having never heard of them before I wasn’t sure where to take her where they are served.  We tried a couple pubs that I think of as typically British but alas no mushy peas on the menu.  At the second pub the staff recommended we try Harry Ramsden’s.

Harry Ramsden’s is a very popular fish and chips restaurant directly across the street from Brighton Pier.  According to the sign Harry is the uncrowned king of fish and chips.  When you go to a restaurant like that you just have to get fish and chips with mushy peas.

While we were there it occurred to me that since my arrival in England I had yet to eat fish and chips.  Let me tell you it was so good!  It was some of the best fish and chips I’ve ever had.  The mushy peas were pretty good too but I think I still prefer good old plain peas.

That is a snapshot of my week and my attempts to do more things that could be deemed as “so British.”  I am really enjoying my time here in England!  It is hard to believe how quickly time is flying by.  I am determined to make the most of it.

This coming weekend I’m off to Dublin, Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day.  I have always wanted to experience St. Paddy’s in Ireland and I’m so excited that I finally will be able to.  Then once I get back my little sister Amanda arrives for a two-week visit.  We will be spending her first week in England and then making quick stops in Paris and Lisbon.  In Lisbon we will be staying with Claire, a former Rotary exchange student to BC from Belgium, who I haven’t seen in a few years.  I’m really looking forward to seeing her.  So good things happening in the weeks to come…

That is all.  Hope your week has been as good as mine!

Oxford, Windsor & Eton

Favourite shot of the day!

I’ve been living in England for a month now and time seems to be flying by.  One down, three and a half to go…

This past week was probably the best yet.  It had a little bit of everything – good times with friends, not being sick, travel, adventures in cooking/baking and a birthday.

In this post I’m going to focus on my Oxford, Windsor & Eton trip organized by a local tour company called Discovery Tours.  It was quite a fun trip due in part to the fact that most of the participants were exchange students from the University of Brighton.

We had to meet the bus bright and early at 8am Saturday morning.  It was quite the challenge for me as the night before there was a kitchen party next door to my room and I was a little lacking in the sleep department.

Unfortunately I forgot my headphones so unlike many of the others I was unable to sleep on the drive to Windsor.  On the bright side I had a spare seat beside me so I could put my feet up and get a little more comfortable.

The overcast weather in Windsor was regrettable but the town was charming all the same.  The Queen was in residence at Windsor Castle but I didn’t get a chance to meet her because she wasn’t feeling well.  Next time for sure. 

 Shortly after we arrived we got to watch the changing of the guards.  On my previous visits to England I didn’t get a chance to see that so I was pretty stoked.  I was less than impressed with the display.  It was cool but waiting for 20 minutes while my feet got cold for a display that lasted about 2 minutes was not fun.  It was over almost as soon as it began.

After that we wandered over to Eton via a bridge across the River Thames.  There were a bunch of swans swimming on the river and our tour guide warned us against getting into an argument with one them.  Apparently the Queen owns all the swans in England and a disagreement with one of them could land you in jail.

Eton was very small.  Its main claim to fame is Eton College, which is an all-boys school that has educated kings, princes, prime ministers, and even Osama bin Laden.  The yearly tuition is approx. £30,000 and the boys who go there have to wear ridiculous uniforms that include pinstripe pants and a jacket with tails.

On our way back to the bus we took some time to pose for touristy photos.

By the time we reached Oxford the sun had come out to play.  It is amazing how a little sunshine can make a day seem so much better.  While Windsor and Eton were quaint towns, Oxford was a bustling city with many beautiful buildings.

Oxford is known as a university town because it is home to several universities.  It seemed that on every street was a different university.  I think Oxford would be a cool place to study but I’m glad I’m studying in Brighton instead.  Oxford is land bound and I like being by the ocean.  That might have something to do with the fact that I grew up living on a peninsula.

Some of the group opted for the optional tour of Christ Church College home to the smallest cathedral in England and the staircase used in the first Harry Potter film.  The dining hall also served as inspiration for the great hall in the Harry Potter films.  The author of Alice in Wonderland, Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll, went to Christ Church.  The character Alice was based on the then Dean’s daughter Alice Liddell.  Carroll was inspired by the stain-glass windows in the hall, which helped him create many of the other characters in his stories.

After the tour of Christ Church we wandered around the city.  We walked through the covered market and over to Oxford Castle.  There wasn’t enough time to visit the castle but we climbed the hill beside it and got an aerial view of the city.  The hill wasn’t as high as I thought it was so the view wasn’t as good as it could’ve been.  It was nice though especially with the sun shining.

Just before having to meet up with the group to head back to Brighton we popped into the Ashmolean Museum for about 15 minutes.  It was a shame to not have enough time to properly explore it.  If I go back to Oxford I’d love to go again.  As an added bonus it was free.

So in a nutshell that was my trip to Oxford, Windsor and Eton.  It was a good trip.  If you want to see more pictures click here.  Some of us are planning to do more trips with Discovery Tours.  We have trips to Cambridge & Greenwich; Bath, Stonehenge & Salisbury Cathedral, and Manchester & Liverpool in the works.

Sunday was a really good day too.  It began with me teaching Justine and my flat mate Philippe how to make pancakes.  They were pretty good at it.  Eating pancakes is always a good way to start a Sunday.

In the afternoon a few of us went into town.  I needed to buy a desk lamp because the lighting in my room is subpar.  We went to a place called Argos.  It isn’t your typical store.  There are a bunch of desks with catalogues and computers.  You browse through those to find what you want, write the codes down and then go to the cashier to pay for them.  Once you pay the staff retrieve your items from a storeroom in back.  It is kind of cool.

While I was waiting for my items Melissa, Alessandra and Estelle wandered over to Primark to do a little shopping.  Once I got my lamp Will, Justine and I joined them there.  I thought they just wanted to stop there quickly but it turned out they wanted to go to a couple clothing shops.  For once in my life I didn’t feel like shopping so Will and I opted to go for a walk along the seafront.

It was a beautiful day for a walk along the beach.  But as Will pointed out it would’ve been nice if it were a few degrees warmer.  I’m really looking forward to Spring and Summer in Brighton.  I think it will be really lovely.

We ran into our friend David with his mom having coffee at one of the main cafes and pubs that line the beach.  Another thing I like about Brighton is that while it is a city it is also seems small.  While out and about you often run into people you know.

As we were walking I was asked to take a picture for a couple tourists and I happily obliged.  My theory is that if when I travel if I want to ask kind strangers to take pictures for me then every so often I need to take pictures for other people.  Later when Will and I turned tourist and wanted a picture with the pier we had to ask someone to take a picture for us.  Sadly not everyone is good at taking pictures…

Fail!

That's a little better.. except for the hair in my face.

After the walk we met up with Melissa and Justine for a bite to eat and a drink at the Irish pub Molly Malone's.  Our friend Edel works there and we surprised her by stopping in.  She is new to the job but she seemed to be well accustomed with how things work.  She even managed to get me a discount!  We timed it perfectly because shortly after we arrived the pub was flooded with football fans to watch the Tottenham vs. Arsenal game.  It was pretty cool to be surrounded by a bunch of people that actually care about a sport.  It reminded me of watching the Olympic hockey games in pubs with my Mom.  Love that atmosphere. 

Sunday evening concluded with a celebration of Christian’s birthday.  In German culture it is customary to invite your friends over and cook for them.  Quite different from the Canadian culture of being spoiled on your birthday.  It was a really nice meal.  Christian, Mario and their visiting friend Sarah made chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce, potatoes and salad.

Charlotte, Justine, Melissa and I made toffee cupcakes for Christian.  Consequently toffee (caramel) is one of his favourites so we chose well.

It was a great weekend and a good week leading up to it.  I feel very blessed to be living here in Brighton with so many amazing friends.  I am also very thankful for my loving, supportive family back home.  Yep life is good!

Me Day

I figured that the best way to find balance would be to take a day off and sort things out.  So today I had a “me day.”  I got to say I’ve really enjoyed it so far.  I started my morning off by sleeping in, or as my Dutch friend Will would say sleeping “out.”  Then since I was feeling lazy I watched Pitch Perfect – a very funny and enjoyable movie.  After that I convinced myself to go for a run at the nearby gym.  I’m pretty much healthy again so I could no longer use being sick as an excuse.   Next on the agenda was laundry, which I am still in the process of doing.  I have feeling though that before I finish writing this I will have to go collect my laundry from the dryer.

My plans for this evening are to write this blog post, finish putting away my laundry, maybe read a few things for school, and research trip options for my Easter Break.  I’m not sure if I mentioned this before or not but I get 3 weeks off for Easter.  I’m definitely planning to take advantage of that time off school.  My little sister, Amanda will be visiting me for the week before and the first week of my break.  I’m really looking forward to showing Amanda around England and parts of Europe.  I just haven’t decided which parts.  There are so many things that I would love for her to see but two weeks in Europe goes surprisingly fast.  Hopefully I will be able to plan an amazing trip for her.

Poster of the Royal Pavilion I bought for my room!

This past weekend was great.  It was unintentionally centered on the Royal Pavilion – the palace of King George IV.  On Saturday a group of us intended to go the neighbouring city of Eastbourne for a daytrip but the weather was crummy so we opted to stay in Brighton.  Since the weather was so cold instead of wandering around the city we chose to take a tour of the Royal Pavilion, which happened to not be properly heated and felt just about as cold as it was outside.

The Royal Pavilion is a strange palace.  The exterior has Indian influence and evokes images of the Taj Mahal.  The interior has Chinese influences and makes one think they are in China rather than England.  It is beautiful for sure but it seems out of place somehow.

Unfortunately photo taking inside the palace was prohibited so I can’t show you what I saw.  Instead I will tell you how it felt to wander around the palace.  With the cost of entrance we were given an audio guide to listen to.

King George IV was the epitome of a selfish monarch.  He liked parties, being the center of attention and spending excessively to indulge his every desire.  As you walk through the various rooms of the palace you can’t help but marvel at the grandeur and extravagance.

Sometimes I think how different the world would be today if monarchs of the past had spent less time and money building and feathering their castles.  But then I stop myself and think how sad it would be to not have those palaces to visit.  Their beauty wouldn’t exist for future generations to draw inspiration from.  There would be no Versailles and the Hall of Mirrors, no Sans-Souci Palace, no Tsarskoye Selo (Catherine’s Palace near St. Petersburg)… just to name a few that I have been fortunate enough to have visited.  I love visiting palaces!  I can’t tell you why exactly but I do.  I’m glad they exist.

Sunday was the last day that there was an ice rink on the lawns of the Royal Pavilion.  I felt like going skating at the Royal Pavilion was one of those experiences that one needs to have while in Brighton.  I went with a group of friends – Amanda, Charlotte, David, Justine, Melissa and Will.  Justine came along just to watch us skate and hang out afterwards.  We had a lot of fun. See…

Charlotte, Will, Amanda, Melissa, Me, and David!

When I was younger I was in a figure skating club so I was excited to get back on the ice.  The others were a little more apprehensive.  I remember correctly but I think David had skated only once before and the last time Will skated was like 10 years ago.  Charlotte was the most anxious though since the two times she skated previously she ended up with broken bones - a fact that she didn’t mention until we were on the bus heading to the rink.

It didn’t take very long to re-accustom myself to wearing skates and enjoy being on the ice.  I think it took a little longer for the others to feel comfortable.

Charlotte spent the first 20 minutes or so slowly making her way around the rink desperately clinging to the handrail.  We suggested she use a penguin that was designed to help children learn to skate and even managed to steal one.  Unfortunately it was too small for her given she isn’t a child and the rink staff took it away.

I tried to help Charlotte whenever I could but her fear was like a barricade.  I broke it down eventually though.  I was persistent and I think it helped for her to see how steady a skater I am.  With much encouragement I convinced her to hold onto my arms and skate with me.  For the first little while I was more or less pulling her along as I skated backwards near the rail.

She improved slowly but surely as I continued to encourage her and give her advice on how to stay balanced like “bend your knees” and “butt out.”  At one point she realized we were in the middle of the rink and almost freaked out.  When her confidence built she managed to move from holding my elbows to my hands and finally to holding only one hand.  In the end she did 6 full laps of the rink.  I was so proud of her!  I guess third times the charm because she didn’t break any bones!

After skating we went to a cute little shop in the South Lanes called Cloud 9.  They had warm drinks, cakes, cupcakes and gelato.  I chose a delicious gluten free cupcake.  Ever since I arrived in England I told myself I’d try to avoid wheat since I have a sensitivity to it and I’m astounded by just how widely available gluten-free options are here.

We chose to stay in town for the couple hours before dinner since there wasn’t enough time to go back to halls.  Since it was a Sunday most businesses close at 5pm so we had to move to a pub.

I was very pleased to discover the pub we ended up at the Prince George serves Kopparberg – a Swedish brand of cider.  It was so good and every sip reminded me of when I lived in Sweden.

I’m not sure how it started but I ended up quizzing Will and Amanda with how to spell challenging English words.  It is very difficult to think of hard English words off the top of my head so I looked up “hard to spell English words.”  Amanda was surprisingly good and Will was surprisingly bad.  Amanda had the fact she speaks Swedish, Italian, English and some Spanish I believe on her side.  And in Will’s defense most of the words he’d never even heard before and they were words most English speakers would spell incorrectly.

For dinner we went to a Chinese restaurant called Lucky Star.  We were supposed to meet up with Nicole, the Canadian girl who first showed me around Brighton, who was back in town for one last night but her train was delayed.

Dinner was delicious and at the end of the meal we got to see Nicole briefly to say goodbye before heading home for the night.  It was a long but good day.

So that was more or less my weekend.  Hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my adventures in Brighton :)

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PS. For those interested I finished my laundry, made myself dinner, and did a number of other things before I managed to finish writing this post.  For some reason I always feel the need to write exactly what I'm doing when I start writing and usually by the time I'm done it no longer applies. Weird, eh?

Balance

There is so much happening here in Brighton and I am failing miserably at balancing everything.  It seems that every day or every night there is something different going on.  On the one hand it is great because there is no time to get bored.  On the other it means I pushed myself to join in a little too soon when recovering from being sick last week and thus fell ill again.  This time I had horribly dry, sore throat and Wednesday I even had fever like symptoms.  Good news I’m on the mend again and this time I’m trying to take it easier so I can recover fully.

Another thing I haven’t been very good at is writing posts regularly and thus I have much to catch up on.  I will probably just have to mention the highlights otherwise it would take me all day to write this.

Last weekend the weather here in Brighton was gorgeous.  I took advantage of all Brighton has to offer shopping, nightlife and hanging out on the seafront.  It was a good weekend.  Check out the some of pictures I took below.  Brighton is really quite beautiful.

On Monday I went to London.  I slept pretty terribly the night before so when I fell asleep after my alarm and woke up with only half an hour to get ready I definitely debating skipping out on the day trip.  I’m really glad I didn’t.  It was a great day!

Eight of us went and the countries represented were Canada – Justine, Melissa and I, Germany – Christian and Mario,  The Netherlands – Willem, and France – David and Geoffrey.

We caught the train into Brighton then got another train to London.  The train to London only takes about an hour.  So for me the commute was very similar to going from Tsawwassen to downtown Vancouver.

The train from Brighton arrives at London Victoria station, which is near Buckingham Palace so that was our first stop of the day.  Having been to London before I didn’t have anywhere specifically that I wanted to go.  It was nice to let the others decide where we would go next.

My second time seeing Buckingham Palace and my impression of it was much the same.  As far as castles/palaces go it’s not all that impressive.  But I have a feeling that the inside probably fully makes up for the outside.  All the same it is still cool to see it in person.

The guys

The Canadians

From there we walked through Green Park to Piccadilly Circus – London’s mini version of Times Square.  It was a nice walk and it was an area of London I didn’t see on my previous visit.

Our next pit stop was M&M World.  Basically it was a massive four-floor store filled with the delicious chocolate candy and merchandise stamped with the M&M logo or cartoon characters.  There were also cartoon M&M statues pretending to be the Beatles crossing Abbey Road and even an M&M bobby.  It was way better than the M&M World in New York.

We spent the afternoon wandering around Chinatown, Soho and Oxford Street stopping at a few shops here and there.  It was very chill.  The pub we stopped at for lunch was terrible though.  First of all, it was cold inside. Second, 45 minutes after we ordered and some peoples' food had already arrived the waitress came up to us to tell us that some of the things ordered and already paid for were unavailable.  It was quite ridiculous.  But really it is the only negative I have to say about the day as a whole.

After shopping on Oxford Street we jumped on the tube to see Big Ben, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey.  Much like the Eiffel Tower, those are sights that never get old no matter how many times you see them.  I got really lucky with one of the shots I took – I got Big Ben, a part of the London Eye and a red double decker bus all in one picture.  I think it’s almost a postcard quality shot.

Next we zipped over to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, which is often mistakenly called London Bridge.  The sun was beginning to set and it was just beautiful.  It was a nice place to wander around as the sun faded from the sky.  A helpful passerby kindly offered to take a group photo for us.  I was glad to get a memento of the whole group.

The whole gang! Left to right: Christian, Melissa, Geoffrey, David, Me, Justine, Will, and Mario.

Trafalgar Square was our next stop.  There was still some daylight when we went to catch the tube but when we resurfaced it was fully night-time.  Having seen the Square in daylight previously it was cool to see it at night.  From there we walked back to Piccadilly Circus to see it at night.  It wasn’t quite as impressive as Times Square but still pretty cool.

At that point the group split.  Mario, Christian, Melissa and Justine headed home and Will, David, Geoffrey and I went in search of a restaurant for dinner.  We ended up at this little, apparently Italian place.  I say apparently because the menu was more or less Italian but I had a prime rib dinner with Yorkshire pudding and that is definitely not Italian.  It was a delicious meal.  But I have to say my Uncle Don’s prime rib dinners are much better.

Once we finished dinner we went to catch the train home.  We arrived at London Victoria station with only a few minutes to catch the train we wanted and had to run across the station.  It was kind of funny.

The best parts of the day are the hardest to convey.  I’ve told you all the places we went but I couldn’t share all the good conversations and shared experiences.  Oh and it was nice not having to constantly be wondering how to get to the next place.  Will had brought a map and took care of directions.  Usually I tend to end up being the one in charge of getting the group from one place to the next.  Actually one of my nicknames here is “mental map” which I’m not particularly fond of but somehow it stuck.  I have a really good sense of direction and when asked about how I knew where certain places were I responded that I had a really good mental map.

Anyways, this post has already gotten long enough just talking about London so I’m going to cut it off there for now.  For all the London pictures click here.  Shortly I will start writing a post about this weekend - touring the Royal Pavilion and going skating on the ice rink right beside it.  Hopefully I will have it up sometime tomorrow.

RIP Grandad

 It wasn’t until I put up my earlier blog post that the significance of today’s date hit me.  Consequently I am putting up a second post for the day.

On February 13, 2006, my Grandad passed away.  He went for a nap on the couch and never woke up.

If you ask me that is a pretty good way to go.  I’ve always thought that dying in my sleep would be the nicest way to go.

Although it may have been an easy way for him to go it did not make it any easier on his family.  Grandad’s passing was unexpected.

I do not know much of the specifics surrounding that day and the following week.  I was half a world away living in France on a Rotary Youth Exchange.  The day Grandad died I was heading off on a bus tour of Southern France and Spain – a tour that he and my Gran paid for.

I did not learn of his death until I returned from my trip and the funeral had already happened.  So in a way I feel like I’ve never properly said my goodbyes.  I will attempt to do so now.

This might sound cliché but I would not be who I am today if not for my Grandad.

I remember very vividly the day my Grandad told me about Rotary Youth Exchange.  He was driving me home from elementary school.  I was in Grade 7 and since my older siblings had moved on to high school near our house I got the front seat.  We were talking about travelling and how I would love to travel all over.  He told me that if I was serious about travelling I should think about doing a Rotary Youth Exchange.

Being 12 years old I had no idea what Rotary was or even what an exchange was.  My Grandad was an engineer and he did many trips down to Brazil to help teach engineers there some of the techniques he perfected in Canada.  Many of his Brazilian friends were Rotary members and they were the ones that told him about the program.

Rotary Youth Exchange is a program that allows youth aged 15-18 to live abroad for a year.  You stay with host families, go to a local school, and learn the culture and language of the host country.

I was fascinated by the idea.

With his encouragement, as well as others, I pursued the idea.  I was 14 when I applied and was accepted to the program.  By the time I left for France I was 15, the youngest possible age you can be when doing a Rotary Youth Exchange.

Looking back now I feel like my parents must’ve been crazy to let me leave and go live abroad at such a young age.  I’m guessing my Grandad probably put in a good word for me.

I don't know who or where I would be today if my Grandad had never told me about Rotary Youth Exchange.

I owe him a lot.

I miss him more than I care to admit.  I miss driving in his car listening to classical music and eating travel candies.  I miss the advice he used to give me.  I miss the various history lessons he’d teach me.  I miss the wealth of knowledge he possessed.

Sometimes I wonder what he would tell me if I saw him today.  I’d like to think he’d be proud of me and all that I’ve accomplished.

He was a good man and I will be eternally grateful for everything he did for me.

Until we meet again Grandad...