Day 4, even more

Hello to everyone again, I didn’t have my camera yesterday so all you'll have to go on is words and pics taken before and after.

Alright so yesterday (Wednesday) started bright and early at 7:30 for academic orientation. I "jumped" out of bed and in 30 mins I was showered dressed and on my way to a complementary breakfast. I arrived in an open court yard called the "Academic Quad" where there was a 30 mile line up for breakfast. I decided since I had a ton of meals left for the week I would go to the cafeteria. I had a bagel and fruit there and then headed back to the Quad. When I arrived we were lining up for shirts for our faculties. By the time I got to the end of the line all of the Public Affairs shirts were gone so they gave me a BA and social sciences shirt instead. I was then led to a gymnasium where there were speeches being given by the president of Carleton, the dean, a history professor, and more importantly Stephen Lewis. I'm sure most of you know who he is but for those of you who don’t he is the UN Secretary General's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. He is an exceptional Canadian Citizen named "Canadian of the Year" by Maclean's Magazine. His speech was passionate and inspiring. He stressed the joy of being in such an intellectually enriched place as university and the thrill of being able to debate the issues of the day. He also talked to us about these issues; AID's in Africa, the war on Terror and global worming. He also stressed that we could make a difference, and I think that is what was most exiting to me. Mr. Lewis has done incredible things and I think he will act as a big inspiration for me in the years to come.

After the speeches were over I went to the Public Affairs and Policy Management specific orientation. They talked about the resources and classes at Kroeger College (the unique part of the University that holds my faculty). I think I will have a better grasp on it when I finish my first class in it (Monday). After that I went to another speech Mr. Lewis was giving (not just for first year BA students this time). After the speech was done I bought a book entitled
“Race Against Time”. It is a compilation of a number of his speeches about AIDS in Africa. At the time he was doing a book signing so I now have a signed copy.

After that was over I headed back to the Academic Quad where there were booths for a number of clubs. I signed up for information (via email) to the debate club, toastmasters club, AIDS awareness club, the Carleton Music Association, the UN club, CUSA (Carleton University Student Association). I'll try to fit classes around these clubs, but if I get to busy I'll just have to stop going to class. (Just kidding mom.)

After that I headed back to the dorm room to relax and listen to music. After much relaxing I was invited by some people on my dorm to go to downtown Ottawa. We took the bus and walked around parliament and then went to the Rideau Shopping center. Rafik was among the group of people I was with and he bought an Ali poster and a Beatles poster for the room before heading off with some people he knew who lived in Ottawa. I then continued to wander with the rest of our floor people and by luck found a bus stop with Carleton bus. On the bus we met up with some Criminology first years who got on the bus on the wrong side the road and had ridden the entire route (hours..) to get back to the University. Fortunately we were back at the University in 20 mins and we headed back to our rooms. With the knowledge that I had no class until 6:00pm the next day I headed out in search of parties at other dorms with a group of people from our dorm. Alas no parties were found but I met some nice drunk and sober people. After that we headed back to our dorm and talked until about 2 am then I went to bed.


Pics:

Stephen Lewis Book




Scenic Pic From Ottawa



Amazing Race Ottawa




BA and Social Science shirt




Rafik getting a bed time story Leah