I'd like to show the days as an example for the days from Monday to Friday, but I have to say that this is really impossible because every day was special !!!   O.K., at 7 o'clock, Tracey, our floor supervisor, woke us up. From 7:30 to 8:45 we had breakfast. There were a lot of variety of food to choose from, so that I stood in front of these things and I didn't know what to take, because I wanted to try everything.  At 9 o'clock classes began, e.g. written exercises, grammar and listening or written comprehension until 12 o'clock. Don't be afraid, it wasn't really like school at home. We had a lot of fun !!!

      
^{This is part of a big  experimental Agriculture Museum - farm in Ottawa}

Well, at 12 to 1:30 was lunch and break. Classes continued at 1:30. The classes in the afternoon consisted of discussions, movies and interviews ... .
Instruction ended at 3:30 and we had half an hour free time.  

At 4 o'clock we had a meeting with our activity group. During this meeting Denise, Andrew and Greg, our group-leaders, informed us about the daily routine. After this meeting the afternoon activities started: Soccer, Tennis, Music, Arts & Crafts, Volleyball, American Football and Kickball, ... .After dinner, at 6:30 we had off-campus activities, such as bowling, shopping, water sliding, go-karts, swimming, the movies, ... until 10:30. That was a lot of fun !!!  At 10:30 we had to be at our floor. Free time. But the fun wasn't over.  We enjoyed our time with dancing, listening music or just relaxing (water bombs, don't tell nobody !!!).

^{At 11:00 it was ‘lights out’, but really not in every room. Chatting, chatting, chatting, about what, no, that's our secret !!!}

^{Having fun with her room mate (at night)}

 

 

^{At the weekends we had excursions. Museum of Nature, City tour of Ottawa,}

                      
^{City tour of Ottawa - Downtown Ottawa and talking  in the bus}

^{Upper Canada Village,}     

     
^{Upper Canada Village - house (inside)  A "living museum" of the first settlers in Canada}

^{A women doing handwork in the living room at the Upper Canada Village Museum of Civilization, Montreal, ... . We also joint other students from other activity groups. We spent a great time together and we saw a lot.After graduation and a Good-Bye-Party with a lot of tears, I flew with a small group of Mexicans to Toronto. We spent 3 days in Toronto. On the 1st day we went to Niagara Falls,}

^{The is the mighty Canadian Horseshoe Falls as seen from the "Maid of the Mist"}  

<sup>Below are the American Falls.  At right are people walking in yellow rain coats.


This was absolutely impressive. We also got a boat-tour with the "Maid of the Mist". Wet, wet, wet !!!</sup>

^{The next day we spent the whole day at Canada’s Wonderland. We really had a lot of fun together. The roller coasters were especially breath - taking. The 3rd day we had an exciting City tour of Toronto, so we could get a good impression of Canada's metropolis, "little Manhattan",}  

^{Skyline of Downtown Toronto and view from the CN-Tower Platform.}

<sup>After lunch in the Hard Rock Cafe we went by elevator to the top of the world's tallest building, 
the CN - Tower.

Toronto - CN-Tower - view from the platform.  The white "lines"  on the street are busses!</sup>

I spent 4 wonderful weeks at "Destination Canada" in Ottawa. I really improved my English. Even after 1 week I had problems speaking German. I began to think in English. It sounds unbelievable but it's true !!! I met a lot of friends from different nations. I miss them a lot because we had such a great time together. I had a lot of new experiences and I saw a lot of Canada's highlights.

Written by Esther Maria Wisskirchen

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