I'm sure if you asked each second year student who already has their year abroad plans in motion about why they want to go to their chosen destination, you will probably receive an answer that is heavy on romanticism and idyllic view of the far-off foreign land of adventure. Let me tell you, it's not a fairy tale - the adventure is real!
When I thought of Canada, images of snow-capped mountains, glistening lakes, stetson-wearing cowboys and furlined daredevils up to their chests in snow, mooses and beavers and bears and a painful cold under a smiling sun. When I lived in Canada, I discovered that was true! Or at the very least it was true when I got to partake in an awesome Canadian adventure. Snow shoeing and dog sledding sound innocent and quaint enough, but they must be two of the most thoroughly Canadian activities a person can partake of - and my day doing both is one I will truly never ever forget.
For starters, it was wonderful to be reunited with the amazing Stephane of Tadoussac fame, who was just as excited and energetic about a day in the freezing cold as he was about being on a glorified rubber dingy in the Atlantic Ocean. His jokes are just as surreal and hilarious and I cannot even begin to estimate just how many an international student has had their abroad in Ottawa experience brightened by the fantastic Stephane. Our day of living the Canadian dream took place just north of Gatineau Park, so we had to cross the border into La Belle Provence where bilingualism is thrown out of the window at le francais est la langue de premier importance. Oh yeah, A Level French wasn't wasted on me!
The absolute highlight of the drive has got to be Stephane referring to roundabouts as turn-abouts and how he doesn't understand them - oh Canada, if only you knew what your colonial parents are having to live with back on our island. Roundabouts galore! Another of the really nice things about the trip was that it was just a small number of us on it, so we got to know each well and it was brilliant to be with people from Tadoussac like Katherina, Alice and Georg and meeting new people like Pauline and Mia. The latter is from Norway, so we all expected her to be totally unfazed by the cold, but apparently Norway has nothing on Canada when it comes to low temperatures. What is this strange and hostile climate which threatens to divest me of my nose and toes?
Now, I'm not the best when it comes to dogs. Admittedly Canada seems to have performed some sort of miracle or exorcism on me and now I'm not that afraid of even big, somewhat scary dogs. But the old adage of a dog's bark being worse than its bite is certainly true for huskies who must be the most vocal dogs on the planet. To be confronted with a wall of overwhelming and endless barking and yelping was quite intimidating, especially when they howled and suddenly there really was not much to distinguish between huskies and wolves. Already there was something romantic about being knee-deep in snow and surrounded by howling wolves against a rugged landscape of thick forests and sprawling high hills, with mountains in the distance.
Charlie is the guy who owns the place where we were for the day, and he loves his dogs, including three utterly adorable and scrumptious six week old puppies who he pulled out from their kennel and passed to us cooing girls. The boys, I'm sure, equally had loin stirring feelings, but they did a better job of hiding them! They were so cute and small and fluffy and perfect it felt like my ovaries were hiccoughing violently. We never did find out their names, but I named mine Fluffy. I say 'mine', I ended up with the same one for over an hour and therefore he became mine. I even tried to steal him and he fitted perfectly in my backpack, but apparently Charlie would have noticed if I had tried to dognap Fluffy and take him back to Ottawa. In all seriousness, I nearly cried when Charlie took Fluffy away at the end of the day.
Split into three groups to rotate around the activites of dog sledding, snow shoeing and cross country skiing, Team Exeter chose to forego the latter activity out of a great "sacrifice" to stay and look after the puppies. Best decision ever! Hello an interrupted hour with three cute puppies! There was a totally glorious and hilarious moment when we tried to see what would happen if we stopped cuddling them. Turns out that, at just six weeks old, walking isn't their forte, so we watched them bum shuffle their way around for a little bit before promptly picking them back up and holding them tightly and lavishing more love upon them than we probably will upon our own children one day. What is it about puppies that makes them so flipping adorable? I want one!
Stephane and Helene, another helper from uOttawa really went the extra mile for the day. We were supplied with brownies and hot chocolate and a welcome visitor from Tadoussac: Caribou! A shot of Caribou and its deadly infusion of wine and whiskey and that sure got the feeling back in the toes! I think a visit to the wine store is in order to try and sniff out some more Caribou - to protect from the harsh winter, you understand! We were also treated to another Quebecois tradition of mixing apple and sugar pie, homemade by Stephane himself, and it was a treat! Sitting round a roaring fire, puppy in arms and delicious pie springing the tastebuds with fantastic friends and a gorgeous snowy view - not even Disney could magic up such a scene.
Team Exeter and Pauline went snow shoeing with Stephane after lunch and it is a really bizarre feeling. It took a while to sink in that my feet had suddenly grown by about a foot and I ended up doing this crazy walk like a sumo wrestler going in for a fight. Snow shoes are essentially flat tennis rackets that give you a wide surface area so that you don't sink - no frozen knee caps for me then. I think I might need to get my hands on some and just strut about the uOttawa campus with them on. Admittedly, I might end up tripping people up and causing some injuries, but at least I wouldn't sink in the snow. We treked through a forest and even got to a precarious climb across a stream with just a log to balance on. With Pauline's camera in hand, it was like I was destined to fall in, but with feet wider than Canada itself, my balance was mightily improved. In his crazy ways, Stephane said we were like the Spice Girls and tried to make us sing one of their songs and dance around to try and get the feeling back in their toes. Eventually we ended up having to sing a French folk song complete with crazy dance moves. And I have no idea what the lyrics were! But snow shoeing is the most fun thing to do! You feel like you're one of the pioneers from many years ago going on some kind of exploration into the deep unknown. And to suddenly appear out of the forest into blazing sunshine was gorgeous.
It's fair to say I was pretty aprehensive about the dog sledding. Part of the reason was Charlie and his colleague/brother who whilst lovely were also intimidating, especially after this exchange: "You look like Adele!" "Thanks.' "You sound like Adele! Sing me a song, Adele!" This continued all day, and each time either of them saw me, they called me Adele and asked me to sing for them. I should point out for those who don't know me in real life, I sound nothing like Adele!
So Charlie plonks me on a sled and tells me to stand on the brakes. The two dogs give a lurch forward and I don't know how I mustered the strength to keep on the brakes.When Charlie's colleague gave the signal, we were off, with the dogs barking for all their worth and it was so fast and terrifying. Barely two minutes in and I was thrown off the sled. I hit a tree and landed facedown in four feet of snow. The dogs and the sled made a break for it, and I was all alone, trying and failing to chase after them. Then Charlie's colleague found me and told me to get on his quadbike. Although, he didn't actually wait for me to get on properly, so I ended up sitting backwards on it, and straddling the seat I should've been sat on. It was a moment of complete social awkwardness on my part, especially as I kept being told to sing.
Once we met up with the others and my runaway sled, I was put on a new sled, the front one. The reason being that the front sled was controlled by Charlie on the second sled. Literally, "All you have to do is hold on and sing, Adele." Charlie didn't let me know when he was going to start again, and I clung on with all my might when the dogs leapt forward. When you don't have to worry about anything other than slightly steering, then dog sledding is the most exhilarating activity ever! The dogs are insanely strong and run like athletes with the speed of Usain Bolt and the endurance of Mo Farrah. Without doubt, the hills were the most exciting part of the ride. Charlie took us down at full throttle and the wind blasted my face like a vacuum cleaner had been taken to my sinuses. On and on we went and as we came to another hill, I got the chills. Not from the cold, but from hurtling into a stunning sunset. As we journeyed on I couldn't think anything other than how supremely happy and blessed I was and how I was having such an adventure - and that I was loving every minute!
The third year abroad adventure is a real one, one to be lived and loved. And you don't realise just how alive you are until you've been thrown off a sled but have climbed back on, and are flying into the sunset. Life is wonderful, the adventure is exhilarating - and I am so happy.
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