A trip to Canada's Wonderland with many students from TCS for the day, we felt like nothing could go wrong, we were having the time of our lives. We spent the day on and off rides, walking the park, eating and just enjoying the experience while it lasted. In the beginning the weather wasn't too nice but it did manage to clear up a little before the end of the day. We didn't return to school until late but spent time hanging out in the Davies on our last night. We went to evening snack before dancing around to music and talking with people for what most of us didn't realise was the last time. The clock struck 10:45pm and it was time to head back to the house, but instead we all decided to stay out and say some goodbyes, most of us didn't want to leave the room, and yes there were a few tears spilt by people. Eventually we made our way outside where some of the boy's houses where having a late night snack or something before looking at the clock to discover we were now 10 minutes late for sign in, we quickly ran back to the house to find the doors where locked and we were stuck outside with no way getting in without setting off the alarms. We managed to open one of the girls' windows and a few of us managed to climb through before the last two were caught and we were in a bit of trouble. We apologised before heading upstairs to pack, talk and head off to bed. We awoke the next morning only to be filled with sadness as it was our last day, meaning it was time to say Goodbye (Something not one of us wanted to hear.) First it was Minette and Tess, then Georgie and Savannah, soon followed by Steve and Magashe before Harry and Sophie. Ryan, Declan and I stayed for the Speech Day presentations before we too were saying our goodbyes. It wasn't easy, and we knew from the start that it wouldn't be, we had such an amazing experience, and met some 'legit' and awesome people, some of our greatest memories where spent at TCS and they will always have a place in our hearts. Next thing we knew we were in a car travelling down back to the U.S.A. where yet another adventure is about to begin. I am currently in Pittsburgh about to begin packing for we are off to NYC tomorrow which should be awesome. As I know you are all beginning your June/July break also I hope you all have a great time and stay safe.

Uniting for the final time, the Exchanges for 09' set out on one last journey to explore the wonders of Ottawa and Algonquin park. It was a bit of a slow start as people like Angus forgot things and most of us weren't moving too fast, but we got there eventually and we were then out on the road with our amazing guide Katsu for our four hour drive to Ottawa. We spent the time reading, sleeping, talking and listening to our ipods' which is generally what most teenagers do. With a quick stop off at the Swiss Challet for lunch we were back on the bus and heading for the city where we jumped off the bus onto the side walk infront of the Parliment Building. There was multiple police cars surrounding the building as there was some sort of protest in place, as was some festivities for multiculturalism on the grass. Mini Sophie, Tess, Savannah and I all joined in as everyone was joining hands and were walking around in a circle to the beat. It was such an amazing experience to feel everyone uniting and to be apart of it was really funny. We then headed up the stairs and into the building to the Peace Tower. We struggled to stay quiet as we waited in line for the lifts to the top, but we weren't too bad. We began talking to some people from Brazil before it was our turn to jump into the lift on our way up the Peace Tower. We past the giant bells before finally reaching the top where we could look out over Ottawa and parts of Quebec. Katsu told us the history of anything and everything while we took many photos before heading back down to the gift shop and then taking a scenic walk around before jumping back on the bus and heading for the hotel. Okay so the hotel looked a little shabby from the outside and the building infront of it had been demolished, but we weren't judging it yet, as the inside was live-able and that's all that mattered. We dropped off our stuff and had about an hour to kick back and relax before it was time for dinner. We decided we would go to the market area to try and find things to eat, so we did a quick bit of shopping before we split up to find food. A group of us went to Rich Tree where we had pizza and finished with a frozen yoghurt before doing a brisk walk back to the bus to meet again with everyone. We then quickly went back to the hotel before it was time to head on over to the Civilization Museum. Taking the 10 minute walk over to the Civilization Museum we then took a few photos outside before heading in where Katsu once again told us most things we wanted to know. He then gave us a choice of going to see an IMAX film or sitting outside in the park for a while, no one ended up wanting to see the film so we all spent time down in the park before a few of us decided they wanted to make a trip to McDonald's while the rest of us stayed in the park for a little while longer. We then headed back to the hotel where we sat around watching TV, talking, playing cards and fighting until it was about 1am and it was time for bed. Georgie had requested a wake up call for 8am, so we recieved a phone call which she answered and then told us it was 8am, so we began to get ready for another long and eventful day only to look at the clock and realize it was quarter past 7am. We didn't know what was the right time, except that it was extremely quiet and no one else in the hotel was awake and moving so Georgie went down to send a couple of emails and to find out the correct time. It turns out we had recieved a call at quarter to 7am and we now had pleanty of time before we needed to meet down stairs for breakfast. Breakfast was a buffet and was enjoyed by all before we were back on the bus and heading for the National Gallery of Canada. We spent some time looking around at all the famous Canadian art and then once again jumped onto the bus which we then headed off into the wilderness of Algonquin Provincial Park.

Niagara Falls has now offically been ticked off the sight seeing to-do list. Wow, what an amazing experience. Beginning with a grouchy bus driver who was annoyed that people were five minutes late and the fact that she then had to stop at Tim Horton's, we set off on a the three hour journey to the falls. After the driver screaching at us to sit down occationally we finally arrived and became very excited. We then got off the bus and took many pictures before making a quick half hour stop for lunch. We met back out the front of the centre only to take many more photos and to be drentched by the falls- I left with straight hair and it had now become wet and very curly. It took us about an hour to finally make our way over to the Maid of the Mist ticket sales, after making multiple pauses to take photos or to just look at the falls. FD told us many different stories about the falls and how people had previously tried to jump, roll, fall, fly and bomb off the top of the falls, unfortunately most had been unsuccessful and only a couple succeeded. We then purchased our tickets and began to make our way down to the boat very excitedly and taking the occasional photo. The boat then arrived and we raced to the front where we stood waiting for the journey to begin. They had a recording telling you about the falls, how high they were and other different stories associated to them. We passed a couple of the U.S.A. boats and then we began to head into the mist. We didn't need to go in far before we were getting blown around and were drentched from head to toe- Lucky for the ponchos! Many of us risked it and took out the cameras once again taking more photos, we also began to sing 'I'm on a Boat' while the rest of the people on the boat looked at us strangely. Next thing we know we are heading back to shore after an awesome 'Maid of the Mist trip'. We then headed back up to the park where we met and then once again broke off to go and explore the main tourist street which was more like a Fun Fair. There was rides, haunted houses, games, souvenir stores, chocolate and 'candy' stores and lots and lots of tourists. We had two hours, and many different things to do and see. Most of us took to the many cheap souvenir stores, buy presents for people and just looking at all the different things they had to offer.

On our way back we did a quick stop off at the Guiness World Record museum where we posed as the biggest/fatest man, compared our height with the tallest man and sat in a giant chair. We then moved on to win an 'Oscar' before heading back to the park to be picked up by the grumpy driver for the drive home. We arrived back and were told many stories from the others and where shown all the different things they had done, Minnie and Steve had managed to score themselves a Tim Horton's badge and were braging about it, Ryan and Steve had purchased rings that squirt water into people's faces when they look at them, they told us of how Ryan had purchased a burger and had taken it to a homeless guy sitting on the street- which touched everyone's hearts, and of course we all had many souvenirs. Quickly stopping off for dinner before the three hour journey back to school. While stopped Steve had put on the Tim Horton's badge and had walked into the Tim's and said 'I've come to work here' while the lady who was trying to make drinks looked puzzling at him. She then went to get the manager who looked at him confused, so he said 'I've come to work here' but still she was confused so he said 'Can I have a job here, can I work here?' she replied with a straight out NO, and he walked off with a big grin on his face while the rest of us laughed. Back on the bus we then sat on the bus listening to music, looking at each other photos, singing and just kicking back and relaxing. Arriving back at school we then took to the showers and began to upload our photos before heading off to bed. Today we had our last chapel at TCS and the grads for 2009 planted their tree before everyone took to the books for another day of study. Good luck for you all back at home that are starting Year 11 courses.

Focus Week has just began, and as the students begin to study hard and pay extra attention during class, the exchange students will be kicking back (As if we haven't been already..) and relaxing. With nothing to do in class we spend most of our time emailing, playing computer games, listening to music, occasionally Facebook- depending on whether or not we have logged onto one of the gappie's accounts or not, but mainly been trying not to distract anyone while they are preparing for their exams. Our time here is very quickly coming to an end, although it still feels as if we were only just arriving, and soon we will be saying our Good Bye's and it will be the 'End of the Year'. But we have been trying not to think much about it too much. This weekend we will hopefully make a trip down to Niagara Falls to most of our delight. Most of us have been wanting to visit the falls since we arrived and now that the chance has been offered we have jumped upon it and are extremely excited. Next weekend we will also be heading out on a canoeing adventure in Algoquin Park which should be a fantastic experience. Everything has been going well, and I am enjoying my time here immensely. I am hoping all is going well with you all back home, and exams went well for you all. Look after yourselves and try not to catch the Swine Flu!

What an amazing weekend! With an early start at 8:45am on Saturday morning, we were up and ready to go, we stopped at Tim's along the high way for breakfast then continued on to the city of Toronto. Although this time would not be like any of the other times we had been, the events ahead of us where nothing like what we were expecting. We arrived and spent a few minutes souvenir shopping before heading on to the CN Tower. Sophie, Jane and Suzanne ventured off to the Habour while Savannah and I braved the CN Tower which is 553m tall and gives you a scenic view of Toronto. We spent two hours up the top of the tower taking pictures of the view, standing on the glass floor and just enjoying the experience. We had photos taken which they then edited to make seem as if I had been falling off the Tower, and photos with the view out behind us. Before we knew it, it was time to go back down, for we had many other different things to do and see.

We then decided to head over to the St Lawrenece markets for lunch, but we got distracted a couple of times, we first did a quick stop off at a famous hotel which Suzanne's uncle use to manage and where he had met and hosted the Queen we then thought we would go and have a peak in the Hockey Hall of fame, but then ended up having lunch at Rich Tree which is right above it. Once we had finished eating we went down to the entrance of the Hockey Hall and took some pictures before heading into the gift shop and buying a few things, we did not go into the hall of fame because Suzanne felt that we would have gotten bored after a while, so instead we pressed on but only again to be distracted. We stopped briefly at the 'Flat Iron building' before finally heading on to the markets. We spent half an hour in the markets and we all felt like that was plenty of time, so we got back in the car and went for a drive around the streets of Toronto. We did a quick drive around in the city, looking where the stars stayed and all the expensive stores on Bloor St. where. They then took us to Bridal Path Drive where all the mansions in Toronto are, and supposedly where a lot of famous sportsmen/women and actors live.

Most of the houses you couldn't even call a house because they were so abnormally big, and then you also have to consider the fact that only four (If that!) people live in them! Once we had had enough of dream/wishing we had houses like that we started the drive home. Savannah slept the whole entire drive home, while Sophie and I cranked up the music in the back seat. Before we knew it we were back in Cobourg and hiring a movie for the night. We ended up choosing Marley and Me because we had been told it was such a good movie and wanted to experience it for ourselves. Finally we headed back to the house where we could unpacked after a busy, tiring fun filled day and spend some time on our laptops replying to emails and things before dinner. We had lasagna, and it was probably the best I have ever had, it was amazing! We cleaned our dishes and headed down stairs to begin watching Marley and Me, but we were unsuccessful at working the Xbox and ended up moving upstairs to watch it. It was a really good movie and it had all three of us sniffling by the end of it. We then headed back down to the kitchen where we had brownies, raspberries and pinapple for dessert before spending the next three hours in an extremely long 'Deep and Meaningful' conversation until 2:00am the next morning. We then managed to drag ourselves upstairs and crash in bed for the night.

When we woke later that morning at 9:00am we were served a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Later we were saying goodbye to Sophie as she was heading off to watch a Blue Jay's game in Toronto later that day. Savannah and I then spent some time on the internet before we took to the town of Cobourg for some souvenir and window shopping (There wasn't a lot open due to the fact that it was Sunday.) Once we had walked down the main street and back again we decided we had had enough and went back to the house, where we spent the next two hours relaxing in the Pollard's hot tub. It was awesome! The wind was blowing around us but we couldn't care less due to the fact we were so warm and relaxed. We soon felt that we were wrinkly enough and got out into big comfortable clothes which we lounged around in infront of the television watching 'So you think you can Dance?' while taking the occasional Nana Nap. Next thing we knew it was dinner time and we were packing all our stuff again to go back to school. We had our dinner and said our thank you's and good byes. We had had such an amazing weekend, which was fun-filled the whole entire time! We were so thankful for the Pollard's hospitality and their enthusiasm towards showing us the city of Toronto and the little town of Cobourg. We had such a good time, it will always be remembered as a great weekend and we will always have them in our hearts.

Beginning the week with a half day, things could only get better. Once the two classes for the day were over speakers were set up outside and loud music was blasted across the terraces. People began to have water fights and and started to dump buckets of water all over each other and because the sun was shinning it did not matter. We then had the school photo taken, followed by the Track and Field team photo and Scott house photo, and before we knew it the day was done. Tuesday was much the same, with a shortened day followed by an afternoon of photos and then the choice was yours of what you wanted to spend the time doing.

Wednesday as always was another shortened day, which was meant to be followed by the Summer Olympics, but unfortunately it was rained out and cancelled. Many students then took the opportunity to go mud sliding, and spent the afternoon running around in the rain. Thursday, suprisingly was a normal fun filled day, with two hours spent in the gym hanging off ropes and climbing around on the rock walls, a lock down procedure, and time spent in Com Tec (Computing.) class. It also rained for most of the afternoon, but Joe, Katie, Stephen, Ryan and I still decided to adventure off to Arby's to have a snack during study. When we were returning back to school it began to pour and once we arrived back we were completely drentched from head to toe, but we didn't mind because along the way we had stopped to get 'Push Pops' and we were now satisfied. Friday began with the 2009 Breakfast House Olympics which was extremely entertaining, there was competitions for 'Loudest cheering', 'The best Bed head', 'OJ Chugging', 'First to finish 10 Tim Bits', 'Partner Cereal eating', 'Cutest PJ's' and the relay, was extremely funny with many people throwing up, falling over in the wet grass, people were cheering, stuffing their faces and having a good time. It was certainly a morning to remember (I don't think I have ever seen the whole school so awake and energetic before..) The weekend should also be good, Sophie, Savannah and I will be venturing out to Toronto and the streets of Cobourg doing some sight seeing and some final shopping before our camping trip during everyone's exams.

Ohlay, ohlay, ohlay, ohlay, half day, half day! Was about the only words that you could hear for most of the chapel service, after all we deserved it! Big side girls Softball won silver at CISSA, as did the Big side girls Soccer, Big side boys Cricket won gold, as did the TCS girls tennis team and Big side boys Rugby. There was achievements all round with people also completing over 200 hours of Community Service, so it was only necessary that we had a half day! There was cheering, clapping, whistling and not to mention lots of yelling voices demanding for a half day, it was a great experience. But wow, what a busy week! Starting on Friday with most afternoon sports coming to an end the Track and Field teem spent our Friday practise (Which could well be our last.) playing games with the velcro bats and a tennis ball. No one was as into it as Thorn, but it was all good fun in the end. Saturday was TCS's 2009 Reunion weekend and there was plenty to see and do. Saturday had many different events occurring and past students walking around the school. The Big side Rugby team had the CISSA final against UCC and there was a good turn out and many people showed up to show their support for TCS. Both teams did not wish to lose and it was a hard fought game but TCS came out on top at the end of the day with a 24 to 14 win. There was also a Cricket match happening and many people also went out to enjoy the sun and support the cricket team. The afternoon was quite slow and most things had died down but at around dinner time things began to get busy again. There were many Alumni (Some of which were quite drunk.) walking the school grounds, talking to current students about what they use to do to other students as pranks, how they used to escape/sneak out at night and get out of trouble with the teachers. And when they began to leave we snuck over to get some sweets from the cooks, and ended up scoring ourselves some free taxi tickets which some of the boys used to their advantage and went joy-riding around Port Hope in a Taxi cab. Sunday was also eventful with an optional chapel service in the morning and then folllowed by what most of the students call 'The Best Brunch of the Year'. We then all spent most of the day outside, either watching the cricket game where the Alumni was playing our Big side Cricket team, tanning, playing touch rugby, soccer or just sitting around and relaxing. Magashe and Stephen then suggested that we go to Harvey's because they were giving away free burgers until 3:00pm. Only the three of us could be bothered to go, and everyone else just asked us to bring us back one. It was 20minutes to 3 and we weren't sure if we were going to make it, we ran most of the way and managed to make it with 10minutes to spare. Once we go to the counter, we were able to get six free burgers which was two each. The boys were quite happy with that, and also got a drink which unfortunately they had to pay for, but myself on the other hand did not. I asked if I could get water and ice but then changed my mind and asked if I could get some lemonade but was not charged for the drink, so in all we managed to get ourselves six free burgers and a free drinks and all drinks had free re-fills. We didn't get anyone else food and didn't bring any back to the others because the boys thought that it would be funnier if we didn't. The rest of the day was quiet and slow, with not many events happening and everyone started winding down and getting ready for the week ahead.

The Victoria Weekend, what an adventure. Beginning early at 6:45am we were on the bus heading off to York University for the annual CISSA Senior Track and Field meet. We were caught in traffic early on so we ended up being 15minutes late, which was not a good start considering myself and another boy had an event at 9am and it was now 9:15am. The driver had no idea where or what she was doing and drove us into the wrong car park. One of the coaches and myself jumped out of the bus and ran over to the track where he had to jump the fence, and this was latter called my warm up for my first event which was the 300m Hurdles. I made it to the final because there was only seven of us that had shown up to the race. The race was quick and seings as it was my first time, it was raining and frezzing cold, I hadn't warmed up I was happy with my result of 7th over all in the final. Later that day I also raced in the 200m which I finished in 3rd in my heat and 10th overall. Once the day was finished I collected my stuff and went with the Track and Field coach to the York Mills station to meet Savannah and Georgie for the Victoria Long weekend. The coach to dropped myself and this other boy from the team off at the York Mills Subway Station were we could meet with the students that had caught the bus from school.

Here are some pictures from the CISSA meet, try and find me.

Junior Girls 100m Sprints.

Junior Girls 300m Hurdles.

Junior Girls 200m Sprints.

We arrived at around 2:30pm and waited.. The boy I was with had to catch a subway to the Trainstation so he could catch his train to Montreal, but the coach had told him to wait to make sure I was okay. We sat there and waited and then it was 3:45pm and David had to go because he had to get to the Trainstation by 4:30pm to get his train, he said the bus shouldn't be too much longer, so I was left by myself. I sat and waited, and waited and waited, and because I knew it was starting to get late, I knew something was wrong. I asked a man what the time was and he said it was 4:30pm, I also asked him where I could get wireless internet and he said in the city. Finally I had had enough of waiting and I knew something was wrong so I asked him where I could get a bus back to Port Hope. He kindly directed me across the street to a Transit company station called Go. I wander around trying to figure out how I was going to get back to Port Hope and then finally I went to purchase a ticket. They told me there were no buses that went past Oshawa, and then one of the drives had seen the look on my face and knew something was up. I told him the whole story and he went to get his phone so I was able to call Dr Hodges to let him know. The driver held up the bus because he said he wasn't leaving until he knew I had a way back and that everything was going to be okay. The lady's in the shop also reasured me that everything was going to be okay and that I was in a safe place. I got a hold of Dr Hodges luckily and told him the brief story, he was quite shocked at first and didn't really understand what was wrong or how we were going to fix it, because I had no phone for him to call me back on and although I had his number I did not have a phone to contact him on. We eventually decided that the easiest way and the quickest way back was to take the bus back to Whitby which is about a half hour drive from Port Hope. By that time it was 5:30pm, the drivers all made sure I was okay because obviously they could tell from my accent that I was a forgiener. I arrived at the Whitby Go station at about 6:45pm which worked well because Dr Hodges had just arrived, I explained him the whole situation of how I was suppost to meet up with Savannah and Georgie and then go to her cousin's house, and he said that we had needed to have been dropped off at Yorkdale which is around the corner from York Mills and that explained why no TCS students had shown up. Then he told me that he had arranged new plans for me to stay at the Pollard's house whose son is currently on exchange at Pembroke in Adelaide. They are such a nice family and I am very greatful for their hospitality, and I am also very greatful for the GO bus company and all their help because if it weren't for them I could have been sleeping on a park bench all weekend. I managed to get in contact with Savannah and Georgie as they had been worried where I was and what was going on because I had been unable to contact them to tell them that I was stuck. But I spoke to them and told them that everything was okay and that I wouldn't be joining them this break and they were so relieved that everything was okay. Luckily I had kept Dr Hodges number from when we did the Ski Trip and I had left the card he gave us in my wallet and also before I left I got Mrs Hamilton's number so either way I would have had some to contact and let them know something was wrong.

The first day I spent the morning by myself because both parents had work, as did their daughter Lindsay, although she had arranged for me to spend the day with her friend Laura who came to St Philip's on Exchange about 5 years ago. Laura took me out for lunch and we did a quick bit of shopping and went for a walk around Cobourg and just talked about her Exchange experience and what she remembered from Alice Springs. Later that night we drove to South Hampton to the Pollard's cottage which is about a 4 and a half drive from Cobourg. We arrived at around 10:30pm and I met their oldest son, Fraser who would also be there for the weekend. The next day I met all of Cameron's friends and they took me to all their cottages and showed me around South Hampton. Bikes are used as transportation because the streets are so small and most things are within walking distance from most people, meaning you see many people on bikes, skateboards and scooters (The one difference between riding here and back home is; in Alice you must wear a helmet, or you are atleast advised to wear a helmet and here you MUST have a light on your bike and they don't really say anything about helmets or advise you to wear one.) There is one main street which doesn't even go for a kilometer, it starts near the lake and ends about 700m inland, which has many different shops, a city hall, a library, information centre and some resturants. At the end of the street is a large flag pole which on top flies an extremely large Canadian Flag. Many people play either Golf or Tennis, even both, they have multiple competitions during the 'Summer' which most of the town competes in, and there are usually people playing everyday. South Hampton also has some of the World's best sunsets occurring regularly and the lake always looks beautiful. I spent most of my days outside, riding around the town, going down to the lake and running/riding from cottage to cottage to try and escape the cold. I met alot of loud, kind and friendly familys who all asked me many questions, asked me to say things and teased me about my accent, but it didn't matter because it was only because they were all so excited to have an Australian in South Hampton. They were all so welcoming and were happy to show me around, tell me things about the town, when they usually spent time there and all the things they usually got up to. I had such an amazing time, I didn't want to go back to school because my time there had gone by so fast. The girls were so nice and we are already hoping to meet up in Toronto again sometimme soon. Although things did not work out the way it had been planned, I am very greatful for my experience because it was a real test of my ability to be able to cope by myself in a difficult situation, I met people out of school meaning I probably would not have met the Pollard family, the girls or anyone in South Hampton. And now if I am ever in the same situation I now have a few more phone numbers I am able to call other than Dr Hodges!

Fourteen hours of Track Prac! So it was an early start to the dark, windy cold Friday. We left school at 7am heading to Belleville for the anual Michelle Foley Track and Field Meet. We finally arrived after about an hour of driving to a wet, slippery, worm covered track but we had made it. It took a while to try and warm up so we were comfortable to race and then we did alot of stretching. When we were not racing we were sitting on the bus, and when we were not on the bus we were racing. We started the day with the 100m Sprints, I ended up coming 3rd in my heat and later finding out I had made it to the Top 8 Finals race. I finished 7th in the Finals but on the results sheet it says I came first, so I'm not sure what that means. I also finished 6th in the 200m, and we were all too tired to compete in the 1x400m relay. The meet was three and a half hours behind so we didn't end up leaving the venue until 8pm, and arriving back at school at 9:30pm. It seemed as though we had been going crazy, out of minds, yelling at people as they walked past out the windows 'Save us, get us out of here!' 'Swine Flu' and banging on the bus, trying to convice the driver to take us back. In all we had been on the bus, and together as a group for fourteen hours, we had not eaten properly, we were lacking energy and were tired so it was safe to say we had a good reason to be frustrated and impatient to get back to school. But overall it was a great day and we had a lot of fun and good laughs. Saturday I spent sitting in my room as there was nothing much to do. And Sunday I went on the Shopping bus with Magashe, Steve, Katie and Kirsty to the Yorkdale mall in Toronto. We had a good time walking around and had lunch at a place called the Rainforest Cafe where it actually looked like you were in a rainforest. They had many different animals that made different noises and moved. We were served drinks in flashing glasses and had hot brownie fudge. The weekend was good and I had alot of fun. I hope you all had a great long weekend and have a good week at school.

What a night. Friday night was the 'Trina Awards' which is like the Oscar Awards at the school and the Prefects surveyed the school for the results. They had a big cerimony and showed a few videos and somethings were really funny and other things they said about people were horrible. The dance afterwards was also alot of fun but it was a late night. Finally some warmer weather! The weekend was just about perfect with it reaching 27 degrees on Saturday (the day I had my Track meet.) and then a bit cooler on Sunday with 14 degrees. My Track coach pulled out the 50+ Sunscreen and was applying it regularly while I laughed at the thought of getting burnt in Canada. But I was wrong, I managed to regain my normal skin colour after loosing it due to the cold weather and my shoulders went a bit red. So Saturday I spent sitting around at York University Track and Field Centre relaxing in the sun, ohh and racing. I managed to come 57th out of 70 in the Junior Girls 100m Sprints which is pretty good considering I'm not really a sprinter, I would have come close to last in the High Jump because I was versing Senior Girls and one other Junior Girl in the Open Womens. I didn't make is over 140cm because I had not had enough practise and the girl who won managed to jump 168cm. In the 1x400m Senior Girls relay we ended up coming 3rd in our Heat. Over all we did fairlly well considering it was against the Public Schools which according to others on the team are alot better than those at the Private Schools. Sunday I took the Shopping Bus to Toronoto and then did some shopping in a big shopping centre. Although I couldn't do too much because I had no money and could not withdraw anymore because my card doesn't like to work with the Canadian's ATM's, but I managed. This week is a normal busy, fun filled week with the School's 144th Birthday on Friday, which should be alot of fun. I'm not sure what we have planned for this weekend, but I'm sure it will be fun all the same.

Hey there everyone. All is well. School is great, and I am really enjoying the Track and Field which is on every afternoon (except for Wednesday's.) We will be having another meet this weekend so let's hope all goes well. You all had fantastic Easter Holiday's I hope? You didn't eat too much chocolate and get sick? Canada is amazing! I've been having such a great time. The weather here is so unpredictable, one day will be perfect (15 degrees.) and the next will be ablsolutely freezing! But it should be warming up again some time soon. The school is very different, but I am enjoying it all the same. The food is so good! I never knew boarding could be so much fun! The flight was long, which was expected. Sea World was awesome! I'm not sure I can solve your code.. Haha sorry boys. Substitute? Ohh, well don't be too bad, you know what happened last time! I hope all is going well back home, and school is going okay, I'll be back before you know it. Miss you all.

So it's back to school again now, but only for a short week. Tuesday felt like starting school all over again and most things were all in a mess. Wednesday was nice, we had a chance to sleep in and the day was shortened. We went to St. Mary's to use their track for Track and Field practise, we began warming up before we went through a quick session learning how to Hurdle before then doing Long Jump and Triple Jump. Arriving back at school we were able to catch the Bigside Rugby Boys team playing St. Mary's, which they ended up winning 1-0. We spent most of the afternoon outside because the conditions were so nice and sunny, before a group of the Exchange Students went to Canada's famous Tim Horton's for a quick shot of coffee and then returning back to school in time for House Meeting. We then went back to the Davies for a while, where I ended up falling asleep before waking up to go back to the room. Today we are having the inspiring Jane Goodall come to school to give a presentation on her achievements and to inform us about chimpanzees and then later tonight we will be having a Career's night. Tomorrow we do not have school due to the teachers have courses, so we will have all day to do whatever we like (basically we have a long weekend.), although there is a Floor Hockey Tournament which the Exchange girls have put in a team to compete which will be very interesting but we will have a great time. On Saturday we have the Islander's Dance which I'm sure will be alot of fun and I'm looking forward to. I hope your first few days back at school go okay and you all had a good Easter Break.

At the moment I am currently sitting in our Chalet less than a kilometre away from Mout. Saint Anne the ski slope. We have spent the last three days skiing which started off very interesting. While I hogged the instructor during the first lesson (I only learnt how to slow down and mastered the act of falling.) everyone else spent the time skiing down the baby/learners slope. I managed to struggle to even get up onto the hill falling down the lift four times in a row. I could not turn and most people couldn't believe how incredibly bad I was. We then had lunch and went back out into the cold the spend the rest of the day skiing down the mountain. I was taken down the family hill by the doctor which I managed to do better falling down than I did skiing. It took me around an hour to finally make my way back down before we were asked if we wanted to go back up and ski back down again. I agreed to attempt the slope once again and still did not manage to ski down successfully. In all I spent most of my first day in the snow and sliding down the slopes of the mountain. Again we were up early the next morning, no wait it was a slow morning because the boys decided they hadn't woken up in time because the girls had not waken them yet, but still keen to get going back to the slopes for another full day of skiing. We first went on a couple of warm up runs before we were taken up the mountain by our new instructor and were skiing back down to the bottom again. I had improved a bit more and I could now turn and I didn't spend most of my time on the ground getting wet from the cold snow. After the lesson we took the lifts up to the top of the mountain before we then skied down to the north side for lunch. When lunch was over we then continued skiing on the north side before we became too tired and took the gondola down to the base. Our busy day then concluded with a quick visit to the giant church in the village and a look at the falls near by, we took multiple pictures and had a great time. Easter, our last day of skiing. Well it started off eventfull with me dropping my ski stick on the way up in the chair lift. I then tried to let one of the controlers know that I had dropped it and that I needed it in order to get back down, ohh but how I was wrong, I had great trouble because he could hardly speak English and I am not strong with French. We soon managed to get each point across and he contacted down at the base to let them know. A translater then helped us understand each other and we soon found out I had dropped it in the section where skiers where not allowed to ski in due to the conditions, so no one was going to be able to retrieve it for me. They also said I was going to have to take the chair lift back to the ground, where I would wait for my stick to be returned. Once I had made my way back down, I discovered he too was not strong with English but we managed and finally my stick was returned (it took about 45 minutes.) Our lessons then began and we made our way back up the mountain and continued skiing on the north side. I enjoyed our lessons because they were relaxed, challenging and funny. I managed to find myself make contact with six different trees in the Enchanted Forest and many people found themselves on the ground. We thanked our instructor and then continued skiing until the end of the day. Our last day was most definately the coldest, but it was lots of fun and we were able to see how much we had all improved. We finished the skiing with many inside jokes, doctor having his shoes misplaced and enjoyed ourselves very much. Tomorrow we will be having a tour of Quebec before driving back home and school again on Tuesday. I hope you all enjoyed your break and had a great time.

Okay so it's been quite cold for the past couple of days, and we even had snow on Monday. Although it didn't last, because most had melted by Tuesday. Currently there is an Indoor Soccer Tournament happening which is really entertaining with many of the boarders forming teams and competing against each other. The games last for ten minutes and we now have the finals on tonight. Today (Wednesday.) was also a very busy day, I had my first Canadian Track and Field Meet which I guess went okay considering theirs was indoors, the track was only 200m and was banked. I didn't manage to get any firsts but I did get a couple of thirds. I also managed to hurt my ankle again and it has now swollen up again just like it did last year. I leave tomorrow for Quebec which again will be cold but fun because we will spend most of our time in skiing lessons and skiing down hills which could be interesting considering some of us have never skied or snowboarded before. It is the start of our Easter break tomorrow aswell so we wont be returning back to school again until Tuesday next week. I hope the Easter Bunny comes and visits you all, I'll make sure he visits me.

So it's Saturday morning (10am) and there is hardly anyone awake. It must have been the daily afternoon sports that did it, or maybe it was the fact we stayed up late watching movies and talking, or even from running around going crazy in the Davies? But all I know for sure is that yesturday was fun. After a full day of working classes, everyone was happy that it was finally coming to the weekend. And as soon as afternoon sports was finished and it was still pouring rain everything began to settle down and relax. A group of the exchange students and a few other boarders decided that we would walk to Tim Hortans for drinks and doughnuts, not knowing that we would become so drenched and cold from walking in the rain. Half of us then decided it would be best to take a Taxi back to school while the rest of us braved it out and walked back in the rain. It then took us a while to become half dry again as we sat shivering in the Davies once again. There wasn't much on T.V. so we mostly just sat around adding people on Facebook and talking about different things. Then people began to bring in big sound systems and bass things, and the room was soon full of loud music and buzzing people. Most people just sat around and talked, while others danced and others just ran around going crazy (which you can probably guess was what I was doing.) I beat a few of the Year 12's at dominoes, which they said was just 'beginners luck', but what I call knowledge. Next thing we knew, we found ourselves running threw out the school to our Boarding House to make sure we did not get locked out for the night. There were then many things we laughed about and before long we were all fast asleep. Waking up with croaky voices and a boiling head wasn't the nicest way to start the day, but my room-mate and I managed to make our way down to Breakfast which we were the only ones from our house to attend. We now don't have much planned due to 'Float your Fanny down the Ganny' was cancelled and we don't have House outing until later on this afternoon, which we will be having dinner at a nice resturant and attending a comedy show which should be good fun. I know you are all on holidays which you are extremely lucky, but I have enjoyed my first week here so much I don't mind being at school. I hope you all have a good Easter Break and the Easter Bunny visits you all.

Yesturday was an extremely long day. We did not have a single class all day; due to all the other Year 10 students having a Literacy Test and free periods. We sat around in the the Davies centre, which is like a 'hang out' place for all the boarders to sit and talk to one another until lunch time (about three hours.) We then all had lunch and walked around the school for a while until it was time for third period, which once again we spent sitting around in the Davies centre watching funny Youtube videos. Then we were so pumped to have an Outdoor Ed class so we got changed and finally made our way over to the class, but soon found out they were doing a Study period, meaning we didn't have to be there so we just left once again and went out side and started to kick around with a Football (Yes, an AFL ball.) until it was the end of school. Later on during Study period for all the other students a bunch of us went to the Gym and had a game of basketball and kicked the soccer ball and football around, burning most of the energy we still had from not having to do anything all day. We soon got hot and tired and just began to sit around and talk to a few of the other students at the school and decided to go once again back to the Davies centre and just 'kick back and relax' in there. We spent about an hour and half talking to one another and a whole different bunch of other people from at the school (Actually it was more like yelling because there were so many people trying to talk and they had the music turned up so loud.) Time was flying and next thing we knew it was 10:45pm, so we went back to our rooms for lights out at 11pm and had a nice sleep for the long day ahead of us. I am currently in maths and yeah, I'm not too keen on the teacher but the class is pretty good. After a day of nothing we have a full day of classes again today and have things to do again. So far everything is great and I have met so many new people and I am having a fantastic time.

I have finally made it here to Trinity College School. I arrived here yesturday, (and IT WAS SNOWING, but it was only small so as soon as it landed it melted shortly after.) afternoon and received a school ground tour so I would have a basic idea of where everything is around the school. I then was taken to my boarding house, which is called Scott house (which is green.) and began to unpack all my things.. which suprisingly took longer than I expected. My room-mate wont be arriving back for a while, so I am currently staying in a room with the House Leader Cassie. The girls are so welcoming and friendly and I enjoyed my first night, they were all so excited to have an Exchange in their boarding house. I am staying across from the hall from M.C. which some of you may remember came to our school on exchange last year, and she is so glad that I am in Scott house. For dinner we were taken to a local Pizza parla by F.D. and a GAP student from Pembroke school in Adelaide (Australia) along with two boy Exchange Students from South Africa who are both very funny. There are also two girl Exchange Students from South Africa, a boy from St Peter's school in Adelaide and I think there are also two more from Pembroke in Adelaide. There is so much multiculturalism here, with so many nationalities and people from many different places around the planet. Well I am currently in a free period, and have the choice to do whatever I like, which is a bit strange seeings I dont really know the school that well so I dont have many things to do. I am also exempt from study hours so I will have pleanty of free time to do whatever I like. The electives I will be doing for the term are Computing and Spanish (Haha I will see how I go.) and I am still deciding between the Ex Activity choices of Rowing, Track and Field and Ultimate Frisbee. I don't receive my laptop until tomorrow morning, so I am still unable to upload photos. I hope things back home are going well and you all have a great Easter holiday.

I am now in Pittsburgh, and it has been raining a fair bit. Today at the moment it is quite foggy/misty but hopefully it wont be too bad of a day. We finally made it here after a very bumpy plane flight to Dalas, Texas Airport and being delaided for and hour and a half due to rain and stormy weather (which we spent sitting in the plane). We will be driving up to Toronto in a couple more days and will be arriving at the school sometime soon. I have not been able to upload and photos yet, but will do so as soon as possible (I have some great shots of 'Shamu' haha a Killer Whale that does tricks). I hope all is going well for you all over there.