July 17 2010 - Back From PEI

It is 11:35 PM right now and we just arrived at our campus. I am in my dorm room right now and as tired as we are, when my roommate came in the room, he simply fell on his bed and went to sleep. It was a long ride from PEI along the Confederation Bridge, and thankfully, I managed to sleep a little bit on the bus so that I can write this blog and finish up our house group’s prototype that’s due tomorrow. Whew! Shad Valley should certainly be known for its tight schedules.

Needless to say, these two days at PEI have been an extraordinary experience. After we arrived in this beautiful province through a breezy ferry ride, we explored the Province House, known as the “Cradle of Confederation.” Many key meetings were held in this building and it played a key role in Canada’s Confederation. After we finished the tour, we went to explore the beautiful downtown Charlottetown, where its tasty Cows ice cream is devoured by happy tourists every day.

We then travelled to a campsite, where we set up our tents. We applied a whole lot of bug spray, but the mosquitoes didn’t seem to be scared of that. Though we didn’t have any alternative solutions against bug attacks, sleeping in the tents felt very good. This second camping trip was definitely a memorable, fun, but challenging experience, because a part of all this was about teamwork.

When I think of PEI, I think of Anne of Green Gables, the famous book written L. M. Montgomery. So what happened? We visited Green Gables on the next day! Located at Cavendish, we explored the famous house and took many exciting pictures. After that, we went to the Cavendish beach (the third beach that we went to so far this month!), where we had lots of fun swimming, playing with jellyfish (and enjoying their stings, haha), playing volleyball, and lying under the big blue sky.

Lastly, what else is PEI known for? Its seafood, of course! Thankfully, our brilliant PAs realized that I will not leave this place without having a full lobster meal. They took us to a huge seafood restaurant, where everyone got one lobster, and a bunch of all-you-can-eats, such as mussels, seafood chowder, and tasty desserts. The lobster was incredible, of course, and I, along with two other Shads, devoured six buckets of mussels. Unfortunately, we were far from beating the old record, where a Shad at Dalhousie managed to eat 5 buckets just by himself. The whole trip was so amazing that anyone who wants to know what it feels like really needs to be here and experience it themselves.
Deyu Wang, Shad Valley Dalhousie University 2010
Hometown: Mississauga, Ontario