July 7

6:20 a.m. Four of us awoke to the beautiful Fredericton sunrise for a run throughout the UNB campus. Overlooking the Saint John River and the city itself, the challenging hills and charming atmosphere of the campus certainly outweigh the hour of sleep we could've gotten (which, most likely, would've consisted of dreaming about more sleep). After much needed showers, we joined the rest of the group for a delicious breakfast at McConnell Hall: eggs, French toast, baked beans, sausage, tater tots. Is it sad that I'm already thinking about breakfast again as I write this?

We didn't have a fitness hour today, so instead we headed off to our lecture hall for what we soon found out became a giant group bonding session about how much we all love each other. It's amazing how fast weve become a community family, and in fact, I even found myself calling my residence home. Robotics soon followed, and my group finally got our robot to work properly; the competition at the end of the week will certainly be interesting.

Pierogis and chicken pot pie were on the menu for lunch, and with our hunger satisfied, we were split into groups going to a physics or biology lab. I was fortunate enough to do the biology lab earlier this week, where we extracted DNA from seaweed, and performed gel electrophoresis to determine the perpetrator of a crime. In the physics lab, we investigated sound and its properties, a very entertaining lecture much to my surprise and previous dislike of physics.

As if I haven't talked about food enough, we had a barbecue this evening, which was awesome and delicious, despite it being a blistering 40 degrees Celsius outside.

Then, one of the Shad faculty members presented us with a lecture on innovation, which was very inspirational and motivating. Finally, we ended our night with a non-stop hour of laughter during Improv night, in which I stepped outside of my comfort zone and actually participated. Shad Valley is constantly pushing me to learn and experience so much more, and for this Im grateful. I look forward to many more days here in Fredericton with my fellow Shads.

Bret Flynn, Shad Valley University of New Brunswick 2010
Hometown: Kingston, Ontario