Durham Region students Return to Vimy

HOME!

YES!! we are finally home! this trip has been amazing!! I have met some awesome people from Courtice and i have gotten to know more Sinclair people! Yesterday was a really long day. We had a later wake up call...8:30, because on Friday night we had a pizza party in the Lobby of our hotel. It was sooo fun!  :):)
We got up right away and packed our bags. It was really hard to pack because we bought so many clothes, adn gifts from Europe...i was afraid everything wouldnt fit!!  Anyways, we were on the road to the airport by 11. We got to the airport and just hung out. Then we finally got to board the plane and then we were off!!  The flight was about 7 hours, but it felt like forever! We flew Air Canada...they were really good! We finally landed in Toronto at about 5:45ish Toronto time and that means i was about 10:45 London time!!! I actually wasnt as tired as i thought i would be. The trip was awesome....we had no mojor problems at all!!  I think everone else enjoyed themselves too!!  I cant believe its over already!!  It was an amazing experience and i hope that all of you guys have checked out the blogs and have enjoyed hearing all about it! Thanks!!
~Michelle~

Last day!!

Hello everyone.
wow...i cant believe how fast this trip has gone by. We are now in London. We arrived here on Wednesday evening. We took the Eurostar from Brussels to London. It was sooo cool!!  We still have GREAT weather here. It has no rained once. It has been sunny and hot all 11 days. Vimy ridge was awesome and so was Paris and London. We are leaving tomorrow morning at 11 from the hotel. Our flight leaves from here at 3:15ish. We should be back in Toronto at around 6:30ish p.m. I cannot wait to get home but i am really sad that we have leave. It has been a great experience and everyone here has been so awesome. Everyone has had a fantastic time and we have had no major problems. We are all ready to get home and sleep in our own beds. Everyone here is slowly getting tired and exhausted. The plane ride is going to nice, we can all relax and hopefully sleep. Hope to see you all soon!! Thanks for reading all of my blogs!!  :):)

~Michelle~

Day 5 -7

Day 5 – Happy Easter!!

Today we went to Dieppe . We also went to the Canadian War Cemetery. It was very beautiful.

Jessica and I wrote a poem for the ceremony that we put on. It was a perfect ceremony to commemorate the soldiers’ victory in all of the wars. It was a really long ride all the way to Dieppe. It was about 3 hours to get there by bus. Once we got there we met up with another tour guide. We walked around Dieppe for a while and we also got to walk along the beach. We didn’t stay there for very long and we didn’t see much but it was still a cool experience. Then we had another 3 1⁄2 hour drive back to a new hotel. We didn’t get to eat dinner until around 10:00 that night. We all fell asleep very quickly.

Day 6 – Vimy Day!!

Today we had to get really early to go to Vimy Ridge. It was a only a 30 minute drive to Vimy, so it wasn’t really that bad. Once we got to the Vimy site, we went into our tent and we got some instructions on what we were doing that day. Next, we headed down to the Canadian Cemetery #2.

We all got to try and find our soldier that we were representing. I unfortunately didn’t find my soldier. After that we stayed at the Cemetery for a ceremony where Taylor and I got to carry and lay the Sinclair wreath. It was a neat experience. It was such a warm day yesterday and we were out there just standing for 1 1⁄2 hours, some people were passing out and getting dehydrated. It was kind of scary. Every one from Sinclair was okay, but one girl from Courtice wasn’t feeling well. After that ceremony we went back to our tent for lunch.

After lunch, we headed over to the back of the actual monument. We had to stand there for about 1 1⁄2 hours. It was really hot and really tiring. Then we had to start getting ready for the parade. We all had to get into our school groups and we had to walk to the front of the monument. That walk took about 3 hours in total. Once we got to our spots, it was getting really hot and we were all really tired. Finally the ceremony actually started. It was really exciting because the Prime Minister of France was there, The Prime Minister of Canada was there (Stephen Harper) and The Queen was there!! It was soo cool!! The ceremony was pretty long but it was a really cool experience just seeing that huge monument in front of us and just taking it all in. We also got to see some shell holes that were around the site. That was pretty crazy. After the ceremony was over we headed back to the bus. It only took about 1⁄2 an hour to get back to the hotel. First we went to our rooms and just relaxed. Then at 8:45 we went over to the restaurant. We had another late dinner! Our hotel it right beside a bowling alley so we got the chance to go bowling after dinner. Jessica and I chose not to go bowling because we were so tires. Curfew was at 11:30 but we were so tired tat we fell asleep at 10:30!!

Day 7 –

Belgium!!!

Today we went across the boarder to Belgium . We went to the battle site of Passchendale and Ypres. Passchendale was really cool. The Passchendale museum was really neat. There was a lot of interesting information about it. Another thing that they had there was a really life-like replica of a trench dug out. It was really dark down there, but it was really cool. After Passchendale we went to the Tyne Cot cemetery. This cemetery is the biggest common wealth cemetery in the world. It was a pretty cool place. We went over to Ypres after that. We got to have free time to walk around Ypres.

Jessica and I bought LOTS of Belgian chocolate. The Belgians LOVE Canadians! They gave us cool discounts and they were really friendly with us. After lunch, we went over to the St. Julien Canadian War Memorial. That was amazing too. If you guys have been have been checking out the Explorica website, you would have seen all of our group pictures that Elena (our awesome tour guide has been taking. We took another picture in front of the Canadian memorial. Next we went over to the German War Cemetery
and the John McCrae Memorial.

They were both really interesting to see. If you don’t know who John McCrae is that’s okay, but you defiantly know his famous poem In Flanders Field. He wrote the poem just after his best friend died in the war. John was actually a doctor in the war…..Dr. John McCrae. Next, we went over to Hill 62. We got to go in the actual trenches and look at all of the artifacts that they had. They had many pictures that we really cool but some of them were pretty graphic. It was really cool to see the trenches because it really hit me just how bad the conditions were. It was crazy!!

I know when I send my blogs that they are sent with lots of spaces. Sorry about that. It’s really not my fault it just happens when I send it over to the site. I hope you all can read it.  I will try to do 1 or two more blogs before we come back home. Only 4 days left!!!  L We arrive back in Toronto on Saturday evening. Tomorrow we are going to Brussels and then we are off to London in the afternoon!!  JJ I will also send a few more blogs once I get back just to put a conclusion to all of these blogs throughout the trip.

~Michelle~

Day 4

Day 4 – April 7th 2007

Today we had to get up at 6:30. We got up, had breakfast, packed out bags, and we were on the road by 8:20. Today we left Paris and headed to Normandy.

We were on the bus for 3 hours until we got to  Bayeux (Normandy). While in Bayeux, we went to the Tapestry and the Baeux Cathedral. After Bayeux we went over to Juno Beach and went on the actual beach and inside the museum on the site. When we were at Juno Beach we got to walk around on the beach and experience what it was like for the soldiers to come over and land there. It was a great experience because you just feel the energy and how much history is around that place. It was great because I had never been to a historical beach like that. It was also really fun to see the bunkers because it was just a fun thing to see.

(Multi-media presentation on Juno Beach Centre

The bunkers were really small and tight! I cant imagine staying in there for months at a time. After Juno, we went over to Arromanches museum. That museum was about the ports that the soldiers built to transport tanks, cars, and supplies from ships to shore without the enemies noticing. After that museum we got to see some of the German bunkers over by Omaha Beach.

They were the real bunkers that the soldiers stayed in. When we were at the bunks we got to see a grown-in trench, shell holes, tanks, and the inside of the bunkers. It was sooo cool!!

We are now in Normandy and we are just going out for dinner. We are having CREPES!!  Our tour guide Elena and our bus driver Michelle are fantastic! They have been with us since we arrived in Paris and they are coming all the way to London with us as well.

The weather is still 100% PERFECT!! Today was a bit breezier by the beaches, but it was still around 20 – 22 degrees. Tonight we are checking in to our new hotel in Normandy . Well we are just about to go to the restaurant so I’ll be sure to blog back soon. 2 days until VIMY!!!

~Michelle~

PARIS! day 1-3

Day 1 and 2 Blog:

Bonjour! We are finally here in Paris !!! IT is sooo beautiful and sunny, and hot…..it is defiantly spring here.

After only getting 2 hours of sleep on the plane, we were very tired. We didn’t get to the hotel until 10:30 last night. We had spent all day out and about in Paris .
First we went to Notre Dame Cathedral and got a tour of that. Then we had a break for lunch…I had my first French Baguette! After our lunch break we went over to the Le Louvre, and yes we got to see Mona Lisa! After that we went out for a great French dinner. We went for a ‘cruise’ last night after dinner. We got to see got to see a bunch of great sites around Paris .

After the cruise we FINALLY got to our hotel! The hotel rooms are tiny but we were just so glad to get there. We went to bed right away. Today (Day 3) we had a city tour by bus. It was amazing. Then we went for a lunch break…and went shopping!! After our lunch/shopping break we went up the Eiffel Tower . We climbed 668 stairs to get to the top! Next we went to dinner in

Montmartre which was beautiful. Then we had another shopping break. Finally we got back to the hotel, and we are ready for bed! I am having a great time and I hope you guys don’t have too much snow.

Paris has great weather! These past 2 days have been around 20 degrees and really sunny! Hope to write back soon.

                                                      

~Michelle~

WHAT?!?!

WHAT!?!?! ONLY 2 MORE SLEEPS!?!?! Thats crazzyyy!
I cannot belive that we only have 2 more sleeps until we  are 'leaving on a jet plane'!!
wow...thats all i can say.
The time has just flownnn by!
I am soo excited!! Wednesday...paris...here we come!
i hope they are ready for us.
i hope that everyone is fully packed..or close to it....make sure you also have the adaptors for teh hotel rooms. We have Canada AM tomorrow at Fth Leo austin at 6:30 tomorrow morning...it will be a blast!!
oh and i hope that all of yor parent..your you have your buttons sewed onto your shirt!!
Well im going to try and get some sleep tonight and tomorrow night....it'll be hard but ill try!!
Hope everyone is excited!!  :):):)
see you all at the ceremony!!  <3

Already!?!?!

Oh man!! we have 10 days until we leave!!!  I cannot believe this!!
I can remeber last year when i was excited that it was exactly 1 year away!!! now its just over 1 week!!!  AHH!!
I've got most of my stuff ready to pack up...bt i still have a few more things to get.
Just a reminder to everyone to get an adapter for the outlets!!!  Thats very important!!!
Also make sure that everyone has their MONEY!!  Money is very important!! You need to make sure you have some cash..in Euros and Pounds, and make sure that you have your ATM or Visa card activated!! 
Just a heads up about Europe....there are many pick-pocketers. They are those people who look for vonerable people and they take money, passports, cameras, and other valuables right from your backpacks or pockets. WATCH OUT!!!  No...im not trying to scare you but im just making you aware of those people.
I hope every one is getting excited about the trip!! I cant wait...Make sure you also have extra atteries (rechargables work best) and extra memory cards....we will be taking TONS of pictures!!
Bon Voyage!!
~Michelle~

soo close!!

WOW...i cant believe that we only have about 19 days until we leave!!!  Its CRAZY!!
I'm not packed, i dont have a suitcase, and i have no money yet. The time has flown by. Everyone here at Sinclair is soooo pumped!!  We cant wait!!  :):)
its going to be a fantastic trip and i hope that everyone takes LOTS of pictures!!!
I will certainly be taking many pictures and ill post some on here when we get over there!!
Hope everyone's March Break was great!!

~Michelle~

Update!

Hello again!!
I hope you are all keeping up to date on the latest news from the students going to Vimy!! 
The students from Sinclair have meetings every other Monday, so i will usually write a post the day after that. Anyways, we had a meeting yesterday just to catch up. We went over a few things about the next few months, and getting ready for the BIG departure!! We are all looking forward to the new play comming to Durham this February!!! We are all looking forward to it! Reminder to all Sinclair students and parents...we are all asked to buy atleast 2 tickets for one of the shows, what ever day is more convenient for you and your family. Hope to see you all there!!! I will continue to update you all with new info fomr Sinclair!!! 

~Michelle~  :):)

Hello!

Hello!
My name is Michelle and I am in grade 10. I am the rep from Sinclair Secondary School to blog to you about my Return to Vimy trip, before and after. I am glad that I am able to do this for the school and for everyone across Canada who is either going on this trip, or is interested in what we are doing at Vimy.  I am very excited about the trip and I'm glad that I will get to share the experience with all of the student from across Canada. I hope that you will keep checking back to this site and I hope that you will read my blogs regularly. I am hoping to post a blog about once a week, if not more than that. Thank you very much for spending the time reading my blogs and I hope if you have any questions, comments, or concerns that you will comment on my blogs and let me know.
Thanks again,
Michelle :)