Today is the 6th day of the best month of my life. The day started very early at 1:30am, when the fire alarm went off and we all had to wake up and rush outside. It was tough getting up so early, but we turned it into a fun and exciting experience. The drill lasted about 1 hour, and then we went back to sleep.
8:30am marked the start of our daily schedule: breakfast. The food here at Lakehead has been fantastic so far, and we have all been very privileged. After breakfast one of our PAs ran the first part of a lab where we got to collect aquatic macro organisms, such as leeches, from the lake on our campus. These organisms have been preserved and we will later get to look at them under a dissecting microscope.
After that block of “PA Speaks”, we had two 1.5 hour blocks of “Shad Speaks” separated by lunch. We got to see some interesting presentations from our fellow Shads including topics ranging from Stem Cell Research to Nuclear Energy to Mobile Technologies. Personally, I was very impressed with the level of preparedness that each Shad put into their presentation, and the vast knowledge that they demonstrated.
Next was a HUGE block of fitness time. We got the freedom to do whatever we so desired in the Fitness Centre, and many of us decided to play badminton. We had so much fun that we continued to play straight through our free time. That means 2 straight hours of intense badminton.
Next was dinner time, when we got to rest after our hours of intense exercise. It was just as delicious as we had hoped. After dinner, we had a program review with the director, Dr. Sultan Siddiqui, where we talked about what we liked/disliked from the week, and got our schedules for next week. Then we had 1.5 hours to work on our Shad Cup projects. Next, we worked on our firm projects (lots of projects). I'm not sure if other campuses have firm projects also, but we have to work, with our group, to create a promotional product for Shad Lakehead 2011. Our group is making what we call the ShadFolio (a portfolio which says “Shad Valley Lakehead 2011” on it). Our “firm” also had to do a late show today.
Lastly, we had a snack and went off for some quiet time before bed and packing for a camping trip tomorrow to the “Sleeping Giant” national park. It was a pretty packed day, but it was a lot of fun. We're all getting to know each other much better, and we are forming friendships which I'm sure will last a lifetime.
Hartley Melamed, Shad Valley Lakehead University 2011
Hometown: Ottawa, ON
