Did you make it to the fair?   What a great circuit!  We loved meeting all of you who made it out to Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.  We had a great turnout and the universities really enjoyed meeting you. If you missed it .. don’t worry, you’ll have another opportunity this Fall!  The Fall circuit will be coming to the following cities: Vancouver – September 22, 2012 Calgary – September 23, 2012 Ottawa – September [...]

Back in Canada now, I am reflecting on the past 10 day trip to Singapore with mixed feelings of success. I found out a lot from the three ladies I profiled (see former blog posts) but I have yet to fully connect the dots to Canadian students. While I learned about some incredible incentives countries such as Singapore use to encourage international students to study there and about the importance of an education system to encourage students to [...]

Well, I’m here! First impressions: hot. Luckily I arrived very early in the morning so there was no direct sunlight to warm the already hot and humid air. From deep winter in Ottawa to the summer of Singapore after a mere 24hours in transit; there has got to be a faster way to get to the heat! Ahh, but cards on the table, I chose to come to Singapore because my brother has been living [...]

There is a lot of speculation about the merits and benefits of international volunteering, and rightly so. This process of going abroad to help the less fortunate earns the volunteers no end of praise, well wishes and financial support from onlookers at home. However, an increasing amount of literature is arising that questions the inherent goodness of these experiences. Questions surface like, “What do you accomplish?”, “Who really benefits?”, and “What message is sent to [...]

Surprisingly unspoilt, Torres del Paine is Chilean Patagonia  - and you can either get a bus there from Santiago (Chile), or from Argentina.  The regular buses from Calafate to the national park are super-busy in peak season – December to March – so book ahead.  We turned up at the bus station the night before to book tickets and both companies were full – both leave at 8am for Puerto Natales (just over the border [...]

Ticked this one off my bucket list last weekend, when I went to Vegas for the first time just to see what everyone is raving about!   We stayed at the Flamingo hotel, just because it’s a ‘classic’ – the first hotel on the strip and built by Bugsy Malone.  As a hotel, it’s nothing to write home about, but it’s in a great location, and has a great pool … and we weren’t expecting [...]