Alpha Group Day 17

Having no chance of beating the Montreal traffic and congestion, we woke up a bit later today, at 8 in the morning. We ate egg sandwiches and soy milk, and then cleaned the entire house, wiping up all our messes and spills from breakfast. We headed into the city to the “Centre de Sciences de Montreal.” Or, in another, more English, way, “the Montreal Science Centre.”

There were a few complications with the address and the navigation, as we hadn’t thought to compensate for the translation of ‘Street’ into ‘Rue,’ as we’re now in a predominantly French-speaking province. However, that was quickly mitigated and we were on our way quickly. After some very tricky maneuvering of the Sprinters into tight parking spots, we headed into the centre itself.

There were a variety of activities that called for the use of our interpersonal skills as well as integrity and a great personal insight. The very first exhibit we visited was an interactive one dubbed “Mission Gaia.” This was a simulation that was modelled after real life crisis situations in which we had to help our virtual city through daily issues such as making decisions that would affect the economy while balancing the values of nature and keeping the citizens alive and prospering. In addition to those tough decisions, we had to deal with more major disasters such as hurricanes, contamination of drinking water, and a sudden outbreak of a new strain of flu. It was a real challenge for our leadership, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills as we were also working under a time limit imposed by the game.

We visited the other exhibits, exploring the activities there, like the Mindball in which two opponents tried to score a goal with a tiny ball against the other, but only using their brain waves and focus. We ate our lunch of roast beef and butter sandwiches, then headed to the special Star Wars exhibit. The interactive exhibit focused on the aspects of one’s personality, with added behind-the-scenes information on the Star Wars series, their characters, settings, costumes, and props. We were each able to create a character of our own in the exhibit’s 10 stations—ourselves. Each one of our creations was shown to be unique, starting from our very genes, to our upbringing and our experiences.

We visited Old Montreal for a while, but quickly returned for the 3-D IMAX film “To the Arctic.” It brought attention to the deterioration of the Arctic sea ice and its ramifications on the animals that live in those icy habitats such as polar bears, caribou, seals, and walruses.

After the movie, we went back into Old Montreal to explore its winding cobblestone streets. We admired many artist’s and jeweller’s wares that lined the sides of the buildings. The many styles of art, glass beads and gold wiring were both eye-catching and dazzling in the late afternoon sun. Speaking of late afternoon, we headed back to Charlie’s house for a meal of chicken drumsticks that we marinated this morning, rice, and some of our leftover pasta from yesterday.

We will be turning in earlier today as we have lots of hiking to do tomorrow. Stay tuned for more!

Quince

Today we have breakfast, the breakfast is bread and butter with scrambled eggs. Then we went to the Canada sience centre. There is a star Wars excibition, and other fun stuff. But I like the star wars excibition the best. Then we have lunch and it is coldcut with bread. Then we watch a movie in IMAX about North Pole. We have a little shopping which is not really very appropriate for me because there are sware words in posters. We went back to the campsite very quickly. There is nothing to do there. Oh we saw the horse ride. But we don’t get to ride it. Cut. Bye.

Jennifer

I slept right through my alarm this morning and was woken up by the boys pounding on our door. I couldn’t believe it. Sleep had actually come for me! And what a sparkling display of leadership that was. I had planned to wake up an hour before the others so I could be alert and ready to work when the others had woken. That didn’t work out, obviously. I will invest in something with a louder alarm. For breakfast we had egg and butter sandwiches, which actually tasted very, very, VERY, exceptionally good. Especially since they were a combination of egg yolk and sandwich, my two arch enemies.

We cleaned up the house from top to bottom and then we all got in the Sprinters to head to the Centre de Sciences de Montreal. It was interesting to see that Cirque du Soleil was setting up next to the Centre. There were many interesting activities in the exhibits that required physical and mental prowess. Mission Gaia was a game that simulated the management of a small city and its daily challenges and governmental decisions as wells as more pressing matters such as natural disasters and epidemics. It definitely challenged our critical thinking skills. Crystal and I also built an arch that was strong enough for us to walk on. It took a lot more thinking and spatial sense than I thought.

We visited the special interactive Star Wars exhibit, and we were each able to create a Star Wars character that represented ourselves. The exhibit was called “Identity” and it explored our personalities and emphasized our individuality. It was a good bit of soul-searching for me. I was indeed tempted by Darth Sidious and his request that I “join the dark side.” However, at the last moment, Christina was able to convince me to stay on the side of good and press the “right” button.

We watched a 3-D IMAX film called “To the Arctic” and it really reiterated the message in “Mission Gaia,” and the Star Wars “Identity” exhibit.  Our world is slowly deteriorating, and we are the generation that will inherit this mess. We will need to use our leadership skills for good, so that we can work for change.

We also visited Old Montreal. The architecture and winding side streets captivated me. As did the street artists showing off their wares. We had a delicious dinner of chicken that we’d marinated in the morning, rice, and some of the leftover pasta from yesterday, which I had quite a few platefuls of to finish off.

We head to Mont Tremblant for a long day of hiking. So night, everybody!

Crystal

Today we went to Old Montreal. We visited the “Le centre des Sciences de Montreal” or the Montreal Science Centre. My favorite exhibit was the Star Wars one. In the exhibit we got to “customize” our own characters and choose the characters’ identity. Then we went to visit the older buildings in the streets of Old Montreal. After that, we returned to the Sciences centre in time for our IMAX 3D movie: To the Arctic. It showed how the green house gases we produce are affecting the ice and glaciers in the North Pole, and how it is affecting how the animals who live there who are striving to live. Tomorrow we weill be going to Mt. Tremblant… to hike for 8 hours!

Calvin

Today seemed like a great day. Although it rained we were inside at the science center throughout the day. We woke up on time and everyone prepared everything for the day nicely. There were no Hiccups today and everyone’s timing were perfect. Most of the leaders and senior members were just supervising the Junior students. I do not have much to reflect on today. I hope that the hiking tomorrow would help me reflect on myself more.

Jacky

Today was an easy day for leaderships as we went to the Montreal science centre. Breakfast and morning clean up was very fast and simple. We took the plan of partnering up and disbursing up to view what the feel. This worked out very well as the students enjoyed it all, although some might of found it boring. I feel like I did well as I was partnered up with a student and we had lots of fun. The world simulator was very interesting as it teaches us how to be a good leader and make correct decisions that benefits everyone. Overall I feel like it was a small break for every leadership and instructors.

Kendra

Today we were roaming around the science centre and old montreal. The city was very nice and all, but there were not much shops I liked. HMMM…. Ok, so when we arrived at the science centre, Billy bought the tickets and we started to roam around. Me and my partner went in the exibits called “Mission Gaia” and “science 26”. Mission Gaia was a game about making decisions and creating a better world together. Science 26 was just testing experiments and games. I found out many things. There were many cool things, too. Then we meet up and went in the “star wars” exhibit. It was very cool. I got to wear a bracelet and hearing device. The hearing device was for listening to some stories and some info. The bracelet was for some stages for creating your own hero. There are 10 stages and each stage is another step to creating your hero. At the end. I choose Ewok as my character and choose the good side. It was really cool how you just scan your bracelet and can detect your character. After the exibit, me and Alex and a bunch of other people went and walked around old montreal. There wasn’t much but senery. Then, we went back to the science centre and watched an IMAX movie. It called “to the artic”. It was about a mother polar bear protecting her babies. Then, we went back to old montreal then headed back to the house. That was it for the day and tomorrow were going hiking

Jonathan

Today, we woke up to beat the traffic early for our arrival place: the Montreal science centre. The science centre was great. We went to different exhibitions like the science 26, Science Gala and many more things inside. After lunch, we went over to the IMAX TELUS Theatre to watch “to the Arctic” which was narrated from merryl streep in 3D. The movie was showing a mother polar bear protecting her two cubs. It was wicked. After we left, we walked around old Montreal. Old Montreal was a beautiful place to walk on. When we returned to the house, we had dinner. Tomorrow, we are going to Mount-Trembulant for 4:00 in the afternoon.

Jason Wang

Today was the 2^nd day I spent with Monticle (2^nd full day) and the 2^nd day we were in Montreal. Today we went to the “Centre de sciences De Montreal”. There was a knew/ limited area which was around the Star Wars series. In this area it talked about the influences different events and people have on individual people. Which taught us that every choice someone makes and everyone someone meets will directly and/or indirectly affect someone’s live. At the Montreal Science center we also watched an IMAX movie called “To The Arctic”/ this movie was about the Artic and how humans affect the Arctic environment but this movie also shows that small changes may end up resulting in a major change in events and that you should stand up for what you believe in

Ryan

Today we went to the science museum and it was an easy day for the leadership but it was my first time navigating. At first I had some difficulty at first but was soon about to figure out the gps. During the walk around the science center I had trouble keeping track of my partner but was happy seeing them by myself. The Star Wars exhibit taught me many things that can affect a persons attitude like education or parentage. During the walk around old montreal, watching the girls got difficult because they constantly wanted to shop everywhere. It was fin however but I did learn that people get mad or stubborn about their mistakes.

Christine

Today was amazing! We went to the extrodinary science museum of Montreal. I was really fun. After that we watched a movie at Imax. We watched in the arctic in 3D. It was fantastic! Before that, we went to a star wars exabition. My avatar was named Zuki. In the bus we were playing twenty questions. I was thinking of a fan that Jacky guessed, the CN tower, that also Jacky guessed and a sleeping bag the basicly no one guessed. (they gave up.) I had a lot a lot of fun this day!!!

Jason wong

This morning I helped make breakfast. What we made was scrambled eggs, bread with butter. Ryans’s team prepared lunch. After breakfast we went to get gas then went to the montreal science center. At the science center; at the science center we went to only two small exhibits. The first exhibit was about different missions and we have to choose solutions to save the earth. We had a limited time to do it. We didn’t know if we saved the planet. The second exhibit was similar to the Ontario science center as lifting things. We went to see the Star Wars exhibit and we got to make our own characters. I didn’t get to finish my character because we had to go/ we went to see an IMAX movie “to the arctic” which was 45 mins. After the movie we went to old montreal for same time. Then we went back to the house.

Alexandra

Today is day 17. For breakfast, we had bread with butter, and scrambled eggs. I like it, (not really) but it was ok. I was hungry though. We left at 10:35. The drive was nice, I was talking to Edwin. Then we went to the science centre. My partner was Kendra. We visited a place their. It was so sool. Their was creating electricity, and gears, gas and one more thing, it was that cool bubble thing. You go of the stand, and you pull a pulley, the huge rope with a bubble. The bubble was just a huge rainbow soap thing. It was HUGE. It was cool though. It reminded me of me trapped in a washroom, (I pulled instead of pushed). Then we went into this Star Wars thing, it was fun. We had to go through missions my person was a girl, her name was zzzanga, and in cool. They sent it to my e-mail. We haven’t had dinner yet.

Howard

Today is the 17^th day of the Monticle Me3 Alpha group training camp. Today, just as always, I woke up early and then fell asleep again. It was hard to sleep in a house that isn’t mine and one I haven’t been in before. Especially since Quince kept falling onto James which resulted in a chain reaction that woke me up. Today, we basically spent the at the centre des sciences de Montreal, at the science centre, there was a lot of cool stuff. For example, there was the mind ball machine that tests your brainwaves and concentration. I basically pwned James in it. As well there was a Star Wars exhibit that teaches one on the different influences that gives one your identity. It was very educational.

Edwin

Today is my second day on leadership training. Billy give my the responsibility to take care of Quince. I follow Quince along a trought out the 2 days. Today, we went to Star Wars Expo with Quince. To me were a long time. With my radio on.  Alastara was no happy about me not comnicating with other people. So Alastira took it. At the end, I learn that If I am to focus on something. I end up getting my job not done. I won’t do there ever again. I don’t feel good about losing the radio, is like my life.

James

Montreal’s science centre isn’t as big as Ontario science centre but there was something that interested me. There was a machine called mind ball where 2 player but on a head band which reads your mind wave and the person who’s brain wave reading is higher wins. The way to way Is that there was  tube with a ball in it. You try to concentrate to move the ball towards you while the other player try to stop it. Right now, I’m writing my boring blog while Ryan test my memory.

Alastair

Today was a long day, and we all had fun at the science centre and Old Montreal. Because the leaders didn’t have much to do today, there’s not much to say in this blog, but I will say that even when I say I don’t like being strict, I think that it is completely necessary to do so some times, yet people can overdo it, and lose the respect of the people they try to lead. It was a really normal day today, nothing special other than the science center trip. However the free time was interesting in that our group dispersed more than we did before.