My name is Ali Grandjambe and I am from Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories. I’m a participant in this year’s 2019 Northern Youth Abroad (NYA) Canadian Program.

My host community is located in Six Nations, Ontario. There are so many interesting things to do here on a reserve. Through the weeks I’ve been here, I’ve learned how to paddle board, been to a lacrosse game, seen pow wows, gone to the beach, been out tanning, done a spin class and checked out Niagara Falls. The first thing I did in Niagara Falls was going through The Nightmares Fear Factory with other NYA participants that we met up with. My buddy didn’t want to go through but I personally didn’t find it scary at all.

My host family has been very welcoming and have gone above and beyond for me and my placement buddy. We have become closer as friends to the point where we have been calling each other “my twin” and it’s been a great journey so far. 

I have had the opportunity to volunteer at the local food bank and it is nice to be able to help other people out. 

Honestly, participating in this program has helped me see a better side of myself. I’ll be finishing high school next year and I’m hoping to further my life/work experience and to also travel the world.

Thank you for reading my blog!

Hi, I’m Ilumigarjuk Ayla Kreelak, I’m from Baker Lake, Nunavut and I’m a part of the Next program. It’s been two weeks and we’ve been on the go. Every. Single. Day. Whether it was settling down, figuring out our constantly changing schedules, or even getting to our classes and sessions on time (which we’re still getting the hang of).

And we’ll be starting our Personal Learning Projects pretty soon. If you’re not interested in reading the whole blog, everyone’s basically doing things to help them in post-secondary. I think Algonquin College was chosen mostly ‘cause they emphasize how much we can get from hands-on learning. When we’re not working our butts off, we make a lot of good bonds. It’s almost like a stress relief when we make fun of each other.

My Personal Learning Project is obviously art related, and I’ll be working on a couple of different areas I feel like I need to improve in. I don’t really draw buildings, facial expressions, or colour that much. So that’s I’ll be working towards. And it’s probably not gonna feel like much work because drawing is something I wouldn’t mind doing 8 hours a day. In fact, it was only recently that I realized that art is gonna be an important part of my life, ‘cause it’s been 5 years since I started drawing and I’ve never felt like I should stop.

There’s a couple “mini-projects” that I wanna do. Like finalizing the small comic I wrote before coming to Ottawa, and actually draw the things I’ve been requested to do so. Not to mention the ideas I had for making funny webcomics (like the ones you see on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or whatever sites you check). I do have an Instagram profile if you wanna check it out, and it’s @aylakreelakart.

Something I have to get used to in the Residence is doing laundry. Don’t get the wrong idea that I don’t do chores, but it’s really different when it comes to doing laundry here. They have a communal laundry room where we have to pay. Sometimes some random person will be a jerk and take your clothes out of the washer or dryer and you have to start all over again. For me, I’ve been prioritizing my downtime to recharge over the pile of musty, dirty clothes under my desk. Right now, I’m wearing my fancy pants, a tank top that’s been reused 3 times, and my favourite jacket so I wouldn’t annoy anyone with my b.o.

The last thing I’ll say is that there are great ups-and-downs when it comes to living on campus. I lost both my glasses and sandals, I dropped my iPod in an outhouse and a couple of other things. On the other hand, I’ve got new art supplies, I’ve made a lot of memories, and I went on a Ferris wheel! And a lot of great things like these happened because I said: “why not?” Hopefully, the Canadian phasers do too! This has been my blog, and wish you all a happy experience with NYA.

Hi my name is Sophie Idlout, I’m from Resolute Bay, Nunavut, the population is about 198 people that live there, it is the second highest community in Canada. This summer I’m living in Halifax Nova Scotia, which has the population of over 400,00,000 people.

I’m volunteering at The Indigenous Students Center which is located in Dalhousie University. Because of NYA in their Canadian program, I am able to have this experience down south. So far I went to the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, it was amazing and it was about 3 to 4 hours and it felt like 20 minutes that’s how amazing the live show was and Betsy and I got to get pictures taken with some of the people who were in it.

I rode the bus for the first time to my placement, we saw a soccer game. The second weekend we went to PEI and New Brunswick, on our way to PEI we took the ferry and that was my first time on one. In PEI we went to the Wax Museum and I got my hand moulded by wax, I also went to Ripley’s Believe It or Not and I finally meet Sully.

We went to Sandspit and I rode the Roller coaster, cliffhanger, Ferris wheel, Scrambler, swing, bumper car, bumper boat, tilt a whirl, the train, carousel, laser tag, mini putt, haunted house. We went to the beach for the first time, it was so nice and warm. I mowed a lawn for the first time, saw the Lion King,  went to a pride parade for the first time, it was so hot that day, and we went to a multi Cultural festival. I swam in a lake and a pool. Saw cows, calf’s, sheep’s, chicks and I rode a tractor, been in traffic. Thanks to my host mom Michelle Martian most of this is possible. She has four cats and their names are Oreo, Gracie, Mollie and Kula and my host mom Michelle, I love living in her house.

Almost everything is different from my home, I’m not used to hearing the sirens all the time, I have seen young people disrespecting elders which is something I am not used to, lots of homeless people, trees, it’s humid, buildings, ginormous stores, everything is cheap.

I have tried lots of new foods, including Jiggs dinner which is from Newfoundland where my host mom is originally from. Real Chinese food, pecan pie, Wendy’s fast food, subway, little caesars, and Mary Brown’s to name a few. 

Thank you for reading my blog!

Hey, my name is Destiny Beaulieu but I go by Des. I live in Inuvik, NT, but I grew up in Fort Smith, NT.  I did my Canadian Phase in 2017. It was so much fun and I knew that I wanted to go for Northern Youth Abroad’s other programs. So I did. I applied in 2018 but I didn’t go that year.  

I am in Ottawa at Algonquin College for the NEXT program and I’m really enjoying it. One of the things that I like most out of all of the activities we’ve been doing is the cross-cultural learning we do.  It’s an opportunity to experience both Dene and Inuit culture.  My dad was Dene and I used to be a lot more involved with his culture than I am now.   

We have been doing a construction class here at the college.  I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy it or not, but it’s pretty cool.  Our projects are to make a picture frame and a small picnic table. I am almost finished my picnic table and it’s the cutest thing, I love it.

We have gone to the BoardGame Cafe twice now, and It’s great.  So far we’ve played Pictionary, Sorry, and Cards Against Humanity. We also got to try fried cauliflower, which, for me, was delicious. 

Last week, we split into two groups to tour either Nunavut Sivuniksavut(NS) or Carleton University. I went with the NS group because why not? I already toured Carleton once in my Canadian year. The tour is great, the campus is a lot smaller than I expected but it’s more intimate that way. It seems like a long term version of NEXT to me, with the way they described it. 

After the tour, we had the choice to either go back to campus, or stay downtown and do whatever for a couple hours with a buddy. One of the rules here for NEXT is that, whenever you leave the residence building, you must let a leader know and have a buddy with you at all times.   We accidentally broke that rule. So there were five other participants with me to go home so we were waiting for the bus. Three come up at once, the first one wasn’t going to the college so we headed for the second one, which did. At this point, we were getting a little separated but mostly still in a  group. We, at the front, see that the last bus was a double decker so we were like ‘hey thats cool lets check if it goes to the college’.  It did, and five of us got onto the bus.  We noticed that one of us weren’t with us and tried to hold the door to try to see where our friend was in the crowd but the driver told us we either get on or off. We decide to message our Project Leader in hopes that he could go check to see if she was still at the bus stop in case she didn’t get on. About 20 minutes later, we get to our stop and our friend is there.  We laugh about it now because she got back safely and was okay, but it shows us why learning how to get back safely on your own/with a buddy is important.

Thanks for reading my blog!

Hi, my name is Jeannie Kalluk, I’m 17 years old from Baker Lake Nunavut. I’m placed in Ottawa, Ontario for NYA next. This is my second year of doing NYA. I did my Canadian phase last year in 2018, I was placed in Halifax, Nova Scotia with my buddy Geni Jaw from Cape Dorset, Nunavut. We have travelled a lot with our host mom Michelle Martin, we’ve been to Alma, New Brunswick, a couple places in Prince Edward Island and Cheti camp (placed in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia). I really miss being in my Canadian phase, if I could do it again I would.

It took 18 hours to go to Ottawa from my hometown Baker Lake Nunavut, first off, we went to Rankin Inlet Nunavut for about 4 hours. I went to go eat out with my friends and bought some snacks for the plane ride. Then from Rankin we went to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It was my very first time going there, it’s so beautiful there! We had to go out if the plane and go through security. We went back on the plane and was heading off to Edmonton, Alberta, it was my first time going there too, more like all of the NYA participants, we were confused at first but we managed to get through the airport. We were off to Toronto, Ontario. The plane ride was pretty scary because we had a bad turbulence, plus there was lighting happening, while it happened we looked out the window, couple minutes passed it calmed down. We made it safely to Toronto. We had one hour to be there but some of the participants were lost in the big terminal, we made it on time for our flight, that was the best feeling because it was our last flight to Ottawa!

When we got to MacSkimming camp, I was really happy to see people I’ve meet last year and meet new people from Nunavut and Northwest Territories. Couple minutes past, that’s when I took a nap from the 18hour flight to Ottawa from my home town Baker Lake Nunavut.

I was at the camp for 5 days. Time passed by, it was July 4^th, 2019 when we arrived to the Algonquin Campus. That’s when we were exploring the campus here in Ottawa. It’s an awesome place to live in.

I am looking forward to going to Montreal, Quebec. One of the largest city in Canada. I hope to try their poutine and have fun activities during my time in Montreal.

Thank you, for reading my blog.

Sincerely Jeannie

For those that don’t know, I’m Samuel Ootoova from Pond Inlet, Nunavut. I have been given the amazing opportunity to do another year with Northern Youth Abroad (NYA). I had such an amazing time when I first went on NYA’s Canadian program two years ago. I’ve met people from when I did my Canadian program from two years ago, and a bunch of them are doing the Next program with me.

I have had an amazing time so far in Ottawa. I’ve made friends, and I will remember them for decades to come. It has been a bit of a challenge to get used to the transit of Ottawa to do all of our amazing activities. Ottawa is quite busy during this time of the year, so there were a few times when the bus has been jam packed and we were unable to get in, making transit even more difficult than usual. There were also plenty of fun and interesting activities that we have done within 2 ½ weeks we’ve been here. We go to a construction class, so far we’ve made a picture frame and will soon move on to making a mini picnic table, we went to a market, and a few of us got to personally meet an author, go out into the city as a group and try out new food we’ve never had before (it was delicious), go to the theatres, and we volunteered for the Ottawa Mission (a shelter for those with no home), and I felt AMAZING after volunteering my time to help out people that help those in need. I was cleaning the street that the mission was to show to the sponsors that not all homeless people do drugs and that because people are homeless for other reasons, whether it be that they don’t have a home to go back to, because of safety reasons (whether it from a broken home and that their parents kicked them out, or they don’t feel safe at “home”) or that they’re from a different country and their Visa and can’t work.

My highlight of being out in the city is going to a board game café. At the café we play board games, very shocking I know, but they have any game that you think of, and in multiple versions. So far I’ve been there twice, but I loved every moment I was there, it also helped that the people I went with have been a blast to play with.

Having new friends to talk with totally helps keep you busy and be less homesick. The people that take care of us help us feel safe, making it easier to relax. I am so happy and excited for the rest of my stay with NYA. The best thing about working with NYA is that they help you decide on what you want to work as a career and helps you build up your leadership skills, and Next is geared towards getting used to the life of a college student.

Hello, my name is Shavanna Ashevak, I am 22 years old. I born in Yellowknife Northwest Territories, I live in Kugaaruk Nunavut and our population is a little over 1,000. This is my second year in Northern Youth Abroad program, it was first called Nunavut Youth Abroad and now it is called Northern Youth Abroad for both Nunavut and Northwest Territories Youth from ages 15 to 20 years old the Canadian phase in Northern Youth Abroad.

For both Northern Youth Abroad Next and International the age limit is 22 years old. The first couple of weeks has been hard, only because it’s hard to be away from families and friends from home, especially if you are on your own. Yes, you have your Northern Youth Abroad family, they are the best. They will always be by your side no matter what if you are homesick and if you have no phone they will lend you their phone to talk to families or friends at home. And if you are sick, or feeling sick they’ll take you to the clinic and let the doctor get you checked out.

The one thing though that has changed over time with homesickness for me is my friend Ayla Kreelak, from Baker Lake Nunavut. She is one of my close friends here at the campus, I sometimes embarrass her but not to make fun of her, but to make memories.

Out of a lot of applicants that applied for Northern Youth Abroad Next, me and 12 other youths have been selected for 2019 Next and we are a family. We may not always get along, but we all do have our own opinions and we love our ‘grandma’ Kelly. Kelly is great, she make sure we be on time for everything most of days, and makes us food too. Also our other leaders Lance and Ashley, giving up their summer to be our leaders for this summer. To me, they are like our parents, with worrying and feeding us all. Also, Loblaws is at college square & Starbucks is just across campus, gotta love their mango dragon fruit refresher!

One thing though is taking a bus or a couple different busses at a time to get to the other side of town and back, NYA pays for your bus passes and it’s fun but when it’s too crowded it’s a bit tight. That’s all I can say about my experience at Northern Youth Abroad Next 2019, thank you for having the time to read my blog.

My name is Carmen Flunkie, I’m 17 years old and I live in Whatì, NT. I’m a part of this year 2019 Northern Youth Abroad (NYA). A big thank you to everyone in my community that helped me get here. And also to the NYA staff for their support.

My experience during this program started pretty chill meeting new friends at camp and learning their culture. Through long flights, I finally got to my host community. It started off okay with working at the thrifty boutique with great staff, but then things got a little hard at my summer home due to lack of communication with the family. It made things so hard for me that I wanted to go home. With the help of the NYA staff, we were able to sort out a solution.

I’ve gotten to tour around big cities, go to powwows, have fun and do things I’ll always remember. I am with a caring and loving host family. We’ve already done so much together in the past week now, swimming to cruising around and having a bunch of laughters.

With all this travelling and trying new things, it brought me to get along better with my buddy and know her as an individual person. With all this on our back and the stress that me and my buddy has been through, we still managed to stay in the program and finish strong together. With the help of friends and family, we’re going to complete our summer goal and see our friends and family once again. 

Being an NYA participant made me realize how different it is living in the south from the north. My experience and my summer are going great and I don’t regret staying. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.

I am International Participant for NYA. International participants travel as a group to a foreign country to contribute to a local volunteer initiative, build career skills, increase independence, acquire new knowledge and experiences, and exchange culture with local indigenous populations.

I’ve been in Costa Rica for about 2 and a half weeks. I went to Cirenas for 6 days with my group. While we were in Cirenas we did some activities like permaculture, planting trees, beach cleanup, turtle patrol, hiking and horseback riding. I enjoyed the activities I did in Cirenas, especially the planting trees and horseback riding and we went to the beach a couple times. I did horseback ride for the first time here in Costa Rica, at first, I felt nervous and scared than I felt relaxed and comfortable cause we had 2 leaders that looked out for us (groups), it was so much fun I would like to go horseback riding again someday. I tried new some foods and fruits, I tried fresh coconut and papaya for the first time and the most delicious is fresh pineapple. I also have seen some animals I never saw before such as howling monkey, crabs, hourglass tree frog, huge moth, bat, and gecko. There are so many volunteers in the world that go to Cirenas couple days or weeks to learn new cultures, language, global citizenship and gain new experience. You can also volunteer or work somewhere in the world and there are so many programs that you can try.

My group and I came back to Santa Ana on Monday July 15^th right after we got back to Santa Ana, in the evening we went to Walmart to shop a little for ourselves or to family. So far, we’ve started an Agent of Change workshop, Spanish class and done some activities. Agent of Change means a person from inside or outside the organization who helps an organization transform itself by focusing on such as matters as organizational effectiveness, improvement and development. The focus is on the people in the organization and their interactions. I’ve learned a lot about agents of change.

We went to the Canadian Embassy to present about NYA, my territory (Nunavut) culture, language and ourselves. I present about a little bit of my community and I present about 24 hours of darkness and daylight in Nunavut. People enjoyed our presentation and asking questions, there were like 15 people they enjoyed the most was the Inuktitut syllabic and they were amazed. After the Canadian Embassy we did our first Spanish class, the Spanish class is kind of difficult for me but it’s fun to learn. On Saturday July 20, as a group we went to the organic market and souvenir market I bought some few souvenirs to bring home from Costa Rica there’s like so many people at the market and we walked like 12 km. I was tired but I had a great time.

Costa Rica is a little bit similar to back home like people have so much respect to elders and help them that’s what I seen couple times in public.

Costa Rica is a beautiful country, it’s once in a lifetime to see Costa Rica maybe for me but I would love to go back in the future. I’m happy to take this amazing program. I’m learning so much new things such as different culture, language, global citizenship, public speaking (presentation), new skills and gain for experiences. My group leaders are awesome, they help us whenever we need help. Here’s one quote that I like to share with you “we live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open” by Jawaharial Nehru. There’re so many opportunities in the world, if you have your chance to take your opportunity, take it. Thanks to NYA for this opportunity.