Hello, my name is Nicole Blackduck, I am 16 years old and I live in Gameti, NT. I am a participant in this year 2019 Northern Youth Abroad (NYA) Canadian program. A HUGE thank you to everyone that supported in my community and helped me get here. The first week of this program was great! Meeting new friends, who are family to me at camp and learning new cultures. Getting to know these amazing youth and the NYA staff is something I won’t forget. The memories I made the first week is sacred to my heart forever.

The second week, all participants left camp and went to our host communities. When I got into my host community (which it is in Prince Edward Island.) I was welcomed with big hugs and smiles from my host family Rick, Heather, Brooklyn and Cole. They were excited to have me for 5 weeks. My work placement is at 2 different locations, which I love because of the animals. They have horses, rabbits, donkey and many more.

I kayak, go on bike rides and other amazing activities with my host family. We like to sing and play guitar together. Sometimes my host parents’ friends like come by and join us on the weekend for music.

So far, from this program, I met another First Nation group and went to a county music festival with approximately 35,000 people in attendance.  Soon I will be going to two other provinces of NB and NS.

Being in this program really made me feel more confident about myself. What I noticed about the differences about here and back home is the weather, its greener here and a lot more activities and events ( Brooklynn says is caring and helpful).  I highly recommend that you join this program if you are thinking about it. It will prepare you for the future travelling on your own and job experiences. The staff and youth are great people to meet. They actually treat you like family. Masi Cho for taking your time to read my blog.

 Sincerely, Nicole.