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!