Day 19 - UQO

Hello friends, since we spent most of yesterday being tourists, we decided to spend a lot of today enjoying the nature and surroundings in Ottawa. We first had to get our primary objective completed, so we crossed the bridge over to Gatineau, QC to go visit Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO). What I learned about this school today is that the only Engineering programs it offers are Electrical and Computer Engineering, and that their Engineering campus is completely separate from their main campus (it's about a 10-15 minute walk to get to it). Unfortunately because their Engineering program is so small, and because Anthony and I couldn't really read any of the signs because everything is in French, there wasn't too much for us to see. I'm still glad that we made the trip though, it's always so fascinating seeing the various campuses and how different student life is there. This was the final Quebec school that I planned to visit, so I can check that off the list.

After our visit, we went out to lunch at a place called "Pour Boy" in DT Ottawa, which was decent considering how cheap it was, so no complaints there. We met up with Karine Jarzecki, a friend of mine who just graduated from UGuelph and is working in Ottawa for the summer; it was really nice catching up with her. Anthony and I then spent about 45 minutes looking for a parking spot downtown, and then we gave up and went home. I was originally planning on taking a tour of Parliament, but decided that I should just enjoy the amazing spring weather that we had today. When we were at home and chatting with Hannah, one of Cassidy's roommates (great to talk to and very knowledgeable about things to do in Ottawa), she recommended a bunch of ways for us to spend the day, and so we left the house and went on an adventure. We walked down to the Rideau Canal and headed to Hog's Back Falls, a very pretty waterfall at the end of the canal. We did a bit of hiking through the rocks and the trees to get a good view of the water, and we even saw a rainbow! After hanging out there for a bit, we made our way back towards the canal and basically walked all the way to the other end of it to get to Dow's Lake to see more of the Tulip Festival. The lake itself was beautiful, and then we crossed the street and went to Commissioner Park to see the tulips. There were more tulips here than there were at Major's Hill Park, so I'm glad we managed to stop by. The park itself had so many food trucks lined up and a lot things happening in it, so it felt a bit like a carnival.

We then walked all the way back to Cassidy's house having completed just over 8 km of walking today (which is a lot if you are as out of shape as we are). We walked by the Experimental Farm, which is an agricultural facility and research centre focused on improvements to agricultural methods and crops. When we got home, we hung out with more of my amazing Carleton Engineering friends, having life chats and watching YouTube videos for a few hours, and then we went out to a bonfire with a few of their friends. The guy hosting the bonfire is from Kitchener-Waterloo, so we hit it off right off the bat. It was a pretty chill night hanging out with some friends, and I had a lot of fun. The ride back home was wild as we had some tunes going and everyone in the car was singing along, and that was honestly one of the highlights of my day. I don't have a concrete plan for tomorrow, but I am excited for what it has in store.

UQO: www.instagram.com/p/Bi8kyfnlHWl