Like Christmas without my family (which I wouldn't experience until later that year during my exchange), Canada Day outside of Canada was going to be strange. Thankfully, I was surrounded by so many Canadians! And I was comforted by the promise of going to a bar which was specifically celebrating Canada Day.
For anyone from outside of Canada, Canada Day marks the signing of our constitution in 1867 when we officially became a federation. It was over a hundred years (1982) until we signed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which essentially marked our freedom from the United Kingdom (although the Americans attempted a few times to invade us and take over -- notably the War of 1812 where the Canadians burned down the White House and won the war in large part thanks to our Native allies). But all of this is just Canadian Pride... on with the story!
 |
| The "Star Spangled Banner" anthem in the USA is based on this war. Casually. |
We decked ourselves out in dollar store tattoos I had gotten before I left and put on our red and white clothing.
At Shae's residence room, we had a lot of fun taking photos and singing the national anthem a few times. It was pouring rain so we weren't thrilled with the idea of going downtown so we just went a few stops on the tram to an amazing pizza place. I got an Aussie pizza (ironically) which had regular toppings in addition to ham and egg.
Overall, it was a bit disappointing as a Canada Day, but the blame lies with the weather rather than Australia itself. I understand why the Founders didn't sign the constitution in the middle of the Canadian Winter. It was still exciting to spend the day with people from different countries, all celebrating Canada!
July 2, 2012:
Our last day in Melbourne before the trip, we booked all of the tours and activities we were planning to do, finished packing and dropped off our extra baggage at Brittney's friends house. We were almost too excited to sleep because in a few hours we'd be leaving on our trip, and a few hours after that we'd be skydiving!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment