One year later: a cross-border trip that keeps me grateful

In April 2017, just a few months into my university career, I embarked on a trip to Portland, Oregon with my student union. It was the first time I had travelled with classmates since band camp in Grade 8; that was much more supervised. Portland was student led and organized, and as the new marketing coordinator for the union, I was part of the planning. It was the beginning of a beautiful few years of socializing with the people that would define my degree. After an awesome trip to Portland, we would subsequently travel to Whistler, Victoria, and Seattle.

Many times over the past few months I have defaulted to gratefulness when asked about missing school. Seemingly endless days of online classes got me down often, but thinking about sunny days on campus, grabbing a matcha latte before class, or going to the new pub for a beer sends me into a bittersweet haze. But above all of those experiences, I soak in the memories of Seattle in February 2020.

I was arguably at the peak of my academic rigour in Fall 2019. I had just returned to campus after working on Co-Op for 8 months. Not seeing my classmates for the longest ever, I dove right back into Co-chairing my student union. Planning events, chairing meetings, and convening with committees every week, I was at max capacity. But surprisingly, I was thriving. After working a high-paced job, I was motivated to take a bunch of challenging courses while leading a student group (and planning a conference with another club!). In that Fall term, the GSU started planning our next school trip which had been taken annually for nearly 12 years. And one key decision was made which would decide the trip’s fate: we took it on Spring Break instead of the traditional time in April after exams.

I won’t make a “hindsight is 20:20” joke, but I can safely say all the trip attendees are happy we went early. Within three weeks of the end of our trip to Seattle, the university was closed.

Planning and chaperoning that multi-day trip is my proudest achievement. I am an anxious over thinker, and being responsible for 20 of my peers on a trip across the border for multiple days was daunting. But I buckled up tight, and it went perfectly. Each itinerary point was met in good time, the weather was nice, nobody got lost or stranded, and we still had lots of time to let loose!

Those experiential learning trips are a perfect blend of nerding-out and partying, as any good school trip should be in my opinion. People were able to make friends almost instantly, split up and explore the beautiful city, and convene in the evening at a pub night or chilling in the hostel lounge. And our planned excursions were stellar.

The reason I want to share this trip is because of of how much fun we were having within a couple weeks of complete lockdown. The dichotomy is stark and poignant.

Below are some highlights through photos. Hopefully they give you some happiness and hope for your future carefree travels. At this point in my pandemic fatigue I am just fine waiting until the world heals, but I won’t hesitate to seize the day… or the year, once that happens.

So 20 geographers walk into a map store…
I think about this Shake Shack burger, cheese fries, and lemonade-tea OFTEN. I will be seeking it out as soon as possible.
Seattle is one of my favourite cities. It reminds me of Vancouver but with a much older, steeped vibe.
Our impromptu walk along the seawall resulted in some serious urban geography geekery.
The Seattle Monorail was bumpier than I expected. Could be because my souvenir pin got stuck in the vending machine.
The group’s enthusiasm to learn was so energizing on this trip.
You could get delicious fry bread at Off the Rez Cafe, nested in the Burke Museum. This colonial institution has been making tangible reconciliation efforts in their programming and exhibits.
The Starbucks Reserve was a marvel to see.
Touring Seattle’s Queer history with Julian Barr.
Missing the cue at the University of Washington.
Chris was my partner in crime throughout COVID in 2020, both finishing our degrees and leading the student union. This guy is a rockstar!
This was the first time I ever did bar karaoke. I serenaded the intoxicated crowd with “Dancing Queen”