Breakfast - yummmmy

On the road in 10 minutes!



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Location:Place de la République,Caen,France

Joe's post

.... There are a couple reasons why this trip is fun for everyone, everything is actually interesting because you are seeing the actual battlefields, guns and equipment. Everyone is in a good mood because they are not bored.


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Connor Hill on German Grave Yard

.... Then we made our way to a German cemetory. It was strange to see the thousands of black crosses with up to four Germans for every cross. I found it strange, the unceremonious way the graves were set.....


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Group photo

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Hill 62

Group photo




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Musee Du Debarquement - Arromanches

A view of Point-du-hoc

Collin - Blow'n away at Point-du-hoc

Possibly one of the windiest days we've experienced on this trip, I mean absolutely the windiest day I hope we ever encounter on this trip!  All the students were troupers!

Virginia writing in her diary at Vimy Ridge!

Colouring @ Juno Beach?!?

Matt and Sarah @ Caen Memorial Museum

5:45 Wake-up.... what kind of trip is Hoganson running

Good morning parents,

We are all up and accounted for (5:45 AM).  Today we are off to a few more WW2 sites on the North Coast of France.  We are about two days from Paris.

When we return to Caen tonight, we'll endeavour to put up some more photos and some of the kids writing.

Thanks again for all the responses - it's great to see that people are following our adventure.

RA Supervising Teachers

Time for one photo

Molle and Huband heeding some good advice.

More to come tomorrow!


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Another full day

Hello parents!

That was another full 12-14 hour day of touring and learning! Wehave some more pictures and writing to post but alas need some rest!

All are safe and having a great time.

Signing off from Europe,
Jason


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Location:Place de la République,Caen,France

Together: featuring poet Paarth Kelkar

Zak and AJ have a moment at a German Cemetery

Oh Canada

Vimy Ridge: Canada's Defining Moment

33 followers!

Dear parents,

Thank-you for your comments on our posts! The kids love hearing from you and it really helps motivate them to reflect on their once in a lifetime experience!

Next stop Dieppe!


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Location:Rue de Verdun,Villeurbanne,France

Pride and Reflection

Major Davidson and Private Wood

Remembrance Ceremony

Marshall Strong

Out of the trip so far today without a question was the best day of our trip. Starting the day off, we went to a French WWI gravesite. It was sickening at how many people gave up their lives for France. There were over 60 000 crosses for the dead, not including the four mass graves that were the resting place for 25 000 soldiers who were never identified and probably never will be. Following this we went to two other cemeteries, the first a British Commonwealth site and the other a German gravesite. At the British gravesite we performed a small ceremony for the fallen that gave their lives for the freedom we take for granted every day. I got to read a small paragraph to my classmates during the ceremony. We placed flowers under the Sword of Sacrifice and then we all got some Vimy medals. I also saw two interesting gravesites, one was a German stone, and rather than have a British emblem it featured an Iron Cross. The other was a Canadian stone which said the body of an unknown soldier was randomly removed and brought back to Canada to rest in the Imperial War Museum. The German site was cool as well, however they are far more gloomy. The crosses are black and have the names of four soldiers per grave. The trees there were picked because they did not need much pruning because their cemeteries are maintained through donations and done by German youth groups. I also saw some interesting crosses which had the last name Stark, which is my last name (strong) in German. The gloomy morning ended when we visited the greatest Canadian site...Vimy Ridge!!! Here we took pictures of the Vimy monument and had a couple of class photos under the Mother of Canada weeping for her sons. After, we went to the trenches and saw the tunnels used to help earn the Canadian victory. This ended the WWI part of the trip. I would like to thank the lost and the fallen who gave their lives for our freedom.


RIP

Marshall Strong

Grade 12 Rundle Academy

Hugh's Blog

The trip going quite well! The teachers are quite knowledgeable and have been very nice. Apart from a little tiredness we, the students, have been doing quite well. We have finished the WWI sites and are now moving on to WWII locations. The food has been quite nice. That is all for now.

I Will Not Forget!

The wars that others fight
do not go unnoticed.
But the cost of life
is too expensive

The family and friends we lose
The tears that have a million messages
the cries are heard everywhere today

There was a soldier here
who was nineteen
when he died
he died fighting

This war had many causalities
many deaths known and unknown
Many tombs carved out of stone

I thought about it further
I saw the field of crosses
the remembrance and pain
the misery of the losses

Where and how did we get here?
Why did they fight?
Why did they give up all their live?

Paarth Kelkar

Sarah - the Albert Tunnels

Street Performer in Brussels!

Mr. Lawson - teaching a lesson @ Flanders Memorial

Downtown Brussels - Grayson & Marshall

Marshall in WW1 Uniform

Ryan at Beaumont-Hamel

Synchronised Pole Standing

Alex and his helmet

Statue of the Brooding Soldier - Vancouver Crossroads

Victoria and Lana gave a wonderful presentation on the first gas attack on Canadianian soldiers.  Their words were poinient and moving.

Danger Tree - Beaumont-Hamel

Beaumont-|Hamel - In the trenches

Theipval - Group Photo - Memorial of the Missing

Days Pictures

Taylor @ the Somme Museum in Albert, France

Chris T's Blog

When I think of this trip the first words that come to my mind are fun, educational, and an overall good time. If you look at someone just at some random time they are either smiling, laughing or crying with joy or sadness because of the over flowing information that is going through their mind. This trip has been eye opening for me and many other people. Yesterday ,at Ypres, I might have just found a relative that has died there. The museum’s are not boring old museum with an old British guy that you can barely hear giving you the tour or he is just too loud because he is half deaf. Actually they are totally different, in fact today, we went in to a tunnel that was used for the town folk to escape the Nazi’s and other invaders. We also went into our own land where the Newfoundland regiment bravely fought but were defeated by an over whelming German force.

Day 3

It's 7am local time and we re ready to board the by for another full day. The guide has informed me that because we are heading for the countryside and because it's Sunday, we migt have some trouble finding calling cards.... That being said I asked her to try her best. She has assures me that by Monday we'll all have a chance to purchase some.

There will be more to come when we hit wifi again.


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Location:Rue de Paris,Lille,France

More Pictures

Chris' Great Grandfather's Name

A few pictures from the day

Fun times in Brussels

Anya's Post

Today we went Menin Gate where we got to listen to 'The Last Post.' The 15 minute celebration was for saying thanks to all our soldiers who faught in the war. There was over 50 000 soldiers that were found but unnamed, I found it very interesting to see . I’m sorry for the short note and the foggy details – I’m tired and ready for sleep! Anya

Gordie's Blog

Todau we went to Tyne Cot Cemetary, the biggest we have gon to yet.  Joe and I had 50 Canadian flags to put on the Canadian grages and after walking through no more than 5 rows, they were all gone.  We then went to go sign our names in the MEmorial Registry Booklet - there was also many full books of soldier names and when we went through them Chris found the name of his Great Grandfather - that was pretty special!  Gordie

Done for another eve

Wow, another very busy day! It's 10 pm local time!! All students are now in their rooms. We should be arranging phone cards for for the kids tomorrow.



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Location:Rue de Paris,Lille,France

Troy's blog

Really tired last night, but


battle of Waterloo was really interesting to see. The big hill with the lion on it was really great to see! I am up and ready for another great day in Europe!!


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Location:Saint-Gilles,Belgium

Brussels

We're all here! Safe sound and jet lagged!


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Emergency phone number

Parents... In case you missed it, here is our emergency contact number: 06 62 9215 98

The guide's name is Claire Chamot.



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Through security!

We are all through, now just to board!

From this point forward I hope to have the kids posting here!



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Location:14 St NW,Calgary,Canada

Finally.... the day has arrived

We'll see all students at the airport today by 10:30 and we will be (hopefully) taking off on time at 14:30!Thanks for joining us on our journey!!

One Day Away

Parents, students, whoever is following and reading,

Here's the plan.... we'll be updating this blog with original writing from our students on a regular basis!  We hope for this to be a real-time journal that will give everybody some insight into our daily experience.

We hope you follow and enjoy!

See everybody in 28 hours at the airport.

Trip is only 14 days away!

This is just Mr. Rogers testing mobile posting...


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Location:16 St SW,Calgary,Canada

Rundle Academy in Europe

Hello parents, students, staff..... everybody....

Rundle Academy staff and students are gearing up to visit France and Belgium! As a part of the experience, we are going to endeavor to keep up a blog so people can share this adventure with us. Our hope is that all students will take some time to add to our collected work.

Feel free to comment back and become a part of our conversation!