It is said that sa国际传媒 came of age with its centennial celebrations. If that is so, so did I.
I was 17 years old in 1967, and as a high school student, was chosen to become a Centennial traveller. Centennial travellers were groups of two dozen students from the same city. Generally, two students (a girl and a boy) were chosen from each school, but I had an 鈥渋n鈥� so that I was the third student from my school.
My 鈥渋n鈥� was a cousin who was in charge of the Manitoba program. As well, my parents had helped my cousin by hosting students and acting as chaperones to student groups on their travels to different places across sa国际传媒.
I went from Winnipeg to St. John鈥檚, Newfoundland.
We took the train to Montreal, which allowed us to bond. In Montreal, we had a few hours at Expo 67, and then flew (the 鈥渕ilk run鈥� with five stops in the Maritimes) to St. John鈥檚.
We visited many sightseeing and cultural spots. On the way home, we flew to our nation鈥檚 capital and met an MP from Winnipeg North constituency.
One great thing about my trip was that we had hosted a student from St. John鈥檚 and it was arranged that I would billet in St. John鈥檚 with one of the people that I had met. I also reconnected with several Newfoundland girls who had been in Winnipeg. I would like to say that romance bloomed but only teen hormones flared.
For all of these reasons, I fell in love with Newfoundland, its people, but also our great country.
I have been fortunate enough in my life to travel across this country many times, as well as to go to both the Yukon and Northwest Territories. I often say that one of the most beautiful things that I have experienced was on a lake in northern Manitoba.
When I got out of the helicopter, the snow was glistening from the deep blue sky and sunshine; there was no wind, and simply the 鈥渟ounds of silence.鈥� A chance to connect to a higher power that sent shivers down my spine. Another sign that beauty can be found in the most unexpected places in our great nation. 鈥� Les Swain