· Living the student lifeOttawa, Canada · 7th Oct 2008 · Posted by Annie
After our very filling dinner at a Richtree Market Restaurant, we zombied our way around union station to familiarise ourselves with where we had to go the following morning and then went to bed. Not before falling asleep on the subway on the way home of course. Coz I fall asleep on every single piece of transport we ride. That's just what I do.
Man I hate early mornings... and whenever we go on holiday that's all we seem to do, early morning after early morning. We had to be at Union Station at 8:30am to catch the 9:30am train to Ottawa. We jumped on the subway and fought the crowds of people coming out of station on their way to work.
The train ride was very comfortable. The best bit was the wireless internet available during the 4 hour trip! Since we've got our little HP 2133 laptop with us, we were able to blog and check email, etc etc. Well, Chris was able to - coz I slept.
Ottawa is beautiful, it really is. There are so many brightly colored trees around, red, orange, green, lime colored. That and the rivers running through it, the old European looking castle like buildings in the city center... it really is a very beautiful city.
Our first stop in Ottawa was Carleton University - where our friends Rilla and Pippin are working having recently completed their amazing PhDs in Computer Science, and where my Comp Sci Honours supervisor, Robert Biddle, teaches and researches Human Computer Interaction stuff. Carleton University is JUST like the universities you see in American / Canadian movies - students wandering around, lots of big buildings, trees, roads, research labs, squirrels running around. It's gorgeous! At the HCI labs, Robert, Rilla and Pippin showed us their 'world's cheapest multi-touch table top computer screen'. Built using a projector, an Ikea frosted glass table, a large mirror, some wood and string and a little camera, they're able to simulate a touch screen - very very very cool!!!
We'd heard lots about 'Tim Hortons' but hadn't tried it yet, so that was our next stop after dropping things off at Rilla and Pippin's cool 70's style apartment near the university. Tim Hortons is like Starbucks, only ... kinda crappier. And cheap. Very cheap. $1.12 for a small hot chocolate. $1.22 for a medium. And quick! Like you've-just-paid-and-they're-already-handing-you-a-cup quick. Robert explained it was more like 4 Square supermarkets are in NZ - there's at least one in every city. Anyhoo, Rilla and Pippin bought us some 'Tim Bits' - tiny little donut things from Tim Hortons that are also ridiculously cheap and really yummy! So Tim Hortons isn't so bad, we like their hot chocolate.
Tim Hortons!
We spent the next couple of days just wondering around Ottawa with Rilla and Pippin, having giant meals at classic 'diners' and wandering around Carleton a bit more. Chris discovered 'Poutin' (chips covered in gravy and 'cheese curd', mmmm). Robert picked us up at 8am for breakfast and then drove us around downtown Ottawa, giving us a brief history as we went. We had a good time. :)
Robert had a professor from another university visiting so Rilla, Pippin, a couple of Robert's students, Chris and I sat with them in Robert's research lab and listened as they discussed the finer details of Computer Science and Mathematics - most of which went way over our heads! We also got to have a look inside another PhD student's lab - a GAMING lab! Picture this, a big leather couch, two projectors, every gaming console imaginable (including a wii light-saber thingy, a force-feedback vest thingy, infra-red security cameras to watch your movements - which will be modified to capture motion as people play games, in other words, lots of cool gamey thingies!). Chris stayed and chatted to the PhD student in the games lab, also called Chris, while I listened to Robert and his fellow professor talk about Newton Raphson Theory and HCI principles of Computer Security, etc etc. To be honest, it was awesome listening to them and it totally made me want to be back at uni...
After a quick dinner at a Vietnamese Restaurant in town, Chris and I piked on a 2 hour lecture being held by Robert's professor friend and instead fell asleep while watching the USA Presidential Debate at Rilla and Pippin's apartment. We were so tired... all I could hear was McCain saying 'my friends...' and 'mortgages' and 'taxes' and 'health care'... zzzz.
Thanks Rilla and Pippin for having us stay at your place... your Ikea couch-bed was very comfy!! :)
Man I hate early mornings... and whenever we go on holiday that's all we seem to do, early morning after early morning. We had to be at Union Station at 8:30am to catch the 9:30am train to Ottawa. We jumped on the subway and fought the crowds of people coming out of station on their way to work.
The train ride was very comfortable. The best bit was the wireless internet available during the 4 hour trip! Since we've got our little HP 2133 laptop with us, we were able to blog and check email, etc etc. Well, Chris was able to - coz I slept.
Ottawa is beautiful, it really is. There are so many brightly colored trees around, red, orange, green, lime colored. That and the rivers running through it, the old European looking castle like buildings in the city center... it really is a very beautiful city.
Our first stop in Ottawa was Carleton University - where our friends Rilla and Pippin are working having recently completed their amazing PhDs in Computer Science, and where my Comp Sci Honours supervisor, Robert Biddle, teaches and researches Human Computer Interaction stuff. Carleton University is JUST like the universities you see in American / Canadian movies - students wandering around, lots of big buildings, trees, roads, research labs, squirrels running around. It's gorgeous! At the HCI labs, Robert, Rilla and Pippin showed us their 'world's cheapest multi-touch table top computer screen'. Built using a projector, an Ikea frosted glass table, a large mirror, some wood and string and a little camera, they're able to simulate a touch screen - very very very cool!!!
We'd heard lots about 'Tim Hortons' but hadn't tried it yet, so that was our next stop after dropping things off at Rilla and Pippin's cool 70's style apartment near the university. Tim Hortons is like Starbucks, only ... kinda crappier. And cheap. Very cheap. $1.12 for a small hot chocolate. $1.22 for a medium. And quick! Like you've-just-paid-and-they're-already-handing-you-a-cup quick. Robert explained it was more like 4 Square supermarkets are in NZ - there's at least one in every city. Anyhoo, Rilla and Pippin bought us some 'Tim Bits' - tiny little donut things from Tim Hortons that are also ridiculously cheap and really yummy! So Tim Hortons isn't so bad, we like their hot chocolate.
Tim Hortons!
We spent the next couple of days just wondering around Ottawa with Rilla and Pippin, having giant meals at classic 'diners' and wandering around Carleton a bit more. Chris discovered 'Poutin' (chips covered in gravy and 'cheese curd', mmmm). Robert picked us up at 8am for breakfast and then drove us around downtown Ottawa, giving us a brief history as we went. We had a good time. :)
Robert had a professor from another university visiting so Rilla, Pippin, a couple of Robert's students, Chris and I sat with them in Robert's research lab and listened as they discussed the finer details of Computer Science and Mathematics - most of which went way over our heads! We also got to have a look inside another PhD student's lab - a GAMING lab! Picture this, a big leather couch, two projectors, every gaming console imaginable (including a wii light-saber thingy, a force-feedback vest thingy, infra-red security cameras to watch your movements - which will be modified to capture motion as people play games, in other words, lots of cool gamey thingies!). Chris stayed and chatted to the PhD student in the games lab, also called Chris, while I listened to Robert and his fellow professor talk about Newton Raphson Theory and HCI principles of Computer Security, etc etc. To be honest, it was awesome listening to them and it totally made me want to be back at uni...
After a quick dinner at a Vietnamese Restaurant in town, Chris and I piked on a 2 hour lecture being held by Robert's professor friend and instead fell asleep while watching the USA Presidential Debate at Rilla and Pippin's apartment. We were so tired... all I could hear was McCain saying 'my friends...' and 'mortgages' and 'taxes' and 'health care'... zzzz.
Thanks Rilla and Pippin for having us stay at your place... your Ikea couch-bed was very comfy!! :)
