5th of April, 2021

Hello there!

I have made considerate modifications on this website since my last blog post. First of all, I added a 'Resume' section, in which basically my entire professional, educational and volunteering career is laid out. I also added a part about my recent trip to Ottawa with other students in the program (Jodie, Julius & Vlad) and slightly modified the design.

The trip to Ottawa was very insightful. We visited the Canadian War Museum, Parliament Hill and the outside of multiple legislative and judicial institutions (we tried to book a tour, but they were unfortunately all closed to the public due to COVID-19). We also visited the UOttawa campus, which was better than I expected. It made me start thinking about my actual plans for next year and my enrollment in University. Of course, McGill Law directly after CEGEP would be my dream, but I have to start thinking realistically too. I looked up undergraduate rograms in the UK and outside of Quebec, mainly UOttawa, Cambridge and UofT, but the prices are way more than I could ever expect. Therefore, I have decided to stay in Quebec for my Bachelor's degree, in order to save my money and, if I continue to want to go to law school, to go to one outside of Quebec. I have always wanted to study abroad, and I think this approach is the best one possible in my circumstances.

For my bachelor's, I've been looking lately at McGill's undergraduate programs. I believe that a Major in Political Sciences and a minor in Gender, Sexuality, Feminist and Social Justice Studies would suit me well. I have decided these two simply based on my own interests, which turns out to be, according to McGill, good complementary courses or minors for it's Law program. I'm also interested in Université de Montréal's Political Sciences and Philisophy Baccalaureat, or just the Political Sciences one. To be honest, I am not sure what the difference between a baccalaureate and a major is. I will be sure to research it more.

Vanier is hosting a mock trial in a couple of days, and although we were late to give in our names, they accepted our registration if we found a total of 12 people, or 2 teams of 6. Me, Jodie Jacobs, Julius Grippo, Vlad Nicolas, Rose Bonséjour and Julian Menga all formed a team, and we were fortunate enough to find 6 more people. Jodie contacted Vanier and we discussed with them a way to pay through the school later, and now we are waiting for news on if our registration was accepted or not. I hope it will be, as it seems to be a very interesting activity.

Speaking of Vanier, they are also hosting a Model UN on the weekend of April 24th, named VMUN. I gave my name to the person in charge of our school's Model UN, Elsa, to hopefully be in the crisis committee, as I thoroughly enjoyed the one I was in for McMUN. This one's about the fallout of the Sicilian mafia post-Great Depression. I really hope to get in this committee, as the subject seems very fun. If not, the Specialized Agency also looks interesting. This one talks about the border dispute bwteen Pakistan and India.

Have a nice evening!

- Maïla