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Everyday an Adventure
-- My NRC Memories
12B Erica Lin
I could not believe
it. After six weeks in Ottawa, here I was, back at the exact same
Air Canada ticket counter. I had paid a visit to these counters
six weeks ago, and had foolishly thought it would be the last time
I ever saw the place. But apparently, I was strangely attracted to
the lovely counters behind the glass windows, where every unhappy
passenger who has missed their flight visits. Once again, the
flight to Vancouver had been delayed, causing me to miss the
transfer. The second time though, I was oddly relieved to be
there. I listened calmly as the lady announced that we would be
spending the night in Vancouver and smiled. I was not ready to let
go of Canada just yet.
My first morning at NRC consisted of Stephane taking me
around the building, and I soon learned that everything could be
dangerous. I desperately tried to remember everything. Always wear
your lab coat, safety glasses, and gloves, and remember to wear
your mask when handling nanotubes. Wear special, protective
glasses in the laser room if you see the red light flashing
outside. If anything happens, call 333. After several hours of
safety training, I was even more nervous than before. However, a
few hours in the lab soon transformed the nervousness into
excitement. Before leaving for Canada, I had prepared myself to
meet many incredibly intelligent, but crazy, scientists who would
be too busy with important discoveries to mind a foolish high
school student. I was ready to be the annoying brat, asking the
most obvious questions about the most fundamental concepts, and I
was ready to have to watch and observe for several weeks before I
was allowed to touch anything. I did meet unbelievably intelligent
scientists, and while I must admit some of them were slightly
crazy, every single one of them was eager to explain everything in
the lab to me. Once, Jingwen, the chemist I was assigned to work
with, immediately sat down and spent half an hour explaining the
concept behind Raman spectroscopy when he realized I had never
seen or learned about it before. Not only did everyone
passionately answer all of my questions, I was allowed to try
everything. For the first week, I was shown around the lab by
Maya, a Canadian summer student from the University of Ottawa, who
soon became someone I could find whenever I was confused.
Surprisingly, she had been instructed to stand on the side and
tell me exactly what to do, while I attempted to do everything. At
the end of each day in the lab, I found myself eager to return to
the lab the next day. For the first time, I was doing a lab with
results I could not foresee, and I couldn’t wait to learn more.
Luckily, I did not have to spend my nights or weekends
in Ottawa craving to return to the labs. It was the first time
that I can remember actually living in a foreign country. Instead
of being trapped in the boundaries of a college campus, like I
usually am when I attend summer school, I was allowed to go
anywhere and completely submerge myself in Canadian culture. The
city itself was filled with places worth visiting, and going to
these places made everyday an adventure. Nearly every night was
spent outside, exploring the downtown area, and every trip
downtown became an interesting story to tell. Weekends, on the
other hand, were spent discovering Canada beyond Ottawa. From
relaxing at a cottage beside a beautiful lake and watching the
sunrise, to peacefully admiring Lake Ontario on Toronto Island, to
walking through the European-style streets of Montreal and
visiting the awe-inspiring church. If there were a fault to the
Canadian experience, it would be the lack of time. With so many
places to go, there simply was not enough time to visit all of
them. However, it did not bother me that I did not visit every
museum in Ottawa, or every tourist attraction; I enjoyed immensely
just walking through the streets of Ottawa, soaking it all in.
After one last night in Vancouver, we were finally
heading home. As we boarded the plane, James suddenly asked, “What
do you miss most?”
Without hesitation, I
answered, “The people.”
Despite the amazing
lab experience and the interesting places we visited, the people
were what really made the experience memorable. I will always
remember Benoit, my advisor, who always speed-walked through the
hallways while eating soup or instant noodles, who
enthusiastically shouted out every sentence with his French
accent, and who jumped to his feet exclaiming “ERICA!” when I
first met him. Jingwen, the hilarious Chinese chemist, who
had such a strong accent, I had trouble understanding him the
first week. His confident, rhythmic walk, his overflowing passion
for research, the excitement in his voice when he shouted out
“MAGIC!” or “PERFECT!” at the sight of good results. Sylvie, my
host, who made me feel so much at home and gave me complete
freedom over what I wished to do. Maya, who was so skilled and
answered all my questions so completely that I mistook her for a
graduate student although she was actually only a junior in
college. Her imitations of funny Canadian commercials, her
interesting anecdotes about her family and friends, and the way
she blushed when someone asked her a question. Hui-Fen and Hui-Ling,
two Ching-Hua University students who I shared an office with, who
always made me laugh uncontrollably until my stomach ached, and
concentrated so intently on their food during lunch, they never
took their eyes off the food…
Before taking off, we took one last look out the window
at Canada.
“I’ll be back,” James stated with determination.
I smiled. “I’m coming with you.”
NRC經驗談
H2-4 呂哲安
自通過中正機場海關的那一剎那開始，身旁便一個熟人也沒有。而且同行的都是比我大的學長學姐，難免有點害羞。雖然我很快地就和學長姐成為好朋友，但下飛機不久，他們又被各自的接待家庭接走。接下來的六個星期，除了週末及幾次偶然的聚會外，無論是工作或是在家，再也碰不到會說中文的人了。即將面對的是完全陌生的環境。我鼓起勇氣告訴自己，該獨立了！
接待家庭
我的接待家庭姓Born，人都非常的好。父親Randy是NRC資深的研究員，有 一個非常漂亮的女兒Jennifer，和她的未婚夫Konrad住在隔壁——我就住在Jennifer家。由於Konrad暑假去Kingston教書，偶爾才會回來，所以大部分的時間都是Jennifer再照顧我。
Jennifer和他媽媽Marguerite都非常會做菜，Randy烤的漢堡更是天下第一。大概是因為這樣，我在加拿大食量大增，吃飯速度是平常的兩倍……回到台灣增加了4公斤。有時候Jennifer會請她朋友來一起吃飯，有時候Konrad回來會帶我們到餐廳吃飯（我只好當電燈泡）。第二週時，Jennifer去Saskatchewan省，我整個星期都單獨在家，Marguerite和Randy有一天還烤給我吃牛排大餐——而且是在台灣一客要上千元的菲力米濃牛排（fillet-mignon）！
很幸運的，我隨時受到關切，又有相當大的自由。Jennifer平常晚上10點就寢，所以半夜我可以隨心所欲——不知道總共看了幾片DVD！Jennifer出去的那一週更誇張，整棟房子好像變成我的。好幾天的晚餐也都是自己出門隨便解決的。
獨立生活
一個人的生活雖然有時挺孤獨的，但是什麼都可以自己來，自己體驗！每天回家需要做的事有：Check
E-mail、整理書包及個人物品、練小提琴（特別帶去的）、吃晚餐、跟媽媽用及時通聊天、準備第二天的午餐（因為比外時便宜很多，但有時候得花我半小時以上！）……，有時還須洗衣服、打電話、打包行裏、查觀光資訊……等等。這些事做完後，雖然才9點，本應有時間讀書，但我總是撐不到十分鐘就倒在躺椅上睡著了。……然後半夜3點爬起來洗澡，再繼續睡。這種生活還真自由自在啊！
交通工具
上班、觀光、去購物中心……去哪裡都少不了公車。我初期搭公車的經驗並不是很好。星期天買的月票星期一就不見了，一次都沒用到，後來只好去買ticket（類似優惠票）。而且第一次自己搭公車回家，由於不熟悉路線圖和車上標的字樣，不知道什麼時候按鈴，甚至不知道轉車要拿轉車票，所以亂坐一通。不僅花了兩倍的錢，還花了整整二個鐘頭才到家——漸漸熟悉後，不到40分鐘就到家了。原來秘訣是——看時間表。Ottawa公車其實非常準時，且路線圖、站牌標示都非常清楚，確實是世界頂級的公車系統。
工作
歷年來四個NRC同學中都會有一個是去Ottawa
University研習。今年就是我。但我工作的地方其實是在Ottawa總醫院（General Hospital）的眼科部門（Eye
Institute）。這個實驗室裡所有的人都在做組織工程（tissue
engineering）。大部分人都在研究人工角膜（cornea），不過也有研究心臟、神經、軟骨等的。我在這幾個星期的時間內，見識了非常多研究生物的技術。例如：細胞培養（tissue
culture）、製作水凝膠（hydro gel）、生/死細胞染色法（live/dead
staining）、細胞存活率檢驗（viability test）、逆轉錄聚合鍊反應（RT-PCR）、低溫恆溫器（cryostat，組織切片用）等等。我的指導教授Dr.
Griffith有一次還帶我去看獸醫對豬動手術的過程。（他們要把豬的角膜切除，換成人工角膜測試。）
實驗室有博士班學生、碩士班學生、也有大學部的Summer
students（只是暑假來工作）。中午大家常會一起吃午餐，聊聊時事——我也才見識到加拿大人對美國政府是多麼的反感。每個人都很熱情、很和善。有一天他們看到我穿粉紅色的衣服，就約定明天全部的人都穿粉紅色，以增加活力。第二天，不僅我的實驗室每個人都穿粉紅色，連隔壁的實驗室也有不少人穿！
觀光
 說到玩，我應該是四個人裡面玩最多的。因為工程關係，我的實驗室第三週整週關閉。我便利用此段時間去了好幾個博物館。每一個博物館都把本身的主題發揮地淋漓盡致。尤其是今年才完工的戰爭博物館（war
museum），文字敘述清晰、有邏輯，展示物豐富，影片生動，還有幾十台真正的戰車、戰機。一天之內，有如讀完一本厚厚的加拿大戰爭史，精彩，精彩！
週末我們四個總是會聚在一起。有兩個週末，Randy和Marguerite帶我們去他們自己蓋的cottage（木屋型別墅）玩。不僅活動豐富，食物也超讚！他們還帶我們去Barren
Canyon划獨木舟（canoe）。這裡野生生態完全不受污染，河岸野花叢生、野鳥齊飛，簡直是人間天堂！還有扛起獨木舟走400公尺的經驗，更是令人難以忘懷。
還有一個週末，Bickey（皓瑜學姐）跟Erica的接待家庭Mrs. Silvie
Couture親自當導遊帶我們去Montreal。當天，Silvie帶我們走了整個下午的路。大概整個城市都被我們踏遍了吧！
加拿大每個月都安排一個「長週末」，就是無緣無故放掉星期一或星期五的假。我們就利用這個機會去了Toronto和Niagara
Falls。令我非常驚訝的是，Niagara Falls半夜12點跟賭城一樣熱鬧！
除此之外，我們還會參加NRC辦的野餐活動、晚宴等。而且週間我們四個還會一起約去看電影。來到Ottawa，保證一定玩得不亦樂乎！
溜直排輪
不過我最難忘的還是溜直牌輪。國外街道寬廣，又有人行道，故以機動性和速度來說，直牌輪大概是最好的交通工具。我便在Sports Chek買了直牌輪，再向Randy借了安全帽和護腕。裝備齊全後，幾乎到哪裡都帶著直牌輪。去博物館、Shopping、看景點，公車花時間又花錢，直牌輪迅速又自由，而且還能運動。有兩次從市區溜直牌輪回家，雖然花了整整一個鐘頭，但是溜過熱鬧的街道以及幽美的河邊公園後，感覺跟Ottawa更貼近了。
不論是研究經驗或是異地生活的樂趣，NRC的研習計畫是畢生難忘的經驗。謝謝主辦單位及所有的老師們的辛苦！
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