On the 16th of November 2017, Canadian youth across Europe packed their bags and travelled to the Netherlands for a weekend of fun. I myself travelled from Belgium to the Netherlands with a group of people for the weekend and may I say that it was worth the travel. The reason for said voyage was the annual Canadian Youth Leadership Conference, 2 ½ days of bonding with people you had never met. Fun right? Canadians youth age 13 to 18 from Italy, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium and other European countries all reunited for a weekend of wacky weirdness. Our two guest speakers, Stu and Ash Bear, were awesome. They were engaging and had everyone participating in the various activities they had planned for us.
I’m sure you are all curious about what fun activities we did but to be truthful, I can’t put them into words. The activities were so crazy and creative that there is no distinctive way to describe them. We had contest over rubber animals, challenges over who could make the best outfit out of newspaper and chair games in which someone always ended up on the ground! Laughter could be heard throughout the entire building as we bonded over the silliest things. It was fantastic! It was amazing how, in less than a day, we all created bonds with each other, found friends with similar interests and how it was easy to exchange with everyone.
It didn’t matter which part of Canada we came from or which part of Europe you had moved to, we all had one thing in common from the moment we entered that Hostel: we were all military “brats” adapting to a new environment. We were all dragged into something we didn’t have much say in, we had to adapt to this new environment and learn how to roll with the punches. I believe that’s what made everyone click.
There is so much more I wish to say about this conference, I could probably write an entire book about it but I will refrain from such. Stu and Ash Bear are absolutely ecstatic people: they were supportive of all our future goals and encouraged us to become the leaders of tomorrow. So all and all it was an amazing weekend and I’m so excited for next year’s conference.