Greetings from Michigan!

It’s been a fun and exhausting first day! Right now I’m blogging from my hotel room in Mount Pleasant, where we’ll be interviewing students tomorrow at Central Michigan University. We met some really awesome people today so I’m looking forward to new faces tomorrow!

Brian and I are driving around in a bright electric blue PT cruiser. I like to think that it’s our own little Blue Greased Lightnin’ (hey hey CITs ’06). We were both responsible for creating road trip playlists on our iPods, so it’s been fun listening to new music, and there have been some pretty awesome sing-alongs. We’ve had dinner at an old train station turned restaurant, sampled the local favorite dishes, stopped for coffee at the happiest coffee shop on earth, and found some amazing students who will hopefully be your new amazing counselors.

I’d blog longer but we have a very early day tomorrow! Pictures and videos will be coming soon, so check back later for more from roadtrip 2009.

Brian had a muffin this morning, but it was disappointing.
He hopes that tomorrow his breakfast will be warm and delicious.

Hi All,

I just wanted to show you some of the past staff who have joined me at many of the camp fairs over the past week:

Alex Dean and me at the Sydney, Australia Fair

Tamara, me, Jim, and Kevin at the Brisbane Camp Fair

Tim Pearson and me eating breakfast in Brisbane

 Click here to view Eric’s vlog from Sydney, Australia!

Got a question for Eric during his travels? Send your questions to editor@canadensis.com and Eric will answer them in the next vlog! Remember, continue to  also email your guesses in. We have received so many emails from all of you and many of you seem to be on the right track.

Check back tomorrow so see where Eric has landed.

Hi Canadensis!

So here I am, sitting in the airport awaiting the departure of my flight to Michigan! Brian is already on his way there from New Jersey… he might even be there by now! We are meeting at the Detroit airport and then making our way to Western Michigan University where we will hold a full day of staff interviews tomorrow! So exciting!

I’ve had some interesting interactions at the airport so far, the girl who checked my bags wanted to know where I bought my leggings (I am so in love with outfits that require leggings!) and we had a great chat about how express is selling some great tights right now, but how Old Navy and American Eagle are great if you need black leggings in a pinch. The man at the security check was very friendly, after a brief chat about the lovely weather he told me that it was such a pleasure to make my acquaintance, so I told him I was glad to be his friend. I really like to make friends with people at the airport, I feel safer knowing that the girl who makes sure my bag gets on the right plane is thinking about how glad she is I told her where to get this season’s tights.

I am also very excited to be flying with new luggage! (Okay, this is the part where Gabe rolls his eyes and Brian starts memorizing everything I’m writing so he can tease me about it in the car when I land). I bought a fabulous Betsey Johnson rolling duffle, it’s black with gold piping and detailing, and all over the bag are cool neon travel signs like “Welcome the Fabulous Betseyville”  and “Betsey Motel”. I saw it at the shop and fell in love. I felt so flashy trotting through the airport with my big black shades and hot new baggage. Ugh, I’m such a girl…

Okay, so now I’m sitting in my terminal waiting to board the plane. Unfortunately, Terminal E is very boring and has limited shopping opportunities. I usually fly out of the JFK airport, because I am 100% obsessed and in love with JetBlue Airlines. If I could only fly one airline for the rest of my life, it would be JetBlue. The new JB terminal at JFK is stunning, and I honestly get to my flight early just so I can browse through the shops. Oooh I just looove that airport.

So now I’m just sitting around the terminal… waiting… waiting… waiting…

… TTYL, FROM MICHIGAN!

Click here to view Eric’s next clue! Remember to email your guesses to editor@canadensis.com!
Here’s a post Eric sent in while flying to his next destination!

Hey everyone

Just a quick blog update using my blackberry so excuse any typos! I have been so busy in the last few days. All the Australian staff was set on showing me a good time and doing as much as possible in a short period of time.

As you saw in the recent video, dale took me out on his family boat for a day of swimming and sun at port Phillips bay. Phoebe and winch came along and I had a blast. That night phoebe hosted a huge bbq and pool party and there was a group of 10 of us. A picture will follow soon.  Dale and I worked the Barbie, as they say in Australia, and the food and friends were great. It was so nice to see staff I haven’t seen for a while.

The next day was our hiring fair in Melbourne and it was a great success. It was fun hanging out with some staff and meeting new people. After the fair we boarded a flight for our next destination and that’s where I am now. I can’t tell you just yet where I am headed to but hopefully I provided enough clues for all of you.

Stay tuned for my next video blog revealing where I am and where I am headed next. This time I will need my passport as I am leaving the hot tropics and headed to the northern hemisphere and cold winter.

One country down and flights to another!

Click here to view Eric’s vlog from Brisbane

G’day all from Australia this time. Yesterday morning we boarded a flight from Christchurch, New Zealand to Brisbane, Australia. Brisbane is a city in Queensland and is a 15 hour time difference from New York. Brisbane is much warmer, and we are experiencing temperatures in the 90’s and possibly 100’s here.

Our 4.5 flight from Christchurch took us via Auckland to Brisbane and we were met at the airport by our CCUSA agent. Checked in to the beautiful Hilton hotel and went immediately out to dinner. They planned dinner at a restaurant with outdoor patio seating that overlooked the Brisbane River in an area called Southbank. There is a new attraction since last year when I was here, and that’s a giant Ferris wheel, called the Brisbane Eye (similar to the London Eye). Dinner was chicken/steak and a great chocolate cake/mousse for dessert.

This morning, the group headed out to a Koala Sanctuary, where they had Koalas, Kangaroos, and a few of the other Australian species. I took a picture holding a Koala as well as made a very special video for all of you to see, so I hope you enjoyed the welcome to Brisbane video with my Koala Crumpet! Of course I am not a huge animal lover, so I was a little scared of the kangaroos, which I must say look very similar to deer when lying down, and are not really the cute kangaroo cartoons we saw growing up!

After the animals, we boarded a city ferry called the CityCat and headed back to town for a quick lunch. Now it’s time for me to go and hire some incredible staff with the help of Jim and Kevin Price- a blast from the past! I will be headed out to dinner with those guys afterwards and then tomorrow it’s time for a 2 hour flight to another Australian city.  Enjoy the clue!

Click here for the next Clue!

Hi Family!

Sorry for the lack of updating, it’s been a hectic week! I’m trying to get counselors interviewed and set before I leave for a TWO WEEK trip to meet and interview more staff! I’m leaving Sunday morning, and I won’t be home until Friday the 20th! I’ll be flying out of Philadelphia and starting the trek in Michigan. I’ll go from Western Mich, to Central Mich, to Eastern Mich, to Bowling Green, to Ohio all in a week! Then I’ll spend that weekend in the Pittsburgh area, and start out the next Monday at Slippery Rock. After that I’ll make my way to West Virginia, Shippensburg, Maryland, and Delaware. So counselors, if I’m going to be at your school, I expect phone calls and text messages so we can get together!

Today the office is bustling, Matt and I watched the new reunion 411 video a few times, because it was just that awesome! Now I’m getting a bunch of contracts ready to go out to new counselors! I’ve only got one staff interview this afternoon, which is nice, because sometimes I have 4 or 5 in a day! And while I really like to talk (you know it!) sometimes all that talking is tiring by the end of the day! I’m also trying to work around schedules of counselors from all over the country, so sometimes I end up in my room at night, interviewing a counselor who just got out of class in California. It’s wild, but I really like talking to people about camp, telling camp stories, and so on… I feel as though you can all relate 😉

We got lots of snow last night and the view from my window this morning was lovely. Not quite as lovely as the view from my bedroom in Vermont, but I’m really enjoying this Pennsylvania winter, rather than the ice covered tundra that is New England. The good news is that with this much snow, conditions will be perfect for a day of Canadensis sledding when I return!

Think I’m kidding?
I’ve got snow pants ready for the occasion!

Anyways, I must get back to trip preparations and setting up interviews with students at the schools I’m visiting. I recommend everyone watch the new 411, it’s seriously one of my favorite 411’s EVER… my all time favorite 411 is the “Tips from the Top” 411 we made with Aunt Terri and Shark at the Candy Store… most hilarious day of my summer!

Alright camp fam, stay warm, and keep checking back for more!

Eric at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Check back again soon for more pictures from Eric’s adventures!

Eric on a Citycat Ferry on the Brisbane River

Update 7PM EST 2/3/09–Eric has landed in Australia…but where? Remember, continue to email your guesses to editor@canadensis.com. We have received so many emails from all of you and many of you seem to be on the right track. Continue sending in your guesses!

Click here to view the next clue!

Hey Everyone! After dinner last night, we walked around the city as the sun was setting. Sunset due to daylight savings time and the fact that its summer is not until 9:00 PM! Here is a little known fact- in many foreign countries (including Australia and New Zealand) you can actually cross diagonally through an intersection. Essentially, traffic is stopped in all directions and you can just go diagonal, rather than one side and then the other! Of course dessert was to be had, and so we found a crepe stand and all enjoyed some Belgian crepes.

This morning it’s a bit overcast and gray, but we still made it to the botanical gardens. As I mentioned yesterday, they are ranked one of the top 10 gardens in the world and they really were beautiful. There was a special rose garden area, an indoor cactus farm, and tons of trees. The trees here are quite different than in the States, so it was interesting to see the different types. Here are a few pictures:

Well it’s time for the staff recruiting fair to start, so I am off to find the best counselors ever! Afterwards, we will have a group dinner and then I fly out early tomorrow to my next destination, which is somewhere in the country of Australia! I hope to be meeting up with Jim Price and his brother Kevin, Tamara, and a few other counselors from the past so stay tuned for pics and videos from them. 

Click here to view the next clue!