1968 Magnet Yearbook

JARVIS EXPO BOUND
As plans were underway for three bus loads of Jarvisites and teachers to visit Expo, all participants
were given a list of suggested clothing to bring along . But judging from the bundles of kids, draped in plastic
bags, and hovering under sheets of newspaper, one could tell that we had optimistically ignored one item
on the list - raincoats.
But the rain couldn't dampen our enthusiasm. As we arrived at St. Laurent College, our base just outside
Montreal, we were greeted by our guides and hosts: lis etaient tous les beaux Canadiens-franca isl l The
college had a lovely campus which we roamed our first evening before dinner. Back at the cafeteri~ we planned
our activities for the evening, between bites of food, and smiles and waves to both familiar and unfamiliar
faces. Our plans included a jaunt down to the main street for postcards and pizza or ice cream. We
laughed at our sense of direction as we tried to f ind our way along the streets in the dark back to the college,
back to the Hootenanny arranged for us that evening. A live group led us in song and verse, but we wandered
back to our bunks excited about sett ing out for Expo itself the next morning.
We awoke to the ringing of a school bell. (You wouldn't have believed the moans and groans that can
be evoked from a bus-weary student at six in the morning.) We hastily, and puffy-eyed, made our beds,
changed, washed, ate breakfast, headed for the bus, prodding on a groggy bus-driver rather pleased that we
had sung over a hundred refrains of the old "Hey, bus dr iver speed up a little bit, speed up a little bit . . ."
the previous day. You know when you've heard so much about Centennial Year and Expo, you tend to
close your ears and tak e it all for granted. But when we approached the St. Lawrence River , coming down
the hill of Mount Royal, there was nothing more thrilling than seeing the islands dotted with pavil ions and
woven with EXPO EXPRESS tracks coming through the mist. The clo ser we came to the islands, the
brighter and more exciting they appeared . It seemed to take forever to get the bus into the Place d'Acceuil
and urloaded. Our guides checking attendance led us off towards the pavilions. We were actually very fortunate
to not have the weather at its best. We were able to see a greater number of the marvelous pavilions
in a minimum time. Everyone had different lists of favourite pavilions, but among these the most popular
tended to be the Bell Telephone, the Czechoslovakian, Man and his Arts, The Labrynth and the British
Pavilion. Of course, we all left the Ontario Pavilion singing the theme song and impressed by the movie
shown .
The day went quickly, helped along with the frequent stops for hot chocolate and coffee. Damp and
tired, but immensely happy we headed back to the bus and off to the college.
After dinner and a walk through the campus, we decided to brave the dance in the arena featuring a
live group and a disc-jockey from the Montreal radio station. Completely tired, we hit our sacks that night a
bit better prepared and organized for another day in Expo and an added treat, a hurried tour through
Montreal in the evening.
Again the school bell woke us in the morning (we thought we had done a better job of hiding it than
that) and at twenty to seven we were pulling out of the St. Laurent campus, a drowsy but thoroughly
pleased group.
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