Beauties and the Beast

Thursday, December 6, 2012

“Road trip!”

kingston alumni

Written by Emily Huxley

In my mind, these two words are synonymous with a carload of teenagers spending the summer after graduation travelling the open road, heading in whatever direction the wind takes them. But I’m sure I’ve seen this happen in the movies one too many times.

My road trip is of a different type. My colleague Jenn and I (“the beauties”) have embarked on a two city tour in what we have affectionately nicknamed “the beast”, a Nissan Pathfinder that, to two girls who normally drive compact cars, seems enormous!

The first stop on our trip was Kingston Ontario, home of the Royal Military College of Canada, Fort Henry, and the best Caesar salad I’ve ever had.

We arrived in Kingston after an uneventful drive along the 401 highway. I say “uneventful” because I have to admit that I was secretly hoping for some hilarious hijinks to happen so I could write about it and keep you all entertained. Oh well, there is plenty of time left in our trip for something to happen.

Our hotel was located right on the harbour front and much to the joy of my inner history buff, featured a view of the Shoal Tower, one of the four Martello towers built in the 1840s to protect the city’s entrance to the Rideau Canal.

On the night of our arrival, we hosted Kingston’s inaugural University of Waterloo alumni event at the Red House, a local hotspot partially owned by one of our very own grads, Kin Leung. In talking with Kin, I learned that the restaurant’s bar and tables are all constructed out of wood salvaged from a local airplane hangar.

kingston mingle
Close to 60 alumni and their guests packed the Red House and enjoyed socializing with their fellow Warriors. A couple of grads who actually live in Kingston but hadn’t seen each other in more than 10 years were able to reconnect. For those in the room who didn’t know the others, the speed networking sessions we held throughout the night really helped them to get to know people. Jenn even told me that someone commented that they had met a couple of potential employees during a session.

Given all of the positive feedback we heard about the event, Alumni Affairs will definitely be back in Kingston soon!

The beauties and the beast are now headed to Ottawa, so be sure to stay tuned for more on our adventures in the nation’s capital.

Check out the photos from Kingston.