Welcome back, Ms. Borden!

Greenwood welcomes back Ms. Emily Borden, Director, Arts, after her around-the-world adventure with her family. 

 

Emily, Dave, Craig, 9, and Hugh, 7, turned a year of travel into an epic educational adventure for the whole family.

We caught up with Ms. Borden to learn more about her year and what she looks forward to back at Greenwood.

 

It is difficult to sum up! We stayed in 129 accommodations in 15 different countries. We spent 4 months in Europe, 3 months in Asia, and the rest of our time in BC and the Yukon. We did so many fun activities: 6 weeks of skiing in western Canada, an 18-day canoe trip on the Yukon and Teslin Rivers, tons of hiking in Europe and Asia. We visited big, bustling cities and small, remote villages. We tried all kinds of new food and met incredible people all over the world. It was a big year!

 

I really loved our time in Vietnam, in particular the city of Hoi An, on the central coast. It was a small city that felt suspended in time with winding alleyways, lantern-lit cobblestone streets, and vibrant markets. It has great hiking out the back door, rice fields stretching for kilometres, and serene beaches nearby. It was the perfect mix of relaxation and fun, and I’d return in a heartbeat! 

The biggest takeaway was awe at how beautiful and vast the world is. Seeing new places and revisiting ones I’d been to only made me want to travel more. There is so much to see, do, learn, and experience in this world and I look forward to many more trips (perhaps not quite so long!) in my future.

 

Go for it! It is a lot of work and planning leading up to it, but once you leave, it is all excitement and new experiences ahead. You’ll never regret a big life adventure, and if you do it your way and to suit your style of travel, it will certainly be a life highlight.

 

Craig and Hugh were 9 and 7 for our year off and we homeschooled them through Grades 4 and 2. They loved the travel and we still talk about it nearly every day. They impressed us with their adaptability and resilience, interest in new foods and cultures, and openness to a year unlike anything they’ve lived. They learned basic vocabulary in every place we visited so they could always greet and thank the new people we met along the way. We felt their education was richer than what they would have experienced in the classroom and we saw them grow and change so much through the travels we did.

 

I was happy to be reunited with friends and family in Toronto, which is my hometown and favourite city in the world! I missed the theatre scene and have seen many shows since being home. At Greenwood, I missed the people: my awesome colleagues, the energy of the students, as well as having the vibrant arts community as part of my everyday life. I am most looking forward to directing the full-school musical, The Prom.

 

My partner, Dave, and I are so grateful to Greenwood and UCC (where he teaches) for the opportunity to do a four-over-five. Without our schools’ support, we wouldn’t have been able to take our family on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.