Hey TWC,

I present to you a very special holiday edition of The Northern Report. It’s a tad late, I know, but I assure you that the delay is entirely justifiable. Probably.

I was lucky enough to experience both Canada Day and the Fourth of July in Washington. It was a new experience in two ways. First, it was my first Canada Day (July 1st) outside of Canada, and secondly, it was my first Independence Day in the United States. Both were splendid, although imagine Independence Day was a bit more of a party in DC.

Canada Day

I have been lucky with living in Ottawa, Canada’s capital. Living in Ottawa guarantees you an amazing Canada Day party with plenty of festivities, as well as a pretty decent fireworks show in the evening. Keeping in mind what a fun time everyone back in Canada was going to have on July 1st, I was afraid that mine was going to be somewhat mundane. Luckily, the Canadian embassy in Washington held a party for expats and Americans alike, so long as they preregistered. I was expecting a small, rather dry reception, and was quite surprised with what the Canadian embassy actually furnished. It was a pretty big party, with aboot two or three hundred people in the courtyard of the embassy. There was free food, libations, live music, as well as the omnipresent Canadian symbol, the Mountie (and it was a fo-reals one, too). I really had a lot of fun while at the embassy and it made me miss Canada a little less. Pics are below.

Yours truly and Michelle, the other intern Carleton sent for TWC

Canada Day par-tay!

The noble Mountie and an officer from the US Park Service

My friend, Michelle, with an Ottawa Senators jersey, my favoritest team in the NHL

As I left the embassy grounds, I had to deal with the realization that the celebration, for the large part, was over. That was difficult to deal with. Not even little tiny waves of my little tiny paper flag were enough to console me. We luckily had a Canada Day party in our building. On the whole, Canada Day was pretty fun here. I couldn’t have expected the same level of fanfare that would have happened in Ottawa, but the best was made of the situation. I can’t ask for more than that.

Amerricuh Day (Fourth of July)

The Fourth of July in DC is, understandably, a gargantuan celebration. Pretty much everything along the Mall is packed, including the Mall itself. I mostly stuck to the area around the Capitol and L’Enfant Plaza, and surprisingly, I don’t have too much to say aboot it. Everyone was decked out in red, white, and blue. Country music. Barbecue. Apple pie. Freedom. Interventionist foreign policy. Manipulating Latin American governments. Y’know, American stuff. Oh, and eagles. Eagles everywhere: eagle shirts, eagle hats, roasted eagle. Hell, I’m pretty sure they bred a red, white, and blue eagle that craps democracy just to release on Independence Day. The main non-alcoholic festivity of the night was a concert on the Capitol Hill lawn featuring a variety of all-American music, namely soul, blues, and overtly-patriotic country. The Marine Corps Band played the 1812 Overture with the Presidential Salute Battery playing the cannon parts of the piece as the fireworks went off, which as you can imagine was infinitely impressive. Pictures below.

Concert on the Capitol Hill lawn

More cowbell…or lawn

The Fourth of July was predictable. Americans are patriotic pretty much all the time while Canadians tend to be more subdued about their patriotism, thus our Canada Day celebration stood out more for me.  Perhaps that is why I felt slightly underwhelmed by the experience, although I did enjoy it thoroughly. All in all, the Fourth of July party in The District is unmatched by any other in America. I could not have been in a better place to lose my Independence Day virginity.