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The University of Maine’s Residents On Campus may have just what students wanting to leave the country are looking for. Sign-ups for the group’s annual trip to Quebec are now being held. The cost of the trip is $45 per person.
Three hundred students will be bussed out early April 11, staying Friday and Saturday night at Le Radisson Hotel Quebec Centre and returning to campus Sunday evening.
While in Quebec, students will have free reign to explore the city.
Students go on the trip for different reasons. Corisande A. Samuels, a visiting microbiology major from France, was enthralled with the city.
“The sights are incredible from the Chateau Frontenac over the river. The revolving restaurant L’Astral is awesome … the little cafes and pubs all lined up along the street were beautiful,” Samuels said.
Kevin Ouelette, a junior mechanical engineering major, went on the trip last year.
“It was a great experience,” Ouelette said. “I went to enjoy the food, drinks and night life … There’s a ton of stuff to do even if you don’t like the party scene.”
Kirstin Hayward, a fourth-year broadcast journalism major, said she is going because she’s never been to Canada before.
“Everyone that I’ve talked to had a blast that went last year,” Hayward said.
The ROC executive board is responsible for organizing the trip.
“The biggest thing is the hotel and the bus,” Erin Smith, ROC’s vice president of programming, said.
The hotel had to have 76 rooms, each with two double beds, available all at once. ROC chartered six buses from Cyr Bus Lines, having worked with them before and knowing they had TVs, VCRs and comfortable seats.
Once transportation and lodging were confirmed, ROC asked the Canadian Consulate for approval and all the necessary forms and regulations.
“It is a lot of work,” Smith said, “but with the whole executive board it’s not unbearable. We make it fun.”
The ROC executives are attempting to get everyone’s paperwork in order now so that things will run smoothly in April. Filling out paperwork is a major part of the mandatory sessions.
There are three sign-up meetings. The first two are only for on-campus residents. The first sign-up session was held last month and the second will take place Friday, Dec. 6. The last session, Friday, Jan. 24, is for both on- and off-campus students. During the first part of the meeting, ROC gives out information, explains the forms, rules, expectations and answers questions. After that, the sign-ups begin. A $25 non-refundable deposit is required.
Even though crossing the border means many students will be of legal drinking age, since Canada’s legal age is 19, ROC said it doesn’t promote this as a drinking trip. They give students a guide, a map and information about what’s going on in the city that weekend.
Smith said she had no doubt that all 293 slots would be filled. Seven are reserved for the ROC Executive Board members who oversee the trip.
Smith said she sees the price as the biggest incentives for students.
“You can’t beat $45 going to Quebec for the weekend,” Smith said.
ROC tried to make the trip as affordable as possible for students. With the help of $6,000 from Student Government, they are covering nearly all the expenses.
On-campus students interested in going on the trip can attend this week’s meeting at room 100 of Donald P. Corbett Business Building at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
