My Watermark is Georgian Bay, Ontario.

It was the summer of 2014, my second year in Canada and first time working with an organization outside of my university cluster. I was a biology instructor at a summer camp on thirty thousand islands. Being a foreign student, all things related to camping, canoeing, kayaking, windsurfing, the call of the loon and hiding the garbage from bears, were new to me. The thing that wasn't was the gentle lapping of the blue water on the shale shores of the island, the smell of water and the pecking of fish at at toes when I sat very, very still.

What the next two months were had to be the best Canadian experience I ever had. I canoed out with kids to the various small islands, studied a beaver dam, looked at a heron rookery, chased water snakes and petted turtles and frogs. In the evenings there would be campfires, and songs on guitars as I watched the sunset over the conifers and the red sky slowly fade to black. At night I would be able to look at the stars and hear the water, sometimes see it reflect the moonlight.

I made great friends that summer, and I made some great memories. The Georgian Bay has shaped my idea of what a Canadian summer is like. It has introduced me to a culture I can't wait to call my own, and I am very excited for my next trip to cottage country.