So today I woke up around 7am, and was immediately struck by how tired I was, so turned off my alarm. This turned out to be a sort of serious mistake, as an hour later me and Evgeny were rudely woken up by Kenneth and Robert smashing on our door, alerting us to the fact that the buses to Canada's Wonderland, today's event, were going to be leaving soon. This caused us to dash out of bed, and quickly get changed and head up to breakfast, which we also bolted down.

After doing so, we went with our guide to the buses, and drove to the Wonderland. It took about 1.5 hours to get there, so a few of us caught up on sleep from last night. The rest of us looked over the landscape as we passed it, and when we arrived we woke up the others.

We preceded to group together and try and pass through security. I was stopped for holding a Vortex, which I hope Bernard got back (at this time we are in quarantine, so I can not check). After handing it over, Bernard, Kenneth, Robert, Chris and I got separated from the others and went to the Time Warp ride, which was basically a rollercoaster except you were 'Supermaning', or lying on your stomach with your hands out. To get to this ride, we waited for about 1 hour, and fortunately Bernard did not want to go on it, as it was only in groups of 4.

After exiting it and feeling very alive, we walked around for a while, noticing the incredibly long queues, as it was the school holidays and there were lots of children. We decided to head to laser tag, as we had vouchers for that place. After waiting there for a while, we started a game, which turned out to be quite fun.

It was then lunch, and we went to join up with the other informatics and find out what they did. The lunch itself was OK, being mass produced hamburgers, frankfurters and steak. After finding the rest of our group, we joined up with the Poms and Kiwis to go to another ride, a wooden rollercoaster, and then some of us to the water park and the rest to continue going on rides. We partly got distracted, and so broke off earlier than we planned, and so only me and Kenneth and two of the Poms went on the ride, where we met up with another guide.

After having enormous fun on the ride and wanting more, we went to another, in which we stood up while being taken around on a rollercoaster. This was again fun, and so we went to the ride where you are gradually spun around in a full 360 degrees. I sat out of this one, and saw the other fragment of our group come, who apparently had not had as much fun as they had expected at the water park, due to long queues. We then went on the wooden rollercoaster again, and after that we went back to the buses, where everyone was very tired and so went to sleep.

Back at the university, we had dinner then played Bartog, then finally went to bed, ready or not for tomorrow's exam.

Fun Day 1

The first major IOI outing was to Wonderland in Toronto - a great way to spend a day! As soon as we got through the gates, our guide Vanessa rushed us to one of the most attractive rides around - the Behemoth - rushing, so that we could beat the holiday queues. In the rush, Robert was distracted by an item of clothing with his name on it and could not resist the opportunity.

Between this distraction and Bernard trying to orient himself on a map, we separated and not all of us made it to the Behemoth. Instead, Robert, Luke, Kenneth, Bernard and Chris queued up for the Time Warp - an aptly named ride where time is lost in queues, all for 40 seconds of joy. However, a bold "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!" at the top of the ride made sure the Australian team did not go unnoticed.

After a sweaty game of laser tag and lunch with the Kiwis, the leaders separated from the team, not to see them again until after tomorrow's contest. All in all, a fun day and refreshing break from the happenings of the contest itself.

Competition Day 2 tomorrow...