Almost half way there

So I just came to notice that my last post was over two weeks ago! Shame on me! Granted, the past two weeks have been far less packed with goings-on as I am on a water-tight budget at the moment. Here is a round up of some of my recent activities:
1) too much homework. Finals is right around the corner, and i keep having to write paper after paper.
2) been to the Dollar Cinéma several times. I love the guy that works there because he is just so relaxed about everything!!!
3) went to a ROLLER DERBY match!!!! It was soooo sooo cool! plus I got to ride in a car for a wee bit. I miss driving :-/ I know that its bad for the environment.....but still.
4) Changed my flights to go home for Xmas. Going back on the 19 Dec! Not long left...and I will already be half way through my time in Canada.....can't believe it....

Club in the Clouds

Well this weekend was certainly interesting. Some epics nights out, along with a club on the 43rd floor of a skyscraper in Centre-Ville! Soooo cool! You can google pictures of "1 Place Ville Marie" for pics of the building, or "Club 737". Saturday was a great gathering. We all met up at Sarah's house and made MEXICAN! She lives a relatively short distance from Provigo on Avenue Mont Royal, so we walked over there and bought all the ingredients, including a pumpkin pie and ice cream!!! The conversation was riveting, including a game or two ;) All in all, a succesful and relatively inexpensive night for all.
Sidenote: I go home for the holidays in 6 weeks. And I have been in Montréal for 3 months. Jeeeeezus.

All Hallow's Eve

Last weekend was HALLOWE'EN! Ever money-smart, I did my cowboy costume again. Bought a cowboy hat, pink and fluffy for a fun effect, and borrowed a pink bandana. Got to say, I was a much more colourful cowboy compared to the other ones running around. Friday night we went to Club 1234. First off, never go there. The service is crap, drinks are costly, and too many people squeeze in. However, having fantastic friends makes a difference! We danced our way through the evening, along with some lovely time spent on the outside deck (with even an accident slip in a puddle by a few people *wink*). Anyway, late night homemade fries at Morris's was a great way to end a yet another lovely evening in the city. The day of Halloween rolled around, and in full collegiate style, I woke up around 3pm. Lazed around, studied as much as I could (hehe), then watched Johnny English :) Here is a piece of advice: ever sad? Watch some British comedy. The night was finished off with a feast of sorts at Cameron's, with "Corpse Bride" and "The Others" as company. Sunday was studying-filled. Monday, the start of a new week of school...Tuesday, a disappointing election for the LGBT community. Wednesday, I went for a walk up the mountain with Bonnie and Sarah, despite it hanging around 4 degrees Celsius (about 39F), then we got hot chocolate form Tim Horton's to defrost! Helped Bonnie with some french, then on my way home, I walked into a conference on Obama's first year in office. One of my prof's had mentioned it in class, and it was certainly intriguing. Obama's health care efforts were analysed, and clearly everyone on the panel was in favour of them. All seemed to rather positive of his job, but were expecting better in the future years. I find Obama to be a good president, regardless of my opinions on the issues. I do not line up eye-to-eye with him on several things, but he did pass the hate crimes bill last week, so its a step in the right direction regarding that issue anyway. Class tomorrow, so it is bedtime for me. Perhaps another posting soon :)

Quick let down

Just wanted to leave a quick message that Maine has let its LGBT community down. Those who voted to keep same-sex marriage are to be congratulated; those who voted otherwise, well aren't.

Snow in Montréal, Bus in New England, Rain in Boston

I will update you so far on the weather. It has officially snowed a few times lightly in Montréal, but on Thursday, it snowed rather heavily. I went to Métro (the supermarket) to grab some wine for dinner with Cameron and Lauren, and walked off the métro system to find it snowing! It was heavy enough to get my backpack wet within the few mins from the métro stop. I took a quick video of the snow from my apartment window!

Oh so I cut my finger trying to save a wine glass from an inevitable smashing. It went straight into my middle finger, and it was quite sore! I ended up pushing too hard to stop the bleeding, so I bruised it :/ Trust me!


Bruised finger in hand, literally, I left for Boston to visit Kendra on Friday morning. I took the greyhound, and the drive was fantastic! Not only did I cross an international border by land (a first), I also crossed three states in one day (also a first). Having never been to New England before, it was so cool to see Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. The trip took a little longer than expected, but I took enough photos to make up for it. I got into Boston around 6pm (10 hours since departure from Montréal). Kendra, her friends and I went to a restaurant called Dick's Last Resort, in which you get abused verbally by the staff. Its quite an odd experience. I then got my first cannoli, an Italian pastry. It was quite delicious! Saturday was a wee bit rainy, but I saw tons of Boston and took tons of pictures. The history is everywhere, and the British influence on the road layout is evident as there is no layout. The road were based on old cow paths, so they just go wherever they want and make random turns anywhere. Driving would be a nightmare! Oh and I also got to see HARVARD UNIVERSITY! It was soo cool and very, very pretty. Clearly the private university tuition pays off! No closed down library for them.
Sunday we went on a Duck Tour, in which you get a bus tour around Boston, with plenty of historical references to things you would otherwise not notice. After the bus part, the "bus" goes into the river! It was a converted WWII boat/bus, and the trip in the river was definately unique! Here is a photo I took from the boat of the Boston skyline, with the Autumn leaves along the shore.

It was great seeing Kendra, but I had to come back to Montréal eventually. The way back was much faster (7 hours), and I had the two seats in my row to myself for the whole way up. I really think I might do a day trip to Burlington, VT one of these days because its only 2 hours south of here.

Well, this is my school's reading week. On a positive note, I had no classes. Unfortunately, it also means that I have to write all my papers. Hallowe'en is at the end of the week, so I can't wait for that!! Who knows what I will dress up as!?

A visit from California

Mum and Dad arrived on Thursday. I went to class in the morning and took my first test, a quiz on the types and forms of sentences, then went to the first half of my Eastern European politics course in the afternoon. After a quick walk in the underground tunnels connecting l’UQAM to the métro, I got on the train, then the bus, and then another bus. An hour and fifteen minutes later, I arrived at the surprisingly small Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport. Compared to when I waited for Lauren the month prior, I only hung around for about half an hour before my parents were visible from my point in the crowd. Soon enough, we were in a taxi (what luxury!) on our way back into Montréal. Being relatively well established at their hotel room, we bought them some tourist passes for the metro, at a relatively good price too. We passed by my place, and I showed them my room. It is, as I have mentioned in the past, nothing grand but it works for me! We need grabbed some more public transport, during which they remarked at the heat of the metro stations. I had forgotten about it, as it is something that you just get used to after a while. We soon arrived at our destination, La Croissantrie Figaro, where Gabrielle works, in the Mild End. It is quite a cute resto, French and cute all at once! The lightening is a little bit darker than most people are accustomed to, but it adds to the atmosphere. We had a great conversation, and it a lovely seeing them again. We hoped on the bus back and called it a night.

Friday, I showed them as much of Montréal as I thought possible in one day. We climbed up the mountain, which was lovely with all the leaves having changed colours. It was raining rather heavy, but it was pleasant all the same. Lunch time arrived quite quickly, so we went to La Banquise for some POUTINE! I got regular poutine with hot dog slices mixed in, while Mum and Dad got mince with theirs. A walk around le Plateau Mont Royal, followed by another walk around Vieux Montréal ended the tourist part of the day. We then met up with Lauren and her mum for dinner at an Italian restaurant, then we called it a night because we were up early in the morning for the trip to Québec City.

Saturday morning consisted of our drive up to the provincial capital. It was really, really, really pretty. My favourite childhood pastime of walking through piles of leaves was fulfilled on numerous occasions. If you ever do the trip between Quebec City and Montréal, take Le Chemin du Roy. It takes longer, but is well worth it. The capital was similarly very pretty. We finished Saturday with a walk through the Upper and Lower Old Town and some calzone for dinner. It was a great day!

Sunday was a similarly fantastic day, albeit cold. We did some more historical visits around town, then we went to Montmerency Falls. The waterfall is 1.5 times the height of Niagara, and it was really quite spectacular. You get a gondola up to the top, walk over the falls, then you take the steps down the side of the cliff. The views were great. After the falls, I wanted to see l’Île d’Orléans, so we drove through that. The village of Ste. Pétronille is relatively well known for being picturesque, which is most certainly was. Our dinner back in Québec City was in the more locals-focused area, and the dinner was delicious. It also started snowing!!!!!!!!!!! It was my first snow in Canada, and I have a video uploaded to prove it!

Coming back was still a great drive, and we arrived back in Montréal around 5pm, as did the groceries and MICROWAVE that Mum and Dad got me! It has been put to good use, no need to worry! Tuesday morning included a lovely breakfast at their hotel, then some lunch at a quirky restaurant that I really enjoy in the Plateau. I continually forget its name, but I know what it looks like J They left on Tuesday afternoon, and I can’t wait to see them and the rest of the family at Christmas!

Here is quick photo to give you an idea of the leaves!

Canadian, Please

No matter your political opinions, please watch. Its quite funny. Just click 'play'!
N'importe vos opinions politiques, regardez s'il vous plaît. C'est très drôle. Juste cliquez PLAY!