~Baleines~

I have exams for the next three days. That being said, I think now is the best time to tell you about when I went whale-watching. (Baleines = whales by the way)

Twas an early Saturday morning during the month of July when I rose before the sun to voyage to the far away and almost forgotten village of Tadoussac. A quaint town known for its whale appreciation and hidden coves, Tadoussac lies at the crossroads of two bodies of water in the province of Quebec. The St. Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers combine there and the mélange of salt and fresh water provides the occasional wave pool that whales particularly enjoy.

In reality, Tadoussac is not a forgotten village. It is fairly small but it was worth the 3 hour shuttle ride to get there. (When I say shuttle, I do indeed mean one like the Creighton shuttle. For an account of my adventures with the CU shuttle, please see my other published works) The trip to Tadoussac was particularly enjoyable because we got to take a ferry across the river!

Random cars on the ferry. The people were probably wondering why I was so excited...

We had lunch on the beach then suited up for our day on the water. Although it was a very comfortable 65 degrees on land with the wind and the water temperature, it was much cooler. Looking like sumo wrestlers, we were finally ready to embark on our Zodiacs.

Me, Xu, Suzanne and Brittany ready to wrestle/whale watch

Our Zodiac fit 25 people including the captain. We had the best boat not only because Francois (the captain) was a total badass but also because our seats faced outwards from the center to optimize our viewing and all the other boats faced inwards... we rule. Within 10 minutes we came across our first whales!! There was a group of belugas playing in the waves a little ways off the coast.

The white shape peeking out of the wave is a beluga!

I'm not sure why but I was expecting to get National Geographic caliber pictures of the whales... as the previous picture suggests though, I wasn't quite that lucky. We were able to get pretty close because our boat was fairly small but because the tour was for observation, we didn't want to disturb the whales, just observe them. I won't give you a play-by-play of my three hours on the water because I lot of it was just us cruising around lookin for the whales but here are some of my better moments that day:

Whale jumpin out of the water!

Artsy picture of a buoy, the shore, the water and the skyyy

Speaking of the sky. I would like to take a moment to mention that when I wasn't scanning the water for any sign of whale activity, my head was literally in the clouds admiring what I have to say was one of the best cloud days of my life. Several pictures to follow will provide evidence to back this lofty statement up. (For the full collection, please visit my facebook page or arrange an appointment to meet me and discuss my portfolio.)

WHALE TAIL! My best picture of the day. This was a humpback whale I believe. We saw belugas, humpbacks and one other kind that I cannot remember the name of because it was French and confusing... Also saw some mini-whales that are cousins to the dolphin!!

Best of both worlds: jumping whale and unbelievable clouds

Couldn't ask for much more.

Around the last hour of our venture aboard the Zodiac we found ourselves in the middle of a pack of seals! It was really cool to see them swimming on both sides of us and to be that close to them! They were bigger than I realized they would be... Francois kept saying 'look at the seals' because in French it's "Voici les phoques" (pronounced just like our popular curse word...) and he said the English speakers always like learning that word. To finish up our day, we jetted over to the fjord and saw a beautiful mini waterfall and got to admire the landscape before returning to land.

This was such a fun day and I'm so happy I took the opportunity to go. Whale-watching was my most anticipated activity for my time here in Quebec and it definitely did not disappoint!

Another update to come soon!

p.s. When I mentioned some of my pictures didn't turn out, I wasn't kidding... here is a picture that was supposed to be of a whale (naturally) but instead features a bird of some sort. I think I must have gotten so excited to take the picture that I threw my hands in the air at the same time as I took the picture...

Look out National Geographic photographers...

Baseball en francais

Well friends, turns out America's pastime is also enjoyed in Canada. I attended the quebecois version of a baseball game as part of a University excursion the other week. Trying my hardest to fit in, I researched baseball terms in French but as it was the last minute (typical), I forgot most of them before making it to the stadium... yay.

Here are a few terms, use them to sound sophisticated at your next baseball outing:
ball: la balle
bat: le bâton
base: le but
player: le joueur

The student leaders painted our faces with the team colors of blue, yellow and gray/black so as to fit in with the locals. Someone offered to paint a fleur de lis on my cheek but I turned it down. Stripes are more my style ya know?

Megan and I with tons of team spirit.

Ok, so we arrived at the stadium a few hours early for a tailgate. Everyone received bracelets that guaranteed you endless hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, popcorn, chips and 3 beverages of your choice. It was a pretty good deal. I am embarrassed to admit that I went into hoarding mode and tried to stow things in my purse for later. Not sure who I was trying to fool with my 'saving for tomorrow' story because by the end of the 2nd inning, my 'saved' food was gone.

I 'saved' this hot dog for lunch the next day.

Coming from the home of the CWS makes me a little stuck up in term's of baseball stadiums so I guess I will describe the Capitales' stadium as cute. It was cozy and small but I guess for a sport that can't be played for the majority of the year, you don't need something too big. The Capitales played the Newark Bears and I happily sang our National Anthem along with maybe 5 other people in the stands before the start of the game. Quebec emerged victorious in the cross-border game despite a slow start in the first inning (as the picture below suggests).

Manual scoreboard- old school style. I dig it.

I was a fun experience and although I didn't understand a lot of what the announcer was saying, the game is essentially the same and I was able to sit back, relax, and enjoy the beauty that is baseball. Another bonus from the night was when the Laval section cheered the loudest earning us a free pizza! As luck would have it, I was in the middle of the section with Megan, so the pizza was handed to us. More food. Yayy!

Free pizza. So much to love.

We left at the top of the 8th to make it back to campus before 11:30 as everyone had exams the next day. We had cheered the Capitales to near victory though and went back feeling quite accomplished. It was worth waking up early the next morning to study for my exams especially since I could justify an extra shot of espresso in my coffee. Wahoo! 

Île d'Orléans

Once again, sorry for keeping you all in suspense for so long. I wouldn't say I had writer's block but I really did attempt a few times to write out some of my thoughts and or adventures. Didn't happen though... So without further ado, I would like to present Île d'Orléans to you all.

The island is about a 30 minute drive from Quebec City and is basically the location of my dream life. I've been twice since my arrival in the province- once with James and Megan and once (yesterday) with the University program. Both were absolutely incredible.

Part One: I rented a car and followed my dreams.

Okay, we did rent a car for the day to drive out to the island. The dream following wasn't for a few more weeks but I thought it sounded inspiring. Sort of.

We did successfully rent a car though- in French! We struggled through some/most of the process and in the end realized the guy spoke perfect English. I guess it was a good learning experience... or at least that is what I shall tell myself. We drove over to the island and started our day with brunch at Relais des Pins, a cabane de sucre that had an amazing all you can eat buffet style option. We tried everything (as I believe you almost need to do in such a situation) and were not disappointed. The food was extremely delicious and I almost cried when I tried the strawberry rhubarb crisp. (Please note, I was moved to tears by food multiple times, this will reappear.)

My feast.

We decided we would make a complete circle around the island and stop at any places that seemed interesting. Next stop: the Fromagerie. This cheese shop still makes their products like the first inhabitants did. Interesting fact: the first cheese ever produced in North America was made on Île d'Orléans. And let me tell you- that cheese was good. Tears were invading my tear ducts as I sampled a piece of hot cheese.

We stopped at the beach next to get our bearings. I always find that if I am in a new place and lacking direction, I need only to head to the water and I am immediately directed. That is a large lie, however, we did enjoy checking out the surroundings at the beach. I insisted upon taking a picture with my hair blowing in the wind and was almost stung by a wasp that apparently lived at the top of a steel lookout point.

The scene of the near accident. Twas windy. I demonstrated my peaceful nature to the wasp.

The Boulangerie (bread store) was next on our trip around the Isle. If you weren't already planning on stopping, the scent of fresh bread and delicious pastries would have forced you inside anyway. I sampled a brioche which was a cinnamon roll type pastry. I probably don't even need to say it but it was incredible. James bought some cheese bread that was out of this world. The Chocolaterie followed the bread store. I'm going to say it now it order to avoid excessive description later- this.place.was.amazing. I know I tend to exaggerate but the candy/chocolate bar that I purchased may have been the best thing I have ever eaten.

There she is.

Tasted like heaven and a Heath Bar. Not to be outdone, our final stop on the island was also incredible. We visited the Bilodeau cidery and did a tasting of their products. They make jellies, jams, syrups, mustard and ciders all from apples grown in their orchard. I quite enjoyed the mustard and fell in love with a tarragon jelly. (Maybe that isn't saying much considering my reaction to all the other foods but whatever...)

Part of our sampler. So good.

We left the Island after the cidery with extremely full stomachs. It is a very unique place. Everyone seems to really love what they do and I think it's incredible that they open up their homes to share their food and products with visitors.

James and I on the coast. Shoutout to Quebec City in the background!

Part Two: Back for more

The University trip to the island was yesterday and although I had already been I couldn't wait for another day spent there. We started the excursion with a trip to Montmorency Falls. It was just as cool the second time and I got to do this: 

Hanging out with a rainbow.

After visiting the falls, we crossed the bridge to the island and started our tastings with ice cream cones from the Chocolaterie. I chose a vanilla cone dipped in milk chocolate. Now I know some of you are probably thinking that this sounds like a dipped cone from DQ. Let me tell you though, it was so much more. Real milk chocolate coated some of the creamiest ice cream I have ever tried. If I could bring one souvenir back for everyone I know, it would be that ice cream cone.

This picture will have to do though...

Lunch was fresh pizzas from the Boulangerie. Again, unbelievably delicious. I also purchased a chocolatine (pain au chocolate) for a snack later that day. Who am I trying to kid- I ate it right after my pizza. We sat outside the bakery for awhile and enjoyed the view of the beach. Our last stop of the day was at the Steinbeck Cidery where we were able to enjoy another tasting. They too made ciders, jelly and mustard but also had a few vinegars that smelled amazing. After our sampler we enjoyed the incredible view and then got on the buses headed back for campus.

Mr. Steinbeck owns the cidery and talked to us about his products before our sampling. He first visited the island 21 years ago and fell in love. He returned 3 years later to buy the orchard and start his business. That is my dream life.

Île d'Orléans is absolutely amazing. Not just because it has unbelievable delicious food and fresh, local products though. The people were awesome and the whole island has a very laid back, easy going feel. It would be a great place to retire or maybe not retire. Like I said, my dream life would be opening a vineyard on the Island and having people stop in for tours and tastings. Not sure how well grapes would do with Canadian winters but I will probably be doing some research...

As always, thank you for reading. Sorry this was a REALLY food-heavy post. If you haven't realized it yet, I love food and loved this island for having some of the best food I've tasted here. I'll leave you with a picture of the view from the cidery across the river to Beauport.

So pretty. 

All these things that I have done

First of all- shoutout to the Killers for this awesome song. Never fails to pump me up.

Second of all, as I was mulling over the fact that I am approximately, wait no, exactly one week behind on posting updates I started to stress myself out. Then I realized that I only have one follower on this blog (shoutout to #momo) and it will eventually be for my own benefit rather than for the benefit of my fans. Although, who knows- one day maybe I'll be famous and this blog will be regarded as my second bit of 'published' work (my first of course being the graphic novel I created about the Creighton Shuttle). Long story short, I stopped stressing and have decided to do what I do best- share my ~adventures~ via this web interface.

Last Friday I took a trip to the mall and came back with a snazzy pair of sandals from a store that I would describe as a combination of Walmart/Target/Kmart/Payless all into one department-ish store. They were cheap and are cute so I will start wearing them as my other shoes have slowly started to wear out. The cobblestone's around here are wreaking havoc on my feet and sandals. After that excitement I received another visitor! My friend James arrived after a few delays to the wonder and beauty that is Quebec City. We caught up over a very nice dinner at Cafe du Monde. I don't know if I was trying to prove that my language skills are vastly improving but I asked for the menu in French... luckily our waitress was onto my scheme and relayed the English message as well. The food was incredible. I had a delicious salmon dish and James got a three course meal- featuring out of this world shrimp and cheese fondue (more of a mozzarella stick in my humble opinion) and the chocolate mousse.

Saturday was welcomed whole-heartedly in my book as it was the 14th of July known otherwise as Bastille Day!! For the past four years my friends and I have celebrated together so I was bummed to have to miss out this year. Unfortunately Quebec City does not really take part in celebrations of any sort for this day so James and I did our own Frenchy things. We rented bicycles from the campus rental place and after receiving a very rushed and confusing set of directions as to how to make it to downtown, we were off. We got crepes at the Vieux Marche and then biked along the river.

 Yayyy Vive la France!

It was another beautiful day in Quebec and all was well until we realized we needed to head back to campus before the rental place closed. We had missed the street to take back towards the main road (from the bike trail) so we backtracked a bit. Unfortunately we didn't find the right street and ended up confronting the steepest hill in the world to make it back to the main road. I didn't even attempt biking it. We pushed our bikes up the hill and hung our heads in shame as people twice our age breezed past us up the hill/mountain.

At the observation point where we realized we were lost- pretty backdrop though!

Fear not though. we arrived back on campus and returned the bikes without any issue (well, we were two hours late which meant we couldn't use the bikes for two days... yah). We rested up a bit and enjoyed some brie cheese (again trying to be as French as possible). We took the bus downtown a little later to see Cirque du Soleil!!! Each summer, Cirque puts on a free show in the City and it was so amazing! The stage is set up outside underneath the Auto route and it was one of the most creative uses of space I have ever seen. The crowd all rushed into the arena once the gates open but we got pretty good seats on one of the side hills. There were multiple acts filled with unbelievable individuals that could manipulate their bodies in fairly unnatural ways.

Trapeze artists- did lots of tricks in the skyyyyy- this was great

I liked all of the acts and everything was so entertaining but one of my favorites was when then unrolled air mattress/jump pads over a portion of the stage and pretty much had a free-for-all flip contest. It was really great. I couldn't believe we got to go for free too! I think I will go again before I leave!

Flipz on the matz

After Cirque de Soleil we walked towards rue St. Jean to try one of the bars there, Sacrilege. It was very busy but we got seats on the church pew benches that helped to fill the bar's interior. After some time there (where the Quebecois version of happy birthday was loudly performed) we headed back to campus, quite content after a very full day!

More to come soooooooon!

French films, dubstep, waterfalls and traffic jams

The subject line of this post could make a great album title. It's actually a sampling of notable activities from my last week although I have always wanted to record an album...

Monday and Tuesday of last week were normal class and workshop days. My Monday workshop is conversation so we practiced tongue twisters and then talked about ourselves and traveling. Tuesday's workshop is an art class and we painted canvas bags. I attempted a chevron pattern on mine that looks a bit like someone gave a five year old an assortment of markers and told them to make squiggles. Monday night was another movie and this week was "La grande seduction" a hilarious movie about a small village that tries to convince a doctor to permanently live in their village (and become their doctor).

Wednesday afternoon one of my best friends, Meg, came to visit and brought three of her German coworkers along for the ride. They spent their day in Montreal and then came to Quebec City. It was so great to see a familiar face!! We went down to Old Quebec to find a spot to listen to Skrillex (listen hurr) who was performing on the main stage for the festival. We couldn't see anything because they block everything off pretty well but saw all of the lights and obviously heard everything as if we were actually in front of the stage. We had more room to dance/dubstep though which was ideal. By the way, for those of you that have not been able to see me dubstep, you are truly missing out.

Thursday we went to Montmorency Falls after I got out of class. They were very cool. I haven't been to Niagara Falls but these are about 70 feet taller than Niagara but not as wide.

Free fallin'

We walked up the side of the falls, hung out on the bridge above the falls and then walked back down. I loved it! Meg debated with Peter and I as to whether or not she could bungee jump off the bridge which was an entertaining conversation to say the least...

Groupies by the fallzz (me, Meg, Jooris, Germaine and Peter)

Thursday night we went to the other side of the main stage to listen to Aerosmith. That was another really good show but one that I would have preferred watching rather than just listening to. We left the concert a little early so that they could drop me off and head back to New Hampshire before they had to work on Friday morning. However, we must not have left early enough because we got caught in one of the worst traffic jams I have ever experienced. We were barely moving at times and as luck would have it, Meg's car was starting to run out of gas... yay. We found a gas station though and after I translated the pump screen, were back on our way to campus. Crisis averted!!

They were only here for a little over 30 hours but I was so happy they came to see me! Once my program ends, I'm flying in to Boston (then heading to New Hampshire) to stay with Meg for a few days before we begin our road trip back to Nebraska so I will see them again soon!

Another update coming soon!

Le week-end au Quebec

Happy Monday everyone! I received the classic 'you look tired today' this morning and had to laugh to myself- even in Canada I cannot avoid it. However, this weekend was well worth enduring the commentary on my looks.

Saturday morning we had class to make up for the day that we missed last week. After classes I went grocery shopping and found bagged milk and 10$ cheese sticks... seriously.

Bags of milk- hard to pour no?

I headed downtown with two other girls to go to mass at the Notre-Dame Basilica Cathedral. It was very beautiful and quite cool to listen to (and understand!) mass in French. The ceiling of the church was either painted with clouds or enchanted to look like the sky outside... :) The had a large organ in the back of the church but maybe I'm spoiled with the Cathedral's organ at home because I didn't find it as impressive- is it bad to say that about a church organ?!

Gilded fixtures decorating the sanctuary.

After mass, we exited the Basilica and found ourselves in perfect position to watch a street performance- we didn't stay long though as we were meeting the rest of our group for dinner. As we made our way back up the streets, we found ourselves in the midst of another street act. A group of performers on stilts were disguised as birds and walked among the crowds- playing tricks on some of the shop owners along the way. Crowds of people would stop to watch them for a bit and separate as they made there way through the streets. We had almost reached our friends when we came across another act. (I hope it doesn't sound like I'm making this up... there really were performances everywhere!) This performance consisted of a group of four men that were dressed in leather costumes and controlled a sort of horse machine. I'm not the biggest horse fan to begin with but this was pretty cool. One guy played the drums and added horse sound effects while the others trotted around the street. Hahaha, it was really bizarre but cool at the same time.

 Bird creatures being tricky

Man controlling an over sized horse puppet

We left the horse stampede and went up to one of the free stages to listen to an American band- Soul Rebels- for a bit. They were good and used a lot of saxophones and brass instruments. They were cool. We met our friends for dinner at a burger place nearby and finally got to sample the 'poutine'. Poutine is a traditional Quebecois dish made with fries and gravy (and our version included cheese curds). Honestly, I wasn't crazy about these. I wanted to try it but now that I have I think I will be happy with fries and ketchup from now on.

The hamburger buns were really skinny- I don't know if they dropped the package mine was in or if they're always served like that. I'll keep you posted on my findings... And the poutine in all its glory is to the right.

After dinner we went to watch a few of the free shows away from the music stages. We walked back towards the Basilica to the Seminaire de Quebec which was the old Laval University and now houses a high school. We watched a silent film that was projected onto the courtyard wall and was accompanied by a live group of musicians. The movie was a comedy- like those of Charlie Chaplin and so one of the musicians played the drums and did a number of other sound effects into a microphone. The other men played the violin (shoutout to my siblings- this could be you someday), a cello and a keyboard. It was a great performance and unlike anything I had ever experienced before!

Musical illustration of a silent film

As we left our seats to exit the courtyard, we saw a number of people coming up the stairs on stilts and wearing what appeared to be large garbage bags. I was naturally perplexed and stayed to watch and see what was about to happen. The bag people walked around for awhile and usually clustered around the large lights for the stages. Then after a few minutes of that they crossed the courtyard to an open area and began to spin on their stilts. Their bags/costumes began to inflate and they ended up forming an inflatable costume that lit up at different intervals. They did a show with dancing and at the end they threw really large balloons to the crowd and we hit those those around for awhile. One of my friends got hit in the face by an unruly child that had left the watchful eye of his parents. Luckily it was just by a balloon though so all was well.

You can see the person if you look closely at the middle of the figure body. These guys were cool.

Our last artistic venture was to listen to Deltron 3030 back at the free stage. He's an American rapper- I wasn't crazy about most of his songs but he uses a large assortment of instruments so it was cool to listen to that combination. After the concert we looked for one of the bars that our tour guide suggested the other day and found a table to sit for awhile. Our server was very nice and patient with our French which was great. I've found that almost everyone here appreciates the effort that you make with speaking French even if it takes longer to understand what you are trying to communicate. We took the bus back to campus and ended a very full day!

I woke up early Sunday morning because I had signed up for a hiking trip at Jacques-Cartier National Park. The park was about an hour away from campus and once we arrived we split into a few groups so that we wouldn't take up the entire trail with our large group. I was in the last group and couldn't help but notice the attire of some of my fellow hikers. Something about bejeweled flats and full eye-makeup made me realize that some people must not have understand 'randonnee' (hiking) when they read it in the activity book. Either that or we have two very different ideas of appropriate hiking gear.

I loved the hike. It was absolutely beautiful in the park and well worth the early wake-up time. We had lunch at one of the observation points and the view was incredible:

Coming back down the mountain I stopped at a few places to take pictures and admire the scenery. I also found a small frog- I know I know, such an explorer. My group made it back to the bottom first so we went down to the beach by the river and hung out for awhile. I chatted with some of the leaders about rowing and canoeing which was awesome. They had a lot of questions for me and I think I explained everything well but some of the specifics may have been lost in translation. Talking to them about rowing made me miss it a lot but taking another look at the river made me happy to not have to do it there...

Lots of rocks and rapids would definitely complicate a row...

We took a few pictures by the river and then made our way back to the buses. It was a great day spent in the park!

A sample of my river photoshoot. Trying to look adventurous...

Upon returning to campus I made some dinner, finished up a little homework and then spent some quality time on Skype. I am absolutely loving it here but it was great to talk to my family and friends and see their faces and it made me a little homesick. It's reassuring to know that those I love are just a video chat away if I need them. Okay, that was sappy but it's true haha!

It was a great weekend in Quebec and I'm pumped to see what the week will bring me!

Things are not as they appear to be...

In the peak of my dollar store excitement the other day, I made a classic oversight. Upon seeing a container of oatmeal, I snatched it up faster than well, it was fast. Anyway, yesterday morning I woke up early to prepare a delicious bowl of oatmeal. However, when I poured the oats into my bowl I discovered these were not ordinary oats; I had purchased steel cut oats. Now, the container guaranteed "a full, hearty texture and a rich taste... a purely delicious way to start your day" but I must disagree. I microwaved these elusive oats for about three minutes and when it was millimeters from overflowing, I gave my bowl a good stir and was prepared for a 'delicious' start to my day. Well, these oats typically take 8-10 minutes to fully cook in the microwave so it is safe to say that they were severely under-cooked. Twas a crunchier breakfast than I had imagined.

Upon returning to the dollar store, I found the quick oats that I am used to. I was just too excited and grabbed the first ones I saw- classic. Don't worry, I'm going to give these oats another shot with the proper cook time.

The culprit.

Touring with the Natives

Bonjour!

Began my day with a cup of coffee and a trip to the computer lab! The class spoke with each other via headsets and a cool computer program that randomizes your speaking parter. Then, we spent part of class watching a broadcast about the Chateau Frontenac (this will reappear later) and listening to a Celine Dion song and filling in the missing words. I listened to THIS no less than 15 times today... now I'm not complaining because I like Celine and think she is a total badass but it was a little much for me. Now, today should have been the last day of classes for the week but thanks to the late observation of Canada Day, we have class tomorrow. Yes, it is a Saturday. But it's okay because after that we have the whole afternoon and evening to relax and enjoy the city.

Speaking of enjoying the city..... today I went to Old Quebec again! This time with a big group from the FLE program including our 'animateurs' (program coordinators). We split up into groups and walked around the city with our designated guides. Let me tell you- this was much more successful than walking around without any direction. Don't get me wrong- I love exploring but something about having someone who knows the city show you around makes things a lot easier. 

We started near the Parliament building and made our way towards the river. We passed by a few of the stages where preparations were underway for the numerous shows that are occurring this next week in Quebec City. It's the Festival D'Ete de Quebec through the 15th where there are hundreds of performances (including LMFAO, Beirut, Aerosmith, Skrillex, Deltron 3030... who am I the publicist??) from a lot of great artists from around the world.

Prepping the stage... probably

As we made our way along the ramparts and through the city we passed by a few notable sites including the original location of Laval University (now a high school- it's huge!), le Chateau Frontenac (the most photographed hotel in the world) and the Fountain de Tourny. We also enjoyed multiple parks, cannons and the costumes of people already arriving for the LMFAO show.

Not wanting to be left out of the group of famous photographers who have captured the Chateau, here is my picture of the famous hotel (on the left) with a spectacular view of the St. Lawrence River!

The tour was fast-paced and we covered a lot of ground and received a lot of pointers on the good places to go from our guide. He was funny and when he learned we were Americans, he actually knew where Nebraska was- something I probably can't say for a large amount of US citizens. But really. I'm planning on coming back here to go back through a lot of the shops we passed at a slower pace. Some were fairly touristy but as I am a tourist, I don't mind that too much.

Other excitement for the day included finding a wall sized calendar of the Festival d'Ete, buying milk (we finally have a functioning mini-fridge!!!) and throwing a coin into the Fountain de Tourny- Lizzie McGuire style.

We could be twins, I know.

I'm ready to call it a night. As per usual, I'm excited for tomorrow!

Head in the Clouds

As the title suggests, today I was more than happy admiring the clouds.

C'est beau, non?

I woke up early to ensure that I had time to get coffee before class. After successfully filling my mug, I headed to class for four hours of learning. My first class was with my head teacher and the second was a new class- Correction phonetique- where we practiced pronunciation and nuances of the language. I think I will really like that class. My teacher was really enthusiastic too.

After class I allowed myself another nap and then went to a meeting with the other UNO students. We received our tickets today for all of the activities we signed up for which was great! My first 'excursion' is this Sunday to the Jacques-Cartier Park! It's a hiking trip with some of the best views (I haven't been told this for sure but I'm just guessing it will be) in all of the Canadian countryside! After our meeting, we ventured back to the mall to buy bus passes- we finally found the right spot and were mostly successful purchasing our passes. I tried to buy a monthly pass but didn't have enough cash so I tried to pay with my VISA. However, the man told me VISA wasn't accepted. I was understandably shocked. How can a company have a slogan promoting that they are 'everywhere' I want to be and then not be there?! Mind boggling. Anyway- I got a card with a 2 day pass that I will use wisely :)

My bus pass with an unfortunate looking photo of me...

The other excitement of the day was a result of finding the dollar store here!!!!! Such good fortune for us all. I finally bought a few staple items for cheap :) So overall, I am quite happy with the days happenings. Honestly, you win some you lose some- I won with the clouds and the dollar store, lost with my bus pass and accompanying photo. C'est la vie.

Oh! I almost forgot- I went to a free movie tonight in one of the school buildings. Bon Cop, Bad Cop was the name. It was funny and suspenseful at times, I liked it! It was good to relax for a little and practice listening to (and reading... subtitles) French in a fun setting.

That's all for today! I'll leave you with another cloud picture... enjoy!!

Les nuages (clouds!)

4th of July... in Canada

Let me throw it out there from the start and say that the Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. It doesn't get much better than grilling out, jean shorts, bomb pops, flag everything, fireworks, family and America. However, they don't celebrate America's independence day here... weird I know ;) I mentioned the 4th in class today and received blank stares and in general, looks of disapproval. Needless to say, I figured my American flag jacket would receive a similar reaction.

GBA.

Despite my frustrations at missing the 4th, today was a good day. We had our first full day of classes which was exciting and honestly, quite tiring. I don't know how I did it before but sitting in class for four hours seemed like the hardest thing I've done in awhile! The teachers move around here so we stay in one room and they come to us. Each day I have two classes except for Friday when I have one class for the whole morning. My teachers are all really nice and encouraging.

Ventured to "Vieux Quebec" this afternoon for my first off-campus trip!! It was great to go downtown and see a bit of the city. We rode the bus and successfully navigated our way to the farmer's market that takes place everyday near the river. There were lots of smaller vendors and some permanent stands that made up the indoor market. I grabbed some ice cream (naturally) and enjoyed that while walking around some more of the city. The streets are cobblestone and everything in the area seemed so European. There are lots of cafes and small shops along the winding streets. It was fairly difficult to navigate but we were able to find a lookout point onto the river where I commandeered a cannon from the early days of the  French settlers:

St. Lawrence River in the background!

We explored a bit more but decided to head back to campus when we heard the thunder of an approaching storm. It was quite a successful day and I was pumped to see part of the 'real Quebec' aside from the Laval campus.

Happy 4th everyone!!

Orientation Day!

In an effort to not always be two days behind I am going to try to catch up tonight :)

Yesterday was another semi free day as there was nothing on our schedule until today. Although Canada Day was officially Sunday, the University observed it Monday... slightly complicating things but oh well! We slept in and then a group of us walked around campus to check everything out. Most buildings were pretty empty as it was the holiday which gave me a good opportunity to take pictures of things before everyone became painfully aware of the fact that I am a tourist.

By far our coolest find of the day was the tunnels that connect a majority of campus during the winter. Because Quebec gets so much snow they've made it easy for students to get around despite the weather limitations. I thought the tunnels would be creepy but they were awesome! Student organizations painted portions to promote their specific groups and then other students just painted...

 Entrance to the library tunnel

One of my favorite quotes!!

The 2012 Explore program is essentially what I am enrolled in. I say 'essentially' because technically that is the program for the Canadian students participating. There are around 560 students in this session and around 330 are from different Provinces throughout Canada. The goal is to promote French as a spoken language because although French is an official language in Canada, it's use is largely concentrated in Montreal and Quebec.

After exploring campus we went to a meet and greet for the program students. It was cool to meet other students and definitely interesting to be considered in the minority for once. Everyone was shocked to hear we (the Nebraska girls) were "from the States"- I guess they thought it was only a Canadian program. After clearing up a few humorous stereotypes, we chatted about our upcoming 5 weeks. 

The most interesting part of the night was the snack offering... juice boxes and chips (ketchup flavor to be exact!) Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about juice boxes, but something about these red chips was somewhat off-putting. They had a really strong flavor- I wouldn't say it was ketchup but perhaps that's because I didn't learn that that's what they were until after we left.

 Ketchup chips in the back.... yahhhhh

Today was orientation! All of the program students were sent to one of the main buildings where we received our registration packets and class schedules. I went to my first class (Langue orale et ecrite) but only to check in because the foreign students were all required to return to the registrar's office to present our passport and verify our identities. It felt like being at the DMV... taking a number and waiting for it to flash on the screen.

I finally made it back to class with about a half hour left (way to make a good impression...) and immediately started taking notes trying to catch up. My teacher seems nice and her accent wasn't too hard to understand which was nice! Once class ended, I strolled back to my dorm (took a few pictures of campus along the way) and rested until our next mandatory session in the afternoon.

 This is one of the walkways from my dorm to my classes. Tis quite nice. I took a few embarassing selfies that I'm sure will show up later :)

Our afternoon meeting was an introduction from the students and administrators that planned our program. Everyone was very nice and enthusiastic which sort of pumped me up for everything we are going to be doing (I will admit I'm easily inspired...) One of the main coordinators looked like Ryan Reynolds but younger and with darker features... if you can picture that haha.

The UNO students stayed after to meet with our coordinator Dr. Proulx and then headed upstairs to have our id pictures taken. One of the student coordinators asked to see my passport (and the two other girls with me) because in Canada they aren't allowed to smile for their pictures. We were all smiling and the girl told me I looked like I was from Beverly Hills... I think that was a compliment but I'm not sure. She was laughing so I laughed along...

After getting our ids we ran a few errands on campus and then made yet another trip to the Metro (grocery store) before going to dinner at the "Pub" on campus. It was finally a real mealllllll (as opposed to the pb and jelly sandwiches I had be serving myself)!! Our waitress was very nice and tried working with us in French but switched to English if she could tell we were confused. We have classes again tomorrow and then I am finally going to try to head downtown! YAY! I will leave you with a picture of my dinner because it was delicious and because I am proud of the artsy angle I used.

Au revoir!!