I woke bright and early yesterday morning and enjoyed one last bowl of cereal at my leisure before doing some last minute prep for the trip North. My Mom, sister Sarah and brother Sam came with me to the airport to see me off for my flight to Chicago. As I got out of the car, my mom noticed grease marks all over my legs... what a way to make a good first impression. Luckily they came right off and as I said my goodbyes I hoped I would find someone to do grease checks for me in Canada.
The first flight was absolutely normal. Sat between two men- one coming from the swim trials and the other heading to a welding convention in Northern Illinois (this is false but it seems like it could have fit). Mr. Swim and I opted not to put our shared armrest down which was interesting... I may have rubbed shoulders with him as I dozed during the flight.
Once we arrived in Chicago, I began to make a few observations about those around me. I noticed two priests, a nun, what could have been a pair of basketball players, a European looking male model, an extremely loud and self-absorbed woman, and countless neck pillows. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure neck pillows are extremely practical and worth looking rediculous as you walk the airport wearing it but something about seeing these items in mass quantity is semi off-putting to me. The best observation had to be of the woman wearing two hats and a neck pillow while waiting to board the flight to Canada. Yes, that
really did happen.
Now, after making these assessments about my fellow passengers and flight-inclined humans, I found out that our flight out of Chicago was slightly delayed due to inclement weather- that's what I get for critiquing the neck pillows... After a bit of a delay, we took off in a small plane (three people to a row) headed for Quebec! Things got off to an interesting start when the man next to me arrived and I hit my head on the overhead bin in my haste to get out of the way so he could reach his seat. Strike one. When the flight attendant asked if I wanted ice in my drink I foolishly responded no and drank a semi-cool Sprite for the flight, such an amateaur. Strike two. The coup de grace of this whole flight though has to come from the fact that I was in the very last row on the isle meaning I was right by the bathroom (the only bathroom) for the 2 hour and 20 minute flight. Strike three. After this, I wasn't too hopeful for how things were progressing. Two little girls were in the row ahead of me and reminded me to chill though and appreciate what I had. Their cries of 'we're in an AIRPLANE' and 'those cars would fit an ANT!' rang through the plane as a reminder to soak up the little things.
Volunteers from Laval were at the airport to shuttle us to campus which was very helpful. I got my first taste of French communication and it was hard responding back but luckily my listening was still top notch. We rode back in a school bus with large windows which provided plenty of viewing of the passing city as well as the amazing clouds. :) 'Somebody that I used to Know' was on the radio making it feel quite like home.
We registered for our rooms in the one of the main buildings where I realized that the self-absorbed woman from the airport was in fact a coordinator for the trip- hoorah. A group of us (all participating in this program through UNO) decided to make the long trek to our dorm building. We are on the far side of campus which means we get to stroll through the woods and grassy knolls when we go to class. A mysterious van pulled up with a sign that said 'shuttle' taped to its window and asked if we needed a ride. We gladly accepted a ride from the two students that were volunteering as drivers for the day. Okay, so it wasn't a mysterious van but everything is in French so it's at least confusing. The guys were friendly and dressed European (not the basketball short and zipped jacket type some claim to be) but the fitted jeans and black sweater variety. Their hairgel rivaled Cristiano Ronaldo's. After a speedy drive right up to the front of our dorm, we were sent upstairs.
We each have a single room with a bed, closet, sink, desk and dresser. It's actually pretty big and I have more than enough space (even though I overpacked...)!
My room!!! Aie aie aie!
Some of the girls and I tried to take a bus into town to get dinner and watch fireworks (it was Canada Day yesterday) but we couldn't buy our student passes because we didn't have our IDs cards yet. We ended up walking to a shopping mall nearby and grabbed dinner there (I had the Canadian version of PITA PIT!!!!!) and then went to the grocery store. I grabbed
a few lunch essentials to hold me over for a bit and then we walked back home.
Only a day into things and I already have a few observations:
- Things are pricey here, that should be fun to accomodate to...
- I'm still irritable when hungry, this does not just happen around friends/family. Turns out strangers are not exempt. Whoops.
- It's really hard trying to navigate a place in a different language... somewhat obvious with that one but what can I say- hopefully by the end of these 5 weeks I will look back on this comment and laugh.
Goodbye for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment