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!!

Bienvenue a Quebec!

Bonjour from Quebec City! We arrived yesterday after a few delays in Chicago to the University of Laval. I'm getting ahead of myself though... let me rewind.

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!