Christmassy in Quebec

The thing about snow is it’s fun at first, but there reaches a point when it starts to get annoying.

This is something that my Montreal friends and locals have been telling me for a long time, but I only really discovered on my weekend trip away to Quebec City. I can honestly say that it was the first time that the weather had disturbed any of my travels so far throughout the Canada and US.

From the instant I opened the doors outside from the bus station in Quebec, I knew that the weather was going to make my travels just that little bit more difficult! A gust of wind blew my hood right off, snowflakes slammed into my face and the cold chilled my cheeks raw. It was your average snowstorm – but add some heavy bags and being lost and you’re feeling a little more grumpy than usual because of the weather. 

Nevertheless, the city itself did an excellent job of making me forget the bad weather and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay there. The snow really accentuated the French, village-y feel of Quebec City, especially on the Rue du petit champlain, the oldest street in the old city. Everything was adorned with snow-topped Christmas decorations and pretty fairy lights, making it a really nice time of year to go for a visit.

The Christmas Boutique

Some highlights of the city included ice skating on the square in front of the Palais Montcalm, battling the snowstorm to the Chateau Frontenac (and sneaking a view from the top), visiting some incredible local eats including (La Brûlerie) and listening to carolers in the snow.

Chateau Frontenac

I also took an easy and well-worth-it trip to the Falls of Montmorency with the hostel (a 40 minute bus ride away). There was certainly an incredible view and we felt that we had somehow made it into the wilderness with the snow tumbling down at great speed as we trudged through up to our knees in the stuff! The temperature was ok though (I think about -10 degrees that day with a bit of wind on top of that) so we weren’t too cold all rugged up.

The Falls - taller than Niagara Falls!

On my final day in Quebec I managed to pay a trip to the Christmas markets at the Old Port, which had some great food and wine on offer, and a beautiful ambiance with a man playing the harp. That day was by far the worst day for weather as the wind literally blew you away! It was the first time I’ve had to walk backwards down the street to avoid the chill of the wind and the enormous snowflakes, and some locals were laughing at me braving the snowstorm!

Turns out it was a great museum day, so I headed to the Museum of Civilisation – a very unique experience. There was an incredible exhibition on the history of video games, in which almost every console from the 1950s to the present was set up with an iconic game of the time for the visitors to play! I had some good fun reliving my childhood, and laughing at the pixel quality we thought was so amazing back in the day. They even had Dance Dance Revolution set up – needless to say I showed off my skills and impressed all watching.

One of the classics

There was also a fantastic exhibition on Paris in 1900, reliving the glory of the World Expo, which came with a free audio tour. They did a good job of putting you back in the spirit of the time, and my favourite room was a balcony surrounded by a giant drawing of what Paris looked like in 1900, detailing each building that had been created especially for the event. The World Expos always seem like a mysterious and ancient thing to me (even though they are apparently still run?), so I found the huge drawing fascinating.

It was a fantastic little trip, and I had a really great experience with the hostel there (HI Quebec). I met the most Australians I’ve ever encountered in one place so far overseas (12), and the staff were really helpful and organized fun activities (such as the ice skating, the Montmorency Falls, a pub crawl and visit to the light festival).

I am currently on the road in San Francisco (very behind with this blog I know! Will try and update it in the next couple of days). I can’t believe there’s only two weeks until I come home! Time has simply flown and it will be hard coming back to reality I think, but I am also looking forward to seeing Australia and all my family and friends again (and the beach!).

Next post will be an update on New York/Washington DC.

Erin xo

Living and Breathing Saguenay

Last weekend (29th Nov - 1st Dec), four friends and I went on a road trip to the village of L'Anse-Saint-Jean, near Saguenay in Quebec. We were all wanting to take a bit of a breather, get away from the city and see some Quebec countryside, especially after the beautiful snowfall that we had just had.

The best thing about road trips is that they often become a crash course in getting to know people. Our group was about as varied as can be - we each came from China, Iran, Aruba, Poland and Australia respectively, so had a lot to talk about. Our eight hour car trip became a sharing of cultures, languages and ideas, from things as trivial as food to politics.

Passing by Quebec City...already -6 degrees.

I found it quite surreal and odd to think about the fact that, though we all came from different corners of the world, we were all able to share and communicate with each other through the English language. I find it nice sometimes that it's my maternal language that often allows people from different backgrounds to communicate! It certainly rendered my heritage as boring though, so I tried to mix it up a bit by offering them some gems from the Australian dialect of English, such as the treasure of diphthongs and the easiest way to sound Australian (add 'mate' to the end of any sentence).

And interestingly, it was our diversity and interest in each other and the place we were visiting that made our adventure...well, all the more adventurous! (More on this later)

So, I was expecting the countryside to be beautiful near Saguenay...but not quite so beautiful as it really was. Every minute or so I had to stop and sigh as I saw another unexpected image of complete and utter beauty that literally took my breath away.

Taking the luge down the hill near the hostel, leaving for the day's activities, trekking through the woods, horse riding in the mountains...everywhere we went was stunning.

Leaving the hostel in the morning

On our way to go snowshoeing in the woods, we had come across some locals trying to get a car out of a ditch and had asked them what the best hiking route was. After about an hour of trekking it through the pristine countryside, admiring the absolute silence, gentle chill and still forest, we were starting to get a bit tired.

No wind, no sound, just silence

We were starting to doubt whether or not we were going the right way to the lookout when we suddenly heard the sound of motors behind us. We turned around to find the two guys from earlier - come to give us a lift on their snowmobiles!

They were some pretty cool dudes, and the man who was driving the snowmobile I got on had the need for speed! I for one screamed "Woohoo!!!" all the way down the mountain as we zoomed past the incredible scenery, breaking that calm and silence we had enjoyed earlier!

We were then led to the lookout, where we admired a spectacular view of the semi-frozen Fjord du Saguenay, lined with little chalets and snow-topped pines.

The Fjord du Saguenay

Our absolute awe at the surrounding scenery and our diversity led our new local mates to invite us into their chalet to warm up by the fire (a welcome haven from the -12 degree weather outside!). Whilst at first I was worried that things were sounding a bit too Wolf Creek-esque, it turned out that the men were so lovely and just genuinely nice locals, sharing a taste of their life with us. They explained that seeing tourists in awe of the views reminded them of how lucky they were to see it every week.

Chalet in the woods

They also recommended us a great diner called La Fringale where we rested for a poutine stop in the afternoon as the sun was setting.

I was just loving the welcoming spirit of the people from the villages and getting a sense for the variation in the way they spoke French too! As well as these men we met on the road, we also had a great experience with the guys who took us on our snowy horse ride adventure. The man running the tours was a legend, organising a trail ride for us at the last minute. 

Horse riding through the hills

I found the way he spoke French very warm and welcoming, and much more laid back than the city folk I've met in Montreal. I noticed in the villages that people used the word "là" a LOT - sometimes even filling whole questions with it!

Some examples I heard were:

• When we were organising the time for the ride: "Là, là? Je dois faire le ménage, là. Mais on peut le faire à 10h?"

• When he was showing us his warm clothing and how the locals dress themselves for winter : "Ça, là? C'est chaud, là."

I found it all very sweet and have started trying to work this gorgeous (and useful) little word into my conversations.

I found the other guy organising the trail ride interesting too - he had just finished uni and was in the process of building his own house, wanting to grow his own food and live in the woods, working with the horses. It was really nice to see how people lived in the villages, how they found happiness and dealt with other people - it has certainly been different from my experiences in cities.

We had a long, but safe trip home from a wonderful snowy adventure listening to some jolly Christmas tunes on the radio. When this one came on, it made me feel really nostalgic (but of Charlie Brown or Arrested Development I can't be sure!):

It sure was beautiful driving through the snow and admiring the views by the river on the way back. Here's hoping for a White Christmas this year!!

This week, I will finish my exams (yay!) and after that I will have one more week to make the most of the amazing city of Montreal. I have already had to say some goodbyes and it has been very sad so far but I'm trying not to think about it too much until the moment I have to leave for real!

Looking forward to a productive week!

Erin xo

Couldn't ask for better travel companions!

Some Treasures in Toronto

After that amazing trip to Boston, Toronto had a lot to live up to.

I was pretty excited already for it because it was the setting of one of my favourite films/comic series, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. I had found a pretty sweet website detailing a lot of the filming/drawing locations and I was very keen to pay a bit of a pilgrimage of sorts when I arrived there to Bryan Lee O'Malley's geeky cult creation. Yep, I was so excited that I even watched the film on the bus there to get me prepped.

I started off my stay in style with a dinner at the top of Toronto's most iconic building: the CN tower. I will give it to them, it does make for a very memorable addition to the skyline. It stands 553 metres high and was the world's tallest tower at the time of construction in 1976 (it's now the fifth tallest tower in the world). The food was amazing at the 360 restaurant, and gave a great view of every angle of the city! I have definitely found that an observation tower is a good way to start your stay in a city - it allows you to get your bearings and identify the main attractions that you might be interested in seeing in your stay.

Me and the view from the 360 restaurant

The CN Tower from below

Then the next day it was on to the pilgrimage! I started off with a stop to Scott and Wallace's apartment in the movie (the same as drawn in the comics). It very much blended into its surroundings and was dressed up a bit for the movie with snow and a door, but is actually someone's garage! I also paid a visit to Bryan Lee O'Malley's old house on the same street.

Scott and Wallace's apartment

After this I headed to Casa Loma, an extravagant old mansion once belonging to businessman Sir Henry Pellatt in the early 20th century and the filming location of a number of movies such as Chicago, X-Men, and you guessed it, Scott Pilgrim!

The majestic Casa Loma

It was a very strange place, quite eerie and almost Gatsby-esque in its extravagance. As Pellatt became broke quite quickly after its construction, Casa Loma was abandoned for many years and had no use at all until it was transformed into a museum and tourist attraction. The museum was alright, but quite expensive and I was just there for the architecture if anything.

I had had many recommendations from friends to go over to the Toronto islands by ferry and explore, and I was almost considering not going because I was running out of daylight in the afternoon. But I made the 3:30pm ferry and it ended up being a great decision - the islands were absolutely stunning and gave an incredible view of the skyline! It was so lovely to see the "beach" looking out to Lake Ontario (which is HUGE!), and just walk the boardwalk in the evening. In summer I imagine that the islands would be even more enjoyable.

The Beach

It ended up being actually quite a good time of day to go, as the sun was just starting to set as I left, which meant that I got to watch the skyline light up before my eyes on the ferry ride back.

Sunset on the skyline

That night I went to see James Vincent McMorrow live in the Opera House - it was a great venue and he absolutely blew me away! He mostly played songs from his new album, Post Tropical, set to be released in January, and from the moment he started singing I knew it was going to be an incredible gig. What. A. Voice. You can check out his new single Cavalier from the new album here:

It was great to get a vibe for Toronto through seeing a gig, and I went to get a drink with an English farmer I met at the concert at a cute little organic beer place afterwards.

Another highlight of my stay was seeing The Second City, a famous comedy club in Chicago and Toronto that does sketch revues and improvisation. I was in stitches and even managed to get some of the Canada jokes (there were a lot about Rob Ford...). Another great recommendation from my Toronto buddy!

Outside The Second City

I also managed to catch the annual Santa Claus Parade in the middle of the city and paid a quick visit to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) on Sunday, which was very pleasant! I was so impressed by the sheer amount of people who turned up to see the man himself, and in mid-November no less!

On Monday, I went to the newly opened Ripley's aquarium, which I would highly recommend to adults and kids alike! It was an incredibly interactive place, with lots of colours, a magic carpet leading visitors through the shark tunnel and even a petting area where you could touch crabs and stingrays. I could tell that the kids were absolutely loving it too as I heard shouts of "This...place...is...AWESOME!" around every corner! I personally loved the jellyfish room - it was so peaceful to watch them floating with the lights and colours, and the music that they had in the aquarium went very well.

Just floatin' around

Finally, I grabbed some lunch at a very trendy Japanese restaurant near the bus terminal which I would highly recommend called Don Don Izakaya. Such great decor, food and the staff were very friendly! I was thanked by every staff member in the store as I left.

Don Don Izakaya

You know, it's interesting...although every city that I have visited on exchange has had similar attractions (eg. museums, art galleries, iconic buildings on the skyline), every place has had its own flavour and unique personality. Toronto for me was an exciting and vibrant city with a lot to do, and much more fast paced than Montreal. I was shocked by the prevalence of French even in Ontario, a reminder that Canada really is a bilingual country, even though the number of English speakers dominates.

Going to Toronto also made me feel less embarrassed by the misunderstandings I've had in French in Montreal as I realised that there is even variation in the English spoken in Canada! One such experience I had was on the way to the James Vincent McMorrow concert. I was about to take a streetcar when I realised that I didn't have any change, so I went to the nearest Macca's to ask for some change for a fiver.

The guy on the cash register said: "Ah alright...we've only got loonies, is that ok?"
"You've only got what?" I said.
"Loonies!" he said. "Sorry about that."

I was thinking...crazy people? What on earth is he on about?? I asked if it was a Canadian thing and he laughed out loud, explaining that loonies are one dollar coins and toonies are two dollar coins. Well there you go! I couldn't believe I hadn't come across that variation yet, but I guess in Montreal they still have the word "sou" for cents in French.

Well those were my main impressions of Toronto - I have fallen behind with my blog a bit so will try to catch it up in the next couple of days! My next post will be about my amazing winter weekend in Saguenay!

Erin x

On Boston and the Benefits of Baseball

At the end of the week after an exhausting run of exams, I'll be honest - I wasn't really in the mood to travel. By Sunday, I certainly wasn't looking forward to waking up at 6am to make the 9 hour bus trip to Boston, when all I wanted to do was lie in bed and catch up on the TV shows I'd been missing.

Well Boston, all I can say is "Congrats", because you certainly proved my wrong. Hardcore.

What a city. It was so beautiful, lively and full of action! I think it's probably been my favourite trip so far, for three main reasons: the attractions, the vibe of the city itself, and the people.

The Attractions:

My first real experience of the sites of Boston came from a walking tour run by the HI hostel that I did on Monday morning. It was great because our tour guide, Andrea, had the right balance between giving us interesting information, but not overloading us so that we could enjoy the sites and get to know the other people in the group. She also took us to some places in Boston that I would not have thought to go to, such as the Esplanade and the extremely beautiful Beacon Hill (the most expensive place to live in Boston - we even saw Secretary of State John Kerry's house!).

Beacon Hill - this street had a private park that only residents were allowed the key to

There was also a fantastic mix of old buildings from when Boston was first starting out as a city, and new sky scrapers - I found myself fascinated by the architecture I was seeing around the place. My two favourite new buildings in Boston would definitely have to be the John Hancock Tower and 500 Boylston Street.

John Hancock Tower was particularly interesting because it caused a lot of controversy when it was being planned. It was set to be located in a square full of old historic buildings, and people couldn't believe that a 60-storey sky scraper was going to be built right next to these beautiful old buildings. So the architect, Henry N. Cobb, employed some techniques to come to a compromise.

A bit of juxtaposition in the architecture!

The outside of the tower is entirely glass, tinged blue - this was done so that the buildings surrounding the tower would be reflected in the glass, and so that the tower would blend into the skyline on a bright blue-skied day! I thought this was a pretty cool way of solving the problem and extremely effective - on the days that I saw the skyline, I saw both of these effects!

Blending and reflecting!

I also found the Boston Public Gardens and the Boston Common gorgeous places to just stroll through and people watch. This is one thing that I have definitely noticed in America particularly - the prevalence and grandeur of public city parks. In Australia you find them, but I haven't seen one as iconic as I've seen over here yet!

The smallest suspension bridge in the world!

Of course, a trip to Boston wouldn't be complete without taking the subway to Cambridge and exploring Harvard University. I got my first glimpse of Harvard Square at night on my way to a Cults concert that was just around the corner (They were great too! Loving their material on their new album). Already, I could feel the excitement from the flurry of tourists and actual students around the area.

When I explored the campus during the day...well it was pretty incredible. The iconic red brick and the heritage of the buildings and university just made you sense how prestigious it was. The campus was aallllmmost as nice as the University of Sydney's campus ;)

A library on campus at Harvard University

One of the main highlights for me though was seeing Radcliffe College - the first female college affiliated with the University of Harvard - started in the 1870s. It definitely made me a bit nostalgic for The Women's College at Usyd! It was wonderful to imagine what influential women once strolled down its paths and halls.

The entrance to Radcliffe College

Finally, another great and very touristy attraction I did was a Boston Duck tour - certainly a very unique historic tour of the city! You started off the tour in a truck shaped a bit like a boat, and were led by a character inspired by American history - ours was Paul "Reverse" and his voice sounded exactly like Sterling Archer's, which cracked me up a bit! We toured most parts of downtown, and I picked up a few new things that I didn't know along the way, and then our truck turned into a boat and headed straight into the Charles River! It was really a great activity for kids...and kids at heart! We got to quack at passers by, and the children on the boat got to have a go at driving the 'duck' (much to many adults' disappointment...).

Another Duck Tour passing us!

Overall a great tourist-y attraction and worth the money!

The Vibe:

I have never seen a city so proud of its identity before...and not to mention its team! Walking down the street, there would be seas of men, women and children alike wearing "Boston" or "Red Sox" T-shirts, jerseys, caps, scarves, beanies, you name it. Buildings were emblazoned with "GO SOX!", and I even spotted the statue of George Washington in the Boston Public Gardens with a Red Sox jersey on!

B Strong!

On a trip to a graveyard on the Freedom Trail, my French roommate remarked that instead of flowers, on a lot of the gravestones you would see an offering of the American flag. I hadn't really thought twice about it, so when she asked my why this was, I could think of no real reason other than "...We're in America!".

Not only the gravestones, but houses and apartments were adorned with American flags. This was an incredibly strange culture difference for us compared to our respective countries, but something completely acceptable in America.

"O say can you see..."

The concept of national identity in the US is definitely different to what I'm used to, and this became clear particularly on one occasion in which a Security Officer told me that I was American, not Australian because I was born in the US. I identify quite strongly as an Australian as I left the States when I was 18 months old - so we weren't really in agreement on the matter!

The People:

Both my roommate and I were incredibly impressed by the kindness, vibrance and passion of the people of Boston. From the moment that we opened a map on a street corner, someone would approach us without fail and ask if we were ok to get where we were going to. It was a city where people had conversations with each other, where they listened! I had some great chats with locals all around the city, from the guy serving at Ben & Jerry's who loved obscure jazz guitar music, to Matthew at the Cults concert who had paid $1500 for two Red Sox tickets, to the train conductor at South Acton who asked me about my trip each day, to the guy in a Chilean restaurant who taught me and my friends a rhyme for predicting the weather in Boston (see bottom of post). I can imagine that it would be hard to feel lonely in this city even if you were traveling alone with all these switched on and both interesting and interested people!

The train from South Acton

Not to mention the awesome group of people that I met on the hostel walking tour from all over the world! I met people from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Chile, England and more! Hope you guys are having the time of your lives on your respective adventures! And thanks so much to HI Boston - it's definitely one of the best hostels I've stayed at so far!

Our awesome walking tour group!

Phew it was really hard to narrow down the highlights of Boston in this post because I enjoyed every minute of it! It is probably the first city I've visited so far (besides Montreal) that I could see myself maybe living in one day...

But now it's back down to earth and hitting the books again! Hope everyone is doing well - I can't believe I'm halfway through my exchange now! Can't wait for the next adventure!

Erin xo

PS: The rhyme for predicting the weather in Boston goes like this:

Steady blue, clear view.
Flashing blue, clouds due.
Steady red, rain ahead.
Flashing red, snow instead.

It corresponds to the weather beacon at the top of the Berkeley Building. I also found it quite funny to note that flashing red in summer means that the Red Sox game has been postponed due to the weather! (Far worse than snow!)

Montreal Bits and Bobs

Sorry about the late post everyone! Generally I try to post every Monday or Tuesday, but this week got a bit hectic.

It's funny how in the space of just a couple of weeks you can go from feeling uneasy to feeling infinitely more comfortable in your surroundings. Almost immediately after my weekend in Mont Tremblant, I felt like my confidence had risen tenfold in my knowledge of the language, my social circles and ability to navigate the city.

In fact, it suddenly struck me this week that I only have about two and a half months left in Montreal and it made me really sad! I've just started to grow attached to everything around me and it's almost time to leave! I have already identified several things that I am going to miss: the smell of the trees, the fall colours, hearing French everywhere, having misunderstandings everyday, the feeling of movement and not knowing what to expect next. Whilst I think two and a half months is going to fly by, it's still quite a bit of time to explore the city more!

So the week just gone has been another great week, mostly doing a couple of touristy things around Montreal.

Last Monday evening after a hard day of study, one of my roommates, a couple of friends from uni and I headed to the Jardin Botanique de Montréal - which was quite unlike any Botanical Gardens I'd ever seen before in Australia! The Botanical Gardens in Canberra I feel is really a natural exploration of the different flora you will find in parts of Australia. The Montreal Botanical Gardens by contrast had a lot more of an emphasis on the 'garden' concept - full of well-kept hedges, magnificent tree sculptures and fountains!

Gorgeous sculpture

The gardens were absolutely enormous as well - I think we spent about three hours there and we only had time to explore one side of them! As night fell, the crowds filtered into the stunning Chinese Gardens exhibition, which lit up beautifully. It reminded me a lot of Floriade Nightfest in Canberra actually! (a world class attraction...just try and keep up Montreal!)

The Chinese Gardens lit up...pretty cool I guess

I was pretty stoked as we also bumped into some friends we'd met at a party from the other side of Montreal at the gardens - it's always a good sign that you've lived in a city for a decent amount of time when you can bump into people you know at a random place around town!

The middle of my week was pretty quiet and spent mostly frantically trying to get an assignment and readings done by Friday! So I celebrated the end of the week with some friends Friday night by having drinks at a cute little indie bar called Drinkerie in Little Burgundy - where I finally found some cider! (It was incredible, in case you were wondering. The brand was called "Cidre Mystique"). They also played some great music (from the likes of Daft Punk, Miike Snow and Metronomy) and had a really cute, relaxed atmosphere.

On Saturday afternoon, I hijacked HEC Montreal's trip to an apple orchard just outside of Montreal with my roommate (who actually goes to HEC). The forecast had predicted rain, so I wasn't sure how the weather was going to pan out, but it ended up being lovely! We had a wonderful time roadtrippin' along in our yellow bus and frolicking in the fields of apple trees, taking lots of silly photos! (see below)

Enjoying the...fruits...of our labor!

There is nothing like just taking an apple off a tree and eating it like that. I found it so cool! There were about ten different types of apples and they all had different tastes and purposes. My favourites were the Empire apples - crunchy on the outside, sweet and juicy on the inside...

So cute!

I also managed to meet another Australian on the trip - from my university back home no less! I always get so excited to meet Australians over here, and can thus detect an Australian accent from a mile away. For example, a couple of days ago I even met a girl at UdeM waiting for the elevator by recognising her Australian-French accent when she spoke English - turns out she had lived in Canberra for 8 years and went to Telopea/Bundah!

Saturday night, I had a Canadian-themed night with my friend from Vancouver which was awesome fun! We started off at Schwartz's, a famous smoked meat destination in Montreal, where we both had a smoked meat sandwich, pickle and black cherry soda.

Now we're talkin'

It was a fantastic joint! The workers there didn't even bother talking in French, they made fun of each other and had their jobs down to a fine art. Within 60 seconds of ordering, our meals were delivered to us with an apologetic "Two smoked meat sandwiches, pickles and sodas. Sorry for the slow service." I found myself laughing at the dialogue that was going on around me every couple of minutes!

I really liked the decor of the place too - it really reminded me of New York in a sense, but also felt like Montreal at the same time. 

Packed to the rafters!

After eating, we headed to an English pub down the road to catch the end of the Montreal Canadiens game (we won! Go Habs!) and the start of the Vancouver Canucks game. I figured the pub was probably a good place to start to learn the rules before I saw a live game of hockey... (I may have indulged in another glass of cider as well)

Then we headed to my favourite chocolate café so far in Montreal - Juliette et chocolat. It reminds me slightly of Koko Black in Canberra actually, except they have to wear funny red hats! (As my friend told me, he was going to apply for a job there, but this was a deal-breaker for him)

I noticed on my way home that the weather here is starting to get quite chilly at night - I fear what is coming weather-wise in winter...I really do. Speaking of which, went coat shopping on Sunday - it really gives you a headache here, there's so much choice! But I'm looking forward to getting all rugged up in my coat, gloves and tuque in a sense....at least for now whilst it's still relatively warm I can dream!

Last week was also the start of my comic strip classes for the fall trimester - we've got to write a 3-10 page comic on a story of our choice. The teacher has an absolutely incredible knowledge of comic strip/graphic novel artists and recommended artists to each of us according to our tastes. This week I gave Michel Rabagliati a go - he's a Québécois author - and guess what I came across!

I recognise this place...

That's right - Schwartz's! It was in his graphic novel Paul en appartement, which I found was a beautiful little story, a really nice representation of life in Montreal, and just plain relatable in general. I loved learning more Québécismes along the way too as I was reading! I'm also in the middle of reading Louis Riel by Chester Brown, another Canadian author, which I am finding a lot more detached as a story but heavily influenced by the style of The Adventures of Tintin (and thus awesome)!

Well, that's about it for this week. I am expecting a weekend of hard study this weekend as I have my mid-semester exams next week! After then, I've planned a trip to Boston - can't wait!

Erin x

Mountain Adventure to Mont Tremblant

Since coming to Canada, I've realised that Autumn is a difficult concept for me as an Australian to grasp. To me, Autumn means slightly colder weather than summer, the end of beach season and beginning to bring out the orange and red clothes in my wardrobe. However, where I bring out the seasonal colours in what I wear, Canada shows them off through its trees - and I mean each and every one of them. 

I first noticed a change in the trees' colours a couple of weeks ago in my street, and remember thinking "Aww, that's really cute.", thinking of my autumns spent in Canberra, and even my trip to Orange - great destinations for autumnal beauty in Australia.

My street in September

Well, gradually and gradually the trees began to turn deeper and deeper vibrant shades of red, orange and yellow and I couldn't believe my eyes. Walking down my street I began to get hit by the ever-falling leaves on the way to class and the simple autumnal beauty was stunning.

But absolutely nothing compares to the landscape that I experienced on my trip to Mont Tremblant this weekend!

My group of friends (from uni and their roommates) caught the bus at the Gare d'autocars in Montreal at the crisp hour of 7:30am, raring to go on our mountain adventure! 

To give you some background, Mont Tremblant is a ski village during the winter, but an awesome autumn holiday destination to experience the full flair of the colours in season. The village is situated quite close to Mont Tremblant National Park, a beautiful (and huge) park with a spectrum of outdoor activities to try. 

We started off our trip by dropping our bags at the hostel, then taking the bus into the National Park itself to do some hiking! On the way, we ran into a picket line of strikers protesting the salaries of park workers in the area. 

Arriving at the park, we were met by the incredible view of an enormous, glass-like lake (to be honest, I have no idea what it was called - there were so many lakes around that it was hard to keep track!). They had set up some wooden chairs in front of it, so people could admire every part of the landscape, so we started out our day in relaxing fashion, watching the activity and peacefulness of the lake. We were all starting to wish we'd brought our swimmers!

View of a lake at the National Park

After relaxing, and almost drowsing off in front of the lake, we decided it was about time to get out into that nature and do some hiking! We took the nearest trail up to the (La Roche?) lookout point, and stepping into the woods was like something from a dream. The shadows of the forest, the colours, the crunching of the leaves and the trickling of a creek...nothing could be more perfect!

Beginning the hike

Seriously...does it get more perfect than this?

At the top of the view point, we got a great look at the lake from the beginning from above! There were a whole heap of fellow tourists up there, and even a wooden wall of graffiti with the original countries of past visitors etched into place. Whilst the sheer beauty of the forest was incredible, I was quite surprised at the lack of wildlife we spotted in the lush forests. I imagine the sounds of tourist families drove them away!

Definitely worthy of an Instagram

After walking and exploring for a couple more hours, we headed back to the village and grabbed some take away pasta for dinner (the prices were so expensive around the place!). Then it was back to the hostel for some great chill times and a Boréale beer at the pub. 

The hostel was fantastic - love sticking with my HI hostels!! There was a pool table and I was pretty rusty, but challenged some Belgian guys who we had met earlier that day to a game. My team member and I ended up smashing the team of the other guy and a pool champion at the hostel! We were pretty stoked (there may have been a lot of distraction tactics involved). After this, I went and ate S'mores by the fire with the girls, then all of us headed down to the lake behind the hostel and watched the beautiful blanket of stars (I can't believe how different the constellations are here!). We even saw some shooting stars! I have to say, I definitely do not regret the decision to stay overnight.

The next day, we went to the lake behind the hostel for a morning canoe! Whilst the lake was quite small compared to the other ones we'd seen, it was such a relaxing and picturesque nook to canoe with a great bunch of people!

Gorgeous canoeing spot behind the hostel!

Walking back to the hostel, I finally managed to catch a chipmunk I'd been chasing around on camera. He was a sneaky little fella!

Gotcha!

In the afternoon, we took a walk along Chemin du village and stumbled across a road full of lakeside properties....we may have trespassed to have our picnic for lunch, we weren't really sure! I couldn't believe that all the land along the lake's edge was private - places that looked like public parks even were all private! (Thanks unknown strangers who hosted us in your backyard...)

Then it was back to the village for a Beavertail (I got a nutella/banana flavoured one this time!) and we walked up the main mountain at the back of the village to see the view of Tremblant Lake and the village. The village had a very European influence to the architecture - it almost looked like little doll's houses in real life size. 

View of Lake Tremblant and the Village

Overall, a great weekend spent amongst the beautiful scenery and a very Canadian way to spend autumn! I slept so well that night...

Can't wait for the next adventure - better get started on those assignments now!

Erin xo

Feeling relaxed after a great weekend away

A Guide to Culture Shock in Canada for the True Blue Aussie

Heading into my fourth week of classes and the start of my sixth week in Montreal, I've started getting used to the lifestyle here and feeling comfortable with the sights and sounds around me.

But this wasn't always the case.

Whilst I'm still integrating into the unique Québécois culture and learning more about it every day, I have written a brief guide here to some of the main things that hit me when I arrived in Montreal as only a slightly-travelled Aussie!

Culture

Yesterday I picked up my very first Quebec newspaper.

Scanning through the pages of La Presse, I noticed that I was reading a lot more quickly than I used to (yay for my French improving!), but more importantly, that there was quite a different focus to the paper than I was used to. Not only were different countries of the world covered in the "World" section, but there was a fantastic spectrum of subjects covered in the paper that I had barely seen before - and a very comprehensive Arts section!

I found that I was instantly starting to get a better feel for what was important to the citizens of Montreal, what was being covered in the news. There were a lot of stories about potential local policy changes, issues in the community, figures in history from the surrounding area. I must say, this is my first tip to anyone traveling/studying abroad - get your hands on a newspaper, a radio, a tv and read/listen to/watch what's happening locally, because it really helped me feel a part of the culture!

Another great thing I have found to get a feel for a city is to visit any museum that concerns itself with the history of the place! I visited two great ones on the weekend in Old Montreal, and learnt more about the purpose of Montreal being built and how that affects its current identity.

A particular highlight though was a really cool Beatles exhibition in the Pointe-de-Callière museum - there was a jukebox of Quebec, francophone artists that were influenced by the music of the Beatles such as these cool dudes here:

Speaking of music, of the Quebec bands I've seen live so far, I've noticed a trend on the music scene in Montreal of bands having an amazing indie-pop sound with extremely random and absurd lyrics!

For instance, Les Trois Accords have song titles that translate to "I love your grandmother" and "Naked on the beach". I'd have to say my favourite song by them so far is "Hawaiienne" though:

Food

Montreal has some great food around - as I have mentioned in my past posts, I have been super impressed by the local markets and the boulangerie near my apartment for fresh, local produce. But food is often something that makes you feel at home, and I have noticed a few things in particular missing here that I long for in Australia!

It was the end of a big night. I needed something greasy and deep fried, and I needed it quickly. It was obvious where I needed to go to replenish my quickly diminishing sugar levels...and that was the ever present Golden Arches!

Ah McDonalds, that reliable source of all that is fatty and delicious (NB: people don't know what the word "Maccas" means here. I've been doing some serious educating!). I couldn't think of anything I wanted more at 3am in the morning - it was a classic move.

All was going to plan, and I was set on my order (a hot apple pie, what else?), when...to my horror...I couldn't for the life of me find it on the menu!

And this wasn't the first time I'd been caught off guard with an order.

At the American Football game I went to a couple of weeks ago, I was shocked to discover that meat pies were not an option at the food stand. I'm noticing a trend here with pies! Where are the pies??? (Though I will admit, poutine was a fairly good replacement) A friend has recommended an Australian/New Zealand cuisine restaurant here called "Ta pies" to help me cope with my withdrawals! I am still yet to try it, so will keep you updated.

Delicious, delicious poutine

In addition, I am at a loss as to what the average chocolate lover does to satisfy their everyday needs in Montreal. Whilst high-end chocolate cafés are everywhere, the chocolate selection at the supermarket is pretty limited. It's a choice of Lindt or no-name chocolate, as the Cadbury chocolate here tastes very bland! Can't wait to get my hands on a Cadbury Top Deck chocolate block when I get home! (To my non-Australian friends, click here to be enlightened. Notice the 220g packet - none of this 100g business!)

Finally, one thing I keep forgetting is as rare as gold here is lemon-flavoured soft drinks. Last week, when I was making my order at a restaurant, I asked (without thinking) for a "lemon squash". The waiter stared at me completely blankly. "You know, like a Lift? ...A Solo?", I tried. Nothing.

On a completely unrelated note, I think I have found a fantastic gap in the market to open up a new soft drink company in Canada. I wonder how that would go...

Language

Studying linguistics here has made me very aware of the differences in language, dialects, accents and slang in Canada. Having a group of international student friends from all over the world has also proved very interesting in learning about different ways that people speak French and English.

The way that the Québécois speak French is so different that it's almost a different language (well, a different dialect I guess!) - so much so, that you will find French and Québécois dubs for international TV Shows! (For those interested, the Québécois dub of The Simpsons is fantastic - definitely the closest dub to the American actors that I've seen so far). One particular phrase that has been tripping up my English speaking friends, and even my French roommates, is "C'est correct?", meaning "Is that alright?" rather than "Is that correct?"

But it did get me thinking - I had never come across an English speaker that I had real difficulty understanding, apart from a couple of slang words.

I brought this up with one of my Canadian friends the other day, and asked if he could think of any English speakers that were difficult to understand past accent and slang.

"Oh that's easy!" he said, "Newfoundlanders."
"New-what-landers?" I replied.

So apparently residents of Newfoundland in Canada are difficult to understand. I didn't believe him at first, so he gave me a couple of examples of how they speak.

"See if you can work this one out: What's after happening now?"

I blinked. My guess was that it meant "What are we doing after this?", but not so. Apparently it means "What just happened?"...mind blown!

If you don't believe me, you can check out this video I found on YouTube here:

But one thing that I've found universally understood, and truly breathtaking here, is the absolute beauty of the landscape.

On Friday, I took a walk up Mont Royal with one of my friends to experience a Montreal sunset from the view of the mountain.

Every day, Mont Royal is a hive of runners, cyclists, friends walking and talking, tourists and picnickers. It's comforting to feel the busyness and life of the park's paths whilst in the middle of a beautiful, calm maple forest.

As we approached the summit and the sun began to sink across the horizon, there was still the occasional cyclist zipping past us. But as blue turned to pink and the shadows of the park deepened, everything slowed for a moment. Tourists began to stop their chatter, cyclists came to a halt, runners took a pause to sit and watch. There is something inexplicable about a sunset, something so simple that happens every single day, that makes people from all corners of the world stop their lives and just look. Five, ten minutes of simple calm. Then they pick up their things, and head on their way.

Simple, but beautiful.

So I guess I'm finding it strange how the people here can be so different, yet so similar. It's pretty crazy to think that though people may live so far away from each other in completely different climates, cultures, countries, they have so much in common.

Woah, having a bit of a profound moment here!

I've already booked a trip to provincial park Mont-Tremblant for next weekend - can't wait to get out into that Canadian nature! I'm guessing my next post will be about that, so until then!

Erin xo

PS: Here's a photo from after the sun set of Downtown Montreal at night. The orange thing in the background is the moon! I am starting to fall in love with the beauty of this city.