Settling in - American Football, Quidditch, Comiccon and more!

There have been a number of things that have shocked me about life in Montreal. From little things, like the different administrative processes at uni, to big things like not for the life of me being able to find a block of Cadbury Top Deck chocolate!

At first, I found myself quite resistant to all these changes in my everyday life: feeling resentful that the campus wasn't as easy to navigate as at home, questioning why I had to pay so much for a bus/train ride ($3 flat rate??), yearning for a hot meat pie from Pie Face after a big night, wondering why tutorials didn't exist at uni, and feeling a little isolated. And the thing was, I think I was isolating myself a bit. I found myself wanting to stay inside most of the day, watch TV shows that I recognised, Skype friends from home.

One day, a new friend I'd made invited me to a Carabins American football game at UdeM.

"American Football...in Canada?" I thought, "...why the hell not!"

So I bought a Carabins hoodie and ticket, then headed to the game.

The atmosphere was fantastic from the moment we got there - blue and white everywhere, those annoying clapping sticks (which weren't so annoying when you had some of your own!), cheerleaders, a drum line, POUTINE and a killer crowd! Not to mention that the Carabins...well they were dang good! We ended up smashing the Bishop's team 44-18. At first I was completely lost by the game, just following where the tackles were going, but by the end, once I'd picked up the main rules, one of my friends was actually laughing at how into it I was getting!

Allez CA...RA...BINS!

I came home in excellent spirits and felt alive at having done something surrounded by local students and International students alike, getting a feel for the spirit of the University and the city.

I felt like I needed to start putting myself out there a bit more, so I started just accepting invitations to do stuff left right and centre, much to the dismay of my wallet.

I head down to the park around the corner from my apartment each weekend to play a casual game of Quidditch. This, much like my weekly visit to the fruit market and boulangerie has become a treasured part of my routine. The sport is fun, quirky and tiring! I usually play a "Poursuiveur", or a "Chaser" in English. Last weekend, there was a jazz band in the park, playing a gig while we were playing Quidditch, who decided to accompany us with a round of the Harry Potter theme song.

Waiting for "Brooms up!"

I have also been to a couple of International Student parties (which are quite loose it would seem!) and have enjoyed a casual beer at the University pub with some great new friends from all around the world. I am still yet to make some friends who are locals, but I'm working on it! A lot them already have friends from the CEJEP/school etc so it has been hard to break into those circles.

Last week I went to a concert run by the Uni featuring Les Trois Accords - a well-known Quebec indie-pop band! They were fantastic and there was a great vibe amongst the audience and on stage.

Les Trois Accords!

And of course, this weekend, I paid a visit to Montreal Comiccon - which was amazing!! If you had told me three years ago that I would be going to a comiccon...ever...I would have told you there was no way - that was way too geeky for me! Oh how wrong I was.

From the moment I walked in, with the myriad of cosplayers, the discount comic book stalls, the stands of local artist meeting and greeting...it was pretty much official that I was going to have a good time.

Highlights from the day included:

• I got to ask T-Dog (IronE Singleton) from The Walking Dead a question about the show - Do you think that you need to lose your humanity to survive a zombie apocalypse? He replied that he thought that you had 'moments' where you lost it, but in the end it was for the good of the group and that's where your humanity comes in. He seemed like a righteous dude with a lot of compassion for people, and I can see where it comes through in T-Dog's character on the show.

Feeling pretty lucky!

• Listening to George Takei's soothing, soothing voice during his Q&A. I will admit, I have never seen anything remotely Star Trek but loved this guy! He was such a sweetheart (Oh My!) and had a great vision for what equality should be like in America for every single person!

George Takei on one of his famous 'rambles' as he put it!

• Exploring the convention room and seeing all the different costumes, comic titles and merch that was available. A particular highlight would definitely have to be one particular cosplayer though - Ace Ventura! He was so dedicated to the role and agreed to take a photo with me :) Me and my friend could have stood there watching him talking to people and getting reactions out of them for hours...he was hilarious!

Me and Ace!!

• Talking with the local artists and buying my souvenir of the day - Issue 2 of Heroes of the North, a comic about Canadian superheroes! It featured a lot of different artists for each story, including an artist of Archie comics in a very similar style!

Heroes of the North!

• Seeing Sean Astin's Q&A - It is with great sadness and embarrassment that I admit I have never finished a full Lord of the Rings movie (don't hurt me!)...but he was great! He had a good sense of humour and admitted to the hardships he faced whilst making the movie.

Overall, it has been a great week and I'm starting to feel more at home here and build a great group of friends. Can't wait to see what this week holds in store! 

Erin xox