winter is a creeeeeepin'

The snow is here and so is the holiday cheer!....well, sort of. So it's been snowing quite a bit lately. There was about 1 1/2ft of snow a few days ago. Montréal is looking quite beautiful, christmas deco everywhere, but I can feel people's irritability from the cold. I've been staying inside a lot more lately, drinking tea and watching movies. I'm so happy to be done with this semester. Now, I am preparing for my visitors! I'm still trying to brainstorm on what we will do when they are here, but i'm sure I will come up with something.

Because It is getting into winter and it's holiday season, I am a bit homesick. I feel like it will be a good experience for me, regardless, but I get a bit sad when I think about everyone getting together and watching A Claymation Christmas with the California Raisons. I also miss sitting in front of the fireplace and watching movies with everyone. I'm sure I'll get to webcam with everyone on christmas day, which would be cool. At least I get to see their faces!

Ali is leaving in a few days and won't be back until the 6th of january. I'm gonna have the place to myself! I'm sure it will be a very quiet apartment while she is gone. maybe i'll host a movie night!

I've been making a LOT of winter soups lately. There's just something really awesome about hot soup in the winter. mmm. My friends and I plan on having a winter picnic soon. We are going to go over to mount royal, go sledding and then have a picnic at the bottom with some hot soup and perhaps some hot cocoa/cider/coffee. It's mind boggling how when it first started getting cold here, I was freezing my butt off (I think it was about freezing (32 degrees) ) but now it's a lot colder and when we get those special days when the temp gets back up to 32 its awesome. So if any of you are visiting during the winter, you're gonna need to bundle up!

Hopefully In my next update I can add some more pictures (perhaps from sledding?)

more to come!

Thanksgibbins

Today has been crazy intense! I got four hours of sleep last night. Je suis TRÈS fatiguée! Woke up bright and early to go to Français to review for the final exam, then I ran straight to the library and spent countless hours (4 or 5?) writing a paper that ws due at 6pm! (okay, okay...i took a little study break and ran over to this place next to campus called Burritoville, not only is it delicious, they are very vegan-friendly!) Theeeen, I went to the Multi-Faith Chaplaincy across from campus for thursday nights "Mother Hubbard's Cupboard" which is a by-donation dinner. It's actually pretty similar to People's Potato (but i think P.P. is better! shhhh.) Then I rushed over to class to turn in my paper/take notes. Luckily he let us out early because I am now cramming for a test in my Education class in about 15 minutes. Let's just say it's been a pretty long day. After, I get to go home and Webcam it up with the fam! woooo. I'm glad they were understanding and let me re-schedule. I didn't have ANY time to start making the cranberry relish for tomorrow's feast (all the american kids AND canadian kids are all getting together!) so hopefully i can wake up early enough to get everything done! Wish me Luck!

p.s. thanks for the thanksgiving card grandma!

Aujourd'hui, Je parlerai de ma régime. Je suis végétalienne. Je ne mange pas rien qui vient des animaux. Je ne mange pas la viande, les œufs, ou les produits laitiers. J'ai été végétalienne pendant sept mois. c'est facile pour moi parce que je suis allergiques aux lactose. Je mange beaucou des légumes, des fruits, des noix, des haricots, et riz. je suis pas comme certain végétaliens. Certain végétaliens taquinent d'autres parce qu'ils mangent les produits animaux. Je ne pense pas qui est gentil. Je suis incertain de combien de temps je serai un végétalienne, mais j'aime mange comme ça. Je suis végétalienne pour raisons personelles. Il y a beaucoup d'options et restaraunts agréables pour des végétaliens à Montréal. J'aime faire du benevolant chez "People's Potato" une service qui cuisine des repas végétalienne pendant la semaine. Manger chez "People's Potato" mes sauve d'argent et les repas sont delicieux. Surtout, être végétalienne est super!

Okay, So I had an oral exam today. I think I did pretty decently. I had to memorize what I wrote above. I don't think I did too bad. Sorry for the terrible grammar (for those who actually know French). I didn't actually have to write it, I just had to say it. Basically, I talked about my "dietary habits". Obviously, the sentences start to get a bit repetitive, but it's because I'm probably at the level of a 3rd grader. Which is frustrating, but it's all I know.

Today, at people's potato, I made the croutons and the dressing. It was awesome and everyone seemed to like it. I made a garlic-y oil to put on the croutons for the oven and I made a balsamic strawberry basil dressing. I served some of the food afterward, and then I ate. It's amazing how willing you are to volunteer, when it's something you are passionate about. I don't really even think of it as work. It feels more like a place to unwind, listen to some jams, prepare food, and talk to friends. It's even more awesome/intimate because we get to share a meal together. It makes me feel like I have a family away from home. Even though there are still a lot of people whom i can't remember the names of, but for some reason it doesn't really matter. I like to learn everyone's name (and i'm almost there!) but it's not totally necessary in order to enjoy one another's company.

*side note*-for those just chiming into my blog, the "people's potato" is a free service provided by the university where people provide free meals (with donations accepted) every school day. The meal is vegan so that everyone can enjoy (no matter their religious background or food restrictions). **

I'm really sad because I can't go see No Age this weekend because I already made plans. BUT I am excited because I get to go to Nico's house for a potluck (AGAIN!) and after that, I am going to a "my little pony 25th anniversary" party! I think I'm going to dress up, I'm not sure how, but I will. I have a few REALLY big papers I have to write before the semester is over and 2 big finals, French, and History(?). But I should be finished by early/mid December. I am REALLY excited for my friends and my sister coming to visit at the end of the year.

I'm really sad because I looked out my window and I saw a dead Siamese cat. I've seen it before (when it was still alive) and I think it might be the neighbors. I'm thinking about going and putting a note on people's doors about it. I don't want the squirrels to get to it (because the definitely will).

Anyhow,
That's all for today. Tune in next time for some pictures (of food probably) and anything else that is radical.

cheer up charlie.

I finally got to see my family for the first time in 3 months. I finally set up my webcam stuff. It's always a little weird doing webcamming, but whatev. I have two tests this week and I am officially stressing out hardcore. I have a written french test tomorrow with so many vocabulary words I could spit. My oral exam is on thursday and I don't even know what I'm going to talk about yet! I went to Java u (the coffee shop on campus) today and sat and worked on making flash cards/ doing my feminist homework all day. It felt good to get out of the house, but it's not getting any warmer. I swear I talk about how cold it is every single entry, but seriously...I'm so jealous of the California weather right now. Here I am in longjohns and there's my mom going on walks in shorts! how can we even be on the same planet! I am so ready for this semester to be over!!!

Hey Friends,

Please forgive me for the lack of updates lately! I've been a busy kid! This Halloween, I got to go to see one of my all time favorite bands, Broken Social Scene. It was fantastic, as usual. After the concert, I got to go to a Loft Party. There were lots of people there dancing and having fun. For Halloween, I was a Teabag! I got some sheer material from salvation army and Ali sewed it for me. I put some leaves inside of the "bag" and then I made a string and attached a card for the tag. The second night, I met up with my other friends and we went to another little party/house show. Some bands from Vancouver played and I dressed up as a lumberjack. The picture at the bottom shows what I look like. I am also standing next to my friend Thea. She was Boba Fett from Star Wars. A little before Halloween, I invited some people over to my house. We made burritos, carved, pumpkins and watched a terrible 80s movie on vhs called "Fright Night". Jenna and I carved the pumpkin (in the picture) together. The second picture of the pumpkin was after I left it outside for a single day. It got mauled by the CRAZY squirrels! I california, I'm worried to put things outside because of the raccoons, but here....it's the squirrels.

The week of halloween, I also got to go see a band from houston, texas called the octopus project. They play in California a lot, but the put on such a great show! The had giant ghosts that the put on stage for halloween. Jenna agreed to go with me, and I was very grateful!

Last week, I went to an Election party. We had a potluck and I made pumpkin curry soup! It was a big hit. We watched the elections on the big screen and the Canadians were just as excited to see the results as we were! I love them.

This week, I don't have too much planned. It's getting a lot colder lately. It snowed a little bit today. I didn't have school today, so I made some lentil soup and ali made biscuits. So yummy! I got invited to go see a concert tonight, but I decided to say no because I have french in the morning and it would probably be pretty hard to catch the metro back. Cabs are so expensive. I've been watching a lot of vhs lately. Right now, I'm watching "Fletch" a movie with chevy chase. It's quite ridiculous. Well, I must do some history homework now, But I promise to update soon!

love,
court

My new family!

This is a picture of our Cat, Igor. He's one of the strangest pets I've ever had.
And, This is my lovely roommate, Ali. She's Rad.

New Haricut!

Great weekend

Hello all!

Sorry for the delay on the updates. Last week was crazy. I had midterms last week and it was awful. I had an oral exam en francais, and I received an 85 on it, which I think is pretty great. But the test that wasn't so great, was for my Canadian history class. I haven't taken history in soooo long, not since junior year of high school. so, four years ago? Anyway, the teacher never told us what to specifically study for, which is frustrating. He basically just said "study everything we've learned". oh how I hate vague people. He's actually a cool guy, but man, give me a ball park here. Anyway, I did absolutely terrible, although I haven't gotten it back, so I'm not quite sure how severe it was, BUT that midterm was 25% of my grade.

I met a new friend this weekend. Her name is Thea and she also goes to Concordia. I like her and her friends a lot. They are great company. This weekend, I got invited to a concert. So, I went with Thea and her friends, as well as my girls. They were pretty good, but it was mostly one of those "hey, I'm going to support my friend's mediocre band tonight, want to come?" type of thing. Apparently Perez Hilton talked a bunch about them on his blog, so perhaps they'll get bigger? not really sure. Anyway, they are called "said the whale". We ended up hanging out with the band afterward and it was really fun. The lead singer invited us to go see a few other bands the next evening (last night).

So, last night, I went to this venue I hadn't been to yet called "zoobizzare" and it was great. It was very small, but it was in (what we like to call) a cave. The ceiling was arched and it literally looked like a grey-bricked, medieval cave. We saw 3 bands play: Crystal Antlers (from L.A.), The Awkward Stage (from Vancouver), and Hot Panda (from Edmonton). They all played really well. I especially liked Hot Panda. They had a chick drummer, some kazoo playing (as well as melodica), and the lead singer must have gotten his vocal influence from Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse. They were really fun and the music was very danceable.

I also got a haircut this weekend at this great salon in mile end called "osalon". They were the nicest people (very funny as well), the give you a scalp massage (as you lay on a bed that leads up to the hair-washing sink), and they gave us some coffee to drink while we were getting the cut. Talk about hospitality! I will definitely be going back and telling all my friends to go there, not to mention I have a really sweet haircut.

Anyway, I'm exhausted and still have lots and lots of reading to do. Hopefully, my next entry will be a lot sooner!

A Bientot!

blurb.

Hey guys,
Just a little update before I go to my Theology class.

Usually I am partial to the late night, 2 dollar chow mein on st. laurent called "chez mein". I mean, how could you possibly beat that at 3am? Well, getting a little burnt out on peanutbutter noodles, Jenna and I decided to go to "Frites Alors!" Where we got an order of fries....and I must say, WOW. They were so good. If you know me, something you will pick up is that I love condiments with my food. It just makes things taste better. Well, At Frites Alors, they have about 10 different sauces or "dips" to choose from for the fries and seriously, I thought I was in heaven. It's been crazy, the amount of good foods we've come across. Yeah, It may be a dollar (loonie) more than the 2 dollar (twoonie) noodles, but I think it's worth it....

something else i've noticed.....
is this turning into a food blog? It might as well be. Just about every entry has mentioned some place i've eaten. That's pretty ridiculous.

On another note,
I really couldn't decide who my favorite acts for POP Montreal were...they were all so good...accept for The Dears. I kind of decided that I got a really weird vibe from that show. I mean, I guess they performed well, but I just really wasn't as in to it as I thought I would be. The Dodos were AH-MAZING. Meric looks incredibly similar to my friend Jordan at home....kinda weird. I was also blown away by Ratatat. I wasn't AS excited to see them as the others but it turned out that they put on a fantastic live show. It was cool to see how they actually play their music. It seems a little hard to imagine because of the way it sounds, but it was great. They closed with "Seventeen Years" and I was very much satisfied.

Volunteered at school again. Met some more cool people, cut some carrots, danced to some sweet jams. I'm likin' this place BEAUCOUP. =)

A long and drawn out story about technical difficulties.

So, Everyone's been going to yearbookyourself.com and I just couldn't help it. I this picture totally makes me look like my mother when she was in highschool! Pretty silly, eh?

Anyway...
This last week has been insane. All the shows at Pop Montreal were sooo lovely. I still have a bit of a cough, but hopefully that will settle down now that Pop Montreal is over. Just to let everyone know, I feel ridiculously accomplished because On Friday, my computer totally crashed and I fixed all by myself.
*Note-skip this paragraph if you don't feel like reading about stupid technology stuff*

It was very, VERY frustrating. It all started out when I was trying to do a security update. After that, the next time I logged in, I wasn't able to get to the long-in screen. I went to the genius bar at the apple store and they did what they could, but they said I would have to re-install all of my software. I was like "oh GREAT, too bad my software is in California, who knows how long it will take to get this 'fixed'". Then, I got the genius idea to use Ali's software....which worked, but THEN it told me I didn't have enough free space to install.....and then all I could think was, "Now what?!" How am i supposed to "make room" when I can't log in? So I resulted to calling applecare. They only kind of helped. They told me I could try to delete files via firewire through someone else's computer. So at 8pm, I made some phone calls and biked up to James, Chris, and Arthur's house. I got the firewire, and figured out how to go into my hard drive as an external through ali's computer. I was finally able to reinstall everything and keep my files! I was really worried there for a second. I really need to back up everything. eggh. After that entire ordeal, I felt relieved and accomplished. I did it all, like a big girl. hahaha

*pick up here*
So, I've got another French test this week. I've been using my Rosetta Stone and it has been helping. More so with pronunciation and a little less with the grammar, but perhaps it's because we are further along with the grammatical stuff in class. I actually really like Rosetta Stone-believe it or not. It's a bit embarrassing with people around, but hey, it's kind of fun.

I volunteered at People's Potato last week. I really like it there and I've met a few pretty cool people. I also got to take extra food home, which is totally awesome. Speaking of food, today Jenna and I went to this really delicious Indian (or "Indienne" as the French would say) food restaurant called "Pushap". We got samosas, curry, rice, bread, and tea for 5 bucks each. It was ridiculously cheap and they had generuese portions.

mon français améliore

This weekend was tourist weekend! I got a pass from the ISO that admitted me to 5 different tourist places in montreal for free! I got to go over to the Biodôme (which is a place that has a bunch of different ecosystems with animals and plants. It was awesome. I also go to go to the Jardin Botanique (botanical garden) and the planetarium. I looooved the planetarium. The exhibit was about the milky way, i'm really fascinated by stuff like that, I wish I had more oppurtunity to take classes like that. Anyway, The Jardin Botanique was very pretty. It was so massive, we weren't able to see all of it. I definitely plan on going back, it's a very peaceful place, far away from all the business of the city. School has been ok. I have a test in History this week and I have so much more reading to do! Unfortunately this past week I didn't get a chance to volunteer at people's potato, but I'm going to work extra hard to make my way in there. I'm really excited for this coming week because it is POP montreal! POP montreal is a music festival (much like, if not EXACTLY like Noise POP in san francisco.) I plan on going to a show every night starting from wednesday all the way until sunday! it's going to be fantastique! haha. Luckily, it doesn't interfere with any of my classes either. I get to go see:
You Say Party! We Say Die!/Winter Gloves/Beast
The Dears/The World Provider
Ratatat/Panther/Erock/Heidi Mortenson
The Dodos/Passion Pit

It's gonna be great. I also plan on seeing:
Of Montreal
The Rumble Strips/Birdmonster
Broken Social Scene
Okkervil River
Octopus Project

in the end of octobre!
Luckily all the shows are relatively inexpensive!!

and in novembre:
Matt&Kim
No Age
M83

J'aime Montréal.

P.s. Mom, I thought you'd get a kick out of the Cotton-top Tamarin Picture (and yes I saw some and chuckled to myself)

Owned!

Apartment pics!

1st: Living room
2nd: Kitchen
3rd: laundry/sewing/craft room
4th: living room/couch
5th: looking into kitchen from living room
6th: dining table (where all the homework happens.)
7th: my room, bare walls and all

Real update later, Feminist Theology homework awaits!

This week has passed quickly.

Sorry for the slacking,
Yesterday Jenna and I went to People's Potato, but this time it was out on the terrasse because the school was having a clubs thingy, where all the clubs come to represent themselves to the students. Unfortunately, not many of them looked all that interesting. Anyway, we went to the terrasse and got some lunch and then went around to look at the different clubs. While we were at the stenciling workshop, I heard someone speaking on the overhead about there being a volunteer meeting for People's Potato @ 5 and I thought "awesome!" So Jenna and I decided to go up to Mile End and go thrifting. We hopped on our bikes and made the trek (probably a few miles). We went to some thrift shops but they just seemed really over priced for preloved items. I was like, "45 for a preloved shirt? no way man. 18 bucks for a scarf? no siree" I found a few cool things in this 50s vintage thrift shop (which had vinyl, oh my!) It was really cool in there. Then we decided that we wanted to get some world-famous bagels in the jewish district. We'd been craving them since the first time we visited while staying in the hostel. So we walked up to fairmount bagels and I picked up a blueberry one, yummmm. Then we tried to find this place that looked like they would have promising coffee, but after we looked at the address and our current location, we decided against it.

After walking a few miles back to our bikes (near the boutiques), we jumped back on and booked it over to campus (we had about 20 min until the meeting). We arrived in the knick of time! Waiting for us were some very friendly people, offering us juice, pita, and homemade hummus (talk about a way straight to my heart). After that I knew I would fit right in. The meeting took about 30 min and after, they let us take home some of the hummus! Talk about perks from the start! Basically, they told us they would use our help any time that we could offer it, so Jenna and I are going to start tomorrow, bright'n'early to chop some veggies. I'm really exited to meet people, learn how to cook more vegan meals, and help my community out, (and get free food of course).

This morning it was 9 degrees celsius outside, I threw on a beanie and wrapped myself in a scarf...winter seems to be coming a little quicker than I expected. I should probably go and pick up some winter clothing within the next few weeks before I freeze my butt off.

Well, I have 2 more classes today, so I better take a nap and finish up some more reading.

cheers!

Birthday!

My birthday was on thursday (the big 21!) and I had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I had class all night long, but I was able to squeeze the celebrating in between. I got up and went to my French class at 845am (ouch!) and then I came home. I had a few hours to kill before my next class so I decided to bike over to the post office to pick up a package mom sent me. I thought it would be able to fit into my backpack, but it was too big! I ended up ripping open the box on the side of the street and shoving everything in my backpack (it must've looked really funny). So then, I biked home to a table that had a birthday card, a hand-sewn case, and a vegan choco-banana bread made all by Ali! The bread was delicious, the card was funny (even though i couldn't figure out what it said, since it was in french) and the pencil pouch was awesome. She had to take off, so I stayed around and watched "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" on VHS, which was fun. Then I went over to my friend James' apartment where jenna was cooking dinner! She made enchiladas (which i couldnt eat) but there was a bunch other stuff and it was delicious! After, I forced myself to go to my last class, which ended up being really good anyway, so I didn't mind. The teacher ended up letting us out a bit early! After class (around 1030pm) I went out with a bunch of my California friends. I got 3 or 4 nice phonecalls as well.

C'est Le Vie.

Today, it's been raining quite a bit. I kind of wish I had my rainboots because I don't have any "waterproof" shoes. It's been nice though, a little cooler out than normal. It's supposed to get all the way down to 9 degrees Celsius tonight, so i'll actually be able to sleep comfortably. I've been having a lot of trouble sleep lately. I still feel like I'm not used to the time change (not to mention the fact that I'm kind of an insomniac anyway).

Fun fact: There's a place on campus that is called "The People's Potato" that has FREE vegan lunches everyday!! I've been the past two days and it's been really yummy.

It'll give my college wallet a little rest. :) They take donation, so I usually give a little bit. I also went to the Co-op bookstore today and bought a used textbook for my education, which was hardly cheaper, but I'm pinching every canadian cent I have.

I have so much homework! It's kind of incredible. In my Women and Theology class, I was assigned over 100 pages and a short paper due at 6pm tonight! I felt like that was a bit much for just one class! French is going alright. I feel kind of overwhelmed by it right now because there are so many different gramatical rules (I can't imagine someone trying to learn english!) but it's still hard to grasp! My teacher bought the whole class coffee this morning, though! I thought that was really nice, even though I had picked up an americano on way, I still drank one.

Anyway, I've got copious amounts of reading to do, so I better get to it!

So I had my first week of school. Not too shabby. Some of the classes seemed a bit intimidating, but I think I'll be able to pull through. I already have tons of homework that's due on tuesday, but i still need to go buy the books. They cost so much money!! I'm totally poor now.

Speaking of poor, last night I wet to Casa del Popolo and saw 3 band for 6 dollars! What a steal. The last band was my favorite. They were called Elephant Stone. They had a driving bass, some fast guitar, some flute playing, and 2 sitars! It was totally worth it. They only thing that sucked was that I had to speed walk (and then run) all the way down the street (about 1 mile) to catch the last metro stop of the night! Luckily, I made it. Jenna and I keep staying at each other's houses because we keep missing the metro. On weekdays it's only open until 1230 and on saturdays, it stays open until 130.

I thought that the mexican food here would be crap (and it basically is) but last night, at CdP we were required to buy some food, so I order a veggie-tofu empanada. Doesn't sound that great, I know, but it was definitely the best empanada i've ever rested on my taste buds!

That's it for today, I must go grocery shopping (hopefully I can cheaply do this, my wallet seems to be crying.)

Tam Tams!

Again, here I am, stealing from Jenna. Here are a bunch of the ridiculous people that gather on Sundays for Tamtams. The pictures at the top are of the medieval fighting and the bottom are of the people in the drum circle. P.s. the first picture was of this crazy guy that looked like charles manson, parading around. Sooo ridiculous.

First Day Of School...

...was good. I ended up being 15 minutes late to my first French class at 845 in the morning because I went to the wrong floor (gimme a break, it was early). I embarrassingly walked in and sat down at the first chair in sight, which happened to be in the very front row, BIG mistake. The teacher picked on me all class. I guess I deserved that one. That class seems like it will be very demanding, but I might ACTUALLY learn something, go figure.

Then, I went all the way out to Loyola Campus on a 20 minute, sweaty bus ride only to be informed that my "meeting" with my adviser was completely unnecessary-even though it specifically said on the internet that it was required. pfff. Although, it was nice to see the other campus for once.

After, I waited in the bookstore line for an hour, for my french book, so I could do the homework. Then, I had my women in theology course. At first, I was very intimidated by the syllabus, but then we ended up sitting around in a circle and talking about feminism and what type of "learners" we were...so there you have THAT in a nutshell.

I came home to a cooked meal, by Ali, and then I passed out after watching this old 90s movie called "Fear"<---totally ridiculous movie.

That's a wrap for my first day. Today I didn't have class, so I woke up late, drank some coffee, and did my homework. I'm hoping I get into the swing of this frenchy thing.

What I've been doing.

Hello all,
After much pestering, I have decided to make another entry! For the past few days, I have been spending some time with my roommate, watching movies and relaxing before the hustle and bustle of the city life begins!

Yesterday, I went to the International Student Orientation (which ended up being quite lame.) It was mostly an orientation to show everyone the school and simultaneously play "icebreakers". If you know me at all, you will know that I'm not the biggest fan of "getting to know you games". At the end, there was a BBQ with an 1 1/2 hr long wait just to get a dog or burger! Luckily, since I don't eat meat, They bumped me to the front of the line to grab a veggie burger.

After, I went to the Tam Tams. The Tam Tams are a bigg hippie festival where a bunch of people hang out on the mountain and play drums in a drum circle for HOURS. It's a relaxed atmo. People just bring blankets and lay out on the grass.

Today I get to pay rent, yayyyy! haha. (Not as bad as Ca prices.)
School starts tomorrow! I still havent gotten around to picking up my books, but I figured I would wait to make sure I don't need them. Tomorrow I'll give an entry about school!
cheers.

Border Patrol

Bonjour a tous!

If there's any advice I have to give about being a student in another country, it would definitely be:
"Get all of your paperwork done before leaving!"

Today I finally roughed it and made my way down to the Canadian border. What a crazy story I have to tell!!

First off, I made reservations for an amtrak roundtrip ticket to "Rouses Point, NY" (a little po-dunk town 2 miles south of the border). Peter and I made plans to go together. I got up this morning, got all of my stuff together, and got on the metro. Two stations over, I got off and waited for Peter to get there. I got a hold of him, and he informed me that his bus was 15 min late, so he would probably just barely make it. So, off I went to find the Amtrak Station. First, I walked in one direction, to quickly find out I was walking in the wrong direction. I turned around and made my way back in the opposite direction. I finally found the station (which looked like a parking garage) and walked right in. I spotted the ticketing booth and got in line, a few minutes after waiting, I came to realization that I was in the incorrect line. I jogged over to the Amtrak line and picked up my ticket. I got in the MASSIVE line (which seemed to be moving rather quickly) and got on the train. Still no sign of peter. I tried to guide him via text message to the right place, but it was just too late. After getting his ticket and running down the stairs, the train was pulling away. It was too late (sorry Petey).

On to the next part of the story. So I sat on the train for a good hour until it came to my stop (which also happened to be the stop at the border). I waited patiently and about 8 police officers boarded the train to do security (check EVERYONE's passport and what not.) They got to me, and I explained my situation. Then they said, "You'll have to come with us". A litte weary of their request, I sat in my seat and followed directions (waiting about another hour) until I followed them off the train. I then had to get IN their cop-cars (not really knowing where they were taking me) but I was assured , I had done nothing wrong. They then explained that my situation had to be dealt with at the "big" border, which was about 10 minutes away. Kindly, they let me out of the vehicle and pointed me towards "THE BORDER". It looked a little intimidating, that's for sure, but they just said "alright, you're just going to have to walk across. They have a bus you can catch back into montreal, if you want." So I said my thanks yous, and started walking. A few minutes later, I walked up to the window (where the cars drive through), showed the lady my passport, and what I was here for. She wrote me a little yellow slip and pointed me towards the immigration office. JOY! I walked over to immigrations and gave them my papers. They told me to sit down and wait. Not long after, I was issued my study permit after I had walked all over the building, doing as I was told. Then, I asked around to see if there really WAS a bus that went back to montreal. I was pointed in the right direction, across the street. A few people were waiting outside. I walked over and asked around to see what the deal was. Everyone else had a ticket and they told me I could give the driver 20 CAD and he would let me get a ride. Holding on to what others said, I had to believe that that was true. I waited for about 1/2. A bus arrived! Everyone on the bus got off and went through immigration. I was then informed by the driver that thiswas the ONLY bus coming through that was going to Montreal for the entire DAY and that I could only get a ride if there was room for me. I sat and prayed my little heart out, hoping there would be a spot left. I only had 25 dollars left on me, so I was also banking on the ride only being 20 CAD. It was true! After everyone got back on the bus, a seat was available for me. I was so relieved! I was allowed to go back to montreal (with my study permit in hand!)

So there you have it, a little taste of Canadian immigration! There were so many things that could have gone wrong, but I just sat back, took a deep breath, and went with it. Now, I'm sitting at the table in my lovely apartment.

Tomorrow, I have to go to school to get all of my schedule stuff worked out and then I'll be ready to start! It has been such a learning experience already and I've only been here for 15 days. I can't imagine what's in store for me!

If you've made it this far, you're a trooper! Thanks for reading, more updates to come!

aurevoir!

Bring it on, Canada!

Hello again, all!

Another update here...
Today, I got a cell phone! If I had of gone straight to Virgin, it would have made things a lot easier. Here I am, thinking you have all these documents that must be shown, but then, there's the world of prepaid! Yessss. I get reception in my apartment too, which is exactly what I need. I'm really glad I don't have to run up my parents phone bills anymore! Anyway, looks like i'll be hanging out at the apartment by my lonesome for the next few days, Ali went to Toronto for a little mini vacation (or in Canadian's terms "holiday") before school starts.

The next few things to do on my list (most importantly) are:
Go to the border (aghhh!!!)
Meet with my Advisor (hopefully tomorrow)
Get a Bank account (maybe tomorrow too?)
Buy books
Get a student metro pass (process looks scary)

I'm hoping there's a way I can find a bus that goes to the border, looks like I have some researching to do! (ew.)

I can't believe there's only a week left before school starts!! It's gone by so fast! Hopefully I don't get TOO stressed out when it all begins. It's like I'm going off to college all over a again, such a strange feeling.

Well, I guess thats all for now. More updates later!!

Pictures

Here are a few pictures from about a week or so, In Canadaland.
Some are of the Hostel I stayed in (Auberge de Paris)
Thanks for letting me steal these Jenna!

My Very First Entry!

Ok,

In Courtney fashion, I always have to start doing things late. I have been meaning to create a blog for everyone to read as I am away (studying in Canada) but of course I have to put it off until later. So here it goes...

I have just moved into my apartment (with the lovely Ali) and it feels wonderful! For the past 2 weeks, I stayed in a Hostel called "Auberge de Paris" and it was an amazing experience. Yes, It was expensive, yes the showers were not particularly "up to par", yes a crazy Turkish woman decided to turn up the heat full blast every single night we were there-but overall- it was a great experience. I had never stayed in a hostel before. If you are unfamiliar with the whole "hostel way", basically what it is, is a place where lots of people (from all over the world) come to stay and enjoy the city they are visiting. There were about 6 bunks in the girls dorm (meaning I shared a room with 12 girls). Not particularly my cup of tea, but it worked out quite well. I met about 6 german boys, 4 irish boys, 3 Australian guys, a couple from Colombia, a couple from England, a few people from Spain, a guy from Dubai, a guy from Korea, a guy from China, some Slovakian girls, a few from France, and a bunch of Canadians! It was really amazing! Everyone was really nice and so outgoing. We went out with different people every night we were there! I feel like I'm already poor because I spent so much money on food and necessities, but now I'm settled in to my very own apartment!

Immigration has been crazy, and now they are telling me I have to somehow make it all the way to the border and "re-enter" as a student (which seems pretty unethical to me) but c'est la vie, I guess...

It was crazy when Jenna and I got to our hostel because (little did we know) we were stuck right in the middle of a francophone section. We might as well have been in France! Everywhere we went, people would address us in French-talk about awkward-but it was definitely cool to have that little bone thrown in the spokes. I feel like I'll definitely be learning a lot of French while I'm here (maybe I'll even be fluent).

That's the update for now, hopefully this test run wasn't too scatterbrained!

Au Revoir!