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.