day 20

The exam this morning is a bit more difficult than I expect.  However, being an open book test, it just takes a while to look up all the answers.  That’s not to say that all the answers could be found in our books, but it helped a lot!  I have a feeling that I passed.

Overall, the content of the course was not terribly relevant to what I need for my day-to-day interactions.  I will not be pulling out relative pronouns and conditional past tense in my conversations.  But just being here has made me speak more French than I normally would in Moncton, so perhaps I did learn something.  I’ll definitely keep taking classes at Alliance Francais in Moncton since I find their courses are much more useful than this one.  I guess for a real “immersion” I’ll have to try somewhere else.  I’ve heard at least 2 people say that Montreal is the worst place to come to learn French (because most everyone can speak English).  But where I am now compared to where I was 2 years ago is a huge improvement so I’ll stay positive!

And, this brings an end to the Montreal posts, unless something really unusual happens on my way home.  I’ll update this post later if I take any pictures tonight.  See you soon!

day 18 & 19

You know in the winter when it’s super cold and you get in the car and turn the heat up to full blast and at first it’s really nice but then it gets too hot and you can hardly breathe?  Imagine that heat outside, and that’s how it feels today in Montreal.  Thankfully there are a few clouds so the sun isn’t beaming down too.  It’s so hot in the residence, that we’ve taken to hanging out in the garbage room because it’s the coldest place in the building.  You get used to the smell.

day 18

Last day of learning!  We go over a few last little grammar tricks and then do some revision for the final exam.  The afternoon session is spent playing a educational board game created by the professor.  To advance on the game board, you have to correctly complete tasks such as: name 10 places in Quebec, conjugate a 3rd group verb in the conditional present verb tense, repeat a French tongue twister 5 times, etc.  It takes so long that no one gets to the end of the game before the class is over!!

Today is the “goodbye party” for all the students who are just doing the 3 week course (many are doing a 6 week course).  It’s just a typical night at a bar: yelling over loud music, drinking beer, trying to find enough places to sit our group of people.  The bar itself is quite nice though.  There’s an enclosed courtyard (3 tall brick walls and the back of the bar), and two of the walls are covered in ivy.  If it weren’t so crowded it would be a decent place to have a drink.  We don’t stay too late and get home before midnight.

day 19

Our second, and final, oral presentations.  Everyone manages to stick to their time limit today, and all the students present in under 3 hours, hurrah.  There are a few interesting presentations.  One guy talks about an interesting graffiti artist named Banksy.  Another talks about the Mexican Riviera.  Mine is about librarians!  I play a funny video which makes up for the otherwise boring info.

For lunch the whole class goes out together to a microbrewery called 3 Brasseurs.  I order a fruit de mer Tartiere, and have never eaten so much smoked salmon in my life.  I’m heading out to do a bit of shopping now, anything to stay out of the heat for a few more hours!  After that we’re going to see a movie, more air conditioning.  Hopefully the sun will have set by the time I get back.

day 17

Not a very eventful day.  In class we tackle a fairly useless lesson about direct and indirect discourse, when to use puisque/comme/parce que.  For lunch we go to a Asian sub and sushi shop that has really cheap food.  One guy buys a drink that looks like it has fish eggs in it, which turns out to be basil seeds.  Strange.

For the afternoon we have a guided visit of the Point-a-Caillere museum.  Lots of info about the founding of Montreal, what life was like back then, etc.  The tour ended with a 20 minute multimedia show that was very cool.  An interactive video about the history of Montreal played while a lightshow played on exposed rocks below.  It was like a theatre but better.

There’s not much else to say!

day 16

just woke up from a nap in which I had one of the most bizarre dreams ever!

I’m leaving a building with a classmate but the normal doors that we use are blocked off.  We keep walking and looking for a way out.  We see a door, but it’s an emergency exit.  We don’t think we should use it, but there are people outside the emergency exit who come and open the door for us.  One of the people is a police officer who is in the process of giving the other person a ticket.  The police officer is not happy with us for using the emergency exit and starts writing US a ticket!  The girl I’m with gets very upset so I say I’ll pay for the ticket.  However, the ticket for opening the emergency door ends up being $150, so then I get upset.  I try to plead with the police officer, saying that he was the one that opened the door for us, but then I start to doubt if that’s true.  He starts to walk away and I follow him saying things like, “I’m a student!” and “I have a student loan to pay!”  all to no avail (though he does look a bit uncomfortable).  He reaches a car and is acting a bit strange.  He takes his shirt off and asks me to perform first aid on him since his heart isn’t beating correctly.  I take this VERY seriously and try to remember how to use the AED machine (shocks the heart) that we learned in first aid class.  All I can remember is that I must shave the nipples before applying the machine.  The policeman happens to have a razor on hand.  And an AED machine.  Somehow he gets onto a stretcher that is inside his car and waits for me to perform the shock.  I’m having a lot of trouble figuring out what to do after shaving the nipples.  We then are at a hospital and I remember that there are more qualified people than me to help the man.  But no, he insists that I should proceed with the shock.  In the back of my mind I’m thinking that if I do administer the first aid he’ll have to forgive the $150 ticket for using the emergency exit. 

But I wake up before I can finish my first aid!!  Please let me know how you interpret this dream.

Ok, back to reality.  Class is good, one person does a presentation on Labrador.  The teacher shows us a short video about how magic is really illusions and our brain playing tricks on us.  Then we go over the test from last Friday (46/50)  and start reviewing the subjonctif verb tense.  Yes, there’s more of them.  The subjonctif is used when there’s some sort of doubt that the action will occur.  The most common use is “Il faut que je sache plus de francais.”  Kind of how we use the word “must.”  I must know more French.  That doesn’t mean that it definitely will happen.  Figure that one out!

Sandwich for lunch and then back to class for the afternoon session.  We practice saying difficult words (veilli, ceuillir, feuilles, etc.) and then try to sell vacations in Quebec to tourists (roleplay!).  It’s not too bad.  After class I return to residence and plan to do some homework but end up taking a nap as mentioned above.  Guess there’s always tomorrow.

day 15

Got up early to prepare for my rafting adventure.  Our class meets up downtown and heads to the Metro.  To get to the rafting it’s a 20 minute subway ride plus a 25 minute bus ride.   When we arrive, we wait around for about 45 minutes before staring to gear up: life jacket, helmet, paddle.  It’s a great day for rafting, hot and sunny.  I’m one of the last people to get into the boat, so I end up being at the very front, one of two “captains.”  Lovely.  It’s not a lot different from Dragon boating, which I’ve done a few times, but it’s not as comfortable.  You’d think those big tubes would be soft and cushy, but they aren’t.  We sit on the side, with one leg in the boat and the other bent and on the side.

The rapids are pretty cool!  For the big waves, the instructor yells “DOWN” and everyone crouches inside the boat so that they aren’t swept away.  There are 4 or 5 big waves, and quite a few smaller ones.  Everyone is drenched by the time the ride ends, around 45 minutes and 7 kms later.  We get to jump in the water a couple times, but getting back in the raft is a lot harder than you’d think!  It’s a lot of rowing since the rapids are on a big river and we have to steer the boat into them.  But it was fun!

When I get back to the residence it’s only 4:30pm and I still have time to take the Metro over to Parc Jean Drapeau to check out the Week-Ends du Monde celebrations.  It’s the first time I take the Metro by myself, but I don’t get lost!  There are hoards of people heading to the park, but I manage to cram into the subway car and even get a seat.  Some of my classmates were going to the festival, so I hope to find them, but when I get there I realize that it’s impossible with the huge number of people.  Another case where it would be helpful to have a phone.  I walk around the park and snap some pictures.  It’s ridiculously hot.  I set a new personal best for sweating.  It turns out that the festivities are not really worth being out in the heat, so I head back to the mainland (the park is on an island).

I also take a few pictures of the underground sights in the Metro.  It’s called the underground city because there are a lot of tunnels and stores underground, which would be awesome in the winter.

Now I’m exhausted and must rest.  One more week to go!

 

day 13 & 14

Thursday evening (day 12 continued!) our classmate  (the one with the crazy job) invites a few of us over to his boss’s apartment where he’s staying while he’s in Montreal.  When we arrive, there’s a sign taped to the door “A partir de maintenant, espangnol et anglais sont interdit” (sic).  French only!

Walking into the apartment is a bit surreal.  It’s straight out of a magazine.  A very modern and open concept bachelor pad.  Two of the walls are only windows with floor to ceiling curtains and remote operated blinds.  The shower is open to the rest of the apartment.  There’s funky furniture and decor everywhere, including real fur throws (ew) and a giant fur teddy bear complete with an S&M leather harness.  Bizarre!  We drink wine and talk French and laugh for a few hours, then head back to the residence to get some sleep.

day 13

Friday = test day!  The test is very easy so I feel like I’m conquering relative pronouns.  For the second part of the morning we discuss the poem “Speak White.”  It’s a poem that’s right up my alley since it has themes of post-colonialism.  Then we have another grammar lesson that is very confusing so I won’t go into details.

I have a quick nap after class and then go shoe shopping again, without much luck.  I guess I’ll just have to make do with what I brought with me for the fancy nightclub.  We head over to Club 737 around 10pm, and then wait outside in line for at least 20 mins.  Once we pass the first set of bouncers, we wait in another line where a guy checks the “guest list” to make sure our names are on it (we had to sign up before hand through school).  After that check point, we get in an elevator that takes us up, up, up to the top of the building.  Here there’s another check point, where you hand over the tickets that the name checker gave you.  The girls get a plastic red cup since drinks are only $2 before 11pm.  Very strange procedure.  Then we take our red cups up another elevator that opens into the club.  Only one of the bars in the place will sell you the $2 drinks, so we go up to another floor for drinks.  Whew.  There’s a huge rooftop patio area where you get a breathtaking view of Montreal at night.  This is where we hang out most of the night.  After a little dancing and a little drinking and the night comes to an end.  Not really a place I would want to go to again.  After 11pm the drinks are very expensive ($7.50 for a bar shot, $6.50 for the cheapest beer).  But it’s fun to see all our classmates in various states of inebriation dancing up a storm.

I would definitely recommend this type of immersion program to any university student.  It’s a great way to make friends from all over the world and to learn a second language in a great city.  For people who are a bit more serious about the language learning aspect of the course, this probably isn’t the best choice!  I don’t regret taking this course, since I’ve had a lot of fun experiences so far, but I think I could have learned more in a different type of course.  There’s always next summer!

day 14

Sleeeeep.  When I went to bed last night the sky looked very strange; it was blue.  Oh!  that thing must be the sunrise.  I wake up at 2pm and can’t believe the time.  Lazy day of pjs and online tv.  The rest of my roomies are gone to Ottawa for the day so I have a very peaceful and relaxing afternoon.  Tomorrow I’m going rafting at the Lachine Canal.  Can’t wait!

(Pictures I stole from Facebook)

day 12

Fireworks were amazing last night!  There’s an international competition going on and Italy was competing last night.  Apparently it was the best one so far.  The pre-show Beaver Tail was delicious (a pastry with toppings; I chose chocolate, reeses pieces and peanut butter).  Yumsies!

This morning’s class starts out with the rest of the student presentations, so we learn about Equador, Brazil, D.C. and Windsor, ON.  Everyone stays to their time limit, thank the gods.  Next our prof does a multimedia presentation about the history of Quebec and the French in Canada, and it’s actually pretty interesting.  She plays some songs with different French accents and some trailers for a couple popular French movies.  Still haven’t seen Polytechnique but I will definitely check it out when I get home.  Yay, no grammar lesson today.  We have another quiz tomorrow though, boooo.

The afternoon conversation workshop is better than usual, though still not terribly helpful.  We’re given a couple words and have to come up with a story that includes them and then the other students try to guess what our words were.  It goes well, though some people come up with stories that are much more elaborate than necessary.  It’s still hard to understand French with a Spanish accent. They actually speak better than I do but I’m really not accustomed to the Spanish language.  Just when I think I’m doing well with my French another language starts playing with my head!

I was talking with one of my classmates and he has the most amazing job I’ve ever heard of.  He’s a rich guy’s assistant and he gets to travel around the world to look after the amazing properties (and gets to stay for weeks at a time).  The rich guy is an interior designer from Montreal.  He showed us pictures of one of the properties in Mexico and it looks like it’s straight out of a magazine; beachfront, infinity pool, impeccable design (naturally).  Unbelievable!

I’m off to do a bit of shopping; a group from school is going to a fancy nightclub tomorrow night so I must buy some appropriate shoes.

day 10 & 11

I fell a bit behind in my posting yesterday!  So very sorry.  But my room was not somewhere to hang out in 35 degree weather.  So now it’s a double dose, but don’t get too excited because I haven’t taken any pictures for this entry.

Day 10

Typical morning grammar lesson.  We move from pronoms relatifs simple to pronoms relatifs composes (lequel, auquel, duquel, etc.)  Lots of fun exercises.  I’ve learned some of this before, but it’s something that takes a while to sink in.

A guided tour of Plateau Mont Royal is planned for the afternoon instead of a conversation workshop.  This is the chic quartier of Montreal where all the wealthy people live.  I didn’t bring my camera so I’ll have to go back and take a few pictures.  A lot of townhouses and outdoor staircases.  That’s about all I get from the guided tour since all I can concentrate on is the oppressive heat.  Whose idea was this anyway.  I meet a few new people from another class, one from Australia and one from San Francisco.  Apparently it’s hippie-chic to travel the world and learn French.  Where do they live, no where right now; what are their plans, travel and see where it leads them.  Ok.  I’m one of the only people in this program with a full-time job.

Karaoke night!  We meet up with the other students and head over to La Boite de Karaoke for some fun times.  This place serves huge pitchers of beer, a necessity for timid singers.  Well, it turns out that they aren’t that timid after all.  A few other patrons of the establishment warm up the crowd, and then one of ours starts things off with a rousing rendition of Single Ladies (complete with dance moves).  Things get crazier from then on, with the likes of Oasis, Backstreet Boys, Barry White, Shakira, Kid Rock, and so many more.  By the end of the night, there’s a dance party on the Karaoke stage and everyone is singing along to the songs.

On our way back to residence, we stop at BK for a little snack.  While there, we strike up a conversation with another couple of revelers.  One is an Olympian (or something olymp-ish), the other takes care of his 95 year old grandmother and wants us to join his Settlers of Catan board game team.  Bai!

Day 11

Didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so class is a bit rough.  We tackle another verb tense, conditionnel passe, which I still haven’t really processed so I’ll have to explain another time.  More fun exercises in the notebook.

At lunch I walk over the the Grande Bibliotheque to take a look.  It’s huge!  5 floors of library awesomeness.  It’s a bit surprising to me that everything is in French.  I guess that’s how she rolls here in the QC.

Afternoon conversation workshop is another useless activity of the students trying to come up with common sayings, terms or phrases for common situations.  TEACHER how is this helpful?  These classes make me appreciate the Alliance Francais classes much more!

Tonight we’re going to a fireworks show and to eat some beaver tails.

day 09

It’s getting a bit hard to keep track of which day I’m on…almost up to the double digits!  Today’s class consists of two hours of my classmates presenting something about their hometown or country.  The time limit is supposed to be between 5 and 10 minutes.  But man, Spanish-speaking people love to talk!  Let’s do the math: there are 15 people in class; that means each person can take up to 8 minutes for their presentation.  We start at 9h30.  By 10h30, 4 people have presented.  By 12h00, 10 people have presented.  Figure that out.

My presentation was on New Brunswick, of course.  I have some visuals and supplemented them with dialogue.  It’s available at http://prezi.com/8jc8iagexc-x/n-b/ if you’re interested.  You can make up your own French narration.

The afternoon conversation workshop doesn’t really involve any conversation.  It’s getting a bit frustrating;  I wish that there was more talking and less teaching.  We learn the names of some traditional French cuisine (next time you eat a cinnamon bun, remember that the French name for it is “pet de soeur,” literally “sister fart”).  We also learn some Quebecois sayings.  “Etre sur son 36″ means to have a chic outfit; “C’est quetaine” means something is ugly.  OK!

After class it’s raining, so the sun isn’t glaring down but it’s still muggy as hell and 30 degrees.  My classmates are taking the Metro back to the residence (which to me seems like a waste of time since it takes just as long as walking, but they have Metro cards so they can use it as often as they like).  We decide to go see a French movie tonight.  Should be fun!

day 08

Tam-Tam Sunday!  For those of you who don’t know what a tam-tam is, I guess it’s a person who goes to a park to play drums with other drummers.  I’m pretty sure this only happens in Montreal, at the Park surrounding the Sir George-Etienne Cartier Monument (which is now my favourite monument–spectacular).  An amazing experience!

The variety of people alone keeps me people watching for a couple hours.  There are people playing music on drums, guitars (acoustic and electric), saxophones, and flutes (*side-note, Oxford comma 4 eva).  There are people throwing footballs, catching frisbees, kicking sacky-sacks (mom’s terminology), playing CROQUET, performing martial arts, dancing, walking tightropes, playing RISK, and even fighting with swords.  There are hipsters and hippies, tokers and smokers, homeless and braless, and everything in between.  It’s great!  Oh yeah, and there are a bunch of vendors selling jewellery, clothing, crafts, and more.  I buy a couple pairs of earrings and some cards.  I seem to buy cards whenever I go on vacation.  I just love the artistic medium of the greeting card I guess.

I still feel like I have a lot to see in Montreal even though I’ve already been here for a week.  The further I walk, the more there is to see!  On my way home from the park I see a SAQ sign (in Quebec this means liquor store).  I buy a couple beer to help me finish my homework.  We’ll see if it works!

(Last two pictures – one is for matthew, the other is because I smelt burnt toast)