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.
buy anything good? what movie?? when are you coming home???
i bought a couple shirts and a skirt, but nothing much different from what we have back home! Didn’t end up seeing a movie since the shopping took longer than expected. I’ll be home Saturday evening.
can’t wait to see everyone!