MOC

This weekend I made another escape from the city and went away with the McGill Outdoor Club on their newcomers weekend. The Club owns a house about 70km outside of Montreal that can sleep anywhere up to 80 people- it's like a small hostel. Located in a very small town, the house is perfectly situated between the mountains and the lakes to make it an ideal weekend getaway for students. It's actually very impressive; the student society itself own the house and are paying of the mortgage with the money that we give to be a member and go on trips etc which I thought was incredible. 

We were bused up to the house on Saturday morning in a proper yellow American school bus (!) and there was a traditional scramble on arrival as everyone tried to stake a claim on the best beds. We all headed out on a hike at lunch time and the scenery was incredible. It's the perfect time to venture out of town and see the fall colours at the moment and I was not disappointed. In climbing to the top of some of the local mountains we saw the most incredible panoramas of the forests, dotted with glowing reds and burnt oranges. Everyone who was not from Northern America was so excited, something the locals found pretty amusing. We came across a beautiful lake which gave pictures even the most amateur of photographers could be proud of!

Back in town we went to stock up supplies for the evening (I think we might have bought the local shop out of beer if I'm honest!) and found crates and crates of pumpkins sitting outside- a sure sign that autumn is upon us!! Even in the city, it is not uncommon to see crates like this at the side of the road, ready for halloween!

Later in the afternoon we were informed that it was compulsory to head down to the river for a swim, and, since the weather was phenomenal this weekend, we were only too willing to comply! The water was freezing but so fresh it was worth it. Some people were canoeing, others slack lining or playing frisbee and the rest of us just lay in the meadow and chatted until the sun started to set. 

Feeding 90 hungry newbies is no mean feat, but the MOC execs did a stellar job and we all sat down around the fire to chilli and smores- its a hard life! The rest of the evening was spent around the fire, singing, listening to some incredibly talented people play the guitar, chatting and drinking beer- very relaxed. Just before midnight some of us headed back down to the river to do some stargazing since there was so little light pollution and we were rewarded with numerous shooting stars!

The next day, after a much better sleep than I anticipated, was more of the same. Another walk, another swim and an incredible nap in the meadow whilst being serenaded by the lovely Antoine. I was so relaxed I even managed to get sunburnt- rather embarrassing for late-September in Canada!

The weekend was short but sweet and as usual it was a shock to the system coming back to a pile of university work on Monday. It takes a while to get used to holidaying for such short bursts of time at the weekend and refocusing every Monday before lectures. But at the end of the day, I wouldn't have it any other way!!

Les portes ouvertes!

The Canadians have been nothing but welcoming since I arrived and to top it all off, last week all the international students were given passes which make it possible to visit some of Montreal's top attractions for free.

On Tuesday night I ventured out to the Botanical Gardens to see the International Mosaiculture event and the garden of lights- both were absolutely fantastic! The mosaiculture is unbelievable- sculptures made only of plants and foliage on such an incredible scale and each with their own story. 

The garden of lights was equally impressive. The Japanese gardens have been taken over by a plethora of sculptures and illuminated by thousands of fairylights. The whole experience is made even more spectacular by the perfect reflection made in the water all across the gardens. Unfortunately, the whole place was seriously crowded but hey, if it's free, who am I to complain!

Later in the week, I also headed to the biodome, home to 5 different environments of the Americas. We made our way through Maple forests, the Gulf of St Lawrence, the Labrador Coast and much more. A personal highlight was definitely the beaver: a complete comedian of an animal without even realising! 

It was a lovely day out made even better by the people I went with- through the McGill International Student Network I've met some awesome people, all on exchange like me. It seems a bit counterintuitive not to be hanging out with more Canadians, but when you want to travel and explore at every available moment, you tend to attract other people in the same position- everyone else just seems to take their university work too seriously!I find myself hanging out with French, German, Belgian, South African, Dutch and Australians on a daily basis- definitely one way to open your eyes to the world!

Day Tripper

Mont Royal offers some of the most fantastic views of Montreal and they are just as spectacular by night. The weather last week was beautiful and so the evenings were warm and the sky clear giving perfect panoramas of the city, spotlighted by the full moon. McGill has some fantastic facilities for exchange students including the McGill International Student Network (MISN) who organise social events across Montreal and even Canada. Last week they organised a night time walk up Mont Royal complete with glow-sticks and doughnuts at the top!

The sun has been shining all week, perfect weather to study (or not) in the sun! There's lots of green space across campus which makes university a fantastic place to be, working or not. It is not unusual to see people juggling and slack lining across the university and on Thursday I even stumbled across an aboriginal festival on lower field! Lots of people were dressed traditionally and everyone was asked to join in the singing and dancing.

Friday nights are always lively in Montreal and this week I was escorted by some of the guys on my course directly from my tutorial at 5:30 to the pub- but not just any pub! On a Friday the basement of one of the engineering buildings is converted into something called Blues Pub. A crazy mix of people fuelled by cheap beer and cheese toasties- a great way to meet people!!

After a few drinks I headed out to a club on St Denis for an electro swing night! Everyone was dressed up in all manner of costumes and the venue was awesome. The DJs were fantastic, accompanied by live musicians, belly dancers and even a girl dancing around on stilts!! We attended the swing class at the start of the evening that gave us all the moves we could possibly need and proceeded to dance the night away until we were just too tired to continue!



On Saturday I ventured to explore the Old Port with Marie and I was not disappointed. The port itself is pretty industrial but the local area is lovely with lots of artists and little cafes. I came across more inspiring street art and some of the most beautiful autumn trees that I've seen so far! We also went to see an exhibition on The Beatles. It was very cool (nothing on the museum in Liverpool!) but also a little strange- Montreal seemed to have been completely obsessed with the band on the back of only one visit!

Sunday took me to the Marché aux puces or flea market at St Michel. The is only one way to describe it- it looked as though someone had emptied the entire contents of their grandmothers house (complete with grandmother) and decided to sell it. You could literally buy anything there- vintage clothes, books, cameras, bikes, guitars, furniture, comics, duke boxes, telescopes, vinyl records, you name it you could find it here! It was a very french experience (helped by the fact that I went with two of my new french friends!) and everyone we met was absolutely lovely and welcomed us with passion to Montreal. I only bought a couple of things for my room in the end but my friend came away the proud owner of his brand new retro bike for only $40- Not bad for a mornings work!!    

Chez Moi

Here's a little taster of where I'm living in Montreal! I live in Le Plateau, a very French district of Montreal where the old rubs shoulders with the new and little cafes stand beside the hippest of bars. Two minutes from my house is Parc La Fontaine (in the picture above) which is a fantastic stretch of open green space, perfect for picnicking and running- a great escape from the busy streets of Montreal. The lake above is beautiful and, in the winter, opens for public ice skating!! It takes me about 20 minutes to walk to university in the morning and I'm only 15 minutes from Mont Royal!

My new apartment is beautiful with a classic spiral fire escape and little balcony that looks out onto the street. Around the back we also have a terrace, complete with BBQ and bench for the warm evenings.

We've got our new sofa now and are really starting to settle in! Marie, Anja, Lennart and I are all on exchange and hang out a lot- we cook together in the evenings and are slowly making our way around the local bars! Across the road is a bar that has live music a few nights a week as well as stand-up comedy and poetry nights- such a lively area!

I've also finally moved into my new bedroom and unpacked all my stuff! I have been so lucky with my bedroom- so roomy and lots of light too. It's so nice to finally be settled into my new house and I couldn't have asked for a better location!

Going on a whale hunt...

This weekend took me on an adventure further north in Quebec to a place called Tadoussac- a small, quaint town known for its pretty red and white buildings and more importantly its large population of whales!! In total 24 of us hired cars and drove up the coast in search of these magnificent mammals and we were not disappointed!

We left on Friday after lectures and made the 6hour drive up to Tadoussac with plenty of snacks and music to make the journey go faster. The drive made it clear that autumn is coming; the trees are starting to change colour and amongst the green you can now catch sight of striking burnt reds and oranges in the leaves. ‘Fall’ here is going to be beautiful and I will definitely be making the effort to get out of the city to fully appreciate it!

Anja and Ruth

Arriving at the hostel, we met up with the rest of the party only to discover that we were lucky enough to have arrived just in time for the live music. The hostel is famous in the area for welcoming travelling bands and allowing them to stay free of charge in exchange for a concert! The band itself was made up of three French guys with two guitars and a double bass playing the type of folk music that is oh so catchy! All their music was in French and from my limited understanding I could appreciate that all the songs are about places in Montreal. Better still, after some helpful translations from my roommate Marie, I could appreciate how hilariously cynical the lyrics were too! By the end we were all up dancing and singing along with the choruses until we were just too tired to continue!!

The next morning, after a delicious pancake breakfast, we headed up to the viewing point next to the hotel that looked out over the bay. From there the panoramas of the area were second to none and I really felt that I was in the heart of Canada- the expansive pine forest and dramatic fjords made for some impressive scenery. We were also lucky enough to spot our first whale of the weekend, right next to the shore!

Finally we all made it into the cars with all our stuff, ready to go- organising 24people is no easy task- and headed off for our whale-watching excursion. We hired kayaks and, accompanied by some guides, headed out onto open ocean in search of whales! At this point it was really very rainy and surprisingly cold considering it is only September so we were all wearing our wetsuits and about 5 jumpers to stave off the cold. However, it didn’t take much to take our minds off the weather; within minutes our kayaks were surrounded by porpoises (smaller whales, similar in appearance to dolphins) playing and jumping in the water. Only a short time later we also saw a pod of 5 or 6 beluga whales- large white whales that are slowly becoming endangered. It was so mesmerising staring out across the water watching their heads and fins pop up and down through the waves.

Coming back onto dry land, everyone fought for a place around the tent heater and later a place in the hot showers, but it was definitely worth the cold! We soon warmed up after a hearty meal in the hostel and a good old dance with the band featuring that evening.

Marie, Anja, me and Lennart- the flatmates!

The next day before we set off back to Montreal, we all set out for a walk along the beach to the different points. Again we saw quite a few Minke whales swimming close to shore and got to enjoy the dramatic coastal scenery before heading on our way again. On the way home we took a quick pit stop at the Montmorency waterfalls just outside of Quebec ,which were very impressive- I can hardly imagine what Niagara falls will be like in comparison!

A fantastic weekend all round and I can’t believe how lucky I was to see so many whales with such amazing people- talks are already underway as to where our next adventure shall take us!!

The Good Stuff!

So now all the introductions are out the way, I can get to the good stuff! This weekend I had planned to do a bit of exploring and sort myself out a little but as tends to happen, things escalated pretty fast!

Friday night was the homecoming Canadian Football game- McGill Redman versus the Concordia Bumblebees. Concordia is another university in Montreal and also McGill’s biggest rivals so the game was pretty hyped up! The atmosphere was awesome and I learnt some of the McGill chants (none of which are appropriate enough to repeat!) and shared a few beers with my new flatmates. I won’t pretend I even begun to understand the rules but the atmosphere was amazing and it was a win for McGill so a good night all round!

Saturday afternoon took me to my first Quidditch practice- yes Quidditch! I initially went along as my friend Derek is on the executive board and he was keen to recruit new members, thinking that I would go, have a laugh and probably never go again. However, I had forgotten to take into account my competitive nature and found that I actually really enjoyed it. Yes, it is slightly ridiculous. Yes, you have to run with a broom (or mop or branch) between your legs. But, it actually involves a level of skill I had not anticipated! The best way I can describe it is as a combination of netball, football, rugby and dodgeball. As a Chaser you have to run and catch the ball and eventually shoot it at three hoops at the end of the field, all the while dodging the tackles of the opposing team and the bludgers that the Beaters send your way. I’m heading down to tryouts tonight, and hey, if I’m successful I might even be in with a chance to compete at the Quidditch World Cup- every young Harry Potter fan’s dream! (Pictures to follow!!)

In the evening, after all our delicious pancakes at the flat, I headed out to meet some of my exchange friends. I was lucky enough to be put in contact with Aissa, a friend of a friend from Edinburgh, and through her have met some equally lovely exchange students. Since it was my first Saturday night in Montreal we headed out to St Denis, a very cool street at the top of the Latin Quarter. There was a festival going on there all weekend and the entire road had been painted by the public. The street was alive with people and music and we ended up dancing the night away on the top floor of a very cool bar. However, my favourite part of the night was on the trip to St Denis. Dotted across Montreal there are public pianos that anyone can play at anytime. As we passed by, there was a guy who I’m pretty sure might have been homeless playing the piano surrounded by a circle of semi-drunk people all singing along. Of course, this was an opportunity not to be missed so we joined in for a seriously off tune and rousing rendition of ADELE before heading on our way.



On Sunday, I woke up early and ventured to rent a bike for the day. Just like France and Spain, Montreal offers a bixi bike system, which allows you to pick up a bike in one place and drop it in another which can be very handy since a lot of bikes are stolen in the city. The sun was shining so Ruth (another girl from Edinburgh Uni) and I grabbed our bikes and decided to cycle out to Jean Talon fruit market to meet her flatmates. The whole place is amazing! Rows and rows of fruit and vegetables all under massive awnings and enough free samples to feed a small army; I’m sure they love it when the students come to visit! I’ve found the food in Montreal pretty expensive so far but it was good value for money at the market, and plus everything was so fresh, so we stocked up on enough vitamins to combat all the beer and burgers we’d been consuming at the Open Air Pub! Lunch was of course delicious- the freshest homemade bruschetta I’ve ever had!

In the afternoon we headed to something called Tam Tams, which is essentially a mini festival that goes on every Sunday (weather permitting) at Mont Royal. People bring down guitars, drums, saxophones, pots, pans and anything else they can make a noise with to jam on the grass in the sun. Anyone can get involved and even better, no one is an outsider at Tam Tams- anything goes. 

LARP-ing

Across the park you’ll find people slack-lining, practicing acrobatics, having picnics and even taking part in LARPing. Live Action Role Play is something that I have seen occasionally on the meadows in Edinburgh but never on a scale like this! People meet, dress up as warriors, pirates, cowboys or romans, and take part in battles- it’s a little like watching a live and very ridiculous video game. Again, it is of no importance how old you are or what you do during the week, everyone can be a soldier at Mont Royal! I am convinced I saw a few people who were “Bankers by day, Warriors by night”.

To make the most of the weather we also decided to climb Mont Royal, said to give you some of the best panoramas of Montreal. We were not disappointed! From so high up you could see right across downtown and beyond. The city of Montreal is actually located on an island with several smaller islands making up the periphery which was a lot easier to appreciate from this vantage point. This weekend was a pretty good start but this little trip has made me realise how much more I have yet to see! 

Downtown Montreal