I’m Katherine, I study
Chemistry and I'm originally from Essex but for this year I’m going to be in Montreal, studying at Concordia
(Go Stingers!).
I wish I could say that I
chose to go on a year abroad because of the opportunities to network and the
influence on my CV but if I’m being honest, it was for far less important but
more exciting reasons like “It’s cold enough to ski in Canada” and “Ooh, I
might see a bear!”. I chose Montreal specifically because I liked the idea that
I might improve my appalling schoolgirl French, but having been here two weeks,
I can testify that even though the official language of Quebec is French, their
English is better than flawless - it’s certainly better than mine, anyway!
Having said all that, I can now ask for a metro ticket in French and they don’t
immediately switch to English and ask me to repeat myself, so hey, improvement!
Concordia isn’t a very
well-known university compared to others in Montreal, but since I’ve been here,
it’s never failed to impress me. Concordia has its own chapel, theatre, cinema,
cooperative food bank, an underground system connecting the buildings, a
non-profit vegan lunch café, the list goes on. I’m lucky enough to be on Loyola
campus, which is further out of the city than the main campus, but it is
incredibly beautiful. And the Montreal public transport is so good that I never
have to walk more than a block to get anywhere anyway!
I have been in Montreal for
two weeks, but only started classes a couple of days ago. I can’t say that I’ve
absolutely adored every minute of it, but that is mainly because I’ve been
starting at 8:45 in the morning, and frankly that’s not my favourite time of
day! But the lecturers are all lovely, the classes are really small which is
good but weird and I guess getting up early just gives me more time to discover
exciting new things, right?
Although I’m sure if you’ve
read any others of these about Canada then you’ve already read this, but being
in Montreal has confirmed the Canadian stereotype that they are some of the
friendliest people in the world. And much to my amusement, they do genuinely
insert ‘Eh’ into sentences, and are pretty keen on ice hockey. I guess there
are some stereotypes for a reason. But their friendliness is certainly the most
striking thing about the Canadians, from the bus drivers to the little old
ladies at the supermarket.
Having said that, there was a
worrying moment about a week ago when someone attempted to help and instead
only managed to scare us somewhat. A couple of friends and I decided to go up
Mont Royal, which is one of the highest points in Montreal. We were discussing
it on the bus when a girl turned around and told us that we would have to scale
sheer cliff faces and we might have to hitchhike back. She left the bus with a
friendly “I’m only over this side, so if you do send a flare up…” Believe me,
there’s nothing reassuring about that, no matter how nice she was being by
offering her advice. On reflection, we should have been more prepared for the
trip though, we made a spur of the moment decision so it was getting dark and
in the least girly way possible, I was wearing the most inappropriate shoes!
Sometimes though, you have to take the risk I guess, because the view of
Montreal is worth getting scared out of your skin by a couple of raccoons and
having to seriously ask yourself “how do you hitchhike from the top of a
hill?!”.
I’ve learnt a lot of things
here already, like the national animal of Canada is the beaver and not the
moose, $100 bills are scented like maple syrup (really!) and Tim Hortons do the
best doughnuts.
But I also know I’ve got a
lot to learn yet. I’ve been to a football game but still have no idea of the
rules, so maybe that’s a place to start? Regardless, I’m looking forward to it.
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