Wow.

The past two days have been amazing.  Lauren and I took a bus to Montréal, we met one of our favorite singers, explored the beautiful city, met a good friend of mine, and stayed in a hostel.  I shall begin at the beginning, if you would like to follow me on my recounting of this journey.

We woke up at four-thirty in the morning on Saturday in order to head to the bus stop outside le Pavillon Desjardins (kind of like the student union of the university) by five-forty-five.  We caught what I like to call the accordion bus to la Gare du Palais and waited for approximately an hour before boarding an Orléans Express bus (which is similar to Greyhound).  After a quick stop in Ste-Foy to pick up more passengers, we were off.

The three-hour drive wasn't too bad.  Lauren passed out before we hit le Pont du Québec, but since I can't sleep on buses, cars, planes, or anything, I just listened to my iPod.  I woke Lauren when Montréal's skyscrapers came into view in the distance, and we soon arrived at the bus station on rue Berri.  It was really cool to see so much between Québec City and Montréal; 'tis one of the reasons why I love road trips so much more than flying.

Luckily the hostel I picked (almost at random) was very close to both the bus station and the place where I would have my "Coaching en chant" with Gabrielle Destroismaisons.  Go me.  Because we arrived so early (ten-thirty), we couldn't check into the hostel, but they had a locked room for us to keep our luggage in 'til four o'clock, our anticipated check-in time.

Close by was a small McDonald's where we had a quick lunch (I had "McCroquettes," of course) before setting off to find the building where the Coachings would take place.  We wandered around rue Amherst but were unable to find the place.  It was extremely stressful, especially as time grew short.  There was a guy standing outside the building (by which time we had found the correct place but couldn't get into since it was locked) whom Lauren was brave enough to ask if we were in the right location, and he said "yes."  So we waited outside for a while until none other than Gabrielle Destroismaisons pulled into the parking lot.

Let me just start by saying this: Gabrielle is absolutely gorgeous.  She came over to Lauren and me, and we shook hands and introduced ourselves (as if Lauren and I needed introductions from her).  I explained that Lauren had just walked with me to help me find the place, but Gabrielle immediately said, "You can come in if you want."  Naturally, Lauren (and I) was overjoyed.

Gabrielle unlocked the door and led Lauren, Martin (the totally awesome dude with the guitar) up to a small room on the second floor.  We all talked for a bit until Catherine (Gabrielle's other "student") showed up with her mom. We started with some vocal warm-ups with Gabrielle showing us how to feel the sound in our noses and faces (which tickles) and how to project by "sending" our voices to a certain focal point.  (I sent mine to California.)

Something fun to note: Gabrielle seemed to think it was totally awesome that I came from the U.S. and she said that she loved being able to practice her English with people, but knew that I'm in Québec to speak French, so she said I should do that.  She spoke French with the others, but did a mixture with me, which I appreciated.  She's actually the first person outside the FLE program who made an effort to help me speak French.

After we were all warmed up and rrrready to go, Catherine sang her first song.  She sings so beautifully, especially having had problems with her voice her whole life.  Martin went next, playing his guitar and singing a song he had written.  It was awesome.  If he makes an album, I want it.  I was last, singing Do What You Have to Do by Sarah McLachlan.  It was actually the first time that I had ever sung solo into a microphone for other people.  My main problem was not letting myself relax.  Having sung mostly in a concert choir, where we stood straight and stoically, it's hard for me to really let loose, smile, and move around.  I sang it two more times during the session and apparently got better each time, but it was hard.

My absolute favorite part was about halfway through.  We wanted to sing all together, but naturally it was a bit hard to find a song we all knew.  They knew that Lauren and I love Bruno Pelletier, so we decided to sing Aime, which everyone knew.  The  three "students" and Gabrielle sat together while Lauren and Catherine's mom filmed.  It was so fun.  At the end no one knew the words, so I did the big finish.  It was awesome.

Even though we finished late, it ended far too soon.  When it was over, we all said goodbye and Lauren and I went to check into our hostel.  After that we walked down the rue Ste-Catherine, through le Festival Juste Pour Rire, to rue Drommond to eat at m:brgr, a gourmet burger joint where you can "build" your own burger.  It was magically delicious.

Our night at the hostel was . . . interesting.  We were in a dorm with fourteen other guys and gals, and people talked all damn night.  Since we had to get up early and we were exhausted, we went to bed at eleven.  Naturally we didn't expect people to be quiet or anything that early, and it wasn't a problem for a little while.  Except I woke up at one and then three because people would not. shut. up.  It was maddening.  Lauren was lucky and slept the whole night.

I was also unfortunate enough to wake up to a guy . . . having fun . . . in the bunk next to me. Lovely. (If you'd like to read that inappropriate sentence, highlight it. If you're not comfortable with inappropriateness, don't.)

After a small breakfast at McDonald's (don't judge me; it's fast and affordable) we walked down rue Ste-Catherine and then rue St-Urbain to the Notre-Dame basilica. It didn't open to the public until twelve-thirty, so Lauren and I hung out outside and took pictures. I left at twelve o'clock to meet my friend François while Lauren stayed there. While I waited for him to arrive, I was approached by a guy asking me to sell him a cigarette, who proceeded to ask me why I was sitting there, why I was alone, who I was waiting for, and my name, at which point I told him to leave me alone. Ew.

When François arrived, we spent a lot of time just walking around Montréal and talking. It was nice. We had lunch in Chinatown and then walked around some more. At one point we went into the Grande-Bibliothèque, rode the elevator up and down, and then left. It was awesome. We met up with Lauren around four o'clock and hung out before heading to the bus station about an hour later. We said goodbye to François (sniff, sniff!) and Lauren and I got on the bus for Québec (and Ste-Foy) at six o'clock. When we got back, at around ten, we went to a nearby Chez Ashton for a late dinner of poutine before taking a bus back to the university.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Unfortunately I must now return to the real world of studying. Sigh.

POUTIIIINE!!!

Goodness.  What on earth can be said about the past week-and-a-half that I have been in what is quite possibly the most beautiful place ever?  A whole lot, that’s for sure.  Let’s break it down!

Lauren and her parents picked me up from my grandparents’ in Michigan on the morning of the third of July.  We drove for a while before stopping in Port Huron in northern Michigan at this really cool restaurant.  We sat in the atrium of the restaurant in movie theatre-style chairs with silent films playing off to the side.  ‘Twas quite neat.  The wait at the border was a bit long, but we finally got through and entered Canada around what was probably about one or two o’clock.  We drove through Ontario, often noting the vast number of Petro-Canada stations and Tim Hortons coffee joints.  In London, Ontario we exchanged some American money for Canadian and had some fun figuring out which coins were loonies and which were toonies and admiring the twenty-dollar bills.  We finally stopped for the night in Kingston, Ontario.

The next morning, we headed out and finally crossed the border into Québec at around noon.  It was extremely exciting.  The excitement was slightly marred, however, by my attempt to order a smoothie at the Tim Hortons right on the other side of the border.  The woman from whom Lauren and David was very polite and accommodating when it came to their unsure French, but when I ordered from someone else and messed up one word, she immediately switched to English.  I persevered, however, and spoke only in French.  It was rather disappointing, but I survived.  And later I came to realize that it wouldn’t be the only time it happened.

Going on the highway around Montréal, traffic was absolutely nuts.  It was even worse when we got into Québec City and tried to navigate through Vieux-Québec in an effort to find our hotel.  We finally made it and thanked God for the valet service so we didn’t have to try to park.  After getting settled into the hotel, a Marriott Courtyard right next to the Place d’Youville stage for le Festival d’Été, we decided to go to a snazzy restaurant right across from the stage called Chez L’Autre.  I had the most delicious roasted chicken au jus ever.  (Okay, it’s the only chicken au jus I’d ever had.)  Lauren and I spoke French to the waitress, and all was well.  After dinner, Lauren and I walked around the interior of the walls of Vieux-Québec and went nuts in Archambault.  And by “went nuts,” I just mean we were excited.  We didn’t go broke or anything.  I did, however, have to buy a CD of Bruno Pelletier’s since the only hardcopies of his CDs that I have are Concert de Noël, Bruno Pelletier et le GrosZorchestre, Microphonium, and Rendus-là.   And I need them all.  Eventually.  The only ones that Archambault seems to stock right now are Un monde à l’envers, Rendus-là, D’autres rives, and Sur scène.  So I bought D’autres rives since it has my favorite song in the entire world, Loin de chez moi.

The next day was the real day of tourism.  We visited the Château Frontenac, la basilique Notre-Dame, went down to the Basse-Ville, took a roundtrip ferry to Lévis just for the hell of it, and did all of that fun touristic stuff.  Lauren and I also got to see some street performers doing stuff like rolling around in a hoop and juggling fire.  Then we came back to our hotel and went to Chez L’Autre again for dinner.  I got the roasted chicken au jus again, at which point I realized that I’m allergic to something in it.  Joy.  A little after dinner we all walked a good way away from the wall to see a free performance of Cirque du Soleil’s Les chemins invisibles.  IT WAS AMAZING!!!   

The next day we drove in some direction that escapes me to see la basilique Ste-Anne and the Montmorency waterfall.  Once the afternoon hit, we headed west to Trois-Rivières to see the Torontonian jazz singer Emilie-Claire Barlow in Le Festivoix.  I’m not a fan of jazz, but it was a great show.  She’s hilarious, and her use of franglais was awesome.  It was particularly funny when she would say something funny in English and the four of us would crack up, but no one else would get it.

On Sunday, we headed to Université Laval to move in to our dorm and start the whole study abroad thing.  When we went into the residence services building, the woman assumed we were with a group called Explore.  Neither of us contradicted her because we didn’t realize there was more than one French immersion group and we just assumed that our program was called that and we didn’t know it.  Oops.  We were placed into our dorms, which are directly across the hall from one another, and said goodbye to Lauren’s parents.  After that, Lauren and I had a few hours until a “tour” that was being given, so we walked down the street to check out the huge Archambault store in the mall and to eat at Casey’s a bar/grill right next to it.  The “tour” was nothing more than walking around our dorm building, which wasn’t very helpful.

The next morning was the first day of classes.  Lauren and I arrived at the language building at 8h30 to receive our schedules and the levels of French into which we had been placed.  It was at this point that we learned that we weren’t in Explore, that that was a program for Canadians and was practically free.  Oops.  We went one more floor up to find our correct group, which we did, and got in line for our schedules and placement.  It was then that I realized that I had forgotten my passport in my dorm, which needed to be photocopied before I could receive my schedule.  So I walked the ten minutes back to the dorm and the ten minutes back to get it photocopied, which took a while.  Finally, I learned that I was in the highest placement, “supérieur” or “superior.”  Sweet!

After lunch, Lauren and I just hung out for a bit and I talked to my mom and sister on Skype.  We went to the University Pub (yes, there is one) to hang out with a bunch of people in our group and the “animateurs” who are very similar to Truman’s student advisors.  It was lots and lots of fun.  There were games and limbo and music, and it was a blast.

One thing that’s interesting about this program is that they really mean it when they say they want you to speak French all the time.  Like seriously.  I am currently wearing a yellow wristband that tells people I’m an advanced French speaker, so they can come up to me and say whatever they want and I should be able to understand.  Beginning students were blue wristbands, which means that you need to keep sentences simple and you’re able to use franglais.  Red wristbands are for intermediate students.  I’m scared of my yellow bracelet.  Also, they give out different colored cards at random.  They give out green ones if they hear you speaking French and red ones if they hear you speaking some other language.  If you’re seen not wearing your bracelet, you get a yellow card, at which point you have to go find an animateur and explain why you weren’t wearing it.  Or something like that.  If you don’t do this, it becomes a red card.  Apparently there are consequences for too many red cards and rewards for lots of green cards.

Today was the first “real” day of classes for the advanced and superior levels.  We received our schedules, which include our optional course.  I chose Le Québec et sa culture, which should be EXCITING.  At some point we’re going to learn about swearwords in Québec.  My other two cours are advanced grammar and oral expression.  So I’ll get a total of six credits.  I don’t know if they’ll transfer to replace a requirement at Truman, but I’m just happy for the electives and the experience.

For TL;DR: Québec is awesome.  I love it.  I find French already coming more easily to me when I speak it, and Lauren and I speak it almost all the time to each other.  It’s quite awesome.