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.