Montreal

As promised, here is my rundown of what happened in the foreign country of Canada this past Saturday.

Your challenge?  Put them in order and tell me what I did.  :)  Kidding!

Most of the balcony railings I saw in Montreal looked/did something like this.  It looks like there's an especially dense vortex of gravity outside....

One of the dragons from the Chinese restaurant we went to for supper.

The menu/timings of the place we ate supper.

On the way in to Montreal.  We crossed over that bridge.  This was taken looking back at where we just drove.

Another bridge!!!!

On the bus on the way into the urban area.

Some factories and businesses on the way in to the city.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH which way?!?!?!?!

French.  Whoa.

IDK who he was, but NICE HAT!

Another picture taken off the bus.  Notice the people in the advertisement running together.

French French French French.  Ashley's best translation:  "Park avenue (something) north direction.  (Something) October 11th: Risky due to congestion of traffic."

Ohhhh yeahhhh.

I can't decide if that is sketchy or not.  Also, the cart entering the frame is interesting.

The view from the Champlain campus building.

Hollah!

What I feel like all this week with all my papers coming due.

My lunch at the Indian Restaurant.  It was called "Butter Chicken."

I called it "Orange."

This is why Canada rocks: awesome architecture.

Another street!!!!!

My fave.  :)

The lady on the left is Patricia, our tour guide...for 3 hours...

Pipes left over from the Industrial Revolution?  Also, the guy on the left was our Champlain guide around Montreal (to make sure us American kids didn't get lost and couldn't find our way back to campus.)  He was actually there my 2nd semester of my Freshman year, (the first time I visited Montreal) also.  Hmm...

There were three different writings etched into the stone.  These were signatures of various tribes in Canada, apparently.

I took this for Ryan.  It was beside the pipes in the ground.  His birth year is displayed in Montreal.  Whoot!!!

A random factory.  :)

A glimpse of Chinatown in the daylight. 

There's a face in the wall!!!!

One of the dragons guarding the entrance to Chinatown.

This is the exact Starbucks I sat and drank hot cocoa and a cookie my first time here.  (I was lost and was by myself.)

Excellent staircases are rampant in Montreal.

All in all, Montreal was pretty awesome.  Here's the itinerary:

9 AM- Leave Bader Parking lot for the boarder.

10:15 AM-Reach the border.  Have to get off the bus to go inside, have all of us hand over our passports, etc.

11:15 AM-Reach Champlain's Montreal campus.  *Note*-the "campus" is a tiny building with 3 floors, but only about 30 square feet per floor.

11:45/12 PM-Head to the Indian restaurant for lunch.

1:15 PM-leave the restaurant.  They had the BEST water I've ever drank in my life.  It was smooth going down...if that makes any sense?  Either way, it was amazing.

1:30-4:30 PM-Tour of Montreal.  Three hours.  What. the. heck.

5 PM- Arrive back at Champlain Montreal campus.

5:30 PM-After walking down to Chinatown, we have a half hour of free time.  I then commence buying presents for the roomies!

6 PM-Eat the 'ehh-so-so' Chinese buffet that was $18.60.  Wasn't impressed.

6:30 PM-Walked back to Champlain Montreal campus.

7 PM-Board the bus to go home.

7:45 PM-FINALLY make it out of the city.

9 PM-Make it to the boarder again.

10 PM-Arrive back at Champlain's Burlington campus.

All in all it was a good time.  I love displacing myself and unplugging everything for a day every once in a while.  Because Canada is a foreign country, I decided to leave my cell phone at home because I knew I would be tempted to text all day long.  It was rough not being able to text every passing thought I had to SOMEONE on my contacts list, but also strangely refreshing.

Also, I realize when I go to Canada how inadequate I feel.  Nearly all the teenagers in Montreal are bilingual.  I'm just the stupid American that can only speak English, and in the process completely butcher and stamp all over others' languages like a wild elephant on a rampage.  Seriously, why didn't I take French or Spanish in high school?  I might not feel like such a failure.  Latin definitely did not teach me any accents, although I suppose it did help learn more of the English vocabulary.  Derivatives of words were my favorite. 

But I digress.  I am an American, and I suppose one way or another, I should be proud of that.

Montreal was very fun, and I enjoyed the day away--the break from the normal.

I hope you all get the chance to completely immerse yourselves in a new culture someday.  Also, when you do it, go with a group and leave your cellphones at home.  Tell me what happens.

XXOO

Megan