Montreal & T-Minus One week

Hello All!

Marks came in for our first course. It is a mixed feeling of relief and disappointment. Although I did well on the final exams from last week, all things said and done I ended up with a B+. Not awful but truth be told it is my first B and I'm a little disappointed. To be fair though, the marking scheme here is shifted differently... had this been a U of L course I think it would've been an A-. Regardless, it is nice to be moving on to new material. The past week was more oral presentations, more tests (two on the same day... one of which we ran out of time for and had to continue the next day), and our teacher constantly reminding us to have courage. Yikes.

Yesterday was the program's day trip to Montreal which was incredibly enjoyable. The morning was a guided tour of old Montreal, we had a couple free hours for lunch, had our choice of an afternoon activity, and then had some free wandering time for dinner before heading back. For lunch we hit up this crepe place where Kat and I split a chicken/brie/asparagus crepe and a dulche de lece crepe with strawberries and bananas. Mmmm. For our afternoon activity, we selected the Biodome. It is kind of like an indoor zoo where you move through different biospheres like the rain forest, woodlands, etc. It was really well done with a surprising variety of animals and different views into their habitats. That being said, the best part of the trip was definitely the last couple hours. We selected an outdoor patio for dinner and right as we sat down, an absolutely fantastic duo set up for busking right beside our restaurant, facing us and the crowded walk way in front of the patio. Dinner and a show in 23 C sunny weather. Couldn't have asked for better. From there on out all the street performers came on full force and we dwindled our final hour and a half eating ice cream and watching the super diverse entertainers. It is a very very cool city with a distinctly European flavor.

Side note: On the guided tour we saw the Notre Dame Basilica which was raised to Basilica status by none other than John Paul II and is the site where Celine Dion got married and Maurice Richard's funeral was held. Unfortunately it was closed for some event but if you look at pictures of the inside online, it reminds me so much of Europe.

Picture time!

This week is going to whirl by. Everything is shifted to make room for the wrap up events such as the student talent show, what appears to be some sort of certificate ceremony, departure day, and various inspections and check outs.

Home in one week!

Love and Light,

Jacqueline

Rain, Rain, go away...

Hello!

It has been pretty much nonstop raining for the past 4 days and unfortunately our trip to the national park was delayed and ultimately canceled. I am quite disappointed - I have a buddy here who is a pretty hardcore canoe guru and he was going to show me the ropes on this gorgeous lake. Dang. Instead, I ended up playing lots of cards with the roommates and the boys across the street, watching the series finale of House, cooking a really makeshift soup with Ryan, and doing P90X with the girls. Although it was nice to have a more laid back weekend, I'm here to see Quebec - not the inside of the residence!

Today we jumped straight back into our class work and received more homework than ever. It is interesting to ask our prof to compare what we are learning to when kids in French grade schools would work on similar things. For example, last week we covered some things that were probably 4th grade level. This week we're touching high school material. It is intense to think that we only have 6 more days of actual class. Next week the Wednesday will be an oral exam and the Thursday will be the written. After that, Friday is departure day. Kat, Ryan, and I went ahead and booked our stay in Montreal for the two nights we have to spend there at the very end of the program. I'm looking immensely forward to it.

Love & Light,

Jacqueline

Chez Dany

Salut Everyone!

Yesterday's oral presentation went well enough. Our teacher arranged us into groups and would listen to the presentations in groups of 6. Unfortunately, we ended up going last and all the pre-class rehearsal I had squeezed in had mostly left my head by the time I got to actually start speaking. Oh well. As far as I can tell I used all eight of the verb tenses we've been working with and fulfilled the time duration requirements. At least it is over! Same goes for the written exam today. The test was divided predominantly into two portions consisting of technical grammar (verb tenses) and vocabulary/idioms/prepositions. Picking the right verb tense can always be a little challenging but I know I nailed the second portion. Again, just glad to be done. The next course is quite intimidating as it is going to comprise completely new content, literally a whole declension of verbs tenses that I didn't know existed but on the bright side it will give me a leg up when I return.

Tonight was the night we went to "Chez Dany" - a traditional Québecois style restaurant. They had live music going and served each table a wide variety of dishes. Most of  (aka all of) the dishes contained pork, which many of you know is something I try to avoid so that was interesting. I gave everything a try except the ham which was just too outright porkish for me. Otherwise, they had some sort of ground pork pie, egg/omelette, fried crispy pork fat, a traditional Canadian lentil/pea soup, traditional style beans (which honestly weren't that different from the canned variety), pomme de terre, pancakes, and of course maple syrup to add to everything at your leisure. It didn't particularly do much for me but the atmosphere was cool, everyone got up and was dancing at one point, the staff busted out spoons for people to play, and at the end we got to do the traditional popsicle dipped into fresh syrup and put on ice. Very cool experience but definitely only necessary once.

Maple syrup - nom nom nom
L-R: Moi, Kat, Maria, Candace

The Québecois Soirée is later tonight and the national park is going to happen tomorrow if it doesn't rain. The fun never ends ;)

Love and Light,

Jacqueline

PS: Something amusing happened on the bus on the way to Chez Dany. One of the guys I was talking to was trying to guess my nationality. Apparently I look a lot like one of his friends who is half Jamaican. On a different day I had someone ask if I was half African. I mean I get it. The hair is crazy. To be fair though I am fair in both skin, hair, and eye color. Plus I am in no way rockin' the black girl booty. The 'guess my nationality' game has always been an entertaining one for me. The Ukrainian/English explanation just doesn't do it for people.

Week 3 Catch Up

Hey Everyone!

This trip is so much harder to blog than Belgium was. I'm going to go ahead and credit that to the fact that I barely have anytime to spare anymore. My course is INSANE. It is extremely difficult and because it is so condensed we don't get any nights off from homework and study. I literally write about 3-4 tests a week and make 2-3 oral presentations. Honestly it can be quite overwhelming.

Our program is split up into two courses. Tomorrow we finish the first course with a written exam worth 30% of our grade. Today we had an oral presentation worth 20%. The rest has been comprised of all the activities from the past two weeks. It all begins again next week but we have now officially moved from the Intermediate III level to Advance I. Aka my life now spirals out of control. We're moving on from indicative verb tenses to subjunctive... Heaven help me.

Regardless, it is still enjoyable on the whole. The few precious moments of free time I do get usually end in guitar jam sessions, hanging out with my roommates, or doing the Explore Program activities.

Tonight we are playing volleyball against the animateurs, Friday we are going to a traditional 'sugar shack' called Chez Danny, and Saturday we are going to a national park if the weather holds.

Last weekend we spent Saturday in Québec city. It has a very distinctly European flavor with all the fountains, parks, and statues. The old town in particular is cobble-stoned and caused me to reminisce of my European wanderings. If nothing else, my European travels have paid off hugely in terms of being able to write about them for assignments and oral presentations. Québec is just adding more fuel to the fire :)

In other news, I learned that one of my friends has the same flight back to Calgary as me. Wooo! That means I have someone to explore Montrèal with for the day and a half I have between program and flying out. Yay!

I will attempt to write more frequent shorter updates (for real this time). In the meantime, here is a picture from our day in Québec with my roommate family.

And this just cracked me up. Immediate flashbacks to 4th grade social class.

Love &  Light,

Jacqueline

First week on Explore

Bonjour everyone!

I should have written sooner! I have so much to say about the last week but don’t want to write a long boring post. Well regardless, it is long. Hopefully not too boring.

I am at what amounts to summer camp en français. We eat together, we live together, we have ‘camp counsellors’, and lots and lots of provided activities. It is just too fun.

Downtown at the waterfront with my roommates L-R: Candace, Kat, & Maria

Explore Bursary Program

Bonjour ma famille et mes amis!

Although I fully intended this to be a blog for my Belgium semester only, opportunity has struck and I will be studying for a month in Québec this summer! Because the French-Canadian culture is so different and it is a further step in my same journey to master French, I figured there was no point letting a good blog go to waste. 

Hence, here is the latest rendition of my travel adventures.
 

3866 km away from home. Not quite Europe but it will do!

I will be in Trois-Rivières, Québec, attending the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières for 5 weeks. Here is the general program concept:

"Explore is a bursary program for students wanting to learn French. Five weeks of discovery, new acquaintances and exchanging ideas, in a stimulating setting for learning your second or foreign language.

Three and a half hours of courses are given every morning from Monday to Friday. In the afternoon, students attend different workshops to improve their French such as: songs, dance, phonetics, theatre, environment, newspaper, conversation etc."

Throughout the duration of the program, I will be staying in the on campus dorms with other students in the same program. On top of the classes, the program provides us with the opportunity to take advantage of the culture around us. Here is a sample of the activities they plan for us:

• Welcome activities
• Tour of Trois-Rivières
• National historical site, "Forges du St-Maurice"
• Tour of Quebec City
• Tour of Montreal
• Day trip to the Mauricie National Park
• Folk evening at the sugar shack
• Indoor and outdoor sports
• Movies
• Thematic evening
• Casino evening
• Traditional Québecois evening
• Student show

Although I didn't get a home stay exchange as was my preference, I lucked out with my location. Trois-Rivières is absolutely perfect because you're exactly half-way between Montreal and Quebec City and get to take advantage of both.

I'm excited! I really think this will be a fantastic opportunity to continue my French and get to know and love my country even more. Having never been farther east than Ontario, this will be an exciting new experience.

The best part? Since it is a bursary program, the only thing I have to cover are my flights! :)

Love & Light,

Jacqueline

Home Sweet Home

Hey Everyone,

Life has finally slowed down enough for me to sit down and write a final post to this chapter of my life's adventures.

If we're being honest, there are no words to describe the feeling that comes from moving across the world, establishing yourself in an international community and then leaving it all behind. I miss it already. I look up Europe flights every couple of days in hopes that a seat sale will tempt me back across the Atlantic. The people I met have absolutely inspired me to be more aware of the broader world out there. The lifelong friendships will be cherished more than I could have ever imagined.

Because I'm at a loss for words, I felt it would be most appropriate to look back at the very first post I did in preparation for my Belgium exchange. I outlined four goals for myself. Copy and pasted from the source, they read:

1) Learn how to survive on my own in a foreign country
2) Become fluent in French
3) Travel as often and as broadly as possible
4) Seduce a handsome Belgian Prince and create a Canada/Belgium mega-nation

I feel like the best way to summarize my trip would be to assess how much progress I made towards those goals.

1) Without doubt I learned to survive on my own in a foreign country. To be fair, I had a lot of help. I had no idea how much of a family all the Erasmus students would become to me and how much we would all come to rely on each others' experience, friendship, and support. The increase in my self-efficacy and self-confidence has increased immensely.

2) Although I didn't reach the level of fluency I had hoped to attain, I still made a fair amount of progress. My background in French was school courses from grades 4-10 followed by four years of absolutely no French at all. To jump back into it, I was both impressed and discouraged. Firstly, I was impressed because I remembered a heck of a lot more than I expected. Discouraged because I realized I had never really learned all the much. So much of those early years is repetition and verb conjugation work sheets that I realized I had barely any oral comprehension. Furthermore, the Belgian accent was unlike anything I had heard before. To be fair, they couldn't understand my French accent either. If nothing else, I am now more determined than ever to continue my French studies and reach a true fluency. I came back to Canada and immediately enrolled in a French course. Additionally, I am planning to write my DELF exams and do an exchange to Quebec this summer.

3) Overall I was pleased with the amount of travel I squeezed in. Given that I was taking four classes, I was somewhat restricted to what I could visit in day trips or weekend trips. I was pleased with how much of Belgium I got to see as I had wanted to get a good feel for my host country, its people and a variety of events. All said and done, I visited Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Malta, England, and Sweden. Adding this to my prior travel experience in Canada, USA, Mexico, Czech Republic, and Austria, I'm starting to feel like I'm finally starting to actually get out of the shell that is Southern Alberta.

4) There may indeed be a Canada-Europe mega-nation someday. But it won't be with Belgium.

So thank you to all of you who followed along with my adventures. Your comments and presence in my visitor statistics was immensely appreciated.

As I continue on with my post-secondary education and entertain thoughts of pursuing a master's degree in Europe, I feel I may live to blog again. Presently, I feel a sincere gratitude and love to everyone who I met, who helped me along the way, who supported me,  and who made the four months of exchange the best of my life.

Love and Light,

Jacqueline