They Say He Liked to Keep His Money Close...

So, the beautiful white, red, and green flower crest in front of the main building on the McGill campus (aka, the Arts Building) is more than it seems. On the tour that I took last year at McGill, the tour guide told us that James McGill's remains were dug up later on with permission to do research or something, and then was later laid to rest under where the flower crest (which is arranged to look like McGill's red and white crest. The story the tour guide told us was that McGill was buried beside his long-time accountant, and the over time, the graves somehow shifted, and that James McGill is actually buried here with part of his accountant. She added that, "We like to say that McGill liked to keep his money close."
That, my friends, is slightly disturbing.

Just to confirm, I found this:
"Farther up the hill, the visitors learn that McGill’s remains lie beneath the monument in front of the Arts Building – along with part of the skeleton of his longtime business partner and accountant. (McGill was originally buried in Montreal’s Old Protestant Cemetery, but his tomb was moved here when the cemetery was eradicated in 1875; the extra bones were discovered in the 1990s.)" -http://reporter.mcgill.ca/2008/08/tour-guides-show-mcgill-skeleton-and-all-2/

Life of a University Student.

Texting.
Omg. I so far have 62 messages in my cell inbox. I just got my first cellphone around 3 weeks ago. A 7-Eleven phone. WHOOOOO! haha i love ppl' s reactions when I tell them that 7-eleven sells cellphones. cells sellphones. hmm... interesting. Anyways, I think I'm texting so much faster than when I started a week ago. Amazing eh? Too bad it still costs 5c per text message and 25c per minute per call, so I don't know if this texting is cheap. It certainly is much more cheaper than calling! That's why I'm texting. However, it's still 5c for receiving messages. Boo.

Never Refuse Free Stuff.
So, a really good friend of mine told me, "Never refuse free stuff in university." It makes sense because, really, why not? There are more reasons. Such as, "I'm damned hungry, so I'm not going to refuse that samosa dammit!" and "I need lots of extra bags" and "It doesn't hurt to get another free t-shirt." For the record, I have received 3 free t-shirts. One is a purple one from my Chocolate Factory Rez, and it says on the back "Lotsa Soul in St. Henri" which is a damn good motto, compared to the other rezs'. It is also a PUN, if you knew the name of my rez. Actually, RVC's motto cracked me up. It stands for Royal Victoria College, and it's the only all-girls rez, and their motto on the back of their yellow t-shirt is, "Victoria's Secret". HAHAHHAA. JYT, that's Angie's rez, btw. hehe. And MORE houses rez has "Gimme MORE". Lol. I saw a Douglas Rez one, it said, "Dougie Style". I prefer my rez's motto.
The other two t-shirts are from Science Frosh (Froshercise) and Radical Frosh, which is by far the most awesome frosh you'll ever go to. It is worth the money. I have also received reusable cloth grocery bags, and a tote bag, shoulder bag, one-strap backpack, and a yellow string bag. Awesome. Oh, and there're so many planner/agendas that are available, and they're all free! Got a free calendar too XD

BIG ASS ROOMS COSTS MORE.
So I go pick up my lease. They tell me my room is actually a large single room (no duh, it's more than twice the size of my D's), and I have to pay 30$ extra per month. My rent is apartment-style, and unlike most of the others', it's for 11 months instead of 8. So doing the math, it's 330$ more I have to pay. It comes up to 8,602.00$ for 11 months. I wonder if my beautiful, big room with amazing, lovely windows is worth it. I'm enjoying it thought. I'm on the second floor, so not high enough to see sky sky sky, but I have trees. Lots of trees. From my windows I see green leaves and hear them rustle when the wind blows.

So. Tired.
I haven't slept well in so long. The hotels made me sneeze because of the feathers, and my allergies had just started up 2 weeks ago (damn you, such BAD timing) and then once I moved in, it was non-stop student crap with advising, registering, documents, ID cards, OPUS cards, cleaning the room, stocking up on stuff, then bone-tiring frosh for 5 days (science=3, rad=2).
Tonight I've been updating my blog so it's 11:23pm right now and I still haven't brushed my teeth. Ugh. zzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. And school starts in 2 days. I haven't gotten my school notebooks and I need to get groceries and garbage cans and general apartment equipment. Dammit.

No Floor Babies Please

So I passed by my very awesome floor fellow's door, Winnie. We all have floor fellows that are in charge of our floor (GO 2nd floor!) at our Chocolate Factory Rez and our floor fellow is so nice and very awesome. She's asian, is in 3rd year (I think), is in Science Faculty, and we met her when we had to have a mandatory floor meeting in the basement with her.

She lives on our floor, obviously, and there's always bulletins and a whiteboard on her door in case we need something, and for announcements. The wall beside her door hung a white envelope. On it was, "No Floor Babies." O.O
Above that, it said, "If empty, knock on my door!"
Underneath, on the envelope, it said, "Note that this is for emergencies only."
Inside the envelope (JYT in particular will be excited) ... were condoms.

So Now I'm Allergic to Beer.

So my roomie comes back home one night and I tell her that I had ONE mouthful of beer (that's ALL they serve in the Beer Tent.. 'cept you can also get water, and pop at certain times.)

She goes, "Isn't there wheat in beer?"

A lightbulb goes off in my head. It illuminated my dark, dark mind with a flashing sign that said, "Helloooooooo Stupid!"

....so yeah. Good thing I only had one sip. It was disgusting, so that was the day I had my first taste of beer. It was also the day I decided I did not like beer. At all.

I dunno why ppl consume so much of it. And you have to drink a lot of bottles too, because it's around 5% alcohol.

You're Drunk. I wish you were sober. This clearly isn't going to work.

So I was home at night. Funnily enough, because I have a pink bracelet, and not an underage one, I was halfway through the door in regards to bars, pubs, and clubs. However, I was missing an ID, and I couldn't get any from the asian ppl I knew so........ yeah. I was pigging out on corn flakes in chocolate soy milk that one Science Frosh evening when there was a knock on my door. I was like, "Oh, D's home."
I go open the door, and it WAS D, with Steve. More importantly, in front of them was this tall asian guy I've never met before, and he leans in and goes like, "HEY!" and says something about knowing me. I was like.. I don't know you! Wth.......... and then he comes in and he seems all happy to see me and he prompts a high-five, which I gave, and then proceeds to hug me! I hug him, that's nice, but really, who the hell is this guy? And then I get it: he's freaking drunk.
D and Steve are looking at me from behind me with these exasperated "oh god" faces while this intruder starts rambling about random stuff like, "Do you have cereal? I love cereal" and he goes and opens the kitchen cupboards and he goes "Can I have some? I love cereal" and I'm like, no, and he goes over to my lappy on the kitchen table and I'm like "Don't touch that" go away etc. etc. and basically he was a really talkative, touchy, drunk going towards annoying. We ended up in a few apartments in Solin, and us 3 were really just so tired and wth at this guy-- I was like, "Where the hell did you pick him up, off the street?" and they're like, "He's from Sherbrooke (the newest McGill hotel rez). He was cool before, but now that he's drunk he's just getting real annoying." ugh. Finally, we get rid of him and you know, send him on the way to the Metro so he can get back to his rez, and finally he does so, but not before giving all of us a goodbye hug.

Making friends from all over the world.

I am constantly meeting people here. By now, I've become quite smooth with THE 3 questions:
What's your name?
Where're you from?
What faculty are you in?/What are you studying?

Because McGill is SO international-international student population is almost 20%, which explains how McGill has one of the most international student population in North America, if not the most- the "where're you from?" is always there when meeting new ppl. I've met some really awesome people from all over the world.

Lessee... from my experience so far, most students are (unsurprisingly) Canadian, with the majority from Ontario. (people say from Vancouver also, but I haven't met as many) SO so many from Ontario. And then it's the USA. Most people I've met are from upper eastern US.
So, from what I can think at the top of my head now, I've met people from...
Canada: BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, PEI, New Brunswick.
US: Hahaa, just upper eastern canada, and just about everywhere... I dunno.
Other: Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Pakistan, India, Iran, France, England, Sudan, Kenya, Australia.......

And then there're the people that are just from everywhere. Michelle, my floor-mate (I'm on the 2nd floor of my Chocolate Factory Rez, so everyone on my floor is my "floor-mate") was born in Korea, then lived in Australia for 7 years, then New York for 5 years. So, asian with an australian accent. Haahaha. But she's so awesome and cute.

JYT I met this guy who said he was from Trois-Rivieres!! We had a discussion about how there're no asians in T-R and he told me he was like, the only "real" asian there! Btw, he was born in China, and but he speaks English with a French accent and a lil bit of a lisp. So that's another interesting combo!

"What is going on in the cup?!" ... and other hungry situations.

I already established that allergies suck. Because all the meals served at frosh is bbq and pizza, that just makes the money I paid so not worth anything. I skip meals because there's nothing I can eat, and sometimes I just gnaw on my Nature Valley oat bars that I bring with me. Pizza is the norm for our free meals.



For the first lunch, there was pizza AGAIN, so I went over to the Arts Frosh tent with this other girl I met to ask if they could give me a hotdog without the bread. I saw paper plates of rice all over the grass, and I was SO happy about that.. only to find out that that was for another frosh, and that Science Frosh had pizza. So I go up to the Arts tent and told him that I was allergic to wheat and dairy, and that Science Frosh was serving pizza, and that I HAD NOTHING TO EAT.

You know what he said? NO. And that there were Arts ppl that haven't gotten their food yet, and that this was only for Art Froshies. I was so pissed off. He was so mean. So he couldn't even find it in him to give me one skinny, flimsy thing of a hotdog WITHOUT the bread? Did he really think that the food supplies were so low it was CRUCIAL not to give away even a tiny morsel of food? I was so hungry I felt like crying.



At one lunch they had bbq, and I was so hungry I lined up and asked if I could perhaps have TWO pieces of meat, a hotdog and a meat patty, in my plastic cup (which is used for beer, but I snatched it to use as a container). It was SO repulsive eating meat like that. Just plain meat is pretty gross, unless you mean ribs or steak. Which is okay with side dishes.

They said okay, and I got a giant hot dog and a meat patty sticking out of my see-through plastic cup. Eww. And then I had to put some ketchup on it. This girl beside me was like, "What is going on in that cup?!" Ugh. I said, "I don't even want to know."

The Fun Part of Froshercise. Or, What Makes Science Frosh Worth It

What makes me undecided about whether or not Science Frosh was worth going to?
Frankly, it's short and sweet:
-friends I met
-bouncy castles
-the artificial lake/beach party

I met a really nice groupie... we more or less hung out together doing stuff other than drinking and getting smashed and singing that damn song which freaking sticks in your head whether you want to remember it or not.

Second day of Froshercise includes Carnival Day. OMG my first time on a real bouncy castle, and there were 2 on the field, and they were GIGANTIC! The third inflatable was for those 2 ppl competitions where you try to knock the other person down with a pole with 2 padded weights at the end. I forgot what it was called, but I mean the exact same thing we had in our Dry Grad. What was it called? =S It's bugging me. So my groupie and I raced each other on the bouncy castles XD so fun and bouncy and the slides were SO high and you just tumble down them at breackneck speeds (because obviously you want to WIN the race).

The last day was the Beach Club. The bus ride turned out to be 50 minutes! O.0 We arrived at the Beach Club, and we had to line up and have our bags check and our wrists stamped and everything! It reminded me of an exclusive rich club or something, and since there's no accessible ocean, it was kinda like a lake thing. It had sand everywhere, it was big, and had food on sale, many many beach chairs and umbrellas, and paddle boats and kayaks! There was no kayak available so I went on a paddle boat. So fun! It was so nice and sunny too... We eventually joined a multiple-boat float in the middle of the lake, and we met ppl that way! It was fun... hahha a bit weird introducing ourselves while we were floating in the water. We socialized and talked; there was this asian guy from Australia on an exchange. Seriously, I'm trying to get used to Asians I meet speaking in all sorts of accents, but sometimes I take a step back and go, "whoa... that's so cool, hearing you speak!"

Anyways, it all depends on the people you're with. Fun makes itself apparent then.

Froshercise: The Grungy Details

So, I know by now that people join up as Frosh leaders just so they can get free beer and get drunk and party it up in Tight and Bright clothing.

Beer, beer, beer. Drinking, drunk, drunken. That is just the majority of Science Frosh. Oh, and that damned McGill cheer everyone sings at frosh. I have no idea if this was a long-time cheer, or just one taught to froshies this year. I don't care about the origins, because it just makes McGill, and us, look bad. It's really mean, excluding the rest of the stuff that's just swear words strung together. Instead of just saying it, because how bad it is cannot be expressed, I'm just going to paste it here: [Beware though: there's every swear word you can think of, plus many other offensive terms. Do not read if you are hesitant about any of this.]



McGill once, McGill twice,
Holy f*cking Jesus Christ,
Wham, Bam, God-dam, son-of-a-bitch, SHIT!
Three cheers for McGill: f*ck, f*ck, f*ck!
Three cheers for f*cking: McGill, McGill, McGill!

I’d rather be a redman than a f*cking bumblebee
I’d rather be a genius than a flip burgers at Mac D’s
I wouldn’t wipe my ass with a Concordia degree
So f*ck you bumblebees!

Apparently Concordia has no enmity towards McGill. And McGill grads even go on to study at Concordia! I know it sounds fun, and it rhymes, and it's just a "silly" chant to sing while you get smashed every day, but really, don't you think it's maybe a bit.... mean?
I didn't know about the bumblebee reference before- I thought it was just to make it rhyme with "degree"- but apparently that's Concordia's sign.

"I'm supposed to give you an underage bracelet, but..."

So, before Science Frosh (aka Froshercise) started, I had to get registered at a tent on the campus. I told these 2 guys my name, and it took 5 minutes to find it on the register due to name mispellings and whatever. And then the guy says,
"I'm supposed to give you an underage bracelet, but I'm just gonna give you this." What?
So I obediently held out my hand, and he fixed a sparkly pink bracelet on me. And then he says, "If they ask you for your ID, just say that you've been carded." I'm like, "Okaayy....." and then he adds, "They check ID at the pubs and stuff, so if they ask, get an ID."
O.O Again, I'm like "Okaayyy...." and then I walk away.

For the next few days going into Froshercise, I've met so many people, and of those underage, I found that some had pink, and some had the black underage bracelet. Allen got branded underage. Strange, right? Maybe they ran into a different coordinator, or it was a random thing. I mean, I did not say anything at all, and I got a pink bracelet.

The funny thing is, now that Froshercise is over, I realized I didn't do anything that made a difference whether or not I had an underage bracelet or not. A waste? You decide.

Three Days of Froshercise Frenzy

Science Frosh ran for 3 days, from August 26-28.

Here is the schedule. So we walked all the way up to the upper rez place at 5:00pm where we all lined up to enter Science Frosh. We got a free t-shirt, then a water-resistant yellow string bag with a cup, and another bunch of advertisements.
I finally met Allen, a guy from my school, at the lineup. He lives in one of the upper rezs, McConnell. Man, I feel so sorry for those in upper rez; they have a terrible, terrible hill to climb every single day. I had to climb it for the first time to get to where Froshercise was, and it was so tiring.
So, the Froshercise lineup was crazy. But then, it finally started moving and we got to the entrance of a gym. Suddenly, we were rushed into the stadium (it felt like they were herding us, the cattle, into a pen) and there was mayhem and screaming and PPL IN PINK SHIRTS AND TIGHTS AND GENERALLY SCANDALOUS ATTIRE freaking GRABBED at us. So I was pushed in where I collided with people and I got grabbed, and naturally, I tried to run, because that's what it seemed like everyone else was doing.
Honestly, you know what I was thinking? "Wth what's going on-OH!it's tag! people are chasing other ppl and they're running around screaming to the booming music and-OH shoot i just got grabbed WTF lemme go lemme go lemme go" and I finally slowed down enough to realize that the guy was saying to me, "You don't have to run, you don't have to run, you don't have to run!"...
and then I realized, and felt pretty stupid. I guess they (the frosh leaders) were supposed to randomly grab us froshies into their group to divide up the science froshies. I didn't try to pull away after he said that, but I was wishing we could walk faster to our group because he was holding my hand and it was really awkward. I mean, the other leaders had their arms slung around their newly-caught froshies, but this guy had my hand real tight. Anyways, got thrown into a random group. Btw, all the frosh leaders were basically wearing really tight, revealing clothing.. I mean, shorts with a bodysuit, and guys had tight body swimsuits on as well.. which was not pretty. At all. *It* was very prominent. I guess that explains the phrase "Tight and Bright" on my yellow bag.

So, I follow my group onto the field and basically, it's just the beer tent and pizza. But seriously, the frosh leaders were so crazy. They were so loaded, it was ridiculous. And this was before frosh even started. I was in group 36, and they were all screaming out group cheers and stuff, which is basically made up of swear words and genitalia. It was hard hearing it too, because it was just something you don't hear everyday. My group leaders, I'm sorry to say, were holding up a pink poster with 36 drawn in the shape of boobs and a penis. All of us mass-migrated down to the lower field, and it was like a parade. A really drunken parade. My frosh leaders were singing- no, hollering, "Thirty-six, tits and dicks!" almost the entire way.

After Science Frosh, I still don't know whether or not I wasted my money. But I know that it was NOT worth the money I paid. 75$? @&*$#*!

Discover McGill

Tuesday August 25. Discover McGill

Discover McGill day is when we go to the school and we get intros, tours around the school, and I know I mentioned this already, but in the evening there is a Street Fest where many clubs and organizations are set up along McTavish Street (where I signed up for Quidditch and others). On the school tours though, it's pretty funny to think that I thought the school was just that central area where all the tourists go to. I mean, there's these whole areas that stretches way beyond, and holy- they aren't exactly close. It's crazy.

This is a beautiful laminated map that I received. It's great that the map is very sturdy and waterproof!
Now, the front green space, sorta in a U shape? That's where the general public goes, and where the school tours go around. Now all these brown buildings are part of McGill. See how far they stretch out? Crazy. So it was a really really hot day, and my randomly assigned group toured beyond the U-shape of McGill. I met this girl, Annie, who was the first person I met from the Greenbriar rez. It's apartment-style, and was my 3rd choice of rez. Apparently most of the girls who live at Greenbriar (cap. 99 ppl) are Asian. I was SO surprised, because although asians are a very visible at McGill, they are a minority. So, whaaaaaat?! I can figure it out. Anyway, just a random piece of news.

HARVARD: america's mcgill

I saw those shirts on sale at the Roddick Gates last summer when I was exploring Montreal with JYT, and they're selling it again! D, my roomie, bought one. It's got the Harvard logo on it too, so it looks like this in front:

HARVARD

[logo]

America's McGill

-shakes head-
Just what are we implying? I think I'm going to stick with the McGill clothing in the bookstore. My goal from way back is to buy a really nice, super warm McGill sweater in time for winter. Good plan, right? Winter and spirit clothing all in one. Spinter clothing hahaha. OMG I want one that Wilson (from House) wears in that one episode!!

The Busy Times Between Move-In and Frosh.

So, always meeting more ppl at my rez and randomly everywhere various times, and forgetting a few names, and gaining a few laughs, and getting paranoid about my keys and wallet, thus checking said things a couple billion times a day. Bothersome, headache-inducing things a new university student has to do:


-Get student ID card at school (this involves walking, metro-ing, and walking, in that order; thankfully I got the ID before I moved in)

-Taking everything out of luggage, cleaning the room, settling in the room, tidying up, taking inventory of apartment

-Get OPUS metro card (this lets us get ridiculous discounts, and also works for monthly passes. because one ride on the metro is 2.75$, with travel in any direction, length of time, and subway lines)

-See an advisor about courses

-Attend workshop sessions

-Get lease from student office at school

-Find out where key buildings are in the university

-Go to another building to ask about BC student loan form fill-outs


It's August 26, and I have all these things done, and more. I had Discover McGill yesterday, which was from morning until around 7:30pm; I had a 2 hour presentation about Arts&Science and Science, and then a group tour all over campus with my assigned group........ this was so long, and so tiring and besides, I didn't eat lunch all because they served pizza. Allergies? Oh sorry, they didn't have anything without wheat and dairy. End. Great, eh? I hate my allergies. After the building tours, there was a WHOLE STREET of tables set up, like a night market, where all sorts of clubs and organizations paraded their stuff. Lol. So I put down emails and grabbed brochures of clubs and stuff. The strangest, most hilarious thing at McGill so far? Get this:


McGill Quidditch.


Seriously. We have a Quidditch Team. McGill Quidditch? Say it. Then say it again.

Moved In.

So, the next day after move in, there was a bbq in the courtyard for my chocolate factory rez. With my roomie (who I will call D on this blog), I went down and finally met ppl! It was okay afterwards.. I was a little shy and apprehensive at first, but then after ppl got introduced we talked, while new ppl would pop into our circle and introduce themselves and I'd talk to more ppl. I wasn't the type to burst into other ppl's groups and introduce myself.. haha so it worked out fine. So fine, in fact, that I and D went out with a group of ppl who wanted to go the le Vieille Montreal instead of a pub/club that they announced for the rez ppl to go to at 10:00pm. It started pouring, so we toured Old Montreal in the rain. The experience was fun, wet, and warm all at the same time. I dried, eventually.

Skylights in the Chocolate Factory.

Saturday Aug 22. Moving in day. Long story short, we taxied all our stuff there. I found out I was to be on the 2nd floor, 3rd room. Awesome! Lucky number 3 =) When I lugged my stuff up with my family, I saw that there were three names on the door, made with pipe cleaners. My first thought was, "Did they just decide to put the three most unusual names together in this apartment"? When I went in, the first thing I saw on the table was the 3rd Harry Potter book. Hahaa, well, my sister was really happy. Apparently one of the roomates had already been there before me, and was moving in on the same day as me. She was in room A, and I went to check out my room C. And whoa, what a room! It was just like the rez description: tall ceilings, big windows.... I mean, back home, I had chosen the bedroom with the biggest window, giving the other bigger room to my littler sister, and this window totally kicks the glass out of my window at home! Correction: It's like, multiple windows.. I shall post pics.

MTL. La Ville Souterraine. (The Underground City)

So, Montreal's metro. It's what the subway is called. It's amazing. Surprisingly very little litter around, the stations do look clean, if not really new, and each station has its own displayed artwork, colour scheme, and design. It's efficient, and what I love so much about it is that the cute tiny metro map you can pick up at any station is so clear- I follow it like a lifeline. The metro network is colour-coded and when you want to go to any station, you just simply look for the colour of the line you want to go to, and the name of the end station. Hard to explain, so here's a pic (scroll down a bit): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Metro

And the underground city? J'adore la ville souterraine. And I know I will love it even more in the winter, hahaha. It's the largest underground network in the world, according to wiki. lol. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_City,_Montreal

My hotel, the Hyatt, was right above it. So convenient, I don't have to go underground at all! and it's crazy, Rue St. Catherine is so lively and seriously, with the underground network, it's like a whole AREA of shopping, connected all together. Crazy. I bet if the connected shopping malls network counted as one, it would be bigger than Metrotown (which is the 2nd biggest mall in Canada?)

J'Explore Montréal

Tuesday, August 18 to Saturday, August 22. Vacation and buying stuff for move-in all rolled together. The Hyatt was okay, except I kept sneezing and allergying (yes I verbed two nouns) because of the damn goose or duck or whatever bird feathers that the duvets and pillows were stuffed with. Ugh. And so my allergies weren't better until the end of the week just because I could get a good night's rest.

On exploring though:

Eaton Centre. Been there before, and we ate at the food court downstairs for lunch. Seriously, the food court has to be the biggest I've ever been in. And this time, I noticed the food selection has much more variety than back home; on top of the usual fast foods, Chinese, Greek, Japanese, there was also Middle Eastern, Indian, Thai and a bunch of others. The Middle Eastern food, especially. Oh, and there was this bubble tea shop, and not one of the employees there were Asian. I wonder if the bubble tea's good?

IKEA. Haha, we actually went to IKEA, because the stuff we needed to buy were mostly there. We took the metro (I love it even more, still) to the Du Collège station, then took the 202 Dawson bus there. Bus 175 is okay too. (You can tell this is also here for my future reference haha) IKEA was same old, same old.

Biodôme+Insectarium+Jardin Botanique. Again, I went with my family because they haven't seen it. OMG the capybara was sleeping, and in full view at the Biodôme... so cute! He was just so adorable!

Vieux-Port de Montréal. Easily one of my top favourite places in mtl. We first saw it at night, and even at 9:00pm, the nightlife and restaurants were vibrant with life. My mom said it was just like when she was in Europe. What I love most about it? The cobblestone streets. The old, European style buildings. The way the restaurants all have their windows open and patios spilling out onto the streets, and the tables with candles and umbrellas. It's the closest you can be to Europe- without being there.

Basilique Notre-Dame. So this time instead of going in with an admission fee of 4$ (under 18), or 5$ (over 18), we went to see "Et la lumière fut", this sound and light show. I had no idea what it was about. When we got in, the inside of the church was all blocked by oddly shaped white canvas screens with different coloured lights playing across it. They gave us all a headphone set, and we sat on the pews. This was at night, around 7:00pm. The show started, and what this was was a narrative, mixing fiction and history, about Montreal and this church. It played on the canvas screens, and near the end, they dropped by the screens, one by one and it was sudden and beautiful. If you haven't been to the Notre-Dame de mtl, this is the way to go about it. See this show. Because you miss out so much if you just wander in there and look at it, and this show gives you depth and meaning, and the way they unveiled the inside from the inside wowed even me, and I've already been inside it. Now, don't google the interier of the Notre-Dame! Visitez. And let there be light.

Stop Three: Montreal, Quebec.

Tuesday, August 18. Train to from Toronto Union Station to Montreal. The end of vacation, and the start of an adventure.

Yups, so by VIA Rail, it took more than 4 hours, and I think it was actually longer than my plane flight from Vancouver to Toronto. Ehh?
So I could already feel Montreal's ambiance on the train, with the mix of French, English, and Franglais. You heard me. REAL Franglais. It came from two ladies sitting right behind me; I thought they were coming from different people, but no, after so long listening to them, I was sure it was them speaking French with injections of fluent English in between.

We arrived, finally, at the Gare Centrale de Montreal, and took a taxi to another Hyatt Regency Hotel! Hahaha. Another thing that leaps out at you when you're in Montreal: the crazy driving. I swear, it's vehicles before people. JYT and I had become quite fearless in jaywalking while in Trois-Rivieres, yeah? The taxi started off with a great long lurch out of the parkway, and for the whole ride the driver didn't have his seatbelt on. No one was hurt though. The Hyatt was located perfectly, part of the Complexe Desjardins, which is like a shopping complex located in the underground city. So, I don't even have to step outside to get from the hotel room to the underground city (where there's IGA, food court), right to the Métro, then anywhere I want to go! So, super convenient.

J'explore Montreal, bye!~

Allergies with a Mean Streak.

My allergies have come in with a mean streak a few days before I left home. Which sucks, of course. It was nowhere as bad as when it first reared up and attacked me in grade 11 though, lol. That’s why I’ve been avoiding, y’know, *takes a deep breath* eggs, wheat, milk, dairy, cheese….. Don’t worry, there’s actually food that doesn’t include these things, and good food, if you look for it. Of course, if you want really good, healthy food, the BEST are ones that are made gluten, dairy, and milk-free, because they’re always made with the best (and organic) ingredients, and besides, those missing ingredients aren’t actually that good for humans. I got a bag of some kind of cookies made by the brand “New Moon Kitchens”- the package and design is reminiscent of Trader Joe’s. It actually says “Gluten-free” and “Dairy-Free”, which is amazing- I’d never thought I’d find something like this in Downtown Toronto. SUPER expensive though, but it’s a once-in-a-while treat XP It’s just really annoying with stuff I can’t eat, because what happens if only bread, sandwiches, or hotdogs are offered? I’d be screwed then. But at least my favourite thing is untouched; I’m not allergic to ANY fruits at all =) I like noodles though.. maybe I’ll have to hunt down specialty or organic or Choices or Trader Joe’s-like stores so I can buy some rice flour spaghetti or noodles to stock up. I brought a rice cooker bought from Taiwan, along on this trip, so YAY at least there’s rice. Now if I could just cook with efficiency and variety, the food situation would be perfect. Eczema sucks- a lot. *sticks tongue out*

Stop Two: Toronto, Ontario.

So we drove back to Toronto, where we stayed one night at the Hyatt Hotel. The rooms were much more newer looking, and modern. The room had a big, flat screen TV built into the wall, and the designs are really tasteful and modern , such as red, funny shaped cubby drawers, and cute little spotlights above the bed. The bed covers are white!

U of T. We went around walking, and it was so big! I couldn't tell the school from the city, because it was all basically melded in with the city, and we walked through the streets, turning around a few blocks, and saw some of the beautiful, old buildings I liked so much. I saw some that I'm sure was on the UofT brochure, haha.

We walked to Eaton mall, because the elevator escort guy told us it was quicker than taking the subway from here. Meanwhile, he told us that Toronto’s Chinatown makes Richmond back home “look like an ant hill.” Hahaha. We didn’t get to go to Chinatown though.

JYT, I have no idea why you were going on about the pigeons. I saw more seagulls than pigeons, but I’d like to say the pigeons were harder to bother. Seriously, I approached one and let out a spontaneous flail accompanied by a “Hyaaa!” and the pigeons just calmly walked away from me. My sister and I couldn’t ruffle their feathers at all =0

We went to visit the CN Tower, and to the harbour beside it. Except there was a strip of sand and yellow beach umbrellas beside it. Like, what- a fake beach? Beach-harbor? Harbeach? So we hung around the “harbeach” and I got sand in my shoe. One shoe.

Back at the Hyatt. It’s annoying how we have to pay for internet. So no Internet since I left home D8 I wonder what the world will do if the Internet suddenly just disappeared. I’d say we’d be screwed. Lol. And be in a lot of anguish.

p.s. that's why these posts have these incredibly inhuman time stamps on it- I typed this up while I was bored, and Internet-less for 4 days. XD

More Than One Million Bathtubs of Water Per Minute.

So we had a whole day at Niagara Falls. We bought the “Adventure Package” which included free 2-days transportation, and the 4 most popular attractions. Of all of them, I’d say the one you HAVE to go to is the Maid of the Mist, where you go on a boat (capacity ~500) past the American falls, then to the Canadian Horseshoe Falls at the end. The others were okay, so if you have to pay more than $10 each for those other attractions, I don’t think it’s worth it. The attraction ”Niagara’s Fury” was pretty fun too, though. Very cute and fun. The other two was “Beyond the Falls” and “White Water Walk”. One of the attractions people told us the Canadian Niagara Falls rushes down at the rate of more than one million bathtub-fuls of water per minute. I believed her.

Don’t Steal the Towels. Please.

Every hotel is interesting, because sometimes, you can find little quirks, or differences, even among the same chain of hotels. It’s been a while since I’ve stayed at a hotel, so I don’t remember any details; that makes it more fun and exciting. The room we stayed in had the view of both falls, so it was really nice. I took a picture, but I couldn't fit it all in. Oh well, I tried. Of course, the casino had to go and stand in the middle of it. I don’t know about other Hilton hotels, but on top of the toilet was a sign. Which made me wonder, How can they warn you against stealing their towels (therefore the suspicion is there, and you are a potential suspect) and still be so (perfectly) technically polite?... Why not just say, “Don’t steal the towels, or else we’ll fine you”? It’d certainly be much faster.

Instead, the sign said,

“Each room attendant is responsible for maintaining the guest room items. Inventory is taken daily, therefore, if you would like to purchase our towels, please contact the front desk and arrangements will be made to have them brought to your room. Ifyou wish the towels already in the room, we will assume you approve a corresponding charge to your account."

And in case you were searching for loopholes,

“Please do not remove towels from the room for pool use. Pool towels are provided at the pool.”
I wonder if this particular Hilton had an infestation of people who liked to steal towels.

It’s 9:45pm. And we’re having dinner.

It’s 9:45pm, and the streets at Niagara Falls are as lively as ever. The restaurants are all full, with wait times required for all of them, even at this hour. That is crazy! I’ve had a weird eating schedule since waiting at the airport for my 7:00am departure, and we all think it’s actually 6:45pm, and so it was just right after a frustrating search for somewhere to eat. There are no grocery stores, fruit stores, or markets here…. What do all the people do?! The answer is that this city is really a tourist town, so it’s just a Casino, hotels, motels, and restaurants everywhere. Oh, and the prices are all inflated. A bottle of water, or pop at one of those typical vending machine? $2.00 is the cheapest we could find, in our hotel. Down by the Falls, it’s $2.50, and the cheapest food and drink you can get is at the Tim Horton’s there, where a bottle of pop is $1.69.

We ended up at Applebee’s, my family’s choice restaurant whenever we go to the States. After we got our bill there was an extra “TIFF” over the taxes (which are higher than back home). The waiter said it stood for “Tourist ..........”, “for the maintenance of the falls and fireworks and all that fun stuff.” We were like, “Ohhhh.” O.O Specialty Tourist Tax, eh?

So I was thinking, if Niagara Falls dried up (hey, stay with me), this town would experience a few months’ boom, then maybe go into a bust.

Observation: You know, there’re Tim Hortons’s everywhere. It’s just really popular here, ain’t it?

If you like people watching, listen here.......

If you like people watching, you can consider a job as a traffic directing person who stands at an intersection by Niagara Falls. It was evening, and there were people everywhere. Super super busy. After we got into our 32nd-floor room at the Hilton Regency Hotel, we walked down to the Falls. It was amazing. We got to the point where we could see the water free-falling down from the side, and at the precipice the colour was a gorgeous aquamarine. Mist from the Falls was everywhere, you couldn’t tell where it was mist or rain, and in the humidity it felt so good.

Stop One: Niagara Falls, Ontario.

So, brief flash of Toronto from the window of the silver car we rented from Hertz... then it was basically highway (lots of lanes in Toronto! Which is like driving in the US) and snooze time. Since I had to wake up at 4:00am (horrors) to go to the airport, it was one of the most sleep-deprived states I’ve ever been in. I was roused in the middle though, when we were in a traffic jam- there was a major vehicle accident and I saw the front of a police car completely crumpled, and another car up-freaking-side down. It was on the news later that night; apparently it involved more than two cars, and one motorcycle. I think two people died. =(

Going East by Westjet.

The plane ride was majorly uneventful and boring and cold. I sat beside my sister, Zoey, in the middle seat on the right side. On my left was a man (or should I say father; his wife and kids occupied the left side parallel to us.) This guy had tattoos on his arms.. Hmm... the other time when I had to sit by a stranger it was on a plane to Taiwan, two summers ago. It was more interesting because I spent a lot of time person-watching him out of the corner of more was more interesting because I spent a lot of time person-watching him out of the corner of my eye. I say interesting, because he looked like a middle-aged business man, but instead of using his laptop to view documents or whatever (there’s no internet allow on flights), he was watching anime. I thought it was pretty strange, just that he didn’t look like he would watch anime. –shrugs- My parents don’t watch cartoons... But haha, now that I think of it, he was on a plane to Taiwan. And the anime was subbed, btw. I couldn’t resist trying to watch because I had nothing to do and he was right beside me. I snatched glimpses (whoo for my covertcy skills!), and it was so weird. Looked like every character was slow-mo and the landscape was basically bleak desert all around. On top of that, it featured samurai, which wouldn’t be weird at all except that the main character was this black samurai with an afro. Wth.

OMG it was quite easy for me to ramble off track >< I’ll try not to do that often XD

So, plane ride. The middle wasn’t fun. The departure and arrival though, cracked me up. I don’t know if I just happened to miss this kind of thing on my other plane trips, but on this Westjet, the announcements were hilarious. You know, stuff like Emergency Procedures? If this guy announces it, yes please! The female flight attendant actually stood in the aisle and mimed it, since Westjet was too small for a video? Anyways, this guys opens up the Emergency Procedures with “For those who haven’t travelled in a vehicle before, this is a seatbelt.” The flight attendant, smiling, showed us a freaking seatbelt- and demonstrated the unbuckling process. And when we landed- “Please remember to take all your belongings, and items; anything left behind will be sold on eBay.” HAHAHA.

Taking flight: So I’m off.

So I’m off to university... well, summer vacation first. The day before was hectic with packing, clothes washing, and installing a bunch of stuff on Rabbit. Oh, Rabbit’s my Dell Studio 14z laptop, inspired by its colour, “Ruby Red”- probably only people who’ve watched a certain show on the Tree House channel get it, haha. Well, I’ve done packing, and panicking, and arrived in Toronto two days ago. Wheeeeeeeeee. It’s a one-week vacation- well, for my sister, anyways. First off to Toronto, from where we’ll drive to Niagara Falls for a two-night stay. Then, drive back to Toronto for one night (aww.. I wish we could stay longer). Last stop, Montreal for four nights, until I move into my rez on Saturday, Aug 22, and my family goes back to Vancouver.