Field Trips, Events, and Festivals: Montreal, the City that NEVER sleeps

Wow I have not been keeping up with this blog... there just isn't enough time to write it! Days pass by so quickly in this city. There is so much to do and to see that the days just fly by! We had a class field trip to Parc La Fontaine. Our teacher had prepared a french song for us to learn. Then she asked a group of people in the park who had some instruments if they would play the song for us to sing! So we all sat on the grass and sang french songs! By the time we had finished we had gathered an audience! It was a lot of fun and a really good and memorable time!

Singing at Parc La Fontaine (our french teacher Alicia, and my classmates singing "Les Champs-Elysees")

On the weekend my roommates and I visited the "TamTams" on the edge of Mont Royal. Tamtams was a must see in Montreal. It happens ever Sunday afternoon, anyone with a drum can go and play and dance all day long. There also happens to be a section of the park dedicated to jousting. This was interesting to see and definitely an activity reserved for those who are not afraid to publicly wear a shield and sword. As we were watching the action, the sky decided to rip open and not pour but dump rain upon our heads! As you can guess the action on the jousting field increased and mud was sprayed everywhere. We had to run for cover from the rain but enjoyed the thrill of the sudden storm!

Jousting in the Rain

Last week we had class trips to the Biodome and Montreal's Underground city. The Underground city sounded really cool, but it turned out to be just underground walkways connecting buildings in downtown Montreal. One of the evening events was a show at the Notre-Dame church. The show demonstrated the history of the building and of Montreal in general. We've found here that Montreal makes a big deal about it's historical background (and probably rightly so), it is difficult to find any event that doesn't celebrate Montreal's past.

Notre-Dame, Montreal

Last Thursday night a couple of the other students in my french class hosted an ethnic food night. The event turned into a party and there were many people there! And lots of food! My french class had a test the next morning at 9 am, but regardless of that fact 10/13 of the people in my class attended the party (including myself!). And we managed to get most of us into a class photo!

My french Class! (Graham, Evelyn, Erin, Me, Sarah, Ben, Alison, Sarah, and Sonia)

On Friday night, 2 of my roommates and I went out dancing at a swing dancing studio that was recommended by our french teacher! It was a fun time and learned another skill! Then this last weekend I went on another school trip to Rivere-du-Loup for whale watching and to Quebec City just in time to celebrate Saint-Jean Baptiste day! This was one of the largest celebrations I have ever seen in my life! Almost all of Quebec gathered on the Plains of Abraham to drink, dance and party all night long! Somewhere around one hundred thousand people were there! This week we've gone to 2 museums for class field trips. One was about the history of Montreal, and had an actual archeological site in the basement of the building and was very cool! The other Museum was about the history of the South Centre neighbourhood of Montreal, and also showcased artwork of young artists. At both of these museums the guides spoke mostly in french for the duration of the tours and amazingly I am able to understand a vast majority of what they are explaining! Also, at lunch on Tuesday, my friends and I spoke french most of the time... not that we intended to, we were just able to and so we did! (This fact is amazing to me!) Last night was an outing to the Old Port of Montreal to watch the Fireworks Competition and tonight the Montreal Jass Festival has begun! My residence is one block from the centre of the festival so we are able to hear jazz from our rooms! C'est tres cool! The fourth week is almost over and there is just one week left in Montreal. I am definitely happy to be here, but it sure will be nice to come home again soon! A Bientot!