Counting down... < 24 hours!

Saturday

I am packed and ready to go!  Wish you could see how excited I am!  Anna, Justin Bieber, and I are jamming out as we get ready for tomorrow.  Don’t judge.  He’s Canadian, it’s only appropriate that we listen to him all the time.

Last night we went to a restaurant on Rue St. Jean called Mike’s something or other, and it was very delicious.  A very great way to end our restaurant experience in Quebec City!

We met up with the rest of our group… and went to La Drague again.  Half of our group was in Montreal, so the other half of us decided to be adventurous and we actually saw the drag show they do every week.  Men (women?) would come out and lip sync to songs.  My favorite was a rendition of a Celine song.  Gotta love Celine.  It did get a bit risqué at the end, but I wasn’t scarred for life or anything.  I told Anna she could check this off of her life experiences to do list, and she told me it was nowhere on her list, haha!

Today my cousin Michael and his fiancée Becky drove up from Montpelier, Vermont to spend the afternoon in the city.  I know they will come back, but it was hard for me to decide what all I should show them!  We went to Portofino, the great Italian place, and then we walked up to the Chateau Frontenac.  Gotta love the Chateau.  We went inside and oohed and ahhed at everything.  Plus, there was a wedding!  How neat.

After pictures on the promenade we got in their car and navigated our way down to the farmer’s market.  Even on my last day I experienced something new… navigating the city in a car!  It wasn’t perfect, but we made it, and I think they enjoyed the farmer’s market.  I’m so glad they could come experience the city for a few hours!  It also felt a bit like being home, talking to people I knew outside of our study abroad group.  They are getting married in September and I am very much looking forward to going to Vermont to see it!  (Also, how lucky are they that they live so close to the border?!)

Anna and I spent our last Canadian dollars on margaritas at the great Mexican place here.  They were yummy and we were glad we got to sit and enjoy the atmosphere of the city one last time.  We came back to the hotel and ate pizza with the rest of our group and the cute owners of the hotel!  We wanted to thank them for hosting us for the past few weeks… I know we have eaten quite a bit of their food and definitely used up their Internet connection!  When I come back to Quebec City I must pay them a visit!

Aren't we a cute group!

Top (L to R): Max, Martin, and Drew (our teacher)

Middle: Amanda, Holly, me, Delia, Katie, Elisa

Front: Money (the dog), Allie, Candace, Thierry, Sil/Siv (?), Tracy, Anna

And so, here I am, packing.  I mean I packed most of my stuff like two days ago, but now I’m for real packing everything else.  We’re leaving at 6AM!  It’s nothing like coming back from Africa, God bless America, but it’ll still be a long day.

I can’t believe the day is finally here!  Next time I blog (if I do) I’ll be in Starkville!  I’m out of clever things to say, so thank you once again for reading and keeping up with me!

HRC

PS:  I found this dog.  This nice man said I could have him.  Donc, voila!

Counting down... 48 hours

I wrote this yesterday, and am posting it tonight, so things are a little off.

Today, I am blogging out of sheer boredom.  Here I am, in the hotel lobby once again, listening to Backstreet Boys, dreaming of Starkville.  Daydreaming, I guess you could call it.

The whole trip has gone by fast… until today.  Or yesterday, really.  What did we do yesterday?  I can’t even remember.  OH, I gave my presentation!  It went very well; I talked about the history of music in Quebec and then taught the class “O Canada” in French.  (Did you know the original version of the national anthem was in French?? I didn’t!)  I was super nervous, but talking faster in French worked to my advantage because I guess it sounded more natural.  Supposedly.

Celine made an appearance in my presentation, of course.

So, then the only thing that stood between me and two A’s in summer school (6 hrs. credit) was our final, which we took this morning!  Anna and I attempted to study yesterday afternoon… but we had to search high and low for motivation. 

I was very tempted to nap… but I didn’t.

Last night for dinner Anna and I got back on the “local restaurant” bandwagon and tried “Chez Temporel,” really close to our hotel.  I had a delicious croque monsieur.  I also had gazpacho (I don’t know how to spell it?)… but I am not a big fan of cold soup.

As usual, we had to go find dessert, too.  That’s another reason I’m ready to get to the Chi O house – so that dessert won’t be staring me in the face everywhere I go!  Thank goodness for the hills in this city.  (Did I really just say that?)

We actually did study last night.  I had a solid Internet connection for at least an hour, so of course I took advantage of that.  Then I studied.  I was SO ready to get that exam behind me!

The test this morning went well, and as expected I was relieved.  Anna and I swore we wouldn’t go back to the mall, but we did.  In our defense, we went to look for a picture frame and photo place because we took a group picture with the cute Japanese couple who owns the hotel.

And we went back to H&M.

But don’t worry, we didn’t buy anything.  Luckily Sadly The things I wanted didn’t fit.  We did have a bit of a time trying to find a photo place… but we got it taken care of.

Before our photo adventure we went to the Civilization museum and saw a great exhibit on Rome.  Plus, we learned more about the history of Quebec.  Well worth our time.  Here are some pics!

Note: This is not to scale.

Cool

Pretty

Champlain... who else.

Some exhibit about how much people in other countries eat per week...

Obviously I took a picture of my native land, the good old US of A.

So, here I am, hungry and bored.  What else is new.  The boredom is kind of new, but that problem will be solved in less than 48 hours!

This trip has been absolutely fabulous and I can’t wait to tell stories that I haven’t included in my blog!  I have lots of souvenirs that I want to show everyone, too!  I just don’t have enough room in my suitcase to bring back something for everyone. J

The post without a title

Well, since last time… I guess a lot has happened.  I have been a lazy blogger.  I'm not gonna lie, I'm already kind of tired of it.  I guess I'll be home soon enough anyway.

Monday turned out to be a neat day, considering we didn’t even have anything planned.  After a good old can of Chef Boyardee I sat in the lobby and worked on my presentation.  

So, I had been working on my project for several hours, and cabin fever set in.  It hasn’t really been a problem the past two weeks, but I guess with the “stress” of having all these assignments due this week, plus knowing its our last week here, I just got antsy.  Imagine that.  Holly, Amanda, and I were hanging out in the lobby (I’m pretty sure I was frustrated with the Internet, too), and I said I wanted to get out and do something.  Holly said, “Well there’s a guided tour of the Chateau that starts in 15 minutes! Do y’all want to go?”  I said why not, so we hopped up and walked to the Chateau. 

The tour was really great!  It was a 50-minute tour packed with information about the historic hotel.  Did you know the Big 3 planned D-Day there?  They had the hotel rented out for three weeks and no one else was allowed inside.  No, Will and Kate did not stay there when they visited Canada a few weeks ago.

View from one of the rooms

I took this so you can see the roof - rooms are stuck in every corner and crevice!

Our tour guide showing us a replica of the hotel

View of the promenade

One of the meeting rooms - this fireplace is original to the hotel!

Voila

Yet another view, from the hallway

One day when I’m super rich, I’ll stay there.

Our cabin fever persisted, so after dinner we set out for the restaurant we call “the spinny bar.”  The spinny bar is a restaurant at the top of a hotel that rotates.  I can’t remember where I have seen one/been to one in the US?  But anyway, its real name is l’Astral.  We intended to just go to the top and have a look, but an hour and a half later we had enjoyed a glass of Quebecois ice cider and made a full rotation around the restaurant!  The ice cider was tasty and it went perfectly with the Quebecois atmosphere of the restaurant + view of the city.

Tuesday was pretty nondescript so I won’t bore you with details.  Drew took our group to lunch after class – Portofino, the great Italian place I went to last week with a few others – and Anna and I finished souvenir shopping!  Relief.  About half of our group hung out in the lobby literally all afternoon.  It was just one of those days.  My lunch lasted me until way past dinnertime, so for dessert we went to the waffle place Anna and I have raved about for two weeks!  Waffle + chocolate + ice cream + bananas + whipped cream = 0 calories of goodness.  (Nothing we eat here has calories, didn’t I tell you that?)

Wednesday (the day I’m finishing my blog post… that I probably won’t post until Thursday):

-Last day of class (besides presentations/final exam) = praise be.

-Finished my presentation (pretty proud of it. If you ever want to learn the Canadian national anthem, I’m your girl.)

-It was cold today.  Wish it had been like this for the past two weeks, but I’ll take it.

-Tonight, we went and saw a movie at the French movie theater.  “Le Sens d’Humor” or something like that.  “The Meaning of Humor.”  The only meaning I got out of the movie was that I like English movies better.  I did not understand a darn thing.

To the handful of you who have read all of my blog posts… Thank you. I come home on Sunday, so it looks like I’m going to be winding down the blog!  Look for another post or two about my last few days and maybe a recap when I get home/to Starkville.

A Bit of God's Creation

I’m down for the count!  This time next week I will be at “home” in Starkville getting ready for rush recruitment.  It’s hard to believe.  It’s even harder to believe the amount of work I have to do between now and then!  The trip has been totally worth it, though.

Saturday, Anna and I had grand plans to go with some others in our group to the little ville across the river.  Well, we woke up and just weren’t feeling it, so I spent the morning working on my final project for this class, and I guess I uploaded a blog post then too.  I’m not sure.  Anyway, after lunch Anna and I took her sister Alex shopping.  Yes, I’m out of money, and yes, I bought more stuff.  However, before you judge me, I bought a skirt AND top from H&M for $7.97.  If that’s not a deal, I don’t know what the heck is. 

It took us most of the afternoon to shop (get to/from the mall, etc.), and we came back and got ready for dinner…

Le Chateau Frontenac.

What we thought was the menu at Le Chateau...

This is the only picture I took, because Anna and I knew better than to take pictures at a super fancy restaurant.  And y’all, it was some kind of fancy.  Anna’s dad was gracious enough to “adopt” me into the family, and we enjoyed a great meal.  They prepared Caesar salad tableside, Alex and I had halibut, and Anna and her dad had steak.  Between courses they brought sorbet – mango, cinnamon, and pepper.  It was weird, but I ate it.  For dessert we had crème brulee and bananas foster.  Oh my.  Needless to say, we left full.  And sorry I don’t have pictures.

Today, Sunday, we slept in again (wished I was at Galloway!), and around lunchtime we set out for a hiking adventure along the river that turns into the waterfall (that we went to last week).  The weather was perfect and the water was so cold!  But, we had a great time and I enjoyed seeing the beauty of God’s creation.  It was hard to imagine that we were in Quebec, Canada – it seems like we could have been anywhere in the world.

L to R: Me, Candace, Tracy, and Allie

Tonight we went back to the Mexican restaurant we tried our first week here, and it was good, but I had $18 nachos and let me just say I could probably make them myself for less than half of that.  But here’s a picture anyway.

THEY WERE HUGE.

Anna and I have tried to make a list of everything we want to do this week, and I know we won’t get it all done!  I guess that just means we’ll have to come back another time! 

HRC

Since last time...

And here I was thinking things would slow down a little this week.  Nope!  The past few days have been just as interesting as the first week.  I’ll try to recap and keep all of you interested.

My last post recapped through Wednesday night.  Thursday, class went as usual, and we found out our test that was supposed to be Friday… is a take home test that’s not even due until Monday.  So, that took a lot of the pressure off of us.  I’m trying to remember what we did Thursday afternoon, but it must not have been very interesting, seeing as I can’t remember.  I do remember a nap – it rained most of the morning/early afternoon so it was perfect nap weather.

Anna left mid-afternoon to go pick up her dad and sister from the airport (excited they’re here!), and I hung out in the lobby… gotta love my dependency on wi-fi… and attempted to get some work done.  I didn’t get as much done as I intended (such is life), but I did get to talk to Mary Clair for a long time instead!  I hope all of y’all are keeping up with her blog, too – it’s called Seeing Things Clairly!  I will see if I can figure out how to put a link to it on here.  Anyway, she is having a fabulous time in London this month and I am so glad she is getting to experience Europe.  She is already handling it way better than I would have, my first trip abroad without Mama.  (Does anyone remember my trip to Africa?)

After a nice chat with Mary Clair and a not so productive attempt at schoolwork, I got ready for Cirque du Soleil!  A mile or so from our hotel they are set up under an overpass and they do a free show every night!  Cirque du Soleil!  I think we saw them at the Beau Rivage when I was younger, but I was very excited about going to the show yesterday.  As you can tell from pictures, it was a nice sized crowd, and of course the show was fabulous.  It was only an hour long, but we had to stand up the whole time so I was okay with that it was free so I’m not complaining about a shorter than ideal show.  Those people are just so talented.  And brave!  At one point the tight rope man slipped a little bit.  I would have had a heart attack and just died right there on the tight rope, but he regained his balance and kept on going and stood upside down on his hands at one point and everything.

There was a pretty big crowd there!

Anna, me, and her sister Alex

Easy.

The tight rope guy... upside down. No big deal.

The "Emperor" of the show

Such talent

This girl... hula hooped all over the place!

Saying goodbye at the end

Entertaining the crowd - we had a great spot!

Didn't quite get the gist of what the show was about... but it was still entertaining.

It is just so neat to be in a place where we can go do things like that!  I’d definitely pay to see the full show (which is the point of that free one, I think – great marketing).

Today, Friday, we didn’t have class.  **heavenly music**  Of course Anna and I got up in time to eat breakfast – can’t skip a meal – and went right back to sleep.  We met up with her dad and sister and showed them the main drag, Rue St. John, and ate at a great bistro for lunch!  It’s called Paillard, and we had been before for a pastry and things like that, but never for a meal.  We want to go back; it was cheap yummy!

That’s another thing – it is just so neat to be in a place where you can stay three weeks and never eat at the same place twice, and have a good meal at every place!  It’s nothing compared to Clinton, where you can choose between McAlister’s, Newk’s, Applebee’s, or your choice of fast food establishments.

I digress.

We had a busy afternoon at the laundry mat, and in the midst of all of that I finally found a gift for Conner.  I am a picky gift giver and he is a picky gift receiver, so that leaves a very narrow margin for things he would actually like and use (if I buy you something I want you to like it enough to use it) (I am sorry but it’s true).  Anyway, I found something and I hope he likes it.  Anna and I did laundry for the second and final time!  We splurged and actually paid for two rounds in the dryer instead of just one.  It’s the small things like truly dry clothes that make life more enjoyable.

I think I digress again.

Friday night we went on a great dinner cruise in the St. Lawrence River!  I took lots of pictures but will try to share my best ones with you.  The food was average, we got what we paid for kind of thing, but we danced the night away (for real, the cruise was 4 hours long) and enjoyed the DJ’s choice of all American music, haha!  Our group clicks really well together, so it was fun to just laugh and hang out with them for a while.  Not to mention the view was absolutely gorgeous the whole time!  And aside from the humidity, the temperature was absolutely wonderful.  What I would give for temperatures like that in Mississippi this time of year!!!

Headed down the St. Lawrence river - there's the Chateau!

Using the zoom feature.

There it is again.

The funiculaire! (We have taken advantage of it several times this week.)

Looking up at the Plains of Abraham

Tonight we are going to eat at Le Chateau Frontenac, and tourist attraction or not, I am excited about it.  (What do you know, me getting excited about yet another meal)  I can’t believe I only have a week left in this beautiful city!  It has truly been one of the best travel experiences in my life, and I can say that with a bit of experience under my belt!  Everyone should take advantage of this European province – you can have all the perks of a grand European vacation without even crossing the water!

HRC

Souvenir Shopping

It is a rainy day here in Quebec City – the first true rainy day since we’ve been here!  I am not complaining because hopefully it will cool things off a bit!  Just like home, Quebec is experiencing a heat wave.  Perfect. 

Yesterday was busy, but nothing overly exciting.  I bought lots of souvenirs!  I have got to stop spending money.  I want to buy something for all of my friends because there is such neat stuff here! 

After lunch we walked to a used bookstore in town.  It was a really neat place – there were some more pricey books but most of them were under $5.  I bought The Wizard of Oz, two Agatha Christie novels, and The Nanny (book that was made into a movie).  In my free time I plan to read them.  Ha ha.

After that we stopped at “Le Saq,” Quebec’s version of a liquor store.  They regulate their alcohol; so the only place you can buy anything besides wine and beer is The Saq.  It stands for “Society/Alcohol/Quebec,” or “The Alcohol Society of Quebec.”  Interesting.  Ok so we stopped at The Saq for “Neige.”  Neige (which in French means ‘snow’) is a spiced cider unique to this region of the country.  In the winter they wait until the temperature is at least 25 degrees below zero so that the apples can freeze to the core.  Then, they harvest the apples and make the cider, so it’s more concentrated or more flavorful or something like that?  I’m not quite sure.  But I bought some.

Then, I bought some coffee for my dad at a place called “Paillard” (not sure what that means but I guess I could look it up…).  They have great pastries and coffee, among lots of other things, but Daddy likes bold coffee so hopefully he will like the kind I picked out.

Next stop – the post office for more stamps.

And after that – the perfumerie.  One of the things on the top of my “to buy” list was a new bottle of perfume!  The kind I wear now is a bottle I bought in France (2008… obviously I did a good job at making it last).  So, I am almost out of that and decided what better time to buy new perfume.  And, the lady hardly spoke English, so once again I had a chance to practice my French.  Of course I cannot remember the name of the perfume, or the designer, but the lady said she is Quebecoise, so hopefully that means it is unique and I won’t be able to find it easily at home!  That’s my goal.

With a loaded down backpack, Anna and I came back to the hotel.  I have no earthly idea how I am going to get all this stuff home.  Eek!

Oh, how could I forget.  Yesterday was Allie’s birthday (a girl on the trip), so to celebrate everyone went to “La Drague.”  What is the drag?  It is a lot like it sounds.  A gay bar where they do drag shows.  Now before you think to yourself  “I cannot believe Hannah Rachel was at a drag show,” don’t get too excited.  It was just karaoke night last night, and no I did not sing.  I observed, which in my opinion is jut as fun.  (How would I know though, because I’ve never sung karaoke at a bar…?)  Anyway, fun was had by all, and here I am on Thursday morning (already Thursday?!) typing this because the Internet won’t work and I am waiting for class to start.

[Before the drag a few of us went to a great Italian restaurant close by, and I would tell you all about it but we have eaten at so many fabulous places that it would just run into all the other ones! J]

I hope y’all are enjoying my updates.  I guess it’s not as exciting when I first arrived, but I try to keep things interesting!  Glad y’all are reading.

(sorry there were no pictures... maybe next time)

Fun on the Funiculaire

The past two days have been low key for me (and Anna, since we do everything together!), but they have passed surprisingly quickly.  Montreal was a whirlwind, so we have enjoyed our two days back in Quebec City!

Class has been going well, since I know you are all so curious about that aspect of this trip.  Monday was a long day because Friday’s class was short due to our test.  The room where we have class every day is also the breakfast nook, and it does not have air conditioning.  That wouldn’t be so bad, except we keep the door closed so there’s no ventilation.  Not a fan. 

No pun intended.

Anyway, today I had to teach a lesson.  I taught the class about “les pronoms complements,” aka pronouns for direct and indirect objects.  It is interesting to study these grammar concepts in French because we take them for granted in English.  I think my teaching went well, but I admit I was nervous to talk in French in front of the class.  In a hot room with no ventilation.

After lunch on fait du shopping!  In English… we went shopping!  Anna, Holly, and I tore up H&M and Old Navy today.  Yes, yes, we have those stores in America.  But who can pass up $5 dresses and $8 shoes??  That’s what I thought. 

I have also done well with souvenir shopping.  So well, in fact, that I will probably come back flat broke.  C’est la vie.

Tonight we had our small group dinner with Drew, our professor.  Anna, Katie, and I went to L’Echaude in la basse ville.  Ohmygoodness.  It was so good.  So SO good.  I would have taken pictures, but we didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves.  I got lobster risotto as an appetizer and a chicken dish as my entrée, and a cherry/maple cake with crème and raspberries/blueberries.

I know, I know, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  And the good part about the whole deal is that we had to walk up a huge hill to get back to the hotel, so I burned off one a few of the calories I ate!

I skipped yesterday – we shopped around the part of the city near our hotel.  Mostly touristy stuff, but we did see some cute things!  We ate at “Le Cochon Dinge” – “The Crazy Pig.”  It is a Quebecois restaurant that specializes in – you guessed it – pork!  They serve barbeque, but we each got a croque-madame with pesto chicken and goat cheese.  And it came with fries and coleslaw.  I’ll have seconds, please!!

They eat mayonnaise with their fries here.  The coleslaw was wonderful!

Perhaps the most exciting part of our day yesterday was the funiculaire.  What is a funiculaire?  Why, I am glad you asked.  It is basically an elevator.  In English it means "incline railway."  This city is probably more hilly than freakin San Francisco, and to get from la basse ville to our hotel you have to climb a HUGE hill.  So, Anna and I paid $2 to ride the elevator type thing up to the top of the hill and it was amazing.  Not necessarily because it was like an elevator, but because it took us straight to the top of the hill without having to put forth any effort.  That’s my kind of funiculaire. 

Don’t worry, we took lots of pictures.  We will ride it again probably every day.

Starting out

Realizing we both looked semi-cute so we should probably document the occasion.

Getting higher!

And higher!

Woah! All that for only $2!

Ta da! The top!

Et c’est tout pour aujourd’hui.  Thanks to all of you who have been keeping up with my blog.  It is so nice to be able to document my trip like this!

HRC

Bienvenue a Montreal!

Bienvenue a Montreal!

I always try to think of a creative way to start off each blog… but that is harder to do than one might think.  So, I’ll just dive right in.

Saturday night we went to the Festival d’Ete again.  The act? Metallica.  Y’all.  I just thought I had seen a ton of people when we went to Elton John.  But I promise you there were more people there last night.  And most of them looked like they had teleported to the concert straight from 1980.  Apparently things got a little messy this week…

Yuck.

That was on our way to eat.  We figured we wouldn’t be able to get in because there were already massive amounts of people inside the gates, and we were right.  So, after dinner (yummy chicken Caesar salad!) we sat on the wall behind the concert with the rest of our group.  I didn’t take any pictures worth posting because we were so far away. 

So, that’s the end of the festival for us!  The last night was tonight, but seeing as we were in Montreal all day…

Oh, Montreal!  I guess I’ll tell you about that, too.

Anna and I woke up at the crack of dawn (no one else wanted to go with us!) and walked to the bus station.  Our bus left right on time and it had wi-fi and outlets.  For a three-hour bus ride I was pretty appreciative!  Of course I slept most of the way, because something about a charter bus just makes me sleepy. 

We arrived at the Montreal bus station and walked outside… to the Latin Quarter.  Probably not the best place for two lonely little girls to be walking, but I suppose we had no choice.  We did a pretty good job of orienting ourselves with everything and were soon in the shopping district on Rue St. Catherine. 

To make a long story short, we shopped for several hours!  Above ground, below ground, you name it, we did it.  Montreal is known for its “underground city” of sorts, and although we discovered a bit of it, we know we did not see nearly all of it!  Also, we have been waiting to shop this entire time, and today was the day we finally gave in!  Look forward to shopping adventures this week, haha!

We walked up town (or down town, I have no idea which direction) to “La Musee des Beaux-Arts,” or The Museum of Fine Art.  We saw Monet and Picasso, and they had a very neat exhibit about Napoleon.  I really enjoyed it!  We made a slight detour on the way there and dropped some serious cash at this place…

Just kidding.  I doubt I could even afford a floor tile in that store.  Maybe one day!

Anyway, here are pictures of the art museum.

Monet

Renoir

Matisse

Picasso

Picasso

The Napoleon Exhibit

By that point we were hungry.  So we took a taxi to “La Vieux-Porte,” very similar to the port in Quebec City, near where we are staying.  It has the same old river city type feel.  First we went inside a cathedral modeled after Notre Dame.  It was so beautiful!  Pictures don't do it justice.  Then we ate at a great little restaurant (what else is new?) and enjoyed time off of our feet.

Inside the cathedral

The chapel in the back of the cathedral.  Supposedly it is booked two years in advance for weddings!

We planned on taking the 8:00 train, but just so happened to make it in time for the 6:00 train, so we were back in time for me to blog!  We enjoyed Montreal but it does feel really nice to be back in familiar territory.  There is just nothing like Quebec City!

A plus tard,

HRC