Altitude Club 737

This Friday night we had group excursion to Altitude Club 737 in Montreal. None of us were really the night at the roxberry 'clubbing' type BUT courtasy of UQUAM we got to go for free and this club is on the rooftop of one of the highest buildings in Montreal- we heard the veiw was breathtaking so we couldnt miss out. The invite said "dress to impress" so it was also fun to all get dressed up together for the big night out

 A "prom style" picture of the girls

 All the mason girls ! Reppin' GMU lol

The line to get in was ofcourse, in traditionally 'clubby' style, extremely long so we had lots of time for photo op's. Me and My Roomate/Other Half on this trip Abbey

Although the line was long once we got in and up to the top it was so worth it. The veiw was amazing, my camera couldnt really capture how awesome the view was. We were so high up that when we took the elevator our ears popped. You could see the whole city for miles and miles. Tres Bien !!

One last pic of Abbey and I after finally making it up to the top of 737. Oh what a night ! Im glad we got to experience it !

Quebec City

Last weekend we went on a day trip to Quebec City, it was beautiful !

Here are a few pictures from the day

 My awesome roomate Abbey and I outside of Parlaiment

 Fountains :)

 Beautiful old streets

 We also visited the biggest waterfall in Quebec, it was the biggest waterfall I have ever been to (although according to most of the group 'it was no Niagra Falls') but to these fresh waterfall eyes it was breathtaking !

 I got as close as I could with out getting drenched

although Quebec City was beautiful, we were ready to go by the end. After a long day of exploring the cit we spent our last 45 minutes or so laying out and napping in a park, looking through our photographs getting ready for the bus ride home to Montreal

Mont Royal

During the weekdays we go on many a great tours here in Montreal, last week was Old Montreal this week was Mont Royal Montreal, a beautiful old neighborhood that is now the trendy part of town  

 A picture of us all walking through one of the oldest Alleys

 My Roomate caught me being ridiculous (suprise suprise) in the Mont Royal famers market

 Awesome Graffiti, although this picture is from St. Dennis St at the end of our tour not from Mont Royal

Balconys are very important in Mont Royal  we learned on the tour, because back in the day people would not have money to go on vacations in the summer so they would instead sit on their balcony eating good food and drinking good wine relaxing and people watching from above. I like the sounds of it, good conversation and people watching with those you love can sometimes be the best break of all.  Ah simplicity.

Communication Workshops

Our Communication Workshops are AWESOME. Tres Tres Bien ! End of Story.

Our professor Alice dancing us into learning french with one of my classmates last week.

Still makes me smile

This is also the day my infamous dance 'le Libre Fache' (the Angry Librarian) began to get its fame . Hopfully I can find the video to post with it 

Le Biodome

Thursday we went to the Biodome. I didn't know anything about it before we went- all this french learning and online english 302 has taken up all my usual googling/planning time. So I was pleased to find out its basically a really awesome giant dome (as it sounds like) leftover from when it was used as the space for indoor cycling in the Olympics, and now its basically like a big zoo- but the animals arnt really in cages. You walk a path and they are in a seperate area but theres nothing really seperating you. It also creates the enviornment of where the animal is from (so half of it is like walking through the rainforest- hott humid and loud) I loved this place, its always fun to see animals !

 Me out front in that tourist pose that I can't stop making

 this is what the inside looked like

 we saw loud parrots

and glow fish

 the fish made me miss Stella (my fish)

We also got to walk through a batcave. Below is what I would look like if I were a bat

 adorable little monkey with the cutest face- but I think he knew how cute his face was because everytime I tried to take a picture he would turn or cover his face- he was playing hard to get (and won)

 I think that it was turtle mating season because every turtle (or rather group of turtles) I saw (about 4 or 5 different groups) were positioned as so:

 Stella I found a new home for you !

 We got to see cute energetic puffins

 and penguins ! (and a real live Biodome employee !)

 I think this fish could sense that I am a fish lover- he came right up to me.

Stella <3

and ofcourse I ended the outing by doing my tourist pose one last time infront of the sign on the way out

Hooray Biodome!

A little slice of heaven

On Wednesday night we went on a cultural outing that was pure magic ! We got to go to the new Jean Paul Gualtier exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. This exhibit is the first one dedicated soley to Gaultier and showcases his work from the past 35 years. Back in the day he earned the reputation of fasions terrible enfante (the terrible child) with his edgy designs - hes the guy that created Madonnas infamous cone bras, nowadays hes working closely with Lady Gaga (sighh). I took about a billion pictures but just added a few from the night here. The exhibit was great, I loved it although I am a bit biased I think it would be enlightening and enjoyable for everyone (except maybe children under 13)

 

The infamous cone bra's

 Dressed from head to toe

 Joe- cute outfit for our next date ?? oui ? ( I dont know why I put question marks- its not a question I got you the outfit I know how much you love bell bottems)

 A photograph of  Madonna with Gaultier

tre bien !

Abby and I (in my now almost pattented tourist pose- its all I ever do anymore) infront of le display

such fun ! Im still excited I was in town for this exhibit ! yay Montreal

SUPRISE !

About 45 minutes into our Poutine adventure today at the Bar an older man came up to me and handed me this painting. He was an artist- in his late 40's (ish?) and had drawn/painted me from accross the terrace. O' la la. Although reluctant I had to go over and say thank you for the beautiful paiting. We spoke only for a little because of the language barreir, he was quite the character

 I began

"Im Sorry I do not know much French but thank you, Merci, for the painting its beautiful, tre bien!"

then he says

"Ah well I do not understand much English, but I understand beauty and I understand your face"

a realll (pickup) artist

I glanced over to his table - he was 3/4 into a pitcher of Sangria - that explained it all !

Our conversation went on a few minutes more but due to the lack of a common language it basically just repeated that a bunch with a few random other words

He seemed to be quite the character and if it wernt for the language barrier, unfamiliar city and other safety issues I would have loved to have a conversation with him over some sangria because I bet he could tell some crazy stories and I liked his style !

(and by style I mean straight chillen at a local bar during happy hour sippin on a pitcher (not just a glass a pitcher) of sangria and painting random mini-paintings of whatever/whoever he felt like to give away at his leisure)

Poutine once shame on you, Poutine twice shame on me !

Poutine pronunciation POO-TEEN : is a dish of French Fries, fresh cheese curds , covered with brown gravy or sauce.

Poutine is an ever popular pub staple here in Montreal, today UQUAM organized a meeting spot at a popular local bar to go out as a large group and give it a try

Our Poutine; we ordered the large- don't ask me or my stomach in its current state why we felt the need to order such a big portion

Me lovin' it ! but really I really was loving it, it was very delicious- I guess its not that suprising on the account of its made of french fries cheese and gravy. Bring this to the U.S ! (c'mon Mcdonalds I'm talking to you- you and poutine were made for eachother)

***UPDATE: today I unfortunatly had to pop into a Mcdonalds in this city (they were the only place on the block accepting cards and I only had my card on me) and there was infact poutine on the menu, there was a huge picture and it was only 1.50 tre bien Mcdonalds- I stand corrected!

These tours were made for walkin'

Today we went on an amazing walking tour of Old Montreal, this part of the city is beautiful buildings from the late 1800's and cobblestone make you feel like youre somewhere in Europe (perhaps France ? Oui ) The tour featured all sorts of great things, the first hospital in montreal, first bank, oldest road, an alley famous for artists, the origonal montreal stock exchange, Notre Dome (but I havn't gone in yet- that will have its own post!) and lots of other interesting great places.

Rue Des Artistes (the street famous for having artists painting and vending) The first picture is of my favorite artwork (and artist painting more of it) I saw on the street, the paintings were so vibrant and beautiful !

Im so excited for when we finally go to Notre Dome and visit the inside, I have heard its breath taking ! I just have to wait for a day when theres enough time.

 A chunk of the Berlin wall (random gift ? but still tre cool)

 the original Montreal stock exchange which is now converted into a theatre, oh and an awesome horse and pink carriage that accidently trotted perfectly into the center of the frame. Those guys are all over the place here kinda like in NYC.

The tour was quite exhausting - 3 hours of walking but it was great and informative ! Now we have plenty of starting points for exploring and adventures ! 

Sometimes

Sometimes my roomates and I go shopping together and then get excited about the things we got so we pose for self timer pictures with the items. So what ?!

Maybee somtimes the down time you have in your dorm on study abroad trips makes you go just a little bit crazy..but in a good way

Also Sometimes the location of the university you are studying at (UQUAM) is smack dab in the middle of the old red light district, therefore there are sex shoppes scattered everywhere you look and sometimes (just sometimes) they have really great puns as the names of their stores and I appreciate that.

...or garden themed window displays..but thats another post entirely

Les Canadiens aiment le B52's

My first lesson in Montreal : Dont trust the cab drivers and my second lesson: the Candaians love, and by love I mean LOVE , them some B52's . Last night was the last night of the big Jazz festival and the headlining act was ofcourse, The B52's they started at 930 so we headed out at around 850 from our dorm which is a 1 minute walk from the festival. Only to find that all of the mainstage area had already  been blocked off because as has been stated, apparently the Canadians LOVE themselves some B52's , and after last night I have to say who am I to judge them ??!?

Roam if you want to Canada ,Roam around the B52 World

Anyways, did we let the thousands and thousands of people and blocked off entrances stop us from getting a view of the mainstage ?? Absolutly not.

Did we sneak into the Hyatt pretending to be guest so we could utalize the view from their rooftop bar ?

YES.

Here are a couple of pictures I snapped during the concert

 this second one is definatly my favorite, its hard to make them out but in the gray areas its just thousands of people.

 After the concert was over we were pretty exhausted from walking, we saw this doughnut shoppe ( I always forget the name of it but it is like the equivilant of a dunkin doughnuts) being that it was the 4th of July and we were missing out on fireworks back home - what better way to get some red white and blue running through our vains than to fill said vains with sugar-lots and lots of sugar

 Just when we really started scoping out the doughnuts we heard somthing outside....Could it be ??

 IT WAS ! Fireworks! We got to have our fourth of July fireworks afterall !!

I got a few pictures on my camera ( Mom, I know I always give you props for this camera but thanks agian, this has lasted me like 4 years and for a point and shoot has some of the best settings EVERRR )

 Was Hulk Hogans old entrance song "I am a real American" playing in my head during all of this ? ....

 YEAH ! (duh)

So, in the end we got to have our B52's and our Cake (or rather doughnuts) and eat it too and suprise  Fireworks ontop of all that .

International 4th of July/ B52's concert/first real night = A great Success !