5 à 7 and Friday

I’ve had a wonderful Friday. I went on a scavenger hunt with my class through the old part of town. We had a sheet with 18 questions on it, and we had to find the answers, so has what’s the name of the church on the corner of Rue St. Jean, and stuff like that. It was pretty fun, and my teammate Jason and I found everything, but we got lost a couple of times. Luckily people here are nice and helped us out a lot.

After class I went to this little place called Couche Tard (Sleep Late) and got a sandwich with Leah, whom I met last night at 5 à 7, which is something the school does every Thursday from 5pm to 7pm at a bar or restaurant, and all of the professors attend and they encourage everyone to go so we can practice our French. We went to an Indian place, and I had chicken cooked in butter, and it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the greatest thing that I’ve ever eaten. But I met a guy from Tennessee named Breton, and we went around the corner and bought a couple of beers, yes I bought PBR!!! B/c the Indian place allows you to bring your own Beer and Wine, so that was pretty damn awesome. I had two PBRs for a dollar each!

After 5 à 7, Leah, Breton, Jason, Christina and myself went to the Pub Turf, where I watched hockey the other night, and we had a couple pitchers of Labatt’s Blue while we kinda got to know each other. They are all pretty cool people, too bad Leah and Christina leave tomorrow. At around 11 pm the place turns into a dance club pretty much, and they were playing a ton of hip hop and pop from America, it was hilarious to watch them try to dance and sing all of the words in English.

But back to lunch today…Leah and I grabbed a sandwhich and ate in this little park, which was very pretty today, the sun is shining and it’s very very nice out. After lunch I decided to take a little walk and wander a bit. I ended up walking probably 2 miles, but it’s cool I got to see a lot of the town. When I wrote this post I was sitting at a little café called “Picardie” drinking a strong ass cup of coffee, and it’s got nothing on Starbucks…

Tonight I’m meeting up with Leah and Bret to go to a club, like a real live club, because it’s Leah’s last night here and she hasn’t been to one yet. Hopefully I can fist pump like a champ and show em how we do in Clemson. We’ll see where this night takes me…Even if it’s just to my bed.

Well until tomorrow, À bientot!!!

My Journey to Lévy and Pub Turf

Well, yesterday was a pretty fun day overall! After class I went across the river to this little town called Lévy, and it's at the top of a huge hill, so we took the boat over there for $6 and had to climb up a ton of stairs to get to the town. But at the top it was really pretty, and I had an amazing view of Quebec. We ate at a small cafe called Aux P'tits Oignons and it was AMAZING. I had this tomato cream soup, pasta with mozzarella and tomatoes on it, and a sweet bread pudding that was very very good and an espresso for only $9. Apparently most cafes have a lunch menu where you can have three courses like that for less than $10. Afterwards we went into the chocolate shop across the street, and while I didn't buy anything, the smell was absolutely seductive.

After all the amazing food we returned to Quebec city and I came back to my host mom's house to finish my homework and eat dinner. I made plans to meet up with Daniel, the kid from FSU at a bar called le Turf Pub, and we met up at 8pm to watch hockey and drink. We had this shot called a "stinger" and it was whiskey and mint, and I nearly threw up in my mouth after taking it...ugh But the beer wasn't too expensive and I drank Bud Light and multiple Lebatt Blues. Daniel challenged some Canadian guys to some foosball, so we played two games with them. We won the first game and they won the second. They were super nice and told us the real rules for foosball, and afterwards we talked and drank for about an hour. They gave me a ton of tips on things to do in Quebec and Montreal, and told me about a cheap way to travel to Montreal called AlloStop. I'm going to look into it for next weekend. I took a bus home, which is good b/c even if I'd had a car I couldn't drive home by that point, and quickly passed out. But the pub was pretty fun, and everyone was cheering for the Blackhawks because the Flyers eliminated the Canadiens...Oy vey. But overall it was a great experience and I hope I can find some fun things to do tonight that'll be just as epic!

Day 2 aka $9 Beer Day

Well guys, day #2 in Quebec was a great success! It rained all night and all this morning, so I had a rainy bus ride to school this morning. I got to class on time and class was a blasty blast. We worked on the past tense and played the game Taboo in French! My word was Baril (Barrel) and it was tuff describing it in French.

But overall a great class, afterwards I went to subway, and I ordered a 6 inch turkey sub in the worst French possible, but the lady was very nice and helped me with everything. At least she could tell I was trying, but now I know how to order it in French next time. I ate my French subway in the student lounge and did my homework, and while this was happening the Swiss girl I met yesterday came in and asked if I wanted to walk around after her class and grab a cold beer, so of course I did. We walked for about an hour and saw some cool stuff then ate at Pub St. Patrick, that Irish pub I talked about earlier. It was delish, I had a burger made form Buffalo meat, so good, and a Magners, which is an Irish cider kinda like Woodchuck. I paid $9.50 Canadian for it though, all of the beer is sooooo expensive in the tourist district.

But I saw some amazing things in the old city, and I saw some cool stuff in the newer parts of town. There's alot of Graffiti everywhere, and the picture above is the coolest graffiti I saw today. It's not like gang stuff, b/c it's very artsy.

Hopefully I can rest up tonight, my new Swiss friend and I are gonna watch the hockey game tomorrow night at the Pub Turf, which is a sports bar downtown, and hopefully I can recruit some other people to go also and enjoy Canada's past-time. Well until tomorrow my loyal followers aka people with nothing else to do but follow my stupid blog...au revoir!!! Je t'aime!!

First Day

Well guys, I have completed my first day in Quebec! It is a gorgeous city with tons of cool places to see and it's very clean and easy to navigate. It took me 25 minutes to get form the house I'm staying out to my bus stop, but it's not a terrible ride. I met some cool people this morning. I met a girl from Switzerland and a girl from Germany, but neither of them are in my class. I also met a guy from Florida State named Daniel. He seems like a pretty cool dude and maybe we can hang out while we're here.

I didn't have class until 1:00 pm so I walked around all morning trying to find cool places. I saw alot of touristy places and cool cafes, and I ate at a cafe near my school. My waiter was super cool and he told me about some cool bars to hang out at. My only problem was that people kept speaking english to me as soon as I spoke French to them, which was frustrating. Made me feel like my French sucked. BUt either way I didn't do terrible. I talked to two nice ladies on the bus this morning and they got me to my stop so I wouldn't get lost.

My teacher's name is Julie, and she seems pretty baller. There are 4 others in my class, two of them American, one Canadian, and one Chilean. We had a good class today and I'm totally looking forward to tomorrow. I have homework, but it's easy.

I was surprised though today how safe it feels here and how nice everything is, but everything in the stores and cafes is pretty expensive. I paid $10 for a salad and soup at that cafe, but it was delish and totally worth it. I was going to go watch the hockey game at a bar downtown called Pub Turf, but I decided not to, I'm too tired to move! Hopefully on Wednesday I can make it down there and watch Hockey with Canadians. They are hockey crazy here, there's hockey stuff EVERYWHERE.

But that's pretty much it for today, not exciting I know, but hopefully the craziness with begin soon!

Bienvenue au Quebec!!!

Well guys, I finally made it! I'm in Quebec City, Canada. My flight experience wasn't too bad today, but I'm pretty damn tired from all the traveling. I arrived at Charlotte airport at 7ish this morning, my first flight to Newark was ahead of schedule so we left at 9:15am and arrived in Newark at 11:00am, so not bad. I hung out in Newark for about 3 hours, which was kind of boring. Thank you to all of my amazing friends who'd text with me so I wouldn't claw my eyes out.

The second flight from Newark to Quebec was a pretty decent flight also, but it got delayed for 20 minutes because of a flat tire....I told them we shoulda called AAA. But flying into Quebec was cool, even though it's really smokey here, because of a forest fire raging to the north.

My host mom seems so cool, she cooked spaghetti tonight, and there are two high school girls from Nashville staying here also, and a girl from Venezuela whom I haven't met yet. But Madame Dorothy showed us to the bus stop and told us some important survival info, and I feel really good now about tomorrow!

Hopefully I can find a cool sports bar to watch the stanley cup at, because apparently that's the cool thing to do here. And of course I'll be cheering for the Flyers because of my buds D-Dub and Jordan!!!

Well guys, hopefully the shenanigans will start soon and I can start posting some fun stuff, but for now I'm gonna get ready for my first day in Quebec tomorrow and rest up. A bientot!!!


PS...They have Esso here!!!

Got me some Canadian Dolla Dolla Bills

And yes I know that "got me some" is not correct grammar, but I only did it to get under someone's skin...you know who you are...

But anywho, I decided that the exchange rate was enough in my favor so I ordered $300 Canadian Dollars today, and it only cost me $292 American dollars. HEY OH! I just hope the American dollar can keep kicking ass on the market so I can save more money in Canada. It's already going to cost me a 3% fee every time I use my debit card up there, so hopefully I can use as much cash as possible.


Also, I hit up target and got some necessities; shampoo, shaving cream, deodorant, magazines, etc. Got some new Under Armor socks, because I love my feet that much, and under garments, b/c I see ya girls lookin' at my trunks. Now I just need new flippy floppies, but moms is going to buy those for me. So yeah, boring post I know, but it also mens I'm that much closer to going up to the Great White North! Tomorrow I'll start getting my clothes together and all that good mess.

So until next time, you stay classy blog readers...

Host Mom and Plane Ticket

My host mom e-mailed me back today. I had sent her an e-mail on Monday to tell her when I was going to arrive in Quebec and all that good mess. She seems pretty nice. She told me to let her know if I needed anything and gave me some tips about Quebec. Apparently she has wireless internet, so I'll be able to keep up with all of this which is AWESOME! I can't wait to get there and meet her, and hopefully have some good times. Also, I booked my flight on Monday, I leave Charlotte on May 30th at 9:15 am. I have a freaking 4 hour lay over in Newark, NJ. What the hell am I gong to do in New Jersey for 4 hours?! Oh well, should be a good time.