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Alright, I tried to update for the first time in a while, and then the computer froze and it was being slow and I got frusterated, so now's the time! I have been notified that there are a couple issues with some of the entries to these blogs. One: I was not in Montreal, California, I was in Montreal, Quebec. And two: I know there are typos. Many of them in fact. However, I don't edit by blogs because I'm paying for internet time, and I don't have a ton of change to do so. Also, I don't want to spend all my time here on the computer, so I'm sorry. Try to guess what I'm talking about I guess.
September 2
Well, I didn't write on my last day in Montreal but thats because every time I sat down to write, I just got interrupted for some reason or another. Anyways, the last day of Montreal was full of being outside and it was a gorgeous and fantastic day, so I may or may not have gotten some color. I spent the morning wlking all over McGill in all its splendor. Since the tour I took only covered the lower campus, I wanted to see what lower and upper campus were like together. So, I walked and walked and tripped, but I didn't break another shoe.
After the McGill campus, I wanted to make sure I knew how to get into the train station because it can be a bit confusing. I know you're all thinking, "But Kristina, you came out of the building, why are you so confused?"Because, the door I came out of was a Canada Trust door and when I thought back on it, I didn't think it made a lot of sense for a pretty big (from the inside at least) looking train station. Maybe it was a Harry Potter thing and when you buy a ticket, you're supposed to get a code or a wand or something. But I found this very small door that simply said on the outside "Trains". It led to a descending escalator and landed in a massive station.
So, the plan that night was to hike up Mont- Royal with Fred and friends for the skyline of the gorgeous Montreal lights. But I wanted to make sure I could do this hill before I tried with other people, and I wanted to get the skyline in the daylight too. So, I thinking this hill is not going to be a big deal, which it wasn't. I switched between walkway and steep actually hiking. This switching back and forth led me to get lost, ignore signs (because they weren't bilingual) and turn what was supposed to be a 20 minute hike into 3 hours! It was good for me, and a very big adventure for the last day. I walked back to my hostel and I ate a sandwhich and then hung out for a bit with this kid from England who was in my hostel room. Then I went to Fred's and we all drove up the hill which was fantastic since I was exhausted. We ate a Quebec picnic on this lake with Quebec cheese, bread, wine, ham, fruit, olives...all this yummy stuff while the sun went down. Then we walked to the top to see the lights. It was so amazing. It really just left me speechless and we all just watched the city. I was getting eaten by mosquitos and my camera started to die of old age, so it was soon time to leave this fantastic and amazing city. At that point, on top of that mountain, I was ready to cancel the rest of my trip and stay in Montreal for the rest of my life. Back at my hostel, last night I found out the guy in my room is going to be in Vancouver for a while, so we're going to go see a Cancucks game if we get in touch. Yay! It was getting to be my only goal, seeing a Canucks game before I graduate. So that will be good.
And now, I am in Ottawa. Canada's federal capital and I am not completely and utterly in tune with my inner nerd. The parliament buildings are the best things I have seen in my life. The tour was mind blowing. Seeing the painted portraits of all the prime ministers and all this history while being in a building which is so incredibly important. I almost couldn't contain myself with what excitment was actually going on. And now? We'll see where the night takes me.
September 3Oh my goodness. I am exhausted. I don't know if it is strictly Ottawa that has be completely spent, or if its just all caught up with me. Either way, it his me about an hour and a half ago how tired I actually am. And how tired my body is. But Kingston is going to be a nice change. I'll get a hotel room, my reward for living in hostels and a train for the last two weeks. Well, a reward, and the fact that there are no hostels in Kingston. Kingston won't be too busy either, just the university and the water are on my list of things to see. Long story short, Kingston will be a nice recuperation period for me before the busy city of Toronto, and of course, Winnipeg.
So! Last night, I met up with the girl from my Montreal hostel who lives in Ottawa. We went to a bar called Fat Tuesdays and it was a lot of fun, just sitting and having drinks. My hostel that I'm in used to be a real jail, so the rooms are creepy, the doors are a super heavy iron or metal of some kind, and the halls are a bit strange looking. All in all, when you get home at night, its crrrpy because there are no windows and you know, it used to be a jail.
Today I did something unprecedented for me. I conquered a city's bus system! Now, for those of you who don't know, I've never riden public transpotation except this one time in Bellingham when we walked to IHOP in a snow storm and didn't want to walk back up the hill. But I was with other people, riding up a hill. It almost doesn't count. So today, all by myself, I rode outside the city to Carleton University AND back into the city. That makes a bus and subway system that I've mastered. Aw!!! I'm growing up! Slowly...with baby steps.
Carleton University was ok. The program seems realy great for someone like me who is looking to get into Canadian politics and working with the government. The lady said that a lot of people in the program get ins with the government and get picked up. So that's really appealing to me. The people that I spoke to were great and very helpful. I just don't know how I fel about the actual campus. It's a little smaller than McGill and it's very compact, as opposed to McGill which is spread out and right in the city. I'm not comparing Carelton against McGill, they are just examples that I can use. Two very different schools. It will probably just come down to which school accepts me. If they both do, I'll have to seriously think about it, and probably get some outside input from professors who know the two areas and what I want to do. People who could advise me on which area would be more beneficial.
After I hung out at Carleton, I went to the war museum, but I was on the wrong side of the road. So when it was time to actually turn left to go to the museum, I wasn't allowed to cross the street! I had to walk all the way down this bridge and walked into Quebec, finally found another crosswalk, and walked 20 minutes back, tried another shortbut and went the long way around. You know, my sense of direction is getting so fried since I thought I was getting good at it. There is this little voice in my head that says "just stay on the road, remember what happened on the mountain?" But it gets overpowered by the voice that says "Whatever, it won't happen twice!" It always happens twice. Or more.
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