Random Memories -- My Experience Studying Abroad in Montreal

 MONTREAL 2014

I actually forgot that I had this blog, so when I was skimming through my old Word files and found this update that I never ended up posting, I got really excited. I just got back from vacationing in Montreal for my spring break, so I guess that helps renew and enhance my experience abroad there this past summer.

Without further ado, here’s a list of some memories that pretty much sum up the fails and triumphs of my adventure.

At the top of Mont-Royal

RANDOM MEMORIES

• Waving goodbye to my mom at the train station and feeling equally excited and heartbroken as I left her to embark on my journey

•  Falling asleep several times on the train and wondering why in the WORLD I hadn’t booked a flight

• Getting completely, utterly lost in Montreal on the first night while trying to find the IGA

• Not being able to get into my dorm because my key wasn’t working and feeling like an idiot as I tried to explain this to Ebru during our first time meeting

The OU gals!

• Freaking out about my morning class to the point of making myself sick and having Professor Law-Sullivan come to my room to try and calm me down

• Wearing flip-flops on the day of our tour of Old Montreal and wanting to die when I got back to the dorm

• Khayriyyah paying $6 for a merely so-so piece of red velvet cake at the little café by our school

• Literally running at full-speed back to class that day because it suddenly starting down pouring

• Everyone in my class going to said café EVERY SINGLE DAY during our break in the morning

• Karine getting sick one day and so Taylor, Khayriyyah, and the rest of their class sitting in on ours

• Talking with Travis, Tyler, and Zella about my Michigan accent and comparing Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin

• Ebru going “I don’t know what you’re saying” when she encountered my accent with the word “dollar” having a shorter, nasalized “ahhh” sound

• Listening to all of these Québécois music videos in class and privately thinking “wtf are these people saying?!”

Climbing up Mont-Royal with Mary and Taylor!

• Losing Mary at the Metro while going over to Mont-Royal

• Finally climbing up Mont-Royal and gasping at the view while bonding with Mary and Taylor

• Having a few group dinners with the OU girls and feeling ourselves grow closer with each meal

• Figuring out the drama between Ebru, one of our classmates, and this woman who nobody could understand because she was Mexican and spoke Spanish all of the time

• Ebru spilling her entire $10 porn star drink because she was talking too animatedly about Britney Spears

• Tyler and I basically babysitting Taylor and Ebru because we were at the club with some rowdy people

• Taylor twerking like a champ in the club, which caught the attention of a lot of crazy drunk guys

Taylor, Ebru, and I at Piknic Electronik on a lovely Sunday in Montreal!

• Playing cards with Taylor, Tyler, and Jacob until 3 am after we got back that night

• Trying to get drunk but not being able to even though Ebru and Taylor made me chug beer, drink liquor, and take shots

• Going into the Casino of Montreal with Taylor and Ebru just to get free coffee and pop because we were early for the Piknic Electronik

• Taylor and I literally running from China Town to the dorms to Old Montreal to the dorms and then back to China Town because we were at the Piknic Electronic on one of the islands and had to go back to Old Montreal for our OU picture

• Splitting a pail of vodka lemonade and having some Smirnoff beer at the Piknic and STILL not feeling the LEAST bit intoxicated

• Getting just a little tipsy from hard cider (of all things) on a random Tuesday and so giggling and rambling about my innermost feelings

Hard cider at a really cool outside bar!

• Going to the pharmacy with Ebru and some of the others to find something to pop her blister and then giving her moral support back at the dorm when she finally popped it

• Karine asking for my name on the last day of afternoon classes and me answering “Mindy” because I was honestly so amused and annoyed that she hadn’t learned my name after 3 weeks

• Ebru helping me find my contact when it fell out of my eye while we were walking to Old Montreal at like midnight

Ebru and I on her last night in Montreal

• Ebru and I desperately trying to find a cool place to go to that night and then having to take a cab to Tokyo Bar because it started raining and we were far away from it

• Taylor pounding on my door at 8:30 the next morning because I was still sleeping after going to bed at 5am

• Having our last OU family dinner on our last night and realizing that we’d all never felt so full on the trip

• Going into the sex shop next to our school with Alex, Mary, Taylor, and Khayriyyah and then giggling furiously at all of the decked-out stuff

• Walking to class every single day with Taylor and the others and chattering about our homework and upcoming tests

• Desperately trying to use up my peanut butter and so resorting to eating peanut butter sandwiches every day

• Refusing to buy coffee grounds to make coffee in our coffeepot and just buying it at a café every morning

• Taylor and I squealing Ebru’s name and hugging her almost every time she came back to the dorm

My colocs! We were such a wonderful trio.

• Taylor and I teaching Ebru American slang and expressions when we really should have been talking to her in French

• Taylor and I watching all kinds of crazy YouTube videos and laughing like maniacs

• Feeling just so completely comfortable and at home in my dorm with my roommates and not wanting to leave

• Taking in the ambiance of it all and feeling so alive for the first time in a long time

• Coming home and wishing I was back in Montreal

I truly had a wonderful time, and even though I recently went back to Montreal, it just wasn't the same. They say some things just truly touch your heart and stay there forever, and my experience in Montreal is definitely one of those things. As I prepare to study abroad again (though this time in France), I'll always remember my first experience and deep down inside, I know that nothing will ever compare to this first, sweet slice of paradise.