TravelStream™ news feed for member ashleekt on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ashleekt en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:57:45 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1245633634/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1245633634/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1245633634/tpod.html Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:57:45 -0400 Québec Adventure

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Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Bonjour! Happy Fathers Day Steve!

I got in to Montréal yesterday at about noon with my friend Lauren. We just barely caught the bus, even though we were there at 10:10 and it was supposed to leave at 10:30. We pulled out at 10:18. phew! Surprisingly, the bus was practically full, so we ended up taking the only two seats together, beside some poor guy who got stuck sitting in the seat right beside the bathroom. Seriously, the poor guy kept getting woken up so ppl could use the bathroom. Anyways, the night before I rented the movie 'One Week' from itunes, so we watched it on my laptop. It was pretty good... shot in Canada, so we had fun picking out places.

After we got off the bus, we parted ways for a bit. She went to find the apartment her family had rented and I checked in at the hostel. We both had a hell of a time getting into our places, but we finally made it, showered and then met up on Sainte-Catherines to do a little shopping and eat dinner. Then I retired to my abode and promptly slept until 10 this morning. Thats a lie, actually, I did some wandering after that, but nothing much.

Today, I managed to sleep till 10. It was fabulous. :) The I doddled for a few hours, chatting with mom and relaxing before meeting my roommate (at the hostel) Lydia at 1 to go see the Tam Tams on Mont Royal. We got there a little after 2, and it was soo hot. The Tam Tams were AWESOME. I really don't think I've seen anything like it here. It was really cool. After that, we walked back to St. Catherine's to meet up with her ride back home. Then I came back to the hostel to change. I thought we were going to hike up to the top of the mountain so I wore jeans and my running shoes. That was definately a mistake. So I came back to change into flip flops and shorts, and went back out. Après that, I hopped the metro and got out at berri-uqam, where they were having this aboriginal concert of sorts. So I stopped to watch for a little bit, and was putting some bandaids on my blisters that I got from my new flip flops yesterday (ouch). And this random old man came and sat right beside me and started talking to me in french. I didn't understand him, so I said ''désolée, je ne comprend pas'' and he goes ''oh you're english, ok'' and then he asks if I am hurt. I say no, I just have some blisters on my foot. Its nothing. Then he says something like, give me your feet, ill take them. And now Im fucking lost, but Im not giving him my feet, so I keep saying no, thank you, im fine. But he keeps motioning to see my feet. It was awkward. Finally, I said somewhat firmer, no, thanks, really, im fine. And he was like, Ok, have a good day, and walked away. Weird.

After I left that, I BIXI biked it to the old port, relaxed a bit BIXI-ed a bit more, then parked my BIXI and walked around in vieux montreal for a bit. There was another concert going on outside, so I watched for a bit. I guess I should mention that the Montréal Fringe Festival ended today, hence the random spectacles everywhere. After that, I BIXI-ed through Carte Chinois and all the way through down town back to the hostel. After I finish this, I am passing out from exhaustion brought on by my bixi biking :)

Good night all! I will write my last entry tomorrow :( I'm so sad to be going home... I've fallen in love with this city. But it will be good to see everyone again... I've missed you all!!
Ash

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1245330377/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1245330377/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1245330377/tpod.html Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:28:32 -0400 Québec Adventure

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Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada

Salut! Ok, so I didn't write more the other day, but I'm so close to coming home it's almost like why bother... But on Tuesday, we had an afternoon excursion planned, a trip to Riviére de la Batiscan (I think). It was pretty. Again, I have to wait for pics to be developed since my poor poor camera was KIA.

I had intended on just lying on the beach and not doing too much but Amanda and I went to walk down to the shore to take a quick peek. And we could see one set of <> (waterfalls) so we decided to hike out on the rocks to get a better look. Not an especially good idea since in my eagerness to just relax, I purposely left my runners at the apartment, which would have been more helpful than my 1$ flip flops from dollarama for hiking. Anyways, we manage to get half way to the second chute when Amanda spots a giant spider which kind of ruined the adventure for me. It was HUGE. And it blended in perfectly with the rocks. And it was really freaking resiliant. Amanda stepped on it like 4 times before it stopped running around at moch 10. After that, I was pretty much up for getting off the rocks asap. So we found a path up and got on a hiking trail. And we just kind of continued on it, going down river the entire time. So then we figured we'd just follow this one trail and loop back around. Why not right? Well, we got dropped off at 1:30, and at 3:30, we realized that we werent quite finding the trail that looped us back to the bridge and where we started to hike. And since the bus was leaving at 4:30, we figured the smartest move was just to retrace our steps, which we did, with plenty of time to spare.

Alors, it was really pretty there and there were lots of animals and insects that grossed me right out. The best part, quite literally, was when Amanda and I got back to the main area, we went to the bathroom, and there were these signs, in french, of course, telling us about the local animals, etc... So we read this one and didn't really understand it. Until I figured out that the organism they were referring to was an eel. And I only knew that because of that giant eel I was so petrified of in the Museum of Civilization. So the poster said that they are very peculiar and at night, they leave the water and can scale the rocks and fences and stuff. Which I thought was freaking hilarious since Laura and Maria were swimming. I'm a dick, yes, but it was so fun to tell Laura that she was swimming with eels. lol. And people think I'm a fool because I don't swim in random rivers and lakes.... HA! *shudder* ok, eels are gross... désolée laura.

All in all, it was a good day of fun. And as for this weekend, I will be leaving good ol Trois-Riviéres on Saturday morning, getting back into Mtr for about noon. Then I'm staying in the same hostel as before for three nights, leaving for Edmonton bright and early on Tuesday morning. Now I just need to fill 3 days with activites in Montréal. I think I'll be getting a museum card and just hitting those up like mad. :)

Anyways, jusqu'a la prochaine!
Ash

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244952000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244952000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244952000/tpod.html Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:16:33 -0400 Québec Adventure

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Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada

Bonjour ma famille! It has been a crazy weekend!

The main program ended on Friday, after 5 weeks of immersion. A few friends left for home, but two of my roommates, and a couple friends are staying behind for the last week. After graduation ceremonies on Thursday, and a lazy breakfast in the caf on friday, maria, Laura and i decided to rent a car and drive to the laurentian mountains for the weekend. So we (and by we I mean I) priced out rental cars, found us a hostel and made the arrangements and by 5pm we were on the road. And it was an amazing experience! I'm so glad we didnt just stay home and do really nothing in Trois-Riviéres. We kind of doddled, and accidentally found a Harley Davidson store which was miraculously open, just across the Pont Laviolette (which I have been admiring from afar for like, 5 weeks). Lucky us, we got to cross it twice, since the first time we went through it, we were going the wrong way. :)

Nous n'avons trouvons pas l'hôtel très vit, et nous sommes arrivé à l'hôtel à dix heure environs. Au samedi matin, nous nous sommes réveillé à huit heure et nous avons marché au magasin général à achetons des nourritures et des magasins français. Puis nous avons détendu à la plage prés de l’hôtel, et nous avons fait le canot et kayak. Mon amie Laura a brûlé ses jambes mauvaises. Ils sont très rouges, comme un homard. Maria et moi rirent à Laura parce que elle était très stupide avec sa crème d’écran. C’était très drôle. J’ai brûlé un peu aussi, mais j’ai utilisé ma crème d’écran.

OK, I am tired. I will write more tomorrow (hopefully)… In the meantime, you can check out my pics. Keep in mind that since my camera was KIA, these are my friend’s pics. I have to wait for my camera to get developed to see mine…

À la prochain!

Ash



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244343540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244343540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244343540/tpod.html Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:05:30 -0400 Québec Adventure

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Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Allô tout le monde!

Désolée, this entry is going to be très short... I am very very tired, had a long long day in Montréal, and we just got home. I am now going to hibernate till like, 3pm tomorrow ;)

So these pictures are unedited from my day. My friend Candace and I explored a LOT of the city. We went to the Biodome, and the Olympic Tower, le Musée des beaux-arts, used the metro (what an adventure ... hehe), toured old montreal on foot and rented bikes, explored a little of china town...

I must say that the bike rental system they have is AMAZING! Sadly, I forgot to take any pictures of the actual bikes, but we were really impressed with them.

Anyways, I should probably write more tmr. Hope everyone is well!

xxoo
Ash

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244057568/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244057568/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244057568/tpod.html Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:44:59 -0400 Québec Adventure

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Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada

Désolée mes amis et ma fam!

There was great confusion last weekend, and I didn't actually end up going to le Parc de la Mauricie. Which is a little sad but I think I will live.

Cette vendredi, me and my friend Candice are going to head to a sugar cabin. Apparently, this is where our maple syrup comes from. It should be interesting. Pictures WILL be posted. Unless its très boring, which is entirely possible. But I think even then you should see a few. Then Saturday, I am heading back to Montréal for the day avec mes amies. I'm not staying overnight, which makes me very sad because I love Montréal but next week is Candice's last week and this sunday is our last day to have sunday brunch at Cora's. And we have some major exploration of Trois-Riviéres left to do. We have basically explored centre-ville and the mall very thouroughly, but not much else, which is a little sad. Anyways, I will try to post more, but I kind of feel like its not worth it if I'm not telling an exciting or funny story. So I'm posting some random shots of the last few weeks to keep you all entertained. Bewarned, a few are in the campus pub....

xoxo
ash



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244059984/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244059984/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1244059984/tpod.html Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:44:32 -0400 Québec Adventure

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Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada

Me and two of my room mates walked to centre-ville yesterday to go see the Québecois museum of culture popular. It was very weird and yet also interesting...Especially the ogre exhibit....


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1243127160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1243127160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1243127160/tpod.html Sat, 23 May 2009 22:12:27 -0400 Québec Adventure

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Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

OK! An update is to follow, I'm just trying to upload some pics... It's been a FULL freaking day. And will also be a full day tomorrow...

xoxo
Ashle

OK, so last night I took the bus by myself to Quebec City, and found my hostel. I got in around 10:30, and the lady was tres confused. She first put me in room 414, which is a mixed dorm, in bed #47 but when I got up there, there was someone in that bed. So she followed me up and moved me to an all girls dorm (yay) and proceeded to give me my rented blankets consisting of ONE scratchy wool blanket. I was unimpressed. I slept in my clothes and used my jacket as a blankie. So early this morning, I realised everyone has actual sheets. Apparently, I should have gotten some too. I now have a complete set of sheets and blanket for tonight. Perhaps I will actually sleep... *crosses fingers*

Donc (the french word for so) cet matin I woke up bright and early at like 7:30, took a shower and was ready to get on my mission of exploring Quebec. I had a very productive day. I went to :
*the musee de la civilisation
*the observatoire de la capitale
*both UPPER and LOWER Old Quebec (THAT took me a while to figure out)
*Chateau Frontenac
*L'hotel de ville (city hall)
*this big parc thing that I'm guessing was the citadel
*numerous other small places and stores, oh the shops!

Then I met up with my Trois-Rivieres roomies for some Poutine and *quelle surprise - more shopping...them though, not me* and then we went to a pub, had some vino, and then they had to leave. So I'm at my hostel now, in the only place with electrical outlets, downstairs. Can you believe that our rooms dont have plug ins?? Crazy.

The museum was great. I went for the mummy exhibit, and it bored the hell out of me. Don't get me wrong, I learned a lot about mummies: how they are made, why they were made, what they were put in, who several mummies were, the god of death: osiris and how they weighed the heart against a feather, and if it was heavier than the ostrich feather, the person was deemed immoral. Excellent, hey? Just how much does a heart weigh? Wow I retained more than I thought I would. So anyways, the prize exhibit turned out to be on extraterrestrial life. I have to write some stupid article for my Journal Atelier, and I think I'm going to write about the exhibit. Lets hope I retain enough about THAT to write it. I didnt have a notepad :( The first part of the exhibit was like, alien representation in popular culture, and how people use aliens as the boogyman yadda yadda. It was all very skeptical. And then the second part was all about how a lot of the creatures that inhabit earth have what we would think of as extra-terrestrial features. It was very scientific and CREEEEPY. I'm not sure when I will EVER get back in the water.

Um, I know that there is more, but I am tired of writing. I guess I'll just add some more pics and go to bed. Miss you guys!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1242654120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1242654120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1242654120/tpod.html Mon, 18 May 2009 10:19:28 -0400 Québec Adventure

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Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada

W00T! OK, so I finally figured out what was wrong with my internet. Each student has a limited amount of GB that can be used per week, and then it resets on Sunday at midnight. So sorry mom, no more videochats! Anyways, it was a hell of a busy week.

On Friday, we only had like half the regular day of classes, and then we had une bal costume: caveman. So we rented bikes and went to value village and found literally, the most hideous outfits ever made. It was awesome. Lauren really committed to her role and put like, a fern in her hair. She ended up winning the best costume contest. It was tres cool :)

Every wednesday night, they do this "info week-end" where they tell you the possible activities you can do on the weekend, and every weekend we are going someplace new. Last weekend, we explored Trois-Rivieres, this weekend its Quebec, the next weekend it is Parc Nationale de la Mauricie (the national parc here) aand the NEXT weekend is Montreal. They are only day trips, so I'm trying to find a way to get permission (yes we need to get permission to leave town ... wtf?) to stay overnight and come back by myself in Quebec and Montreal, so that I wont need to go back to Quebec to tour solo. The big kicker is I will have to explain that all in french. Which will be um tres interessant.

So this Samedi, we woke up early (sigh, yes early) and caught the bus to the Notre-Dame Cathedral here. It wasnt as nice in the church, but the grounds were very pretty. Then we caught another bus to centre-ville where we were supposed to take a guided walking tour but instead chose to just walk around. It was nice until it started to pour. You know, I never noticed how much it doesnt rain in Alberta until I came here and it doesn't Fing stop!! I've gotta get me some rain boots. We found a little book store that weighs the books, and they are a dollar a pound! It was awesome.... J'achete 5 livres pour enfants, en francais, pour $1.80!! C'est bon!

Other than that, I've just kind of been settling in and getting to know my roomies. They are really cool people, which is good, because I was really worried about living with people I dont know. We are all the same age, and kind of all have similar outlooks and personalities. Haha .. .at least we do now! ;)

Thats it for now, I'm sure I'll find more to say later! A bientot!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1242266880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1242266880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1242266880/tpod.html Wed, 13 May 2009 22:19:59 -0400 Québec Adventure

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Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada

Allo tout le monde! It has been a trying couple of days. Its hard when you can't say what you want to, and REALLY tiring when you have to translate everything you are told in a matter of seconds and you only catch half of it... But as Kristoff would say, je suis cool. Too cool to quit ;) Besides, its getting better. I've finally figured out the cafeteria system and am now actually eating here ;) bonus! Aussi, my room mates have been really great. Two of them are en le classe d'avance, so they have been helping me, and kind of restoring my faith in my own french. Especially since they are so patient with me and my broken french. And I, in turn have been helping our roomie who has even less french than me. :) It's a pay-it-forward kind of system...lol

Today I had my first conversation atelier (workshop) and it really wasn't that bad. Tomorrow Lauren and I are going to see if we can finally get bikes for the day. There are 7 of them available for rent. Approx 350 students. NICE. A demain j'ai my second atelier... le journal. I'm still not 100% on what its all about, but I'm a little freaked because its only for intermediate to advanced levels of french. I'd say I'm on le premier end of the intermediate group. And if I understood it correctly, I may actually have to write an article for the student journal. Can you say 'nerve wracking'?? lol Well I guess we shall see. It was my fourth choice for the ateliers and ONLY because it was mandatory to choose 4 and I was NOT going to choose 'Chansons Qubecois' in which you actually have to sing...

Anyways, I should finish mes deviors (homework).. .I have about 18 conjugations left to do and I have to get up early to try and get those bikes. So until next time!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1242083880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1242083880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ashleekt/1/1242083880/tpod.html Mon, 11 May 2009 19:24:15 -0400 Québec Adventure

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Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada

So dorm life is taking a bit of getting used to. I'm sharing with three other ladies, but at least we all have separate rooms. Since I'm such a solitary creature I find myself pulling towards quiet time alone in the apartment, or my room. I'm going to have to try to curb that tendency, but I swear to god, one of my new roomies is the biggest freaking social butterfly I have ever met. Every time I turn around she's bringing someone new either to our table or dorm. Which, I guess is good for me. But god! Between the living room invasions and the detailed mandatory schedule, I kind of feel like I'm at summer camp.... :S

Aside from that, we are settling in quite nicely. Myself and another roomie took a tour on the Trois-Rivieres public transport, and then a tour of the mall and stocked up on housewares at Dollarama. We now have hand and tea towels, a knife and some other small necessities. AND I took a tour of campus today and *ta-da* found microwaves!! WOOT! Thank god! lol oh its the small things you notice...

Anyways, I've got to go get my laundry from the dryer and try to socialize for a bit. A tout a l'heure!
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