Wrap Up

It’s almost been a week since I returned from Quebec and it feels as though I never left Virginia. I went straight back to work (nothing says Christmas spirit like working in retail!) and my room was exactly like I left it. It feels like my life here was simply on pause while I was away.

Quebec feels like a dream. If I hadn’t documented everything so thoroughly I would think I had been dreaming. 

A friend told me I would suffer from post-abroad blues and yep, it’s happening. I miss my life abroad already. It’s hard to feel content back in a small town where absolutely nothing has changed in the last four months. (Except there’s a new Dunkin’ Donuts.) Though I am very happy to be back at home with all my animals and my space. And I’ve got my friends to help me acclimate.  

As I’ve been thinking about my trip, I’ve settled on a few things that I learned about myself. Things that may have been a part of me before, but were never given a chance to develop.

Living alone in a foreign city, and speaking a different language, has given me more confidence in my abilities and capabilities. I was able to navigate Quebec City and carve out a life for myself. I found my first apartment and made friends from all over the world. 

I’ve learned that speaking up for myself is necessary. If I can do it in a foreign language I can certainly do it in English. 

I discovered that whatever I do in life will involve traveling and adventuring. I’ve never been happier than when I was exploring and discovering new sights, sounds and tastes. 

My abroad experience has left nothing lacking and exceeded my expectations. I’m ready and anxious to see the rest of the world now. 

wonders of wonders, miracles of miracles

Guys guys guys guys GUYS.

It's finally happened. 

I get French. 

This week has been full of lightbulb moments for me. Moments where everything clicked and suddenly I wasn't thinking in English anymore. Beautiful, beautiful moments full of months of hard work. 

This week has just been so gosh darn wonderful. I was on the phone with MB (my childhood bff) and she asked me if I'd accomplished what I wanted this semester. 

The answer is a big fat yes. 

People told me this moment would happen but I honestly didn't believe them. It's hard to think of the future when you can't even form a basic sentence. 

I'm gonna go to sleep with a big grin tonight. 

Airbnb, first impressions

I was really nervous about renting a room through Airbnb. Who hasn't heard those horror stories about crazy roommates? (Thanks for reminding me about them, Mom.) I was able to rationalize my fear of renting by remembering that crazy roommates happen in college dorms all the time. It's just a part of the experience when forced to live with strangers. 

Those selfies above were taken five minutes after I arrived at my new place in Limoilou, a little quartier about twenty minutes from Vieux Quebec. A little while later my new roommate would inform me that the bathroom is the best place in the apartment for selfies. 

I had such an insane case of jitters when I was moving last weekend.  I was a little scared of living with a new person that I found on the internet. I didn't exactly know where I was living. BUT. My roommate is the nicest lady and my new quartier is lovely. My roommate is easy to talk to and she made sure I was properly outfitted for the Quebec cold. 

When I first arrived, Celine Dion was blasting from the radio and I felt like I was in a Quebecois sitcom. And sometimes when we have conversations I feel like we would make a perfect reality show. However, my French has improved so much! I can now have normal conversations without the other person looking at me like I'm completely crackers. 

I have my own room (pictures coming soon!) and I'm free to use to the kitchen, washing machine and bathroom (obviously). I think I paid a little over $400 USD for five weeks, a great deal considering I got everything I wanted. And I'm not living in a hostel. Ha!

Before finding this room through Airbnb, I tried using Kijiji, a Canadian craigslist, but had little to no success. I found a few rooms, but it was so hard to get in contact with the owner! Renting through Airbnb is incredibly easy. Paying is easy and feels very secure, because the person you rent from doesn't get the money until you check in. No chance they'll take your money and split!

Finding a room is easy using Airbnb's search filters- I searched for a private room under $500 with a kitchen, internet and washing machine. Even though I'm a little further out than before, I really like my location. I've already found the neighborhood cafe! I plan on exploring Limoilou this week, if it doesn't snow too much.

I'm about a ten minute walk from the bus stop, but I don't mind the walk. It's good to be forced to exercise, heaven knows how many maple cookies I eat. 

I'll be sure to write a follow up post when I conclude my five week stay, but my first impressions are very favorable and my roommate isn't crazy. #winning  

If you have any other questions about my move or anything, let me know if the comments! 

My Thoughts on Studying Abroad (for now)

I go back to Virginia next month. 

Just let that sink in. 

I KNOW. I can't believe it either. This time abroad has flown by. We students joke that the months fly by but the weekdays take freaking forever. (Sitting in French grammar classes for three plus hours seriously slows time down.) 

The other day I was wandering around the internet and saw this forum titled "is studying abroad worth it?" 

Yes, yes, a thousand times YES. 

I cannot tell you how much I have learned in the past few months. Not just how to speak French, but I've also learned so much about other cultures and met some of the most amazing people. And now Facebook only suggests that I friend Columbian users. Ha!

(And don't laugh too hard, but my geography is so much better! I can actually visualize where countries are in the world. I said not to laugh!)

I'm more curious and ready to explore the rest of the world after this trip. I cannot wait to visit Columbia, Switzerland, Brazil and heck, the entire world. The students I've met here have been so warm and friendly and I cannot wait to meet their countries. 

I've learned that while the rest of the world doesn't have a very high view of Americans and America, it doesn't mean they won't give you a chance or help you learn. But they'll also make a lot of jokes about your nationality. My advice? Don't take anything personally. 

If you are willing to learn, people are willing to help you.

I'd like to think that I've really come out of my shell and tried new things. I've found my boundaries. I know when to step out of my comfort zone and when to stick to my guns. 

I've learned to trust people and to say yes to things that are completely new to me. Fake enthusiasm will take you far (sometimes it won't, but that's okay.) And hand motions will take you even farther! 

The other day I walked into a café for a latté and the baristas were snacking on beer and osyters. As I waited for my latté I watched them. The Quebecois are an insanely friendly group of people so they started speaking to me and I responded (in French).  

They asked me if I liked raw oysters, so I said yes. (I had no idea, I'd never eaten one before. But I like seafood, so why not?) I'd seen Anthony Bourdain slurp raw oysters on his show, and I figured if he could do it, so could I! 

That experiance never would have happened a few months ago. But here! Here I posses a certain boldness. I'm growing a little fond of this feeling. 

The oysters were amazing. Slippery little things in a shell filled with lemon juice. I ate several. 

And of course I tried the beer. It was awful, just as I suspected. I mean, who drinks spicy beer? Yoikes. 

(...and I should mention that prior to this tasting, I'd just consumed an insane amount of poutine and hamburgers. Somedays I live like a frat boy.) 

And to keep this post real, I should note that things can be hard here. But not once have I been homesick or wished to be elsewhere! I think that says something very good about Quebec and my school program. 

The first few weeks were very difficult. Not terrible, not horrible, just difficult. My mantra the first few weeks was "this isn't bad, just different." It was hard not being able to communicate, especially because I am a talker. But after the first two weeks of acclimation everything became so much easier. Everything continues to become easier every day. 

*I do think that being curious and wanting to be here helped!* 

It's hard to live in a household where there isn't that much privacy and I can't do everything I want. For an independant girl, it's a little hard to be controlled or to feel like I'm being controlled. 

And oh my goodness. The questions! Meet any Quebecois person and they will ask so many questions. It's typical Quebecois! But for me (and apparently South Americans) it's very off-putting and I feel interrogated most days. 

I really do love Quebec City. It possesses a small town vibe which I appreciate. I love that I see the same people on the bus every morning and that I run into other students almost every weekend.

I hated living in D.C., but I could see myself living happily in this city one day. And since Quebec always wants young immigrants, this is a distinct possibility. 

I can't imagine not being here right now. It feels so right and I can say that I haven't been this happy in a long time. I feel like this is one of the first big steps in my life that will help me figure out what I truly want to do with me life.

And I am okay with taking life a little more easy and trusting the process. 

Quebec Vlog Week 4

^And that is a portrait of a single girl who doesn't need no man, just pain au chocolat and a latte.

GUYS. I've survived an entire month abroad and I love it. You can definitely tell that I've relaxed so much since my first vlog. My host mom was telling me this past week that I've removed all my mind blocks and now I will really learn. I think she's right!

In this week's vlog I chat about random conversations with strangers, I show you what I bought at the drugstore today and I share way too much about my wild weekend plans.

Rainy Rainy

Only my most favorite place in all of Quebec. The baristas know me by my many name variations. 

My mood in a picture. 

Last week I had one of those days. Y'know, those days where nothing is actually wrong but you really just want to mope and listen to sad Kpop? That was me. At least the weather agreed with me. Quebec busted out the dreary weather just to match my mood. I know it. 

But I pulled myself together enough to attend classes, buy Starbucks and wander around Quebec with my camera. 

I think I managed to salvage that day. I really don't want to waste a single day here! 

(This sad Kpop song is the title and basically my everything.)

How to be an interesting person

Chateau Frontenac 

I found this article via my school's study abroad office and found it intriguing. Even though I've only been abroad two weeks (it feels like more!), I can already tell how it has changed me. And I agree with almost all the points in this article, which I've posted below for easy reference. 

However, I completely disagree with #8. The author states that those who've gone abroad are "more interesting  than those who haven't lived abroad." This really infuriates me. I've met so many interesting people who have never even left the U.S. People who've had incredible experiences without leaving their own country. People who've lived full lives and have so much wisdom to share. People who are full of joy and ready to share their life stories. For example, this man I met while working as a sales associate in a very small country town. 

Yes, studying abroad is exciting and different, but it doesn't make you the most interesting person to ever walk on the earth. 

You know what makes you more interesting? Being interested in others. Being a thoughtful person. Being a person who is always ready to learn from others and to take advice and wisdom gracefully. 

Be a person who is more interested in others than himself/herself. 

(Also, someone called the author out in the comments and she said that it was meant as joke. But like my journalism professor says, if you can't commit to satire 100%, just don't.) 

1. Suddenly you can do anything. There is no more empowering feeling than being absolutely terrified of something and doing it anyway. The knowledge that you can do this will stay with you for the rest of your life. It will seep into your relationships, your career prospects - it will help drown out the inevitable moments of self-doubt.

2. It challenges preconceived judgements. We all have them - beliefs that cultures are a certain way and opinions on whether or not we agree with this way of life. Living in another country is totally different to visiting it. You get a privileged peek inside and, while that may not mean you ever truly understand what you see, you will realize that you never know enough to judge. Hopefully you will be thirsty to discover more.

3. Understanding a new culture is more enriching than you could ever imagine. Once you do begin to understand the weird and wonderful goings on around you, you will also start to look at your own culture differently. Those who have travelled and even more so, lived abroad, have a much more realistic and balanced view of their own country. In my experience, these are the best people to know.

4. Patience. Many countries have no concept of queueing; you may never get your post; you have no idea what you're ordering in restaurants; and in certain places it is so unbelievably and incredibly frustrating, you will be reduced to tears at the apparent impossibility of what was previously so easy back home. 101 in patience training.

5. You will get lost and then found. This will happen again and again. You will learn to cherish it (unless you're on your way to an important meeting, in which case you will want to scream).

6. You will fall in love. With food. A city. A culture. A building. A feeling. You will probably also hate a lot of things. It's a time of extreme emotions.

7. Every day is an adventure. You will never know what to expect when you leave your front door. You will have countless "Really? Did that really just happen?" moments, purely because you're not in Kansas any more and things are done differently around here. If you're smart, you'll use those moments for creative fodder, or to give your pals back home a giggle.

8. You will be more interesting than those that haven't lived abroad. Of course they may not see it that way and may not really care about all your exciting stories of adventure in far flung places. Their apparent disinterest won't bother you though. You've conquered the world.

joyeux anniversaire

I realized last night that this week marks my one year anniversary in my French journey.

A year ago I was sitting in a classroom in Combs Hall petrified about learning a language. I had no prior experience with another language and had absolutely no idea about what to expect.

I was pretty certain that I was going to fail. That I was going to earn a failing grade for the next four semesters.

But it turns out that I'm not completely a failure at this whole learning a language thing.

I worked my way up from a B- to an A- in three semesters. I wrote a 900+ word essay completely in French during an intensive summer program. Now I'm studying French abroad.

And a year ago I had no inkling that any of this would occur.

This realization came at the best time. Speaking French is not easy and it's hard not to feel like you will never get better at it. Which is how I feel 24/7 right now.

Throw in a little homesickness, living in a new environment and you have a great case of the blues.

But if I look back over how much I've accomplished in the past year, and the solid grammar foundation I've built, I can be hopeful about the future.

I know, I know. The first few weeks are the hardest. I'm finding that out, y'all. But nobody can prepare you for how hard. I want to talk and talk and talk in French, but it's just not possible. Yet. But it will be.

In my head I can my dad's encouraging voice telling me to take it one step at a time.

That's what I'm doing. After classes, I work on vocabulary and finish up homework. At dinner our host parents ask us questions about our day and they make us talk. No oui or non answers for them!

It's interesting to compare my current struggles with last year's struggles. A year ago today I didn't even know what a verb conjugation was nor how to pronounce a French sound. At this moment, I can conjugate so many verbs and my French pronunciation is a trillion times better.

Baby steps, y'all, baby steps.

Happy anniversary to me! I'm excited to think about where my French skills will be next year. I'm hoping that I'll be able to read books.

I think tomorrow I'll buy myself a celebratory crepe. Or a cupcake. Or the biggest latte imaginable. Or all three.

I have goals.

Forgetting Faire

(This is one of my favorite kpop songs. It instantly cheers me up/ motivates me.) 

Not gonna lie, it feels like I've been in Quebec longer than four days. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing?

I arrived Saturday evening (the 18th of August) into an intense French environment.

I think today it all finally caught up to me. I'm having the hardest time saying simple words and forget about even pronouncing something correctly.

For example, I just had to ask one of my housemates the French verb for "to do". I know this verb. It's one of the most commonly used verbs in the French language. But my brain fatigue has taken over so I can't even remember the verb faire.

Anyways. Feeling a little pitiful today. Though I have a sneaky feeling that tomorrow I'll be fine. But for today, I decided to take care of myself with a trip to Target and a cookie at Starbucks.



Sidenote: I had to buy bobby pins and they are dreadfully expensive up here, even in Canadian dollars. In Virginia I can buy ~100 bobby pins for $1-2, today I paid 5,39$ CAD for a pack of 75. I didn't pack any because I thought they'd be cheap, but no.

I'm off to study for a quiz and finish some homework. I'll be posting some more interesting posts soon. Promise!

Lady Catherine /will never know/

Ah, the packing of clothes. There is almost too much info floating around the internet about how to pack and what to pack. It can get overwhelming quickly. The good news is that I don't have a Lady Catherine telling me how to pack my dresses. But if you are curious, I'll be rolling all my clothes to save space. I want to be able to fit everything!

I've actually found some really great tips on Pinterest, I pinned several on my travel board. 

 

(I love this idea! I have several sunglass cases floating around my room, it will be nice to actually use them.)

As for clothes, I'm going to try to keep it simple when packing. I think I'm going to pick three coordinating colors and go from there. (Probably green, blue, black/gray.) I also intend on layering everything so I don't have to pack for both a summer and winter climate. I also have to save room for my puffy coat (which is fairly smooshable) and my snow boots. I want to take my peacoat but it's not necessary, I should really leave it behind. Right?!

And now Pinterest has me wishing I had a versatile trench coat. Curses!

I'm going to be packing a carry-on and a checked bag. I am not one of those super travelers who can live out of a carry-on. Not happening. I like clothes and choices, mmkay? And I do need to pack a few sweaters. I've heard that Quebec gets cold quickly in the fall. I bought one of those vacuum sealed bags to keep my sweaters from overtaking my entire suitcase. Gotta have room for some fun clothes!

So far I've bought new pjs, jeans and a few tops (thanks mom and dad!) From a wardrobe perspective, I'm pretty well taken care of. I do need to buy more underwear and socks, but those boring items can wait until the very last second.

The best packing list I've come across is on the blog I Who Wander. Their packing list for a semester abroad is comprehensive and appropriate for other college students. I'll be printing out a copy to help me stay on track while packing!

The College Tourist also offers solid advice for students traveling abroad. This post stood out to me in particular, especially the bit about buying scarves as souvenirs. I love a good scarf.

My mom and I are thinking about checking out the luggage sales at local department stores this week- none of the suitcases we have at home are quite appropriate. And none of them pink. (Okay, okay. I know that that is the least of my worries, BUT. Wouldn't pink luggage be so much fun?)

I'll keep y'all updated on this riveting chapter of my travels. 

Le processus

I actually started the process of choosing a program back in November of last year. By the time that semester ended I knew where I wanted to go: the French speaking city of Quebec. However, it turned out that my college didn't have an established program up there, which meant I had to create a petition.

Many, many phone calls and stack of forms (in triplicate, please!) later and I was able to turn in a completed petition in early March of this year. After turning it in I was euphoric. So much worry and angst had gone into its completion. I spent so much time running across campus between classes to get forms signed three different department heads. 

During this time I also applied for my passport (I didn't know they were that expensive!) As the post lady signed my forms she exclaimed "now you can go anywhere!" That was pretty awesome.

Then came the waiting. But so did midterms and Spring Break.

On one very uneventful evening, I opened up my email and saw it: your program has been approved. And this was after a lady assured me I wouldn't earn approval, so take that, pessimistic lady! 

Now I was officially going to Canada to learn more about the beautiful and difficult language that is French.

After all this excitement, I had to actually pass French 102 (I did, B+!) and attend a boring, but necessary, financial aid appointment.

I also signed up for an intensive five week French immersion class. "I never do things the easy way," my life motto apparently. 

I received an A- in my latest French class! I've never been more thrilled. Especially because my final was an essay written in French. Majorly terrifying. But I managed to write a somewhat coherent essay of 930 words. It is nice to see evidence of improvement, especially since the class was so rigorous. 

Now all that's left is to keep studying (I bought a thousand French flashcards off Amazon!), research, pack and try to prepare myself for this new adventure.  

Progress

This list cracks me up. It's a pretty good indicator of how much I think I can accomplish, but isn't actually possible.

All four of those items are major things, especially considering that I tend to freeze when having to make big decisions.

I did manage to accomplish my financial aid meetings and French class in June.

But I just managed to take my placement exams and buy my plane tickets on the fourth of July. A little ironic, non?

My July list isn't actually written (the horror!) but I know what's on it: finish my last month of work, research Quebec, pay my BLI bill, research how to pack. Not very thrilling, but very important.

And of course, I'm trying to build this blog. I've almost decided on the schedule of content for this fall and I've almost caught up on posts I needed to write. Keep an eye for new posts coming later this week!