Wowzas.
Here I am. Montréal. So far SO good! I arrived on the 30th and picked up my bags and boxes (8 boxes, a 90 pound suitcase plus carry-on) with Nicolas and his father Serge. Arrived at the apartment and hauled everything up the spiral staircase to our front door. (Okay...mostly Nicolas did it)
Anyway, left everything a bit fat mess and immediately made some coffee and pulled out my bag of hemp granola and sat around with Jeanne and Nicolas. I tried to sleep but was completely abuzz and ended up sticking it through.
Went out to a dinner party with Nico and Jeanne. Their friends have a gorgeous apartment several metro stops away and we all pitched in some money and they provided us with some fantastic eats. Raw salmon on a pancake, topped with sour cream and caramelized onions; flat bread pesto pizza with sun dried tomato. Seriously...lavish.
There was a fellow Anglophone (see Mum, sooooo Quebecoise) named Rosie from Australia. She actually lives with a Winnipegger too. I reflected for far too long that it was hovering around 0 degrees while Winnipeg suffered -35. baha!
Yesterday Nicolas worked and so I was responsible for my OWN WELL-BEING! :-o
I showered (and successfully flooded the bathroom...oops) and unpacked ALL my stuff (in retrospect, a bit stupid since I have to pack it all up for St Lucia), arranged my room and all my possessions. Then I hit the road! I live very close to the metro station so I headed there and took the metro all the way to downtown, at Peel station. I met up with an old friend named Ben who lives here now. We went for a drink in old montreal and chatted and caught up and chatted and caught up some more. It was so lovely - how nice to see a familiar face in a new city!
Met up with Nicolas at his work - it was his final day at his job and it coincided with a dinner, so we scored a free meal. A metro ride and rainy walk home and then we celebrated midnight by not celebrating it...we didn't even look at the clock until 12:07. Oops.
Watched the Breakfast Club and then headed to sleep. All in all a very positive first day. I was on my own for a bit of it, challenging myself to figure things out, navigating through a new city. I also walked so much and I realize how restricting Winnipeg is in terms of walking. I easily walked over two kilmoetres yesterday, which isn't that much, but is more walking than I've done in a long time.
Unfortunately, my boots let in all the rain and puddle water and now I have to go buy new boots.
I'm about to leave to go pick up Moses from the airport and then we'll have a French evening, full of wine and baguette and cheese.
I hope everyone had a fascinating New Year's Eve. My resolution is to not settle for less. This will take a lot of self-exploration but ultimately a very good thing for me.
A Bientot,
Katie
ps. Pictures of the apartment will come soon! I promise!
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