In my adventures here in Qu�bec have been really exciting, and not really what I was expecting in many ways. I think I had it in my head that everyone here would be fairly similar to people in the States. In many ways, they are, but I’ve found that the Qu�becois (and for that matter Canadian) attitude is much more pleasant. I was talking to a friend in one of my classes from Toronto and he made the observation that it seemed to him that everyone in the United States hates the police. At first, I was a little ruffled by his comment but after considering what he was saying I realized that he had a good point. The people here are much more respectful towards law enforcement officials, and are much more appreciative of the service they provide. Words of derision aren’t attached to every sentence with police in it, which is really kind of refreshing. The level of mutual respect gives entire evenings a whole different outlook- people don’t walk around constantly thinking that the police are out to get them.

Not only is there a higher level of respect regarding les policiers (this is a cognate people… police), but also just among people in general. The times I’ve had to ask for directions, everyone has been super helpful. I would certainly have gotten lost many many times without the kindness of random people on the street. They didn’t give off an air of being disturbed or annoyed by my questions like that which I’ve encountered chez moi (at home) in Baltimore. Even the bus drivers, who I would have expected to be the least tolerant based on my experiences at home, are more than willing to help. In many cases, they not only answer questions, but they also will remind you when you should get off (if that was the nature of your question) at the correct arr�t de bus (bus stop). 

As I mentioned in an older post, Qu�bec has been in the midst of it’s annual Festival d’�t� (summer festival), and I’ve tried to go to as many concerts as possible. I’ve seen a mix of francophone and anglophone artists, and the highlight for me was definitely the Black Eyed Peas. There were so many people there that they had a huuuuge screen set up behind the stage, and there were massive foules (crowds) on both sides of the stage. I’m a pretty big fan of BEP but I had never seen them in concert before, so I was really excited to see them, and they definitely weren’t a let down. They played mostly their hits, with portions of a few songs off the latest album that haven’t been released on the radio.  It was really an awesome concert but halfway through I realized that although most of the population of Qu�bec knows a little bit of english, for the most part people weren’t really singing along. That was an incredibly odd realization because I just took it for granted that everyone would know the words to all the songs. It was evident that they all knew the songs, but it really had never occurred to me that singing along wouldn’t be the name of the game. Will.i.am dj-ed for a bit too and put together some incredible mixes, ranging from MJ to Nirvana to Kings of Leon to James Brown. He even used part of Zombie Nation and il faut croire (you better believe) I screamed We Are Penn State. I never expected that either and it was really really cool to see the crowds reaction and his response to all the screaming.

I was really interested by the fact that Taboo was taking video on his iPhone of the crowd during part of the concert. It was his birthday and a small cake was brought out for him, and the entire audience sang Happy Birthday to him (in english- I was impressed that they all knew it). It was just really cool to me that there were probably thousands of people taking video on their cameras of them performing, and he too was moved enough by the whole thing that he took video of all the people who were there to see the show. I would have thought that after so many years of touring, energetic crowds had lost their novelty but apparently not.

Other than concerts and outings, classes are going along en toute vitesse (at a scarily rapid pace). I’ve already had 2 weeks of class, and starting tomorrow I have midterms starting. It’s odd because the professors don’t even know everyone’s names yet but the courses are just about halfway over. I got a list of 34 �xpressions qu�becoises (qu�becois expressions) which was really interesting to learn. A lot of them are similar to expressions we have in english, for example avoir un chat dans la gorge (to have a cat in your throat) is the same as having a frog in your throat. Another that I really like (mostly because it’s ridiculous) is �tre habill� comme la chienne � Jacques (to be dressed like Jacques’ dog), which means to be very poorly dressed. I still am unclear as to who exactly Jacques is, and what he chose to dress his dog in, but that is perhaps meant to vague so as not to offend Jacques (or his chienne). It’s clich�, but the time here has really been flying. I’ve definitely been learning a lot though. It helps that we are kept very busy, what with our classes, workshops, and excursions de Samedi (Saturday excursions).

Speaking of which, yesterday I did another randonn�e (hike), this time at Cap Tourmente. It was a 9.2 km hike up another mountain. It was a really hot day and everyone was beat by the time it was over, but it was definitely fun to go out with les animateurs and spend the day speaking French again.

Next weekend I’m going baleine (whale) watching at Tadoussac. From what I understand, it’s about 3 hours away on bus, then we take a big bateau (boat) out, then we take small pontoon bateaux further out to get closer to where the baleines will be. I’m really excited to do this and I have high hopes that I’ll get to see a bunch of baleines, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little afraid- just because they are �norme (enormous) and I’ve never seen one before.

Location: Université Laval 2325, rue de l'Université Québec (Québec) G1V 0A6 Canada