Hey fellows, I am back!

Back from Montreal, I needed to find an internship and given that the Canadian government didn't allow me to do it on the Canadian territory. I found one in London from June 24th to July 24th! I will work for a company specialized in home care services: Sweettree. It is located in the Swiss Cottage neighbourdhood (close to Hampstead in the north of London). I will follow the managing director, Mr Sweetbaum, who told me, his job was very varied. One day we may be working in a field and the next visiting a care home or possibly meeting with a bank. Hopefully it will be another great foreign experience!

Today is the D-day, my international semester comes to an end. It is now time to leave Montreal for Lyon.

I feel like nostalgic, but it has been an amazing experience. On one hand, a great human experience, because I have met people from all over the world. And above all, I have met people from Québec. They have always been out-going and ready for a talk. On the other hand, it has also been  an amazing professional experience.  I had the opportunity to follow four interesting courses in one of the best ranked universities in the world: Concordia university. Besides, I am pretty sure, I have improved my English level!

My only regret is that I haven't been allowed to do my internship, here, in Montreal, because of administrative requirements. Nonetheless, it will be an opportunity to go to another English-speaking country, such as England.

Anyway, tomorrow, I am going to see again my family. And it is a really great news!

See you later all!

Hey people,

One of my last post about my international semester and above all one of the most interesting: the artistic life in Montreal.

First, regarding music, Montreal is well-known for its festivals of all kind. Among famous ones, we can name the Osheaga Festival which is a multi-day indie festival that takes place annualy in the summer at the Parc Jean Drapeau. It is a huge festival where artist world famous play. For example, the last year, the headlines were Snoop Dog, Justice and the Black Keys. In this year 2013, fellows could enjoy Phoenix’s performance. The famous French electro-pop band is promoting its new album Bankrupt. Moreover, Montreal also promotes street artists in the underground by dedicating some spots for them. This program is called "Etoiles du metro" and gives cheerfullness to Canadian workers every morning.

There are also other pretty famous festivals such as the Just for Laugh festival comedy, which has been the world largest international comedy festival since 1983. We can also name the Igloofest that is an annual outdoor music festival that occurs in January and February. As I already said previously in my blog, I had the opportunity to be part of this amazing experience.

Then, about cinemas, Montreal has the particularity to have French-speaking cinemas, but also some large Englis-speaking cinema. It is one of the evidence of the multiculturalism of the city. I really appreciated it to go to the cinema, because, here, films are released really earlier than in France. I preferred going to see films in their original versions but with French subtitles. I think it is a pretty good way to learn English while enjoying fully the film. There are also a lot of theatres, especially in the Latin neighbourhood at the Place des Arts, really close to my flat. But, they are really expensive, that is why I don’t have the chance to enjoy a show during my stay. Although, I would have loved to attend the show called La Verita that deals with the life of Dali and that was played in the theatre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts.

Regarding design, Montreal is really eclectic. If you are in the Old Montreal, you can observe a French colonialism design. But, on the contrary, if you are on the Downtown, there are lots of skyscrapers. The tallest one is the 1000 of the Gauchetière which has a really particular design. Indeed, it looks like a pencil. The rest of the city is pretty low and is characterized by the famous North-American triplex. We can also notice that the Old Montreal is the typical French colonial design (it is the same design in the Old Quebec City).

Last but not least, concerts, the part that I prefer. Montreal is a large North-American city, therefore most world famous bands pass by the city during their North-American tours: Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones, Swedish House Mafia… But Montreal is also a French-speaking city, that is why, a lot of French artists love to play here, for a connoisseur audience. During these 4 months, I had the opportunity to attend to several amazing gigs. I went to Jupiter, Flight Facilities, Purity Ring, Breakbot, GoldRoom, C2C, etc. Nonetheless, the most memorable show was the last one on the 24^th April: Muse at the Centre Bell. It was sold out and there were more than 25,000 people. The crowd was over-motivated; everybody was jumping up and down. One of the best shows I have ever attended!

Hi everybody,

For my last trip outside of Montreal, I went to Quebec City for 2 days with my room mate. It is the capital of the province of Quebec and the second largest city of Quebec after Montreal. It is also one of the oldest European settlements in North America. It was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, a French navigator. That explains that Quebec City is the cradle of French Culture in the province of Quebec. Contrary to Montreal which is more a multicultural city, Quebec city is much more proud of its French roots and the French culture is everywhere, especially in the Old Quebec.

The first day was a bad day due to an excessive rain all day long. Then, we decided to visit the museum of civilization to not waste our time. This museum is the pride of the city thanks to its modern architecture and its several exhibitions that deal with various topics. Indeed, we saw an exhibition about the history of Quebec, the Maori culture and Nigerian sculptures. The visit was pretty interesting, but the primary purpose of our visit in Quebec was to hang around the Old Quebec. The weather made it difficult on this first day…

Fortunately, the second day was way better. It was sunny and warm : the perfect weather to finally visit the city ! Therefore, on the morning, we went to the Montmorency falls Park located at some miles away from the Old Quebec. They are larger waterfalls, well-known in Quebec, because they are the highest in the province at 84 meters high. In comparison with the Niagara falls, they are higher of 30 meters, that’s relevant ! I really appreciated this walking tour, because there are many infrastructures that allowed us to admire the waterfalls from different perspectives : a suspension bridge over the crest of falls and  an aerial tram between the base and the the top of the falls. Really great experience !

Then, we went back to the Old Quebec where we finally could enjoy a walk across the old city. The Old Quebec is really small, but so pleasant. It was a pleasure to hang around the neigbourhood. We could admire the radiant Château Frontenac which is in reality the Fairmount hotel built in 1893 by American architect, Bruce Price, for the Canadian Pacific Railway. For sure, it is the main symbol of the city because it evokes the Romantism of the 14th and 15th century château of the Loire valley. Nonetheless, Quebec is also famous for its citadelle that was built in the 17th century in order to protect the city.

This visit of the Old Quebec is the end mark of our last trip. I will keep really great memories of the city which is, for sure, one of the most stepped in history I have ever visited.

My next destination is Lyon (26/04/2013) !

Hi everyone, here's TV time! A notion that here means rather commercial breaks than TV shows... Everybody could tell you, the North American TV is full of ads. You cannot watch a tv show or any movies without having a commercial break each 10 minutes. That's pretty lame, but fortunately some advertisements are pretty interesting!

Then, I have decided to chose an advertisement more globally Canadian rather than one from Quebec. Indeed commercials in Quebec are too close to our French commercials. Then, I have chosen Molson Canadian, the most famous Canadian beer brand. It’s the oldest brewery in North America founded by John Molson in Montreal in 1786. It became the largest brewery in Canada and the fifth largest in the world. The main marketing strength of this brand relies on the fact that it is THE CANADIAN beer by excellence. Indeed, in all their publicities they promote the Canadian national spirit.

In this specific commercial, the spectator follows people from different places in the world: Germans, Irish, Brazilians, South Africans, Australians and Japaneses. They are all talking about some people that did crazy and cool stuffs. They look astonished when they are telling their funny facts. As a spectator, we are wondering who are these mysterious they are talking about. Then, at the end, we understand they are all Canadian people. Then, the ad shows us many Canadian having fun and chilling. It makes us understand Canadian people know how to have fun, to such a point that people from other country find them amazing and special! 

I find this commercial interesting as far as it prides the Canadian people compared with other countries. It is not an advertisement that we could see in France, because it would be rightly related to some forms of chauvinism; except maybe regarding French foods where we are pretty proud. So far, in Canada and more generally in North America, there is no shame to be nationalist. On the contrary, there will be, if you didn’t show love for your country. They are really good patriots. It is not a rare fact to see people wearing t-shirts with the flag of Canada.