Am I happy? Yeah, I think so. It's not so much that I don't like it here. I do. There is so much stuff to see and learn and buy (I'm practically a shopaholic now...can't stop buying stuff!). The weather's nice and summery on the most part, Vieux Quebec is amazing, and I've figured out how to use a map and actually get to the places I want. It's just that it just isn't the same without the people and places I love, and 5 weeks of feeling like you're missing out on things at home is just too long. From the first time I heard about this program, I wished it was 3 weeks long instead of 5. Three weeks out of a summer doesn't seem like much, but add two more and...well, it seems a thousand times longer.
I think I sound so spoiled right now. Most kids would be stoked to spend 5 weeks away from parents and stuff like that. Yeah. I thought it'd be so awesome. But you know what? After a couple weeks, all you really want to do is go home, smell some good home-made food, read your favourite book, lie down in your own bed, turn out the light, and sleep for however long you want. And when you wake up, it won't be to a song that makes you cry (only way I can get up and going because it jolts me out of sleep), it won't be at 7-freaking AM on a summer day, you won't have to clean your room before going out the door, you won't have to constantly gasp and check if you have your keys with you, you won't have to wait in line for ages for breakfast while other little brats cut the line...no. You won't have to do that because you're home and it's your place, where you can do whatever the heck you want and you won't get a billet blanc. Those are bad things...get two and you either write an essay in French or go to detention where you get to do pages and pages of French worksheets in complete silence. Or you're grounded. One of those things.
Okay I gotta write more later because the library's closing even though it says they close at 7, not 6:30. I guess these people want to go home too.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Quebec: Half-way
Helloooo blog long time no see! Bonjour from Quebec City.
Everything`s going awesome here. This is probably the first time I`ve had a computer all to myself since 16 days ago. My French vocabulary has been increasing...I think. Well, at least I can talk a bit now instead of just saying «oui» or «non». Oh cool, this keyboard has the French version of quotation marks! Yeah..it took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to type @ on this thing. Turns out you have to press ctrl then alt then the 2. Weird.
Although this program is fun and all (we really don`t have much free time...only the weekends and that only means Friday night and Saturday), I`m really starting to miss home. I miss baking A LOT. Darn. All my plans to start baking some stuff from this cookbook I bought are probably gonna go to waste since I`m going to be really busy in August as well. OH wow this computer doesn`t say 1:00 p.m. but 13:00. Cool.
Oh yes. Home. I miss the ocean. Sooo much. I miss sailing and kayaking and having bbqs on the beach and digging for clams. I miss the cool sea breeze. It`s freaking humid all the time here. Even when it rains. And when it rains it`s always a thunderstorm. With raindrops the size of grapes. It`s cool, but really annoying when it`s a Friday night and you`re trying to get out of the dorms and into the actual city.
I think I miss home so much because I`ve never been away from home for more than 13 days. That`s how long my France trip a few years back lasted. So by the 14th day here, I was positively dying. I thought I had to go see the counsellor here, it was that bad. But then it stopped. Today, really. The aching feeling went away. Maybe it`s because I went out on the balcony and jump-roped 2000 times yesterday. I guess it was just stress.
No. No, I don`t think so. Because when my alarm rings in the morning (I set it to a song I really like and that reminds me of home in so many ways), I'm jolted awake. And then I feel like I`m gonna cry, and that really hurts when you`ve just woken up from a really deep sleep (I have no dreams here. I just pass out at midnight, then shock myself awake at 6:30, then go back to sleep till my alarm. The 6:30 thing is because I was late my second day here...got to class an hour late, but it was no biggie really.)
I miss my usual summer activities...which mostly consist of:
-watching tons of kdramas. For entire days sometimes.
-eating ice cream and watermelon and making smoothies at home
-running and swimming and playing badminton with my sis
-going to Costco and Ikea. It`s fun. Really. Especially Costco with its free food.
-writing stuff
-READINGGGG. Well, really, I miss going into the air-conditioned library, staying for an hour to choose and read parts of books, then checking out something like 7 books at the same time.
But I`m getting some of that here too. Finished two books! Read one on the bus to Montreal. It was pretty awesome. Agatha Christie. Some of her books suck, but I liked this one. I got it along with three other books at a thrift store here. All for $0.25. Yeahhhhhh :) I love thrift stores.
-doing math. I can`t believe it. I MISS MATH!
-daycamps! I miss kids.
-shopping without having to carry around everything I buy. Or worrying that something will melt. Because it will.
-GETTING NEW MUSIC. Good grief, I`m dying here with stale music. I mean, it`s still good. But better stuff is getting shoved under my face and I really want to download it but I can`t because I don`t have iTunes or a laptop of my own where I can turn it on. Oh yes, I miss listening to music through actual speakers and not just earphones. Because you can`t really dance to that. Nope. I need speakers.
-And lastly...hanging out with my friends. Or rather (since I don`t do that much regularly anyway), just knowing that I can call them up and meet then anytime. That they`re just around the corner. Unless they`ve gone off on their own traveling adventure, of course.
Oh mannn I miss summer at home. I find that I can't wait till the day I can pack away everything in my room and shut my suitcases for good. Oh SHOOT there's inspection de chambres today. Which means monitors come in and check your room to make sure it`s clean. Oh yeah. They`re also doing bedbug checks today because apparently the 3rd and 4th floors have the little disgusting critters. Oh god. Please not the fifth floor!
Everything`s going awesome here. This is probably the first time I`ve had a computer all to myself since 16 days ago. My French vocabulary has been increasing...I think. Well, at least I can talk a bit now instead of just saying «oui» or «non». Oh cool, this keyboard has the French version of quotation marks! Yeah..it took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to type @ on this thing. Turns out you have to press ctrl then alt then the 2. Weird.
Although this program is fun and all (we really don`t have much free time...only the weekends and that only means Friday night and Saturday), I`m really starting to miss home. I miss baking A LOT. Darn. All my plans to start baking some stuff from this cookbook I bought are probably gonna go to waste since I`m going to be really busy in August as well. OH wow this computer doesn`t say 1:00 p.m. but 13:00. Cool.
Oh yes. Home. I miss the ocean. Sooo much. I miss sailing and kayaking and having bbqs on the beach and digging for clams. I miss the cool sea breeze. It`s freaking humid all the time here. Even when it rains. And when it rains it`s always a thunderstorm. With raindrops the size of grapes. It`s cool, but really annoying when it`s a Friday night and you`re trying to get out of the dorms and into the actual city.
I think I miss home so much because I`ve never been away from home for more than 13 days. That`s how long my France trip a few years back lasted. So by the 14th day here, I was positively dying. I thought I had to go see the counsellor here, it was that bad. But then it stopped. Today, really. The aching feeling went away. Maybe it`s because I went out on the balcony and jump-roped 2000 times yesterday. I guess it was just stress.
No. No, I don`t think so. Because when my alarm rings in the morning (I set it to a song I really like and that reminds me of home in so many ways), I'm jolted awake. And then I feel like I`m gonna cry, and that really hurts when you`ve just woken up from a really deep sleep (I have no dreams here. I just pass out at midnight, then shock myself awake at 6:30, then go back to sleep till my alarm. The 6:30 thing is because I was late my second day here...got to class an hour late, but it was no biggie really.)
I miss my usual summer activities...which mostly consist of:
-watching tons of kdramas. For entire days sometimes.
-eating ice cream and watermelon and making smoothies at home
-running and swimming and playing badminton with my sis
-going to Costco and Ikea. It`s fun. Really. Especially Costco with its free food.
-writing stuff
-READINGGGG. Well, really, I miss going into the air-conditioned library, staying for an hour to choose and read parts of books, then checking out something like 7 books at the same time.
But I`m getting some of that here too. Finished two books! Read one on the bus to Montreal. It was pretty awesome. Agatha Christie. Some of her books suck, but I liked this one. I got it along with three other books at a thrift store here. All for $0.25. Yeahhhhhh :) I love thrift stores.
-doing math. I can`t believe it. I MISS MATH!
-daycamps! I miss kids.
-shopping without having to carry around everything I buy. Or worrying that something will melt. Because it will.
-GETTING NEW MUSIC. Good grief, I`m dying here with stale music. I mean, it`s still good. But better stuff is getting shoved under my face and I really want to download it but I can`t because I don`t have iTunes or a laptop of my own where I can turn it on. Oh yes, I miss listening to music through actual speakers and not just earphones. Because you can`t really dance to that. Nope. I need speakers.
-And lastly...hanging out with my friends. Or rather (since I don`t do that much regularly anyway), just knowing that I can call them up and meet then anytime. That they`re just around the corner. Unless they`ve gone off on their own traveling adventure, of course.
Oh mannn I miss summer at home. I find that I can't wait till the day I can pack away everything in my room and shut my suitcases for good. Oh SHOOT there's inspection de chambres today. Which means monitors come in and check your room to make sure it`s clean. Oh yeah. They`re also doing bedbug checks today because apparently the 3rd and 4th floors have the little disgusting critters. Oh god. Please not the fifth floor!
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