Hockey!

On Friday night, I went to my first Canadian hockey match.  The UQTR was playing Laurier.  Unfortunately, we arrived after the match had started (there was some confusion as to which arena we were supposed to go, and then we got very lost on our way to the correct location.)  But what we saw was quite entertaining.  Hockey is a fast-moving sport, and there is a lot of sportmanslike violence.

At the end of the match, I was a bit disappointed- no fights had broken out, and there was no blood on the ice.  I did, however, enjoy some deliciously greasy frites during halftime, so that made the players' safety a little less disappointing.

And, for all of my Upstate NY readers- I'll be coming round the mountains in a week for a visit home! Call me if you want to hang out.

I`m on the library computer

Yes, after all I went through to get my own internet connection up and running, I have now been cut off again and must use someone else`s.  Good Lord, I now have to leave my appartment to indulge my inner narcissist online.  Not cool.

And holy merde, I just found the question mark symbol.  I actually had to ask a girl in the library how to "faire le signe d`arrobe" so that I could make an @.  Well, to make up for all of my poorly punctuated questions on Facebook today, here you are: ???????????????

Well, I was wrong about the date of the placement test.  It was today.  And it was hard.  But I guess that`s kind of the point. 

I`m already making friends, too, which is nice--- and, I must admit, unexpected.  I particularly hit it off with Ana from Mexico, Chan from China, Ingo from Austria, and Jo, Hannah, and Marcus from England.  Things are going well here.  Everyone is so nice and patient when I try to talk to them.  And their stories are interesting.  Some people are at the school to learn French so that they can study toward an MBA, some are recent immigrants with families who need to learn the language to get a job, and others are exchange students with French majors, or whose universities require a semester or year abroad. 

Oh, and my groundhog has a name--- Boudoin.  It means "brave friend."  My mom found it and I love it!  I bought a pear for him at Loblaw`s today, and I watched from a distance as he peeped back out of his hold hole and then grew comfortable enough to eat the slices.  There`s probably some rule against feeding him, but law enforcement is pretty scarce up here, and as I told my dad when he asked about the legalities, it is a crime of passion.  My love of wildlife will certainly be mitigating.

Also, the British students think that groundhogs and possums are exciting, because they don`t get to see them back home.  So I`m not the only one.   I`m going to make a Boudoin fan page on Facebook.  Because he`s my man.  "Like" and give me your address and I`ll send you an "official supporter" hand-written certificate on notebook paper.  You know you want one.

I'm checking out your moped, not you, dork!

Yep.  As I told some of you via text message, guys ride mopeds up here unironically.

I'm all for going green, but please don't act like you're cool by hunching over on a mini motorcycle with your messenger bag slung across your chest. Please. The look is just not sexy.  I don't know where you're getting the idea that it is.

But then, maybe I just have different taste, being from the exotic land of Upstate New York.

Moving on.

I saw the groundhog today.  I bought birdseed for him at Canadian Tire, but he didn't eat it.  (I looked online later and learned that they like vegetables and fruit.  They have been known to climb trees in pursuit of apples and pears.  So now you know.)  I also bought a voodoo doll from a vending machine there for Christina. 

Canadian Tire is, in Olivia's words, un magasin pour les hommes.  It's what you would get if Sears, Dick's, and Carhart had a baby and raised it in the Quebec wilderness.  There's all kinds of stuff there- tools, hockey gear, kitchen appliances, toilets, bait... I ended up going there twice because the first time I got caught up in the hunt for souvenirs to send back to you all that I forgot the birdseed that I went there in search of.

I also went to Loblaws again to buy my first bag of milk.  Rachel, Olivia, and Olivia's friend Gabrielle were there when I came back.  I was so excited to try it!  They thought my reaction was funny.  To them, bags of milk are a pretty normal thing.  Gabrielle pointed out that the bags "sont plus practique, non?" compared to cartons, and I guess that makes sense.  They're probably better for the environment, you can freeze the extra ones you buy (at least that's what I did.  I don't know if you're actually supposed to do that), and you can show off your nifty milk pitcher whenever you have someone over for cereal. 

I actually put my milk in an enormous Quebec-sized decanter, because it was cheaper than the pitcher and could hold more.

My roommates' classes start tomorrow.  It's probably a good thing, too.  Orientation got a bit crazy.  Olivia came home early from the party last night because she got ketchup in her hair and got really grossed out by it.  But this did not happen accidnetally.  The psych students covered themselves in condiments as part of the festivities.  (Maybe they do that to get a glimpse inside the heads of their future clients.  That's my best guess, anyway.)  Other majors had nerf wars, drove around campus shouting at passerby with bullhorns, or did, as I saw for the first time this afternoon, relay-type activities dressed as wizards.

So that's that.