Apartment! and Frosh!

So I found a place and am completely moved in, have been since Tuesday.  My roommate and her parents just arrived today and they are getting settled in now.  So much has happened since my last update!  The day after I moved in FROSH started, which is orientation.  It is extremely different from that in the US.  For a basis, the Canadian drinking age is 18, so most of the events are centered around the, um, legality of alcohol.  It started when all 1,200 science first years line-up outside one of the gymnasiums.  They split us into groups of 40 (I was in the first group because I got there 40 minutes early).  They-and this is entirely student coordinated and run-then tell us to run around the corner into the gymnasium.  As soon as we cleared the door we were attacked/tackled/grabbed by frosh leaders in neon green shirts who dragged us back to their respective groups and then ran off to get more first-years of the group. 
WARNING: Those over 30 or those who are reading this and don't like to hear about college-aged students' shenanigans should probably skip to the next paragraph.   But the theme of the event seemed to be sex.  All the frosh leaders had alliterative names (Hands-on Hannah, and A***-loving Adam, etc.)  And all the groups had sex-themed mottos, our was: Groups 4-Puke and Score (all these became chants later).  As soon as we got to our groups they asked us our names, whipped us around and wrote a similar phrase on the back of our frosh t-shirts using our name.  I won't put down what mine was in case those of the older persuasion are reading this despite my warning.  But they also labelled us all over with 4 (so they don't lose us and we don't defect to other groups).  We then went down to the main field and using our mugs they gave us, could get free beer and mingle.  All the frosh leaders were drunk and soon many of the students were as well.  It was fun, I got to meet a bunch of people whose names I don't remember and who I probably won't ever see again.  Then that night we went to a club on the top of a sky scraper with a beautiful view of Montreal.  It was really nice.

The following two days were much of the same, with Thursday being a carnival-like day on the main field (again free beer), followed by a pub crawl.  It was a lot of fun - not because of the drinking, but because as we walked around for the pub crawl in written-on frosh shirts we shouted chants: Group 4's motto, "We're crossing the street, we're crossing the street," "Everything's a chant, everything's a chant,"  And they taught us an anti-Concordia (another downtown rival) chant, and the McGill chant (which contains much profanity and I won't repeat here).  I skipped out on the club that night because I was too tired, and was probably the best decision because....

The following day was Beach Day!  And the buses left at 9AM, many people were still drunk.  But beach day was awesome, kind of a spring-break-type feel with a DJ, a bunch of water stuff (slides, a water trampoline, kayaks) to do.  It was a lot of fun.  We went yet again to another club Friday night, and it was a blast. It's a gorgeous club with good, relatively cheap drinks, and a really good DJ.  The only down-side was that the dance floor was packed and ridiculously hot. But it was a blast and a great way to get to know people and have fun.  I'm going to miss having the green frosh bracelet that let us skip the lines and get in free at all the places.  It was an awesome few days, and now I am just back to chilling and getting ready for class--which starts Wednesday!

Day 8: A whole week in the city

So after a week here, I have a few leads on apartments.  Not sure though what will work out ultimately.  In the meantime of stressing/pulling my hair out about housing, I've gotten my student ID!  Also, we went segway-riding!  It was really easy and a lot of fun.  Our guide took us around a legit F1 racetrack, some of those turns are tight!  They were actually doing a lot of stuff on the track to get ready for the NASCAR race coming up.  See the picture below.  And this coming week orientation/craziness begins, and I think for the duration I will still be living out of a hotel...but something will work.  Maybe I should start shopping for a cardboard box just in case... : P

Day 4: Apartments, where are you?

So it's the fourth day in the Montreal.  So far I've seen 2 apartments (one too far, the other too $$$).  So I keep looking, and craigslist-stalking.  But in the meantime we went to Vieux-port, visited a museum with the archeological dig of Old Monteal below (which we then walked through), and watched a fire-works display (there was a little quebequois girl next to us-kids seem even cuter when they speak in french).  Yesterday we walked around Mile-End, another neighborhood with a bunch of unique townhouses and boutique shops, and saw the TamTams on Mont Royal.  The TamTams are really very cool, just a bunch of people who don't know each other get together each sunday and play their drums and assorted instruments.  Really high-energy and fun!  And since it is Monday we woke up before 10 today and now it's back to apartment hunting.  Wish me luck!

First Post (I feel this title to creative enough...well at least descriptive...it's late and I'm rambling)

Ok, so I have one more day at home, then off to Scranton to see family and finally off to MONTREAL! 
Status: 
Passport...check
Canadian Money...check
Phone service...working on it, so after Thursday mid-day don't try to call me until you recieve further instructions

Hotel reserved...check
Apartments to visit.....I've made contact.
Packing...haha, funny you mention....
I keep getting distracted by lunches with friends, and books I want to reread before I have to leave them behind, and other silly little things.  But it's almost here.  AHHH!