Ms. Reyling visits
Quebec, Canada this summer...
Ms. Reyling’s summer journal…
Sunday, July 6, 2008
I am studying in Quebec, Canada for the rest of the summer. I
should start
taking pictures tomorrow.
Ms. Reyling
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Here are a few pictures from Canada. This is their 400th
Anniversaire. The river in the background is the Saint Laurence and
if I clicked the right pictures, it's the sugar shack. It's a place
where they make maple sugar. We ate at the restaurant this
evening.
I'll send more pictures soon.
Ms. Reyling
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Well I got to see all sorts of whales and seals today. We had to
drive three hours to get there. The bus even had to take the ferry
across the seaway. We had a picnic lunch on the beach/dock and then
went on our boat ride for three hours. Our boat driver had a lot of
fun with us trying to find them. No one got sea sick, so after we
watched the whales come up for air he went and found some bigger
boats and we ran through their waves. It was fun. My head is still
moving though. I feel like I'm still in the boat.
The pictures are from the dock where I ate my lunch and the other
is one of the whales that I saw.
Ms. Reyling
July 15, 2008
Here are a few pictures of Université Laval. I’m in front of the École de langues (language school). I take most of my classes here. I’m studying l’étymologie (the origin of words), advanced phonetics and oral expression. All of the classes are taught completely in French and we get in trouble if we are caught speaking anything but French. Almost everything you see is in French, even the stop signs.
Ms. Reyling
July 19, 2008
Bonjour à tous,
After the mental challenges of my first round of tests at Université Laval, I spent my Saturday on Mont-Saint-Anne. This mountain is the highest peak in Québec with a top elevation of 2626 feet. During the winter, this mountain is one of the top ski resorts. During the summer, people can go hiking or mountain bike riding. It just so happened that today was the World Championship Mountain bike race. We didn't get to see much of the competition because we were there to go hiking.
It took our group about two and a half hours to climb to the summit. I was glad that there was overcast because either blazing sun or pouring rain would have been miserable. After eating our lunch at the summit we started the hour and a half trip back to the bottom. Going down was a bit easier, but you had to be careful to watch your footing so you wouldn’t slip and fall.
After returning to the bottom, our group descended 350 stairs to the bottom of the Jean-Larose waterfall. “La chute” was 80 meters high and was absolutely amazing to behold. The water was rainwater from one the nearby lakes which is fed by the mountain. The water was so cold, but refreshing to walk in. Some of the students even jumped off one of the rocks into the water in front of the water fall. Afterwards we had to climb up the 350 stairs to get to the bus. It was quite a fun, exhausting day.
The pictures are from the bottom of the Mont-Saint-Anne, the summit and Jean-Larose waterfall.
Ms. Reyling
July 21, 2008
As a part of the 400th anniversary of Canada, there was a free Paul McCartney concert last evening at the Plains of Abraham. There were conservatively 200,000 people there for the concert. Watching Paul McCartney live in concert was a once in a life time experience. I couldn’t get near the stage because of all the people, but I got to watch it on one of the big televisions in the park.
Ms. Reyling
July 25, 2008
The sun finally came out today after a week of
cold rain and clouds. After class today I went on the
excursion to Vieux Quebec (old Quebec). It was absolutely
wonderful. That's the reason why you come to Vieux
Quebec. We walked through the Plains of Abraham. Then
we had ice cream beside of the Chateau Frontenac. I had lemon
sorbet. It was like eating a frozen limondade. Then we
toured an excavation site, dating back to the 1600's, in front of
Chateau Frontenac.
I have a busy weekend ahead with excursions and finishing up my
shopping, so I have to stay home tonight and do my homework.
Starting next week I have many tests and projects due.
Ms. Reyling
August 1, 2008
The race is on. With one week to go all projects and test have to be completed along with packing for the trip home.
My vocabulary teacher cut our class short so we could take the bus to L’Assembé Nationale. It’s our equivalent the capitol building in Springfield. We had dinner reservations there. We ate traditional québécois food in high fashion. Lunch started with our choice of vegetable or pea soup. Then we had the main dish. I had the lasagna with veal. Finally we had a luxurious dessert. I had something called “Marinade de fraises au Grand Marnier en coupable chocolatée.' It was chocolate that had been molded around a small glass that was filled with ice cream. There were strawberries spilling out of it covered in a sweet liquor and drizzled with dark chocolate and chocolate shavings. YUMMMMM!
After our meal, we took a free tour of the National Assembly building. It was neat to learn about Québec’s government.
I'll be home in about a week.
Ms. Reyling
August 3, 2008
Today I visited Île d’Orléans and Chute Montmorency. My group visited Chute Montmorency first. It’s a huge waterfall located on the outskirts of Québec City. During the summer months you can walk across the bridge over the waterfall and the surrounding trails and stairs. During the winter, the waterfall freezes and you can climb it.
Afterwards we visited Île d’Orléans. It’s an island located next to Québec City. Much of the local produce is grown here. We went on a taste testing tour. We were able to try all sorts of mustards, jams, jellies and cider. All of it was amazing.
Ms.Reyling
