Not Out of the Bleu.

Why going to Montreal? This trip is not as out of the blue as the one on a weekend in the middle of the second term (-> my family just decided to take a weekend off to nothern Alberta to catch the Northern Lights) I think this trip has more to do with not wanting to know that you've missed something. During my last year of high school, I was accepted into McGill before UBC. But I guess I wasn't prepared to just pack up & take off at the time. So I stayed.

Some friends went to McGill; some went to UBC like I did. Ever since, I have always wondered what would it have been if I had chosen to go to McGill instead of UBC. When I feel that I'm just fed up with my crappy profs here and the same monotonous scenes everywhere, I just can't help regretting that I should have gone somewhere else. So I've decided to take a part of my summer off to McGill (in downtown Montreal, Quebec). Maybe I've idealized the life at an exotic city too much b/c I've stayed in Vancouver too long that I just don't see the beauties of Vancouver anymore. We'll see~

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The preparation process was tedious! I woke up at 5am to register for the course but I couldn't log in so I went bk to sleep & woke up before I had to go to UBC to phone McGill & they said that I wasn't a 1st-time user ('cause I was accepted into McGill in 2003) so the whole process was all different..gosh! After battling with the UBC summer registration server 6:58am the day before, I was all ready to explode.

The McGill Residence that I tried to reserve wouldn't be open 'til the 5th of May but my class starts on the 2nd of May. So I had to find an alternative accomodation for the first week. After comparing ALL of the hostles on the travelcuts website & going to the LonelyPlanet discussion board, I've finally found a place to settle before I move into the Residence. Got cheap tickets to Montreal too.

Sometimes things just go in circles. My initial conception was to stay there from April 29-June5 b/c that would give me plenty of time to explore the place before and after my school starts/ends. Later, I thought about all the accomodation & food costs so I decided to cut it down to April30-June3. But when I tried to order the tickets for the plane, I found that the plane ticket on the 29th was $100 cheaper than the one on the 30th). & when I tried to book for the McGill Rez, I found that if in order to get the monthly rate, I have to stay for 30nights - meaning I can only leave on the 5th. So things always work out the way I wanted to anyway, which is awesome! Sometimes you just gotta let things take care of themselves.