First day in Montreal - St. Denis Square
April 30, 2005 (Samedi)
I got 3 hrs of good sleep last night because it was FREEEEEZZZING cold. My bed was close to the window and the wind was blowing right at my face for the whole night. I had to cover my face entirely (not to suffocate myself) with my coat. Then the girl who slept on the bed on top of mine packed up and left around 4am, after getting a call on the cell that had a huge ring-tone sound. Almost drove me to the edge of insanity. I was thinking: “oh well.. just 7 more days and 6 more nights before I move into the McGill Rez.. but CRAP! SIX more nights????” I was staring at the bed above mine thinking “what the heck am I doing here? What is this? Where the hell am I?”I was given a pillow case, a linen, and something that resemble a sheet last night & was told to put that on the bed. I was staring at it like “what am I suppose to do with this?” I’ve never stayed at a hostel all my life so I was quite shocked to see a dorm room with 6 bunk beds, 4 of which were occupied and messy and the room smelt funny. But it’s just a matter of time of getting used to things like that.
My corner of the world for the 1st night.
Met a Taiwan guy who was traveling with his mother over the breakfast. Apparently, he went on an exchange to UBC and played in the Chinese Music Ensemble at UBC. COOL! A person from my double home towns (ie Taipei & Vancouver). He said that Vancouver was nice but he thought the city was actually not that fun, compare to Taipei. I TOTALLY AGREE. I thought my sister and I were the only ones getting sick of Vancouver. YAY~ We’re not alone, not like that matters.
The hostel that I'm staying at.
The Cegep du Vieux-Montreal building diagonally across from our hostel. We could see it from the window of our dinning place in the hostel.
Then I talked to the girls who were in the same room as me. Two were from Australia, and two were from Korea (on an exchange to a university in London, ON). Interesting. The good thing about staying in hostel is that you get to meet people from all over the place, traveling like you.
I had to change my room today because of some booking mistake the night before and besides, I didn’t want to sleep on the bed beside the window AGAIN. I CANNOT stand another night of that cocooned life. Before 11 (the check out time for those who were in the room that I was going to move into), I decided to go take a walk around the Square St. Louis, which is only a few blocks away from my hostel. The park built in 1879 was originally a reservoir. It first attracted upper-middle-class families and artists to this elegant yet Bohemian place. Now the neighborhood is largely the home to writers, musicians, filmmakers, and painters.
The streets near Square St. Denis are fall of houses that look like this.
Maybe because it was a Saturday morning, the place seemed really quiet. There were only 2-3 people in the park. It was actually quite scary to be in a park when there’s no one except a few strange men. I took a few quick pics, as not to advertise myself as a tourist by trying to “capture” the best angle (b/c that would take me some time and inadvertently reveal my “identity”). I found the houses that were on a photograph in my guidebook!
Tiffy in Square St. Denis! haha.. This is a bit pathetic.
The buildings on the Fordor guide book!
An interesting monument in the park.
My corner of the world for the next 6 nights.
It was noon time. I was hungry because I had no proper food (ie non-junk food). I took the bus to McGill to look around and find somewhere to eat. The sky looked really cloudy and the weather was not very friendly. When I got off the first stop at McGill, I was totally shocked by the humongous building before me. It was large stony architecture built in the style of the Greek Pantheon with all the big statues in front of the building. Aside from the big banner that says something like “McGill Celebrating 100 Years of Music", the stony engraving reads: Strathcona Music Building. OMG! This is the building where I would be taking my course!!! The outside was elegant but the inside was not so.
The Music Building!
Went to buy the monthly bus/metro pass and back to the hostel after that. I was sooo BORED. It was raining hard. I phoned up May and Hersha. May was so sympa to take me to a great Taiwanese restaurant in China Town and a FANTASTIC jazz vocal concert at a place in the northern part of the city (had to take Metro). It was pouring rain as we went around the place. It was certainly not the best day to walk around but there’s a good show in town, it’s worth it!
May is doing jazz vocal performance at McGill so she knows some singers who were performing. The performance took place in a small room on the second floor of a pub/bar. It was a really warm and cozy setting. There were 5 singers: 3 female and 2 male; 1 keyboard player, 1 bass player, and 1 drummer. The performance was awesome!
I got back to the hostel around 10pm and my coat smelled like tobacco and beer b/c people were drinking and smoking during the performance. I just couldn’t stand the smell..Uhhhh
posted by Champagne* @ 10:00 PM
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