Home in Montreal

So I'm having a good time in Montreal. You guys don't need to worry; I've been through the first week, and I'm doing fine. I've gotten off the plane, into a bus that took me downtown, and found my youth hostel within minutes. The first thing I did there after I checked in and talked with my roommate was... To go for a walk into town. At 10PM we took a walk into town that took us past a lot of tall buildings. These, but by night.



This got us into the old part of town, with lots of historic buildings. In a later tour I learned that one of these buildings actually used to house the oldest clock in North America, and another the first elevator in the world. The square that holds these two buildings also holds a magnificent -really!- church. I've seen quite a few in Europe. It's ehmmm... This one. P.s. I do recommend looking at the picture in the original size. Click it!





We walked past the waterfront, back through Montreal's own Chinatown and to the hostel. Not until we got back around midnight did I sleep; although I did sleep very well.

The next day I figured I ought to get as much work done as I could, so I checked out a map and walked into town to find the McGill campus. That wasn't too hard since everything here is in blocks; streets are in straight, perpendicular lines. Oh yeah, but! The traffic lights here are a little different. There are almost no lights for pedestrians. I got to campus safely though.

Fast forward, I've met plenty of great people at the youth hostel and outside of it. Quite a few are also exchange students, some or Canadians and even Montrealites. Today McGill organised an official "Discover McGill" day, which was plenty of fun. And after that I returned to what I may call home for the coming four months; a nice old house in a nice neighbourhood of Montreal, cycling distance from the campus.