Coming Soon, but Never Soon Enough: Fall Break...

Next week is fall break. WKU, learn from UdeM and give students a whole week for fall...that would be so lovely! Our group is packing our bags and heading west...west to Quebec!! I'm very excited about this trip. People say its beautiful. We will be staying in downtown Montreal for a couple nights, and then traveling up north to stay in the scenic mountains for a few days. I believe this is where a lot of Quebec-natives go vacationing to snowboard in the winter. We're staying close to a small village (the way they described this to me reminds me of those small ski resorts in Colorado). I don't think there will be any snow when we're there. Although, the weather forecast for Moncton has snow in it for Wednesday (yes, THIS Wednesday!). This is the perfect time to figure out if my Ugg boots are waterproof...before we get a big snow! Be ready for tons of pictures from Fall Break, Quebec-style!

Oh, and you know that huge paper I was stressin' about? I got a 99%...

YES!!!!

Things I Find Funny in Canada...

After my last post, and a week full of papers, exams, and assignments, I feel its time to infuse this blog with a lighter vibe. This brings me to things I find funny, odd, or downright hysterical in Moncton. So here goes the list...

• There are no haunted houses in Canada (In fact, when I asked someone where the nearest haunted house was, they responded by saying, "Well, I've heard that there's a building about 30 minutes from here that some people have seen a ghost in the window...")
  


• WalMart closes at 10pm!


• Public transportation has Wi-Fi (side note: the bus system is in no way comparable to that of NY or Chicago where every businessman rides the bus or subway...)
  


• The gym does not have fans
  


• There are no concession stands at athletic games...only snack machines
  


• Most stores close EARLY on Saturdays


• Tanning beds are not in abundance


• Subway has lobster meat subs...not sure if that fits into Jared's diet plan
  


• Every car is a stick shift


• 1950s Doo-Wop music is played in the public bus


• People will wait in a drive-thru line for an hour to get a Tim Horton's regular cup of coffee


• Most people don't speak French or English as their first language...its more like Franglish


• There is not a food court on campus


• The local drugstore carries Smashbox cosmetics (an ultra-fabulous brand)
  


• They put gravy on their french fries (ok, I've actually started liking this...)


• Their zoo does not have polar bears (yet you can find a polar bear a few hours away in the wild...)


• Buildings do not have air condition


• EVERYTHING is more expensive than in the States

I might add to this list as I travel around the city via bus, so stay tuned...

A Pause from the Topic Summary Paper

I'm supposed to be taking this time to write my 2,000-word Topic Summary paper for one of my classes. But, those of you who know me well, know that I get easily distracted from writing papers. I do not like writing papers. They are not fun. They are not me. Its something that I despise doing ever since my sophomore English teacher in high school never had anything good to say about my writing style. Or better yet, my senior year of high school when I had the same exact teacher and she called me on the last day of Christmas break and told me I would not be able to graduate because I had failed to provide a couple of quotes on some lousy notecards that I was supposed to turn in with the paper...and this was AFTER she had met with me and told me everything was perfect to turn in. And on a side note, YES I graduated, but only after I worked extremely hard in two hours to find every single quote in every single reference book and write them down perfectly on the notecards. And even after I did that, she still would not raise my grade. She just deemed the paper "Acceptable" so that I could graduate on time. That grade on that paper cost me my full ride to WKU (by .2 pts in my GPA).

Yes, I'm still bitter...and I still hate papers, but I'm done with my rant.

So, I'm pausing from writing my topic summary to thank everyone who has been keeping up with me and reading my blog. You can subscribe to this blog by entering your email address in the "Subscribe via Email" box and an email will be sent to you notifying you when I have made a new entry. Also, I really enjoy reading your comments, so please feel free to comment!

Ok, back to the paper...T minus 1.5 hours.

Here Comes Jean-ny Appleseed

Its that time again that happens every year. There is a slight crisp in the air that could only mean fall is here (the crisp is more like a bite here in Canada though...). The leaves are turning colors, people are starting to wear boots, and I'm getting that feeling I get every year...the need to go to Jackson's Orchard and get an apple cider slush. Except there's not a Jackson's Orchard here. So I was very excited when a family from Moncton wanted to take us to an apple harvest farm (same thing as an orchard) to go "apple picking."

This family has been doing activities with the students of the TMBA program for the past few years. I'm not really sure how they got involved with the program though, because they do not work for UdeM. The man, Jean (pronounced like John...hence the title of the blog), is an English teacher at a high school in the area. The lady is a director for a small college (by the way, Canadians don't ever say "college") in the downtown area. They also have a tutoring business that keeps them very busy afterhours. They have an adorable six-year old that would only speak to me in French (so I had to pretend to understand her!). This family has planned about ten activities for us to do throughout the semester--so about once a week. Jean is also teaching us some basic French (which is a HUGE help!).

The orchard was definitely not on the same level as Jackson's--no apple cider slushes, no popcorn, no petting zoo, etc., etc., etc. Well, no petting zoo unless you count the 20 chickens that were just roaming around that you could catch and pick-up (in all their dirty, chicken-poop covered glory). The apples were so cheap here! Probably the only thing in Canada that's cheaper than in America! Fifty cents per pound. I got about 15 apples for $1.90! And I love apples. Hopefully, we can go to this other orchard sometime soon that actually makes their own apple wine. I can't wait to see how cheap that is! It was a nice, fall adventure for us...especially since the Mexicans have never been to an orchard! No public orchards in Mexico...just your own private garden.

We go TreeGO!!

One adventure that I have neglected to write about, was my favorite adventure so far! A couple of weeks ago, the business student council arranged a trip to TreeGo (you must check out their website to understand the awesomeness that is TreeGo: http://www.treegomoncton.com/). This place is built in a park and consists of multiple obstacle courses built high in the trees. So we're talking swinging log "bridges," tons of ladders (I hated these), tight-ropes, and of course zip lines--all within five course levels of difficulty! You're harnessed in at all times, but you are responsible for your own safety (you better believe that I checked MANY times to make sure I was hooked on my zip line properly before zipping away!). And YES, I made it through all five courses! The balancing, the climbing, the pulling with your body weight will definitely let your body know of the muscles you didn't know you had! The next day I was so sore...but I love that kind of sore. It proves your pushed yourself and you accomplished something!

Man, I love this place! The guide told me it takes $500,000 and about 4 months to develop a TreeGo...any takers for the Bowling Green area???