moidansquebec

Alright, so I got my diploma, and a T4 slip, and a $150 tax deduction slip. And then we did a countdown. And I screamed my english numbers. And then we laughed at the animateurs. HAHAHA.
Here are some pictures - it was a formal affair.




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All of us, all prettied up!


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Carol and me!


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Big group.


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Roxanne and me.


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Timothy and me - he has to duck down, because he is so tall. xP


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Marten and me.


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Frederic and me.


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Guiallme and me.


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Hugo and me.


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Nicholas and me!



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The Graduation for Niveau/Level 2!



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And me and some friends at dinner. That medal around my neck is a token of winning the French Olympics! My group, the Cities D'or, was the winner!

Now, if you excuse me, there are a whole lot of bars that do not ID that are waiting for me. I am off to celebrate my renewed English like only an Anglophone can! Long live the Mother Tongue!

I went to Montréal yesterday, and it was a mostly good experience. I don't know if I have ever seen a city so alive and energetic! So many people, so many openly gay people, and the entire area bursting with liberalism and gay pride! Rainbow flags everywhere! Hot guys and girls making out and holding hands with their same sex out in the open, without any scornful mormons to hiss in my ear.
At first I really enjoyed myself, but as the day went on, more and more homeless people were seen, passed out or begging for money, holding up signs that said they needed food. It made my stomach twist. My asian friends decided on a pricey Italian restaurant without really consulting me, and because I just could not afford to spend twenty dollars on a meal, I took off and found Julia at a Hookah bar; she had been ditched by Carol and Josh, so I joined up with her and we smoked and had fun, and then hightailed it back to the buses.
Oh well, let's get on with some pictures. Starting with the Biodome, which is a huge indoor zoo.

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Here are some pictures of the stuffed animals they had showcased at the Biodome. Carol insisted that she get a picture of me “petting” the wolf. Not a great picture of me, but it /does/ kind of look like I am petting the wolf.

Real animals (not great pictures, because the flash function was not allowed):

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Me with the PENGUINS! ZOMG!


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Me with DUCKS! What can I say? I’m a bird person.

Now, pictures of the city and of the park Mont Royal:

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Okay, this is Chelsea, pretending to eat this huge bug we found, which had pincers and all sorts of scary appendages. I have no idea what it was, but I can’t believe she was touching it. .___.


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One of the many banners for the “Out games”. Montréal is practically built on Gay Pride.


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A cross-dressing shop? I didn’t go in, my friends wanted to find a Starbucks, so I guess I will never know.


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There are tons of strip clubs, all over the place – right beside the drugstores!


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Julia and I smoking in a hookah bar, which is supposed to ID you, but never did. Mum said I would get sick if I smoked, but it really didn’t bother me at all. The chocolate was smooth and went down fine, and left me feeling pleasantly buzzed and mellow. Seeing as how I am not a smoker and I don’t plan to be a smoker, I figured it was a good thing just to try and then be done with. There are no hookah bars that I know of in Lethbridge, so unless I want to go all the way to Calgary to smoke, I don’t think I will be getting addicted anytime soon. I kind of want to go back and try some of the other flavours while I am in Montréal, just for fun. We shall see.


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Julia and I, while we were waiting for the fireworks show out in a field – we got the cheap seats, rather than being in the stands, so we missed most of them, as there were trees, but it looked like it would have been amazing. It lasted at least half an hour, and I’ve never seen fireworks like them.


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And here is a picture of the sky, because the clouds were gorgeous. They were actually a pink-charcoal grey, but I needed to use the flash to have them show up, which is why they are red. I took it because I thought my friend Matt would like it.

Yesterday it was Debby's birthday, so we decorated our apartment in secret, made a cake, and presented her with everything in the middle of soupér bu turning out the lights on everyone and coming out to sing happy birthday en français!



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This is Carol and I hanging balloons.


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This is a picture of the group. Josh was making fun of my camera just as he took the picture, which was why my smile faltered. =/


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Another group picture.




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I took this picture in class today. See all of those empty desks? Those were the places of students that left a week or so into the program. =/ It's the same on the other side of the room. From left to right is Nicholas, one of the only good looking boys here, Nikita, Michelle, Alicia (<3), and Evan's arm.



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And apparently, we now live in BC. Thanks Mum.

Okay, so I know I was supposed to be posting pictures about a week and a half ago, but I wanted to wait to borrow Julia's camera so I could take pictures she took as well, and she kept forgetting to bring it, and she is lazy and wouldn't get it, and before I knew it, it was today. Finally, I got it, so I will update from the furthest back, starting with pictures of our trip to the St. Mauricie (on the fifteenth, I think. It was a Saturday), last Friday's Halloween party, the trip to the big water park I forgot the name of (this past Saturday), followed by many random pictures of life at the Cégep! Get ready for fun, and sillyness.
(I may have to put a bag over my head after posting some of this. =P)

St. Mauricie:



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Pictures of me and my friends at the canoeing place.


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This is Julia and I holding up our towels so that Carol could change on the beach. Josh was taking the pictures. He's pimpin' like that.


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He also took pictures of us while we were lying down, because he's a jerk like that. He swears up and down that he's a Christian, but we're all pretty sure that he's either gay, a closet deviant, or both. =P (<3 Josh!)


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This is Julia, Carol, and I all trying to take pictures of us together on our own. They got messed up, because no matter how we took them, it was hard to hold teh camera, especially mine. I have never heard so much cursing out of a little asian girl before, as Carol didn't like the absurd weight of my huge camera. As a result, the pictures are a little wonky.


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Here comes trouble. Josh was teasing me about something, so I picked up his belt, and was in the middle of saying "bring it on, little boy" or something like that. Hilarity ensues...


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Yes, I know I am a whale. =( But I wanted a tan, so I had to leave my white squishyness uncovered. I never claimed to have a washboard stomach!


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Josh taking pictures while Julia was trying to get dressed - notice her annoyed, but amused expression as Josh, the boy who reminds us daily of the woes of eating french fries and reprimands our constant use of Franglais swears and the flaunting of our some or none cleavage (depending on the person in the group), attempts to look like a macho, testosterone infused boy.


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Josh, Julia, et moi, getting ready to leave, as the storm clouds were rolling in.


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The aforementioned clouds of doom.


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Amanda, Kristen, and Kathy getting soaked in the downpour.

The Halloween party:
Funny story behind the blue dress thing I was wearing... I was carrying so much stuff in the Village de Valeur (Value Village), so I was wearing the jacket thing, and forgot about it. When I paid for a book, and a hat, and a cute top for this winter, I didn't remember, and the lady at the counter didn't notice. So, I accidentally saved myself several dollars. I didn't think about it till we were at the bus stop, and when Carol asked me how much it ahd been, I almost died. She said we couldn't go back though.
Am I a terrible person? I have never shoplifted before! =O ...I should have worn one of the real fur coats out instead!

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Cindy and I were sexy detectives!


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Amanda as a hippy, Carol as a school girl, Kathy as a hippie (je pence?), Julia as a boy, and Cindy and I as sexy detectives.


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Some shouted "Strike a pose!"


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Cindy and I dancing on a platform.


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Me with some of the boys, going as "The Village People".


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Giome, an Animateur, on Halloween.


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Géneve, dressed as a Pog for Halloween. She was the one who gave me the Advertissement for calling home.
The waterpark:
I didn't bring my camera because I knew I couldn't carry it around, but Julia did take a few pictures.


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The shop area of the water park.


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And pictures of the scariest ride in the water park: Everest. It doesn't seem so bad, until you are lying down on the mat, and you first look down the ramp and you suddenly realise that it is an almost vertical drop, and there is no going back, because a french lady is encouraging you in french, and everyone is watching, and suddenly you are rocketing downwards and screaming, even though you said you wouldn't. =/

Random pictures around Trois-Riviéres:

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A french fortune cookie. (Translated to: Dressing simply will bring clarity, or something)


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Me passionately consuming the french fortune cookie.


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Me and my delicious "beurre et sucre crêpe avec crème anglaise, in very poor light.


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A Brittany from my Écriture class, whom I love. She is so awesome, and lives in BC.


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J'adore les crêpes!


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Carol, looking unhappy about having to wear a Bentley bag while dying her brownish hair black.


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Josh dying Carol's hair...


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...But he sucked at it, so I took over. Hilarity again ensued.


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The washing of Carol's hair, and the subsequent flooding/smearing of blueish dye all over the bathroom. Luckily, someone was smart enough to wipe it up before it dried. In our ghetto apartment where everything is broken, we just can not afford to have a blue bathroom.


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The people above us suck. They are SO LOUD. I was getting fed up with the noise (it sounded like they were bouncing a basketball on the floor), so my friends and I grabbed chairs and pounded on the ceiling. They pounded back. We pounded harder. They shut up.


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This is from this afternoon. Julia, who had been whining about missing a certain someone, was later found sleeping and sucking her thumb.


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It is impossible to get pictures of Thomas, which is why I have not mentioned him before.


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A bunch of the 'Animateurs'/monitors.



Finalement! C'est fini!

Yesterday we were taken to the St. Mauricie, a gorgeous national park. I would have posted the pictures for that first, but there are some pictures that Julia took that I want as well, so it will have to wait till after soupér.
However, after being rained out and having to come home early, Julia and I took a trip to a small crépe restaurant and then came back to the Cégep and got ourselves all dolled up with the rest of our friends - finally, we were going to break some rules, be a little bad, and go have some real fun!
The night could be summed up in "Oh noes! Nobody IDs in Québec!" =D



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A couple of pictures of the architechture of Trois-Riviére while it is still daytime.



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Carol and Julia being sexy, just before we were ready to leave.



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Julia and Carol, encore.



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The group, just as we were about to leave. I felt really self conscious and squishy in that tight shirt, but Carol and Cindy told me I had to wear it.
From left to right goes Me, Amanda, Julia, Cindy, Carol.



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And this is me, Carol, Julia and Josh, drinking and eating after, like, an hour of dancing to fast Mexican music (which is why I look so hot and dishevelled). Vive le Tex-Mex, king of clubs, and mistress of the underage drinker! I actually found a beer that doesn't taste like cold animal urine to me! =D Drunk frenchmen hit on me.

After a decent breakfast of fruit and crepes, we took a long bus ride all the way out to Québec - let me share with you my experience with you in just a few words... I thought I was going to die. The streets in Québec are like the streets in Europe - nobody cares about the speed limit, or about pedestrians. Imagine being in a school bus and rounding corners at over 100km/h. Scary.
Nancy, the director of the Explore program warned us on the first day that «In Québec, we stop for no one... Seriously.» And it is so true.
Anyway, we stopped at a historical house that had a rope-car thing, for lunch. Lots of pictures!:


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Here are a bunch of pictures from La Musée De La Civilisation (there would be more, but after taking one or two I actually got stopped by Security... However, I took as many pictures as I could when no one was looking. Aren't I thoughtful?):

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This is a tribute to the Olympics.



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I took this picture for my Dad; even though he doesn't like the Montréal Canadiens, I thought he might think it was cool to see some of the original paraphernalia.



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I took this picture for both my Dad and my Papa, seeing as how they are both interested in the wars. These are french war medals, and even though the picture is blurry because it was taken through glass, it's still pretty neat.



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A French coat of arms, with the slogan «Je Me Souviens», or «I remember». This same phrase is on Québecois license plates.



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These two images are both copies of the Declaration of Human Rights.



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Kind of morbid, but this is a picture of Sarah Melville, a girl who was murdered. In the museum there was a wing dedicated to solving crimes, particularly this one. Her story was used as an exercise to go through all the different steps used to find her killer.



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This is Erotic Folk Art - and yes, it was in the museum. I think it's weird and ugly, but a lot of people like it because it is so daring. I thought the guy under the elephant looked like my Dad, so I had to leave the room. =/

After going to the museum, we were driven into the downtown area of Vieux Québec City (the old part of the city). We had several hours to explore the place, but even that wasn't enough to cover the entire area. I took as many pictures as I could as we wandered.

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From left to right is me, Cindy, and Carol.



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All of us, again.



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Me, me, me, and me. God I'm funny looking! I was wearing Carol's short skirt because I had hoped to tan or burn or something, so that my legs wouldn't be so white, but it didn't work.
In that last one, there were kids playing in the fountain - I wanted to take a picture up there, but Cindy didn't want to take her shoes off and roll up her pants, and I didn't want to do it alone. .____.

And now, random pictures of Vieux Québec City!:

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Along with all of the puppeteers, artists, and musicians that were doing acts in Québec, there were these two guys doing an escape act. It really was amazing to see them get out of all of those chains and belts and buckles - it only took about twenty seconds.


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If I wasn't so uptight about spending my money I would have liked to ride in one of these. How crazy is that? A horse and carriage in the turning lane!



C'est fin!

Well, I haven't went anywhere fantastic so I haven't got many pictures to share, however, there were a few things I have on my memory stick that deserve some attention!



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I have been meaning to take a picture of this since the day I got here! The morning I came I was left alone to unpack my bags and etc. and then to come and meet the animateurs in the loft; on the way, this poster stopped me dead in my tracks. «Choquant? Pour les homophobes!» is translated to «Shocking? For the homophobes!» And I was thinking «This is a school! Whoever posted this would be stoned to death in the street back in Raymond!» It really made my day. Québec est trés cool.
(...Sorry Grandma. <3)



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God, am I ever unphotogenic! Mais, I am still sick. I swear I am not that ugly in real life. =P
I posted the topmost picture so that you could see what the lighting is like in my basement apartment. Sucks, non? The second picture had the flash on, so it's better.
From the left, going around the table, starting with the asian girl I don't remember the name of (we just met last night), then Yulia, then Thomas, then Amanda, then Cindy, then Carol, and then a horrific picture of me! A boy named Josh was taking the picture.
We were having a rotisserie chicken party up until 11pm.

After our oral test we were taken to a riverside beach. I grabbed my bra instead of my bathing suit top by mistake, because I am a putz, so I couldn't go swimming, but I did get to take a lot of pictures!




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A sailboat!



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You saw this bridge when I first took pictures of the St. Lawrence river.



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Some people from the program playing some sort of ball game. They asked me to play, but I had such a pounding headache that I declined. How sad. .___.



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These people asked me to play as well - luckily, I had a bad cold and a headache! (I suck at/hate volleyball)



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A shot of the beach, full of random french people.



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Seeing as how I had nothing to do after I built a sandcastle with a boy that I didn't catch the name of (totally forgot to take a picture!), I went on a walk through the forest, along with some other people. They have signs like these in English in places like these, I think.



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A nice, shady picture of the forest. It was very beautiful.



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A picture of me on one of our many stops through the forest. Awful. Disregard this one. This is me at my worse, sick, no sleep, and ready to die. People were actually asking me if I was going to die that day. =P



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The forest, filled with sunlight. Didn't I tell you it was beautiful?



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A sign listing the types of vegetation in the forest.



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A break in the trees showed off the river.



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Some kind of weird box in the middle of the river, holding some trees and stuff.



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You know how we have park benches dedicated to people? I think this is something like that, except in the middle of the forest.



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I couldn't take a picture then, but I kayaked under this bridge with a bunch of girls. It was so much work! My arms felt like they were going to fall off! I made a friend though, an asian girl named Grace, who was hanging on to me for dear life.



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A break in the foliage that I thought was kind of pretty.



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Again, very pretty.



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Me (again, disregard) and some girls that hang out with - unfortunately, I am terrible with names, and I can't remember them... But the asian girl in the gray T-Shirt is one of my roommates (besides Carol), and her name is Cindy.

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On Canada Day I went downtown for the first time with Julia and Carol to see the fireworks. I had never been downtown, but I found the cramped but stylish atmosphere addicting, and took pictures of shops and people, etc. etc.



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This is a french theatre! There are no english theatres in Trois-Riviére, but I think there might be one in Montréal.



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Here is a man playing the guitar and singing on the sidewalk. He was singing a song by Les Cowboys Fringants, which was why I took the picture.



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As we came up to the bay area, I was fumbling for my camera so that I could get a quick picture. This is the St. Lawrence river! The water is murky gray and polluted, but it is still pretty, and the biggest body of water I have seen since I saw the Pacific Ocean.



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The St. Lawrence, again, but with a view of the large bridge that I don't know the name of.



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This is the Pavillion that we sat and waited for the fireworks in.



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A large and pretty building I thought my Mum might appreciate seeing. I think it might be a highschool or something...



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This is a pretty fountain that was found in a park outside a really big, important looking building - perhaps the town council, or something. Trés belle, non?



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A picture of Carol (left) and Yulia/Julia (right), on the side of the fountain. I should have gotten my picture taken here, too. Oh well, another day.



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Okay, here is a man who was doing an act on the street for money. It was so strange that I had to take a picture! He would stand perfectly still until someone came forward and dropped some money in a bucket on the ground, and then start moving robotically. Damn people kept getting in my way, and moving, and screwing up my pictures, so there are only two.

I won't post all of the pictures of the fireworks, but here are most of them:


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Prior to the fireworks show, the boats that were on the water were speeding around and showing off.



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Just before the fireworks started, this cruise ship passed right by where we were sitting, right on the edge of the St. Lawrence river. People were waving, and there was music playing, and then the boat stopped some distance away, and the fireworks were launched from the far-deck.



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Not sure what this is... An orb perhaps?


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And my favourite...:


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Trés jolie, non?

Seeing as how I sometimes have spare time between classes, I thought it would be fun to start an online photo-journal so that everyone who wants to see the pictures can have a description with them as well.



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Let's start with a picture of the room I stayed in at Le Gite residences. It may look okay, but it smelled funny, it was uncomfortable, and everyone was so loud! But at least the lights were bright, unlike in my apartment at the Cégep.



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In Le Universitie de Trois-Riviére, they had a lot of nifty art. These murals were on the walls in the stairwells.



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In the hallway leading to the caféteria there were a few glass showcases full of interesting computer art. I took this picture because it made me laugh, and also think of my Mum.