Bonjour! Here’s an update on all the fun and learning we had in Montréal.

In cooking, the students made everything from risotto and salmon tartare, to pâte à choux and poutine made out of desserts. They are also realizing that baking is quite the science!

The entrepreneurship students have gone on multiple field trips, where Moment Factory was a favorite among the group. This multi entertainment studio has been involved in electronic lighting projects in Barcelona (Sagrada Família), Los Angeles (LAX), and here in Montréal for their work on the Jacques Cartier Bridge. This proud Montréal company’s office culture and environment impressed our students, as it seemed akin to stories we’ve heard about working at industry leaders like Facebook and Google.

Our community service students have continued making a difference at the Boys and Girls Club and more recently, have been fortunate to also help at a local food bank. Helping sort food and give back to a community in need really felt great!  

In public speaking, everyone showed off their skills by both writing and presenting three-minute speeches. The students creative topics included: Spanish food, soccer, how to achieve success in the music industry, and the impact of technology in today’s society. It was great to watch the students present topics they are passionate about. The class has really helped improve their speech patterns and presentation skills in front of a group of peers.

Psychology class was so much fun and most of the students learned about the Stanford prison experiment for the first time! It really peaked their interest in abnormal psychology, as they investigated the effects of perceived power and the consequences it brought on the experiments’ volunteers.

Music is booming as always, as the students finished their songs and worked on post-production mixing. Most of them even put the songs up on SoundCloud or Spotify! The final product was the result of a lot of hard work and in the end, everyone was very satisfied with their unique personal masterpiece.  

The Crime Scene Investigation class is always interesting! The professor even commended Jay and Hannah for becoming naturals at taking fingerprints. Everyone had a great time concluding the course by following clues in their search for a “killer” by using investigation techniques they learned throughout the course.

Our group further immersed ourselves in Montréal’s culture by visiting different neighbourhoods, such as Old Montréal, the Plateau and The Underground City. The underground area consists of interconnected offices, shops, restaurants and more, all built to ease the winter commute for Montréalers. We also had a great time seeing incredible pieces of art at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts.

Not only are the photography students improving their photo skills, but they’re also discovering great neighbourhoods and attractions, like Little Italy and the Biosphere, as where better to practice photography than out in the field?!

We had a great weekend together at Super Aqua Club, a water park outside of the city. On our ride there, the whole group participated our bus karaoke and sang songs in English, Spanish and Hebrew! It was so nice for all of us to relax under the sun, splash in the water, and feel the thrill of the different slides. It was an absolutely fantastic day, capped off with a great dinner in the Centropolis area.

The next day we went up north to the beach at Mont Tremblant, where a terrific time was had by all! The fun activities ranged from: going on pedalos and kayaks, playing volleyball and enjoying inflatable games in the water. Afterwards, the group and especially Julia, loved taking the luge down the mountain.

A few days later, after the departure of our 14-day friends, students had the privilege of visiting the Bell Centre, since Montréalers are known to love hockey! It was amazing to get up close to the Montréal Canadiens’ playground.

Later, the group had a fantastic full day at La Ronde! Julio might have had the busiest day out of everyone, as he made it his mission to ride every single ride in the amusement park. The evening ended with the most beautiful fireworks show many of us have ever experienced, courtesy of the Montréal International Fireworks competition. It was a truly magical end to a perfect day.

The next day, many students opted to watch the World Cup final. Since there is a large French population in the city, we excitedly joined the lively block party celebrations taking place in the Plateau area. Alice, who is from France, was absolutely ecstatic to witness her country’s big win and said it was almost as good as celebrating back home in the streets of Paris.

Au revoir Montréal! 

The Westcoast Blogger

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