campus

Eating dinner alone on Monday didn't seem as wierd as lunch, though I was among 4 other lone diners. I went to a little italian place called Eduardo's. Very nice it was too! So my evening in Montreal was passed rather pleasantly.
I rose fairly early on Tuesday as I wanted to get a morning bus to Sherbrooke. I had a battle with my suitcase though since through swapping the contents of my luggage around it was much harder to zip up, almost making me break a sweat, although the heat would also have contributed. I was waiting for my bus by 10am. The journey to Sherbrooke took longer than I anticipated due to the number of roadworks (they are absolutely EVERYWHERE) but eventually we pulled into the bus station and our bags were unloaded. I was left to work out how to get to the uni - a taxi seemed the best idea but without a taxi rank I was a little confused as to where to find one. However there was a discreet little phone with which to call one. The driver was really friendly telling me all sorts of things and singing along to a remix version of Edith Piaf's 'Je ne regrette rien'. He dropped me off right outside my halls, which would have been most convenient if I didn't have to traipse across the campus to get my keys first! All things aside, it was thankfully rather easy to get sorted. 
I have to be blunt - my first impressions of my home for the next 4 months were not the best.It looks a little better with my stuff scattered around it  >>>> The right wall is wood panelled and the left and back are tiled reminiscently of a public toilet. There's also plaster missing from parts of the ceiling. It could be worse though so I shall not complain further. I unpacked my things and waited for Victoria to finish her day. She then took me to the shops to buy some essentials which I limited to breakfast, dinner and bedding. Since she arrived a few days before myself she already knew where to go etc which worked out very well for myself :D
We had a meeting yesterday morning to sort out our timetables and modules. I'm currently signed up to 5 modules with the intention of dropping at least one and signing up to another that Victoria is on. She got all sorts of information beforehand that I hadn't but vice versa too. The uni thought we were a single student. Not the most helpful of situations. The modules we were signed up for didn't correspond to the ones we had been told (or I had been told) were compulsary but no matter really. After that meeting I joined Victoria at her class and asked if I would be able to join. It's aimed specifically at international students and helping them to cope with Quebecois studies. Far more suitable than one on the origines of Quebec literature no?
I dashed off at the end of the class to go to the shops again and buy kitchen things and food. Due to a slight issue with my card, this wasn't as successful as I'd hoped but I did get some stuff. One point of advice - NEVER bank with HSBC if you ever plan on leaving Britian. It is the biggest pain to unblock your account every single time. Just saying :)
I made myself a simple dinner, as in one that involved no pans because I haven't bought any yet! There was a young lad in the kitchen attempting to make pasta bolognese. He was very friendly and chatted away, asking me all sorts of questions. He even did my washing up for me. How nice :) Sadly I'm not entirely sure of his name. It might be Jacques-Luc. It's definitely something-Luc but I didn't dare ask him a third time!
I spend most of today being called Shirley. We had more pre-term classes which included a lunch for which we all had to bring a national dish. What would you say is a truly English (or British) dish?? We settled for cucumber sandwiches because we had bread, butter and cucumber. A cop out, maybe but they are associated with high tea which naturally we all stop to have a 4pm sharp.
My brain hurts a little from all the French. Hopefully I will soon become accustomed to it. The accent is wierd. The pronunciation is not at all like high French so we don't automatically recognise words that we do actually know already. However, all in all I think that the settling in process is going quite well!