I can't believe I'm already down to my last 2 weeks in Québec. I've been so busy with class, homework, exams, activities, and excursions that I've had no time to sit down and blog... and the time is passing way too quickly!

Since my last post, I've seen Santana and the Black Eyed Peas, gotten caught in some pretty crazy rain storms, zip-lined through the treetops, and even learned a little bit of French along the way, bien sûr.

Monday I went to a Québec Capitales baseball game. It was really interesting to watch baseball called in French, even though ALL the music (including the 7th inning stretch) was in English. The team they played was from New Jersey, so we even got to sing our own national anthem! Unfortunately the Capitales lost 10-9, but it was still a lot of fun. We didn't get home until around midnight though, so I had a very long and tiring Tuesday!

This week was filled with projects and tests for all my classes, so by the time I got finished with my Grammar exam Friday, I was ready to enjoy my weekend! Friday turned out to be one of the best days yet. Some girls from Groupe de Georgie wandered around Basse-Ville and took the ferry across the St. Lawrence to a town on the other side called Lévis. The town itself was nothing special, but we got some amazing views of Québec, and an incredible vanilla ice cream cone dipped in dark chocolate from the choclaterie favoris. Once we got back to town, we had dinner at a little pizza cafe, and I had pizza du fromage de la chèvre (goat cheese). By far the BEST pizza I've ever had!

Friday night, we finally got to see Cirque du Soleil. Unfortunately we have the worst luck when it comes to weather, so of course it was raining a little bit and the show was cut short for the safety of the performers. It was an awesome experience quand même! I stole some pictures from Katelyn because my camera just couldn't pick up anything in the dark. Since it's a free performance in the street, I think we'll try to go again another night to see the whole show.

Saturday I woke up bright and early to crepes and berries because Mme Dufour would never send me off on a hike without a good breakfast! Wish I always had a host mother! I went to the Parc National de la Jacques-Cartier, which I've been looking forward to since I found out I was coming to Québec. I was not disappointed! The weather was perfect, in the upper 70s with a good bit of wind, so it made for a pretty enjoyable hike. The views of the mountains and the rivière Jacques-Cartier were awesome, and since I was in the "sportif" group, I had time to go swimming afterwards while we waited for everyone else to get done. Vraiment parfait!


Today was.... interesting. I've been talking to the other students in my house about going to a church service here, and one of them found a "traditional Baptist" church to try this morning. He was WRONG. It turned out to be a contemporary Pentecoastal church in the gym of a middle school. It was still a good opportunity to learn some new vocabulary, but the service lasted 4 hours and was a little more bizarre than I was prepared to handle. C'est la vie?

I've signed a pledge saying I will live completely in French for 24 hours, and tomorrow's the day I chose. So that means no English whatsoever...  No speaking, writing, or typing, or THINKING in English. I'm sure I'll slip up on the thinking part, and that I'll have a serious headache by the end of the day,  but I'm excited! I definitely think it's necessary... I still have SO much to learn before 6:00 am August 7.