Summer in Montreal!

Hi everyone
Wow! It's been over a month since I updated! And I was hoping this wouldn't happen again! I'm so sorry! :(

In Ottawa, with the tulips :)

I'm fine, just very busy. Very, very busy. Of course, in typical Noemi fashion, half the things I do aren't school related - in other words, if I didn't do as many social things, I wouldn't be as busy. *Sigh* I think I have to start telling people no. That can be hard to do, though...

Anyway, I finished my winter semester (January-April) at the end of April. I wasn't very motivated to study for my finals, but I forced myself, and on the 29th of April, I was finally done! Unfortunately, I only had a one-day holiday before I dived back into school: I'm taking a summer course, which is a sociology course called Crime. It's 2.5 hours a day, Monday to Thursday, so it is quite intense. However, the course is worth the same amount as a course in an ordinary 4-month semester, so it makes sense that this one-month course is so intense. Still, I have a lot of time on my hands, which I'm trying not to waste, because I have such little time. Nevertheless, half the month is already over, and I've done hardly any of the things I was hoping to do, like visit new parts of Montreal, spend a day outside...Somehow, things always get in the way, and before I know it, the day is over. At least I have the motivation to get things done! Now I just need to get the planning right, too.

Well, here's a glimpse of what's been happening in my life the past month:

Last few weeks of class!
The last few weeks of class weren't all too stressful for me, fortunately, because my papers were due 2 weeks before classes ended. So, during the last two weeks, I wasn't all too stressed due to school work. Of course, there was still enough to do, but as always, I found enough time to spend time with friends, especially Natasha. I loved living 2 doors down from her! I don't know what I'll do next semester, when we'll be living a 15-20 min walk apart. :(

Here are links to my photo albums of that time:
Girls, curls and bubble tea
Montreal Winter 2008 II


Exam time!
During exam time, we had 2 birthdays to celebrate, plus lovely weather. So, Natasha and I spent lots of time outside, especially along the Lachine Canal, which is a 5-minute walk from Solin, and which is beautiful! We went there either to study, or to roller-blade (Natasha) and walk (Noemi).

For more pictures of this afternoon with Natasha, go to my Facebook album: An afternoon at the Lachine Canal.

Lauren, Christa and I at the Lachine Canal

One afternoon, Lauren and Christa came along too! You can see pictures of that afternoon in my photo album 'April Sun'.

Here are a few more links to other photo albums from the exam time:Here are links to my photo albums of that time:
April Fun (with pictures of Ariel's birthday dinner)
It's nearly summer! (with pictures of Christa's surprise birthday picnic)

Ottawa!

Lauren (middle), Natasha (right) and I on the Victoria bridge over the St. Lawrence river (the same river that flows around Montreal), with the parliament buildings in the background.

After my one-day holiday, I had my first Crime class on Thursday, May 1st, and then on Friday, I took off to Ottawa with Natasha and Lauren for the weekend (we have Fridays off). It was so nice seeing a different city in Canada (until then, I'd only been in Montreal)! Ottawa is very fascinating because of its many old buildings, especially the parliament buildings, of course. However, the cloudy weather, and the ever-present, unspoken tension between two friends really didn't help the mood of the trip, and I was very glad to get back home to Montreal.

...But I nearly forgot to mention the tulips! I was very excited about the Tulip festival Ottawa has each year because I imagined to find rows and rows of tulips. It's a tradition that started after the Second World War. Apparently, the Queen of the Netherlands and her children fled to Canada after escaping from Holland to England. One of her daughters was even born in Canada (they made her hospital ward Dutch so that the princess would be born on 'Dutch soil'). In gratitude to Canada, the queen sent lots of tulips to Canada after the war. Apparently they've continued this tradition ever since then, so in May, Ottawa is full of tulips!

I was very excited about seeing them, but so disappointed when we never really saw that many tulips. So, on our last day, before heading to the bus station, Lauren and I decided to hunt for tulips. Eventually, we found them, and we weren't disappointed! :)

But ever since I got back to Montreal, I've been seeing lots of tulips here, too! I guess they're just beautiful spring flowers that everyone wants to plant!

Well, this post has taken me much longer to write than I expected (as always). I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoy the pictures! I need to read my textbook now (I'm several chapters behind, which is not good), and the next few weeks will be very busy, so I can't promise to update soon. But I'll try! :)