I fell in love with Montreal in less than 90 hours. I’m not entirely sure how it happened. I’m not even sure that I wanted it to happen. All that I know is that it did happen, and that I wouldn’t change it for the world.
The Ed-ICT Symposium in Montreal is over, unfortunately. I wasn’t there for very long, but I still got to explore the city! Of course, I couldn’t go on a trip and not have some stories to tell!
Strangers on a Metro
Luckily, my host for Monday graciously provided me with directions from the airport to her home. I managed to get from the airport onto the bus and then to the metro station. I even managed to get on the correct metro line! However, the metro announcer spoke in very mumbled French, so I completely missed my stop.
Fortunately, a 20-something guy on the metro took pity on me and decided to help me get to where I needed to be. I told him which area that I was trying to get to, to which he replied that he was going to that same area to hang out with his friend. This guy, who I later learned was named Mathieu, said that he would show me around and get me to where I needed to be.
I should’ve thought: “Huh, maybe I shouldn’t follow a stranger that I met on the metro around a city that I’ve never been to in another country.”
Naturally, my first instinct was: “Whoa! Yes, please show me around! You obviously know what you are talking about and where we are!”
Obviously, I got off of the metro with him and we began to walk in the rain. Eventually, we got to a corner store and he went in to get some beer for when he and his friend were going to hang out. He said that I should hang out with him and his friend, to which I gave some sort of incoherent answer. Next, we ended up at his friend’s house, where his friend definitely was not. We kept going and I mentioned that I needed to put down my luggage so I could go get some food. This guy latched onto that and said that we should just stop then for food. My socks and shoes were soaked, giving me the ammunition that I needed to shoot his idea down. He replied that I could just go inside and change, and then we could get food.
It was about then that I realized that had absolutely no idea who this guy was, or even his name. Of course, I kept walking with him. We got to my host’s home and I wanted to get the key so I could get out of the rain, but this guy was still there. As I tried to get him to leave, he finally told me his name, Mathieu, and asked if I wanted him to show me around more while I was still in Montreal.
Again, with my genius, I responded with something akin to: “I don’t know anyone else here or my way around here at all. Let’s definitely hang out while I’m here!”
I went to hand him my phone, so he could give me his number and we could coordinate when to meet up again. He took it and said, “Wow, it’s never that easy.”
That was when I realized that he was actually asking me out. After that, I quickly got him to leave and never contacted him again.
Stranger danger, everyone. Be a little smarter than I was when you travel!
The Rest of my Journey
Honestly, I got to see so many amazing sights in Montreal. In fact, I walked 34+ miles while I was there there. I noticed some interesting characteristics of Montreal.
⇾ I could use my credit card in Canada, but finding a place that accepted Visa cards was insanely difficult.
⇾ The Old Port has a lot of architecture that looks like what I saw in European cities.
⇾ The Old Port has a lot of bugs at the waterfront (apparently only for the week that I was there, though).
⇾ The Underground City is actually insanely huge. I spent hours lost there trying to explore the shops, but I only got to maybe 15% of it.
⇾ People ride bikes at 3:00am.
⇾ Montreal is actually a safe city to walk late at night or early in the morning.
⇾ There are stores on the side of the street that I would only find in a mall here, such as Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, Dr. Martens, etc.
Last Thoughts
I would go into all of the specifics of my adventures, but I don’t think that I want to. There are things from Montreal that I want to keep to myself in my mind. My memories belong just to me in that respect, not to everyone here. I hope that you all can understand that and believe me when I say that it was an amazing trip.
That’s all on Montreal for now! Thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with my trip!