Sous Le Soleil Exactement

Further observations on Montreal:

• It smells good here. Like, all the time. It was almost 30 degrees out today, and yet it smelled really lovely. It smelled like flowers and sunshine - even downtown! I'm not used to that. Summer should smell like gasoline and garbage and sewage. (Also, it's not difficult to breathe in deeply on hot days, like it is in Toronto.)




• As Ben # 2 pointed out, gaydar is practically null and void in Montreal. Some guy with a really great haircut and a pink shirt with a butterfly collar and tight white pants walking down the street in Toronto? Gay, sans doute. Some guy with a really great haircut and a pink shirt with a butterfly collar and tight white pants walking down the street in Montreal? Straight and fashionable.




• As my mother so aptly observed, "People in Montreal drive worse than people in downtown Calcutta!" In the span of 2 hours, I saw two different cyclists almost get hit by big giant trucks. I've never felt so nervous crossing at green lights before, yet native Montrealers jaywalk across main streets without fear.




• People here have really great shoes.

Journalism orientation started on Monday. I had first-day-of-school jitters, but all is turning out well. There are 20 of us in the program, and I genuinely like each and every single one of them. They're all just so interesting/sweet/funny/smart/friendly. A group of us are going to see Hayden and Cuff the Duke on Friday. And I didn't even have to twist any arms! People actually WANTED to go! Yeah, I think it's going to be a good year.

Big giant gold stars to Alison and Gaven for being the first to send me fun mail at my new address. Few things in life are funner than fun mail.

(Now playing: "Un Poison Violent, C'est Ca L'Amour", Serge Gainsbourg)