Insta-bra! Just add water… Monday, Jun 30 2008 

Université , aquarianjayne 2:32 pm

Nothing quite like starting off bright and early with an hour-and-a-half-long placement exam! With a stereo that doesn’t work so well (did I mention the exam was mostly listening?). Anyway, we got through the written portion and then signed up for our oral exams. Mine was relatively quick and painless, but he moved along really quickly. If I didn’t respond in five seconds, he moved on to the next question, which was a bit frustrating because I just needed a couple of seconds to get into the French-brain mode. 

From tests to lunch, from lunch to lecture, from lecture to ice-breakers, and then back to the cafeteria for dinner. After dinner, me, Jessica, Danielle, and Elgin-Skye decided to go to Champlain mall. Danielle and Jess needed some stuff to get the smell out of their apartment and I still needed to get to Chapters to buy New Moon, despite the fact that English is now explicitly forbidden. Both goals were achieved, and we found out that Champlain mall is pretty well-stocked. There’s a La Senza and a La Senza Express a stone’s throw from each other…

When we got back, we thought we’d go and check how we’d fared on our exams. I made it into level 4! I feel like such a smarty-pants!

Then shower, then staying up too late reading forbidden English books, then time for bed.

 

Everyone takes a cab to church… Sunday, Jun 29 2008 

Université , aquarianjayne 7:35 pm

Woke up to a terribly dreary day. But I figured that if the weather was bad, then the experience would be good. I was right! 

Registration was a bit crazy because everyone was arriving at the same time and none of us knew what was going on. We made fast friends on the cab trips to our residence at 100 McLaughlin. I arrived before my roommate, so I unpacked and hung up all of my pictures and stuff. I met some other people upstairs (my room is in the basement) and we went to Tim Horton’s down the street for lunch. After a quick stop at Shoppers for the girls who needed shampoo, etc. we came back to residence and congregated to learn the path to the cafeteria on campus. The food is pretty good, considering I’m sure that the food at the Arts Campus is made from recycled paintings. 

I finally met my roommate. Her name is Sarah and she’s from Windsor, Nova Scotia. We gel pretty well!

**A BOOK REVIEW**

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Mmmm…. hot vampires… *runs out to get the next book*

Seriously, very good. It was romantic and moody and angsty and exciting — and I really can’t stress the hot vampires enough! I liked Bella, despite the warnings of my friends who’d read the book. I thought she was realistic as a heroine. 

Really… I’m going hunting for a copy of the next book right now. And probably pre-ordering the third as soon as I get a moment to go to Chapters!

Bises!

 

The amazing powers of warm… Saturday, Jun 28 2008 

Nouveau-Brunswick , aquarianjayne 7:29 pm

Saturday here in Moncton town. Downtown was closed because there was a bike rally thing, but we bypassed that to go the farmers’ market. Once again, found jewelry and, once again, spent some more money to purchase it. Mom managed to find a mocha-like thing, whereas I found a stand that had homemade crocque-monsieurs! Of course, I had to have one. It may have shortened my life-span by one year, though. 

We then took a bus adventure up to the other cinema in town. See below.

When we came back, we were perfectly happy to have a dinner of noodles-in-a-cup (me) and a tin of tune (Mom). We packed a bit, watched some tele, and I read as much as possible so that I could have my forbidden English book finished before Explore begins tomorrow!

**A MOVIE REVIEW**

Sex and the City

Fabulous, in my humble opinion. The reviews when it came out were promising, so my hopes were a bit high, but all those were met! It was long, but I liked it (it had the kind of dedication to characters that I was the Harry Potter movies to have.) And I didn’t have a vendetta against any boyfriends or husbands by the end of it. 

 

Not everything is a Roman road… Friday, Jun 27 2008 

Nouveau-Brunswick , aquarianjayne 11:01 pm

Today, we went to visit the highest tide in the world at Hopewell Rocks in the Bay of Fundy. Considering it’s world-famous, there’s very poor signage on the way up there. There are, however, some absolutely gorgeous old homes. I mean… I was watching the map like I was supposed to…

We stopped at an art gallery both to look around and to ask directions, as Mom was getting a bit worried that we’d missed the turn-off to Hopewell Rocks. Mom bought some bowls and I got a necklace, and it turned out that Hopewell Rocks was about seven minutes away. 

We took the pathway down to the famous flowerpot rocks and went down to the beach to take some pictures. Who’d've thought rocks could be interesting enough to hold my attention for a couple of hours? Mom and I played the Bev Dolittle game (if you’ve seen the painting in our dining room back home, you understand. If not, then the Bev Dolittle game consists of looking for animal or face shapes in the rocks.) The most frequent animal was an elephant! I’ll put the pictures up on Facebook as soon as I can.

We came back up from the beach for lunch and to stop at the gift shop. I got a Canada toque and a braided rope bracelet. The story goes that sailors used to give similar bracelets to their wives, girlfriends, children, etc. before they shipped out. Very sweet, if you ask me. 

After lunch, we just walked the rest of the park. The chocolate mud is really beautiful. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the tide come up. Good thing our hotel is right next to the Petitcodiac River. Mom caught the raising of the tide there when we got back from Hopewell Rocks.

We went for dinner at a fantastic little restaurant next door called Pisces. The meals were glorious, but nothing compared to the Skor cheesecake we split for dessert. Oh. My. God. It was amazing that Mom didn’t have to roll me home after everything I ate. 

All followed by another low-key evening, chatting with those of you who didn’t got out on your Friday night, and watching good ol’ Canadian television.

 

Ten over par… Friday, Jun 27 2008 

Nouveau-Brunswick , aquarianjayne 2:54 am

Today was Magnetic Hill day! We drove all the way to the other side of Moncton (our hotel is right on the outskirts o’ town — we can see the “Bienvenue a Dieppe” sign from our window) and took the rather loopy road to all things Magnetic Hill-related (ie golf course, waterslides, etc.) Magnetic Hill was actually pretty cool. Once we drove to the bottom of the “hill”, put the car in neutral, and started getting pulled back, we really picked up speed! 

Magnetic Hill doesn’t really use magnetism to pull cars up the hill. The hill itself is actually an optical illusion, and the dip of the hill is actually the highest point, so you’re actually just rolling downhill rather than being pulled uphill. Really, understanding the optical illusion is more frustrating than understanding magnetism!

After checking out the “shoppes” and stopping for lunch, we took a walk and found a mini golf course! I finally found where my golf genes lie. I may not like to play a full round, but, dammit, I can putt! 

That was when the really mean clouds started rolling in, so we finished up and hurried back to the car. Mom wanted to find this prayer garden nearby, but when we finally found it, it was a.) kind of disappointing and b.) at the bottom of a hill, with dirt roads, and it was absolutely pouring. Not wanting to be preserved forever in a mudslide, we decided it was time to come home. 

Very low-key evening after that, consisting of pizza, “So You Think You Can Dance,” and YouTube.

 

Bises!

 

Merci d’avoir choisi WestJet… Wednesday, Jun 25 2008 

Nouveau-Brunswick , aquarianjayne 4:51 pm

1.) Yes, I stole this website and idea from Sarah. I trust that she’ll be too busy working in Berlin to read up on my Acadian shenanigans, so this whole thing can just be our little secret, yes? Frankly, keeping you all updated via disjointed notes on FaceBook just seemed like a pain in the hole to even think about. On that lovely note…

2.) This entry is a bit late, as my mom and I arrived here yesterday afternoon. To be honest, there wasn’t all that much to talk about then. The flight was hugely uneventful (which is not such a bad thing) and we were both a bit too tired to get into too much trouble our first day here. In fact, we had a nap. But before we had a nap, we got to our hotel and had showers so we could show our faces on Main Street. We found this fantastic little restaurant called Chez Clara that was a.) air conditioned and b.) cute as a bug’s ear. Mom had a Greek omelette and I had a tuna melt, complete with my own weight in fruit. Then we came home and had a nap. Supper was vegetable thins and chocolate pudding from the Superstore across the street. Somehow, Mom still managed to fall asleep at a decent hour despite the earlier nap, while I stayed up “That ’70s Show” and “Frasier.” You’ll know this, dear readers, because I was chatting with most of you!

 

Bises!

 

That swordfish almost went through my head… Wednesday, Jun 25 2008 

Nouveau-Brunswick , aquarianjayne 12:00 am

Yesterday was very sunny and nice out. We took a stroll down the boardwalk next to our hotel, finally turning to go downtown. Our next excursion was to Chapters, where I bought some French books and some… not so French books. I bought Le Diable S’Habille en Prada (The Devil Wears Prada) and Le Patient Anglais (The English Patient). Mom bought the new Jodi Picoult book (if that is her real name…) and, because it was “buy 3 books, get the fourth for free”, I got Twilight. 

For the rest of the afternoon, we just generally wandered, occasionally coming back to the room.

**A MOVIE REVIEW**

In the evening, we walked to the cinema (next to the Chapters) and went to see Get Smart, which was pretty entertaining — as Steve Carrel tends to be. There were some fantastic slapstick moments and some really good lines, one of which involved philosophy and made me nearly split in half laughing, while everyone else at the theatre was probably wondering who’d brought a hyena to the movies…

 

Bises!