Spontaneous Planning

At the end of September, I left my new international Ericsson friends and went back to Montreal to resume the first part of the program: getting to know and working in my new base team. As I landed in Montreal, I realized summer was over, it was starting to get pretty chilly, and I was back to reality: my new life in Canada. I was back in my new apartment, lonely and not knowing how all this will work out. Luckily very soon I will not be alone. My Mom and two brothers were coming to stay with me for a month to come see where the heck did I move to and to help me settle in. My father was scared of flying so he stayed home.

Back then I was still in half-student mode. I did not own a car, and I rarely used anything other than public transport. I decided to pick up my family from the airport using the public bus, thinking it will be fast and convenient, and obviously cheaper. I was so happy they were coming, so I did not take time to think of a more convenient way to pick up three tired jet lagged people (taxi anyone?). Turns out that the bus was not the best idea. We all saw each other, hugged a lot and then headed to the bus stop. After waiting a while, we got in and were cramped with a lot of people going very slowly on the highway. After arriving to the city center, we had to switch to a metro and go several stops, again cramped with our luggage and many people. My Mom likes to say it as it is, meaning complain a lot, so this gave her a lot of ammunition. It was not a good first impression of the city.

You see, Canada (and North America in general) is not like Europe, it is not like you land in the city center and are immediately immersed in hundreds of years old buildings, churches, museums, monuments, etc. When you land in the central bus station in Montreal, you see dirty old industrial buildings and garbage bags on the street. My Mom´s first comment when we got to my apartment was: Oh my God, my dear child, where did you move to??? She absolutely hated the city and almost started crying. My brothers were a bit more positive; they were also not super impressed but they had heard great things about Canada so figured we were all just tired.

Luckily, first impressions are not always right. 😊 as the days passed and we started exploring the city, my family started enjoying it more and more. You see, Montreal is an extremely charming city, despite the industrial buildings and garbage bags on the street (I will share more on that later). It is known to be a student city, as it hosts several Universities, some of them being the most prestigious universities in Canada: McGill and Concordia, so the city has a very young and vibrant population. It is also known to be a very art loving city, with many picturesque streets, old part of the city center with artists painting on the streets and many art galleries. It is also known to be a very street life city, with lots of cafes and restaurants from all over the world with little terrasses on the streets. This was my first exposure to hipster places, soon to become an integral part of my life. Montreal is known for many street festivals, especially during summer months, but also the rest of the year: from Formula 1 race, the comedy festival (Just for Laughs), festivals of francophone music and culture, to the world-famous jazz festival, and the list goes on. There is always something happening. Also, it has interesting spots to visit, such as the Olympic Park, Jean Drapeau Park on an island on the St Lawrence River, F1 track, Mont Royal Park, Old Port,…the list goes on. I knew nothing about this city when I came here but now with each day, I was discovering something new. And just like me, my family started to fall in love with the city.

We visited the Olympic Park with the stadium and the viewpoint, and we went to Biodome, an original zoo showcasing different climate areas of the world. While we were there, we noticed something interesting: there was a football match starting in the football field next to the Olympic stadium. It turned out it was a local league football game starring Montreal Impact. Since my brothers are big fans of football, we decided to watch the match. It turned out it was an important match, as Montreal Impact was targeting to climb up to Major League Soccer (the UEFA league of the America). The football quality was terrible, but the fans were super hard core, so it was very entertaining. Of course, Montreal won 😊

We climbed up the Mont Royal Park, enjoyed the beautiful autumn views of Montreal, with colorful leaves everywhere. This is definitely one of my favorite places in Montreal. It is right in the city center, yet when you are there, you feel so peaceful and calm and one with nature.

We visited the Bell Center, home of the Montreal beloved hockey team: The Canadiens. Go Habs! Afterwards we went to a nearby sports bar to do a very north american thing (not french canadian though): watch sports and have a really big burger.

We went to the Old Port, the old part of town next to St Lawrence River. It is not that old, but it is old in America terms. Montreal was one of the first settlements of Europeans in America, it actually does have a lot of history. The old town is really charming, with lots of galleries, restaurants, terrasses, and industrial pathways along the river. We loved it.

We went downtown Montreal, the more typical American part of town, with sky-rise buildings and shoppings streets. Since this is not a common thing to see in Europe, my family enjoyed it. Some shopping took place, naturally.

We visited the park Jean Drapeau, beautiful park right next to Old Port, on the St Lawrence River. We enjoyed the beautiful autumn colors of maple leaves (autumn in Canada truly is as colorful and as beautiful as they say) and we visited the Biosphere: a beautiful museum of sustainability. This sphere was the star of the Montreal Expo in 1967, the American Pavilion.

One evening my brothers and I went to do another very American activity: bowling. Only this was not a regular bowling, but some strange French-Canadian version of it with much smaller bowling balls. It was equally fun though 😊

And then, there was the main attraction for my brothers: Six Flags amusement park – La Ronde! This park is in Jean Drapeau, very close to city center, with loads of crazy roller coasters. Our favorite was Le Golliat, I think we went 15 times on that ride in one day 😊

We spent one afternoon in IKEA getting me some accessories for the apartment. The apartment came already furnished but there is always something missing, right? E.g., my Mom was disgusted with the towels in the apartment (she still has not forgotten about those). It was our first visit to IKEA since back then we did not have an IKEA in Croatia.

Since the evenings were getting chilly, we needed some family amusement at home. During one of our shopping sprees, we ran into something new: LEGO board games! There were several types of games, all of them looked super amusing. We chose the game Minotaur. And so, the board game ritual returned to our home, after many years. It brought laughter, provocation, and anger. These games were awesome! I wonder where I’ve stored them.

My brothers stayed 2 weeks and then I had to say goodbye to them. My Mom extended her stay for another two weeks to help me get settled in. The two of us had a blast. During the day, while I was working, she would go explore the city. This was a new side of my Mom I was discovering, a fearless adventurer side. This was her first time in North America, completely new culture and very diverse city. Any other person her age would be terrified to even cross the street alone, but she was off doing shopping, wandering different streets, conversing with people. She spoke good enough English but also a bit of French, since she learned it extensively throughout her education. She really fitted there like it was her home, amazing. What also helped is that I lived right on St Denis street, in the heart of the city, so there was a lot to do and very easy to move around. In the afternoons we would go around finding new spots to visit: the beautiful botanical garden, the St Joseph’s Church, the Notre-Dame Cathedral (Afterall, Montreal was a francophone city, so Notre-Dame was a must have).

When time came to part, my mom absolutely loved the city and felt much more comfortable leaving her daughter there than when she first stepped foot on Montreal ground. I was very sad that I had to say goodbye to my mom, it was like the Croatia goodbye again. But my mom had to go back to her life, and I had to resume my newly chosen life, that´s just reality.