A Day in the Life – Montreal

07:00 – The morning classes at the university start at 08:30, and so I wake up early in order to ensure that I have enough time to prepare myself for the day. There is a large communal kitchen in the residence which is usually pretty quiet at this time in the morning, and so I make myself something for breakfast.

08:00 – I make sure to give myself enough time to walk to class, especially if it is snowing heavily. I usually arrive early enough to grab a quick coffee to go. Lectures last three hours, and I might have a snack during the break. I’m enrolled in the Mineure arts et sciences and so I have had the opportunity to choose from a huge range of modules. First thing on a Tuesday is my favourite class about the First Nations in Canada, and in the afternoon is beginner’s Arabic. Learning Arabic is tricky enough as it is, let alone through French.

12:00 – The cafeteria on campus is pretty fairly priced, and there is a huge selection of hot options and salad choices. I either have lunch with friends or I do some last-minute preparation for the Arabic class.

16:00 – Now that classes are finished for the day, I head back to the residence to dump my stuff and to change into gym clothes. The gym on campus is fantastic, because it was originally built for the Montreal Olympics. It has everything from an ice hockey rink to a golf practice area, but I tend to go to gym classes with a friend.

17:30 – Following the class, I now have a fair amount of free time. What I choose to do during this period depends on the weather; if it’s not too cold I might go for a walk or take the metro into the city centre. The residence itself is a great place to hang out because there are communal areas with snooker and table football, so sometimes my friends and I congregate there.

18:30 – As I mentioned, there is one huge kitchen in the residence. Depending on the time you go it can be absolutely packed, and so my friends and I try and cook before it gets too busy. We often make a meal together, which I particularly enjoy because my friends are from all over the world and so I have the opportunity to try dishes from different places.

23:00 – Every Tuesday night is ‘Les Mardis Rétro’ at Café Campus, our favourite club in the centre of the city. From door to door it takes us about 40 minutes, but it is usually the highlight of the week!

03:00 – No night out in Montréal is complete without a visit to La Banquise, the city’s most famous poutine restaurant. For those of you who don’t know what poutine is, it is the typical Quebecois dish, consisting of chips, gravy and cheese curds. Open 24 hours a day, the diner is an entirely different place at night, full of drunken revellers discussing the night’s events. Once finished, we usually split an Uber back to the residence.