Spending time in Montréal with my girlfriend, Alex, was definitely worth the trip across the Atlantic!
Our journey to Montréal took us through Reykjavik, Iceland. The airport there is very expensive, but we needed some lunch in between our flights. The food was decent, but definitely not worth what we paid for it. I wouldn’t recommend it, but there were no other options!
When we finally got to Montréal, Alex’s mom picked us up and we went straight to McDonald’s. Taking the food home, we put our stuff upstairs and then walked down to eat with her mom and her sister. We had so many fries… Yum!
Lazy Days and Small Adventures
Naturally, as a hermit myself, I tend to make everyone around me into hermits as well. Alex and I spent a lot of time at her apartment. We rented DVDs of Designated Survivor, which we’d started watching in Cork on Netflix but couldn’t find on Netflix in Canada.
Alex and I did leave the house sometimes, though. We walked Caramelle to the dog park and got to see lots of puppies! Throughout the time I spent there, we purchased 170 Timbits, which may have been a little extreme, but I was certainly pretty thrilled with it! We ordered Chinese takeaway one night because I can’t get that in Cork, Ireland. Vegetarian noodles, dumplings, bao buns, and boba to enjoy while watching Designated Survivor, anyone? That’s an amazing night with my girlfriend in my book!
We went out twice: once to the Randolph Pub Ludique, a board game bar; and once to The Lockhart, a Harry Potter-themed bar. At the Randolph Pub Ludique, I beat Alex at Kamisado, which is sort of a cross between chess, checkers, and something completely different, and then we requested the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle deck-building game. The Harry Potter game was actually seven games in one, and we’d only gotten through two when we realized how late it was. Deciding that we could either stay until the bar closed to keep playing or that we could buy the game the next day, we went home. The very next day, we went out to a board game store and bought it. We got through the fifth game while I was there, so there is still more fun to be had when I visit again!
The Lockhart was pretty cool, I’d say. It wasn’t too expensive and the food was great. I ordered a drink called an “Owl Post” and it came with a tiny acceptance letter! It was pretty obvious that people came mainly for the ambiance, but that’s the part that I wasn’t too smitten with. Sure, there was art on the walls and I got to wear what looked like an off-brand sorting hat. It just didn’t scream “Harry Potter” to me, I guess, just “magic.” The bathroom did have some awesome writing in glow-in-the-dark paint, though, so maybe that makes up for it? It was definitely a good place to visit once, but I’m not sure if I’d go back!
Leaving The Lockhart, we went to Cocoa 70 and got chocolate fondue. I think I could live off of dark chocolate-covered strawberries. (I wish I had some right now, actually.) Actually, I even licked the fondue bowl, which I’m sure surprises literally no one who knows of my chocolate obsessions!
Hockey
Alex is a hockey goalie, but I’ve never feel a sports fan so I’d never actually been to a hockey game before. In fact, I’d never even seen a full game on TV or online, just snippets of Hurricanes games at my mom’s place. However, during my time in Montréal, I went to three games with Alex.
Now, I’m not going to say that I now understand hockey or anything like that. No, no. I’m still a non-athletic geeky weirdo. However, I’m actually vaguely familiar with how hockey works overall.
I loved watching Alex play. Honestly, I loved watching all of the players. Watching people skate is sort of like watching people dance. As a dancer, that’s something that I really like to do. I found great joy in watching their feet slide across the ice, and great humor in people wiping out. No one was seriously injured, so I don’t feel that bad about it!
I would love to go to more of her games. In fact, I may even actually watch hockey on my own. I asked Margaret about going to see a Hurricanes game together since they’re located right near us, and she agreed. Apparently, I’ll be going to a Canes Pride Night. (Maybe I can borrow some of your gear, mom?)
NC State actually has ice hockey as a club sport, which I didn’t know. What genius name did we come up with for our team? The Icepack. I know they were trying to be clever and make a play on NC State being the Wolfpack, but I think that it’s one of the stupidest names I’ve ever heard of. Maybe I’ll check them out next semester, though. (Just don’t hold me to it because I’ve been saying that I’ll check out the rugby team for like 2 years now and I still haven’t been to a single game.)
Being Social
I had the opportunity to meet some important people in Alex’s life during this trip, and that was amazing. Meeting your partner’s close friends and family just makes everything seem so much more permanent and committed.
Alex had already met pretty much everyone important in my life already, but I hadn’t met many people on her side. That’s really just because she has visited me more often than I’ve visited her and I’ve dragged her to family events while she’s been so much nicer and has let me be a shut-in in Montréal!
Anyways, I met her dad and grandmother for pizza after one of Alex’s hockey games. The three of them mainly spoke French to one another, so I wasn’t really aware of what all was happening, but that was okay by me. Her dad and I talked about the cold and the weather, how fast Alex speaks, and the like. Being around people is already a lot for me, especially when I’m trying to make a good impression, so I was okay with not really understanding what they were saying or having to converse. I got the impression that they liked me, regardless, so I’ll count that as a win.
One of Alex’s friends met with us the day after Easter at her mom’s place for some family activities. There ended up being seven of us in her mom’s apartment playing Jungle Speed and Risk before having dinner together. It was a little stressful because I’m so anxious about social situations, but I took a little break upstairs and recharged. All-in-all, it was fun and I was glad to be able to spend that time with them.
On another occasion, we went to her other friend’s apartment and hung out there for a while. She kind of reminded me of Margaret, which was nice but also made me miss my almost-twin very much. Her friend was lovely, though, and we will have to make plans with her for the next time I visit Montréal! She would definitely go out drinking with me, with Alex to babysit, of course!
Alex and I also met up with Laura, her boss and my professional contact, twice. My dear readers, you may remember Laura from nearly a year ago when I went to my second symposium in Montréal. She made it possible for me to attend the symposium, which means that she made it possible for me to meet Alex. We met her once for brunch and again for a chocolate-y breakfast at another Cocoa 70 location. Being in Cork, Ireland with no real way to be involved with the advocacy work that I do when I’m in Raleigh, I relished the opportunity to talk shop with Laura for a little while! I was afraid that we were boring Alex half to death, but she seemed happy to let us continue for as long as we did! We’ll have to catch up with Laura again when I’m there again.
My Feelings
I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to visit Alex in Montréal again. I loved spending three weeks straight with her, but it did make leaving even more difficult. I wished more than anything that I could’ve stayed for longer, or that I could go back there again. Logically, I know that I’ll be there again soon, but it’s not soon enough for me.
It’s back to Ireland for me now. I’ll be having some more adventures before the next time I head back to North America, which is when my study abroad ends in May. I don’t really want to go back to class after being free for 3 weeks, but I think I’ll get back in the swing of things just in time to for summer break!
Thank you for a wonderful spring break, Alex! I have a new favorite song thanks to you that I can’t get out of my head!