Arrival in Montréal
Our journey begins …
My friend Nathanaël and I hit the road on September 2nd for our journey from Marseille to Montréal. We had a long stopover in Paris, 15 hours to be exact, but that gave us the opportunity to hang out there. Nathanaël’s cousin, Wais, picked us up from the airport and showed us around the city. We walked, had some food, and observed the beautiful Eiffel Tower lights at night. As corny as it might sound, we were absolutely dazzled by the view, it sounds overhyped when visitors describe it, but we found that it was totally worth the hype. Every hour on the hour mark, from 8 pm to 1 am, the tower lights sparkle for five minutes. We got to watch this at midnight, not too far from the monument, and it was truly magical.
Route to Montréal
Our final flight was the next day, to Montreal, Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport. We don’t really have much to say about the flight, it was long but comfortable. Nevertheless, we’d have to say that we were a bit worried about the arrival. Verifications at the airport are usually difficult, and we were arriving in a country that we don’t know, at night.
We landed at YUL airport after a 9-hour trip, not too tired and very excited, but it was just the beginning. We spent around 3 hours in the airport, going from one checking to another, and waiting in very long lines on each step of the process.
Our apartment was already ready, we had found a good rental online in Canada way before getting there, which was a great idea. With classes starting on September first, we couldn’t afford to go on an apartment hunt on our very first days in Montréal, all while attending university and dealing with paperwork, that’s why finding a flat beforehand was very convenient.
Our First Canadian Friends
Our landlord, Marne, was a very sweet Peruvian lady, whom we stayed in touch with during this journey. We were lucky enough to have her husband, Jimmy, pick us up from the airport, give us some valuable advice about life in Canada, and show us around our neighbourhood.
Jimmy was a Québécois, on the ride home, we talked about diversity in Canada, bilingualism, and living in the French province. He also advised us about everything from groceries to transport and gave us some recommendations and suggestions of places to visit.
Marne and Jimmy welcomed us home, gave us an apartment tour, and left. It was nighttime, so we were very lucky to be picked up from the airport, and welcomed so warmly.
We were very grateful for the welcome, our new friends in Canada were a very lovely couple, they even left us some food in the refrigerator. But our real welcome gift was a can of good old traditional maple syrup.
We definitely needed some rest after our flight, even though our registration at the airport went smoothly, and thankfully, jet lag wasn’t too bad either. Luckily, we got there on a Friday, and Monday was Labour Day, so we had some time on our hands to relax and get ready for university.
The next day was a rest day, Jimmy and Marne visited us and were very happy with the French treats we had got for them.
Overall, our trip to Montreal wasn’t too troublesome, we were well-prepared and in very good hands. And we are so very excited and hyped for this new experience!
Let’s G-Ô Canada !
