BC Girl in a Québécois World

Guess where I am right now?

That’s right, Quebec! (Sorry, you don’t get a prize because I already gave you the answer in the title of the post).

Look how far away I am from home!!

Those of you who follow the blog (or know me in person) will know that I live in British Columbia. Anyone who saw my excited Facebook announcement will know why I am here, but for anyone who didn’t, I want to give you an outline of where I am exactly and why.

This past year John and I both applied for a program called Explore. It’s a bursary provided by the Canadian government that pays for English students to experience French immersion (and vice versa for French students). The bursary covers room and board along with the cost of the classes, the majority of extra curricular activities and textbooks. Students just need to find their own way to the school they’ve chosen. The bursary covers a wide variety of schools; some provide a credited program and some do not. John and I both applied for the language program in a small town called Trois Pistoles. Since it’s pretty easy to find pockets of English in both Montreal and Quebec City, we chose somewhere small that would (ideally) force us to use French as much as possible.

The Trois Pistole program is a branch of Western University and is full French immersion, so I probably shouldn’t even be writing for the blog over the next few weeks. That being said, Evan has challenged me a write in French while I’m here, so I’m planning to write my posts over the next few weeks in both French and English and consider the translation part of my homework. In these posts I also want to take the opportunity to compare the unique culture here in Quebec with the very Anglo culture I was brought up in.

Unfortunately, today arrived before I even had the time to gather my thoughts about my first week in Trois Pistoles. Be sure to check in again next week for my first update. Please let me know below if there is anything specific about Quebec culture or French language you would like to know (I have a lot of smart people at my disposal right now who I would be happy to ask).

À la prochaine.