Friday turned out to be much better than expected. Our professor surprised us with two gifts. In lieu of presenting our projects, we merely had to turn in our papers and take our final. Furthermore, he told us that we would be going out to lunch on Saturday and that we wouldn't have to foot the bill. I'm not sure that I could accurately capture how excited we were at this news. We erupted in cheers and laughter during class and it took awhile for us to calm down. After class some of us went out shopping. I ended up in a bookstore in awe of all the French around me. I simply did not know where to start. I can spend hours in a book store here. Put me in a French bookstore and I could spend all my money and then some more. I limited myself to twenty minutes and four books, which was quite an achievement for me.
We went to a museum in the afternoon, Musée National des Beaux-Arts de Québec. Admission into half of the exhibits were free so naturally those are the ones that we went to. In one exhibit, many of the pieces were religious. Fatima and I walk up to a series of three paintings of a woman crying and Fatima says, "Look at the fat chick crying." We got closer and saw the description. They were photos of Mary Magdalene. All we could do was laugh hysterically at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. We laughed so hard that we got too close to the sensors and the security guard came over to us and scolded us. He was speaking to us in French and when he saw that we understood, he complimented us on how well we could speak French. We apologized and made sure to stay further back.
Hungry and curious, Fatima, Ashley and myself made our way over to a bar named after a local writer that apparently had really good food. It was here that I got some duck poutine (duck, french fries, gravy and cheese curds) and I wasn't much of a fan. We made our way back to the hotel where we got ready to go out for the night. On the walk back, we walked by an underwear store for men that we had passed countless times before. Except, this time there was a live model in the windows. Yep, a live underwear model. As we were gawking at him, he smiled and waved. I added it to the list of odd things that occurred in Quebec.We met up with our friends from Wednesday night, Xavier, Max, Andres and another guy whose name I cannot remember. We danced the night away and enjoyed our last real night in the city.
Saturday afternoon we went to Portofino's, the delicious Italian restaurant where we feasted. We were told that we could buy as much as we want, so I got soup, salad and a main dish. Most everyone else did the same and some even got dessert as well. I was full the rest of the day. A short nap later we all went back out for a walk. Ashley and Fatima had to get some last minute souvenirs, plus we just wanted to walk around for the last time. We made a huge loop around the city, taking everything in for the last time. At the end of our walk we ended up at our favorite place to get poutine. We weren't really hungry, but we needed to have some poutine for the last time.
Once we had made it back to the hotel, at least 3 hours after we had left, the most amazing firework show started. One of the military ships on the river was setting them off and we had a perfect view from our balcony. It truly was the picture perfect way to end our time there. I spent the rest of my night packing and organizing as we had to leave the hotel at 5:30am.
Despite setting an alarm, we woke up late and had to rush to get out of the hotel. I spent some time watching the sun rise and taking in the incredible beauty of our surroundings. I almost teared up standing there, not believing that three weeks had gone by so quickly. Quebec quickly became my home and our tiny hotel room became my safe place. I loved everything about the city and I honestly cannot pick out one thing that I loved more than another. In fact, my only complaint is that I wish I could have stayed longer.
The trip home was uneventful. The customs agents were rude and that was when we knew we were home. On the plane from Detroit to Memphis we rehashed the whole trip, talking about our favorite memories and quotes. We got the attention of a young man from South Africa and he laughed at our stories and general weirdness. My mom was at the airport waiting and we were thrilled to see each other. All of us said our goodbyes and the trip officially came to an end.
I made it home to Alabama around 5 this evening. It's a weird feeling here. It's similar to when I came home from college for the first time: I knew that everything was same and that it was I who was different. I couldn't have asked for a better study abroad experience and I am already looking forward to the day when I can return to Quebec. I improved my French, built fantastic relationships with seven incredible people, and most importantly I grew as a person. This trip is something that I will forever remember and I am forever grateful for the opportunity that was given to me. I will always look back on my time in Quebec and smile for so many different reasons.
Per usual, I leave you with a photo: the last group photo when we arrived at the airport.
I hope that you all have enjoyed reading about my adventure as much as I enjoyed writing about it. As my friend Florian said, "Les voyages forment la jeunesse." This time, I'll let you figure that out.
I have loved your Journey FArrah! Now you have to find a way to bring what you learned back to the states. I vote you open a Poutine stand on campus (seriously... i bet you'd make enough money to fund the anything you want in college :)
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