Je me souviens...notre séjour à Québec

By 10th grade student Ally and class of 2017 alumnus Twyla

Ally:

When I woke up the morning of the Québec trip, I had very little time for anything except a snack and saying goodbye to my dog. I was half-asleep until I got to Meridian, which is when I saw some other students outside, piling stuff into the surprisingly small trunk of the eight person van I would spend far too much time in. Of course, Leisa, one of the teachers coming with us on the trip, gets the passenger seat next to Sonja, our French teacher, leaving the back seat and the “basically it’s the trunk” seats to the students. After a relatively short and tired debate, Theo and I are seated in the far back, with Luke and Clary in front of us.

The trip was long, but enjoyable. Starting off with discussions about what will happen in Québec, dumb coloring games on my phone, and a word game called “Contact,” we left the area and made our way to our first stop: a coffee shop. Sonja, as we all realized on this trip, cannot survive more than three hours without it.

Things were smooth until we get to border patrol, where a man horribly mispronounces as many names as he can while eyeing the six half-asleep students in the back of the van. Unlike other trips, though, we got through without any trouble.

This led us to our next stop, a Tim Hortons, where we would speak the first French to fluent French speakers of the trip. It was simple -- order food -- but apparently everyone forgot we were in Canada, and no one got their Canadian money from their bag. A good start.

Now, other than the GPS telling us to drive into a couple of rivers, we made it to the Airbnb we would call home. It was much smaller than advertised, and does not comfortably fit the amount of people it claimed. In fact, there were six beds, and seven people. We made the best out of the situation by creating a pillow bed in a small hallway, which I ended up staying in.

Once we’d recuperated from the eight-hour journey, we drove to Old Québec and enjoyed an amazing meal at a crêpe place that I now crave every day. After, we stopped by a supermarket to grab things for our breakfast. This, of course, did not go so well, considering the recipe required ingredients we’ve never heard of in English, let alone French (thanks, Clary).

In the morning we attempted to cook quiche with the ingredients from the night before, but the severe lack of ventilation was a bit of a setback. In the end it turned out well, and we left the house with full stomachs.

Sonja was very insistent we check out the train station, as it apparently had beautiful architecture and history, so we went along with it. Arriving there ready to see the beauty it held, we were surprised by something -- someone -- else. Twyla, alumnus, class 0f 2017, and a previous French student, was waiting for us to get there.

Twyla:

Surprising the group of Meridianites was amazing! It had been incredibly fortunate that the Quebec trip had coincided with my reading week, because it allowed me to share in some really great experiences with the group. After a lunch of pastries and coffee, we got to visit one of my favorite museums of all time: La musée de la civilisation (Museum of Civilization)! No two trips there have been the same for me, as the museum rotates their exhibits impressively frequently, and what was a gallery of mythology-themed ancient Egyptian artifacts two years ago was now a crazy, funky collection of bizarre objects representing humanity’s progress through time -- or at least, that was my takeaway. The exhibit on brains and cerebral function and development was also quite engaging; the whole group spent a lot of time on an interactive piece that showed how touching a plate of alternating warm and cool bars could trick your brain into thinking it was being burned.

Later that afternoon, we visited the classic sightseeing stop: the Funicular! The rides on the old, cable supported elevator overlooking the river (fleuve!) were breathtaking for some and scary for others. The next classic we visited was the Chateau Frontenac, which was as stunning as always. Every time I see it, it refreshes my goal of staying in a room there one day. And that evening: the Remparts game! I’m generally not one for watching sports games, but live hockey is always a blast. Especially in Canada. Between the front row seats, the Timbits half-time game (in which numerous very small children held a very exciting demo match of their own), and the fantastic last names (one player’s jersey boasted the French term for ‘the raspberry’), it was an awesome night.

The next day, we packed everything up, got breakfast, and then visited the oldest market in North America, Épicerie J.A. Moisan. There, we bought cool gifts and souvenirs for people back home (and snacks for ourselves, of course). And at that point, I had to leave to catch a flight home, so I said my goodbyes, entrusted a jar of jam I had just purchased to Sonja to drive across the border, and got into my Uber.

Ally:

After Twyla left, the next stop was a restaurant that students are taken to every Québec trip: Frites Alors. This small restaurant was packed full of the most amazing fries I’ve ever had. Along with this, they made burgers, grilled cheese, and sandwiches, but the main events were the fries and their homemade dipping sauces. These sauces came in many different flavors, and all of us loved them. By the end, Luke and I were basically asleep because of the food, and, according to him, he will never feel full again unless he eats at Frites Alors.

Once we arrived back at the van, we made our way home, saying goodbye to Québec. The trip was less energized but still amusing. I spent the whole ride playing Plants vs Zombies and occasionally chiming in to conversations. We arrived home around eleven, thus ending the journey.