Hello-Bonjour from Canada!

Hello-Bonjour everyone!

I arrived safely in Montreal yesterday in the late afternoon local time / midnight German time. The flight to Amsterdam (where I had to change planes for Montreal) was rather short but I was sitting next to an American travelling to Detroit who had been on a business trip in Europe. He'd travelled the world various times and consequently, the 50-minute flight was way too short for a reasonably substantial conversation. However, he invited me to spend my layover time with him in the KLM Crown Lounge at Amsterdam Schipol Airport: free drinks (5 different kinds of juices, tea, coffee and more), free food (rolls, hot and cold buffets), free wi-fi connection and comfortable chill-out seats to just sit back and relax!

Luckily, my connecting flight took off on time - 'only' 7 and a half hours till Canada =) Time literally flew and the Dutch air hostesses virtually filled us with food! Us - that's an elderly couple from Quebec City - and me. I was totally confused about whether to speak English or French because they seemed to love to play it by ear. They were actually quite untypical of people their age. I mean - my grandma wouldn't go on holiday to South Africa. Well, she wouldn't even fly but that's a different story. Those people, however, seemed more than happy to take on a 20-hour journey for their annual "big vacation".

Upon asking them about immigration procedures in Canada, they just said: "There'll be an officer asking you questions about what you intend to do in Canada. But don't worry - you have a good face!" - Well thank you :-D

The enormous queue at Montreal Airport Immigration was soon forgotten when I met Hannah again after 5 and a half years! She studies here at the "Université de Montréal" and invited me to come over for a visit. This is also why I got to attend a psychology lecture today! Interestingly, the teacher hands out little "télévoteurs" so that all students can participate in an initial quiz. You simply press the button for the answer that you think is correct on your "télévoteur" and the teacher gets a diagramme on her computer. Do that same quiz again after the lecture and you get an idea of your students' learning progress =) Genius!

The topic - Short-term Memory - was really quite interesting as well. But the thing is: lectures here take 3 hours as opposed to 1.5 hours in Germany - and they're held in Québécois French. And now that's something to get used to, trust me! "Il n'y o pô d'chauses dzifférentes lô." ["Il n'y a pas de choses différentes là!" - just to combine a few examples.]

Another thing to get used to is the cold. Flying over Newfoundland and Labrador on the way to Montreal, I saw nothing but drift ice and mountains covered in snow - for hours!

Drift Ice, miles off Canada's coast

Newfoundland and Labrador from above

Frozen River

Saint Lawrence River with drift ice

 You would think that it gets warmer the further south you go but DUH! Montreal's climate is so humid that temperatures are indicated in both 'actual degrees' and 'felt temperature'. An example of today: actual degrees -15°C / 5°F, felt temperature -25°C / -13°F. And in case you've never seen snow piled up as high as a mini-van, check this out:

Heaps of snow... literally :-O

And what do you do when you're already freezing once you're out the door? Right... climb a hill! The "Oratoire Saint-Joseph", however, was a wonderful sight to visit:

Oratoire Saint-Joseph with the Canadian (left) and Quebec flags (right)

 And the sunset impressions speak volumes... but see for yourselves:

Sunset over Montreal

Sunset

Tomorrow will be another day of discovering Montreal, just like Wednesday. And Thursday, we'll be off to Toronto for the weekend. So look forward to more fotos from Montreal and news about Toronto, Niagara Falls and Canadian ice-hockey!

Stay tuned,
Yours Chris :)

Ready, Set, Go! The Adventure Begins

Hey guys!

Soooo... I guess this is it. This semester's final exams are over - today was my last day at uni in Germany!

And as much as I pushed aside my travel plans, as far away as my departure still seemed to me this morning - I can tell you it has just got frighteningly close! And all of a sudden, you realize what you actually leave behind... It's been a wonderful three years of studying in Paderborn, of making friends and for the first time for most of us - building a life of our own. One challenge mastered - the next already in sight!

And isn't it odd how the list of things you need to handle seems to become longer and longer and longer - but only in the last couple of days before you leave? Those piles of books that were left on the shelf to fall into a deep sleep three years ago - only to be thrown away unread. The clutter of paperwork on, in, under and all around your desk - and printed-out powerpoint presentations and literary texts from long ago that you can now look back on with pure satisfaction. Yeah, well maybe it wasn't always fun... infallible lecturers with a claim to truth, undescerning and obstinate professors - SSDD, the life of a university student.

One chapter closed and about to open the next one. Turn the page! See what's new. I'm only days away from what is probably the biggest adventure of my life so far. And I'll be boarding the plane carrying a lot of uncertainty and uneasiness, but also a great deal of excitement, curiosity, optimism, spirit of adventure and wanderlust in my bag.

Bye for now, Germany!

Stay tuned and read my next post from... Canada =)

(C) Copyright Marcel Venema

An Introduction

Dear family & friends, dear readers,

first of all I would like to welcome you to my new blog about my round-the-world travels in 2013/14!

As the time goes by, you will find posts and photos from Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, Singapore - and maybe more destinations on this blog and you will be able to post comments! Already now, you can click on various links and travel videos referring to the destinations on my itinerary - and you can sign up for an e-mail alert so that you are informed whenever I publish a new post.

Since I will primarily be studying in Sydney / Australia, you will find that most of what I will be writing on here refers to Australia and my life as a university student down under.

All in all, this blog is intended for providing everyone at home in Germany as well as all my international friends with information on what I am up to.

I am looking forward to a year full of adventure, travels, new people and experiences and I'd be glad if some of you drop me a line every now and then!

My travel route around the world    [click to enlarge]

Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

Yours
Chris