Let's get this settled: Post III

I spent most of today working on my studio, as today was my last day of freedom before orientation tomorrow and Wednesday and the classes start on Thursday, eep!

Before & After

Before & After

Before & After

Before & After

Basically, every piece of furniture in the room was moved except for the white drawing table because it's the only thing that fits (almost) perfectly over the radiator, and otherwise the space under the window wouldn't be usable.

This is just going to be a quick update with the pictures, actually have to be up at a decent hour tomorrow, holy-moly!

Let's get this settled: Post II

At some point today there will be three of us living here. For the past week there has only been two, and for the first few days it was just me. With each new addition comes more organizing and more motivation to get settled (and opinions of what should go where) I approve of this. :)

This has also motivated me to settle my own room more, which I spent most of yesterday doing.

My Room

I'm pretty proud of how my little set-up is coming along. Though, my dresser issue has not been resolved. Right now I am trying a remedy my roommate's mother suggested of this sponge-thing that comes in a plastic container that is designed to get rid of odors. I've been rotating it throughout the drawers, it (the sponge) is supposed to get smaller as it gets used up and sucks up odor from the air...I guess?

In the mean time, this is where my clothes are, if they aren't hanging up. Everyone and their mother (literally) has given me suggestion for what to do about the smell, but honestly, I have this feeling my clothing set-up is here to stay...

The wrinkle in my tapestry aside, I am happy with with my sleeping area. Those little white dots in the wall-gap are my LED star lights, maybe in my next update I'll get a shot of them in action!

We've also rearranged our living room and done the best we could with the kitchen table and it's stupidly large chairs.

Living Room

Before & After

Like our paintings? One of my old roommates found them on the street.

Kitchen

Now, with the kitchen, what may be hard to tell is that the table is much too big for the space, add on 6 chairs (two with arms that the previous tenant shoved into a bedroom) that all have large wings on the back and you've got a pretty cramped kitchen.

In this first picture it may look like there is tons of space, but then notice how close the table is the drawers & stove. It's right up again them, blocking the oven and the pantry, which does make more room for the the refrigerator (behind the shot). In the second picture the table is pulled out from the oven and pantry and it still looks like there is room, but what you can't see is that to the right of this shot is the back door and the kitchen window, which the table is pushed up against. (These photos were taken by my roommate before we moved in, so this is how the landlord had the kitchen set up.)

This is how we have our kitchen set up now. When I first moved in my dad and I flipped the table so it was going across the floor instead of up & down. Since my roommate has been here we've slowly moved all the large chairs away* and replaced them with chairs I had brought with me. While it's not the ideal situation it's working much, much better, and we can open both the oven and the fridge at the same time (though the fridge got the short end of the stick, we can only open the door part way before it hits the table.)

Other Things

This is our backdoor, which is in the kitchen. While our kitchen window has a pull-down shade the door had no shade or curtains at all. My own personal fear of first-floor windows (at night) aside...it was kind of awkward because our landlord and his family were always in the backyard, and also, working on fixing the porch, so it was like being in a fishbowl. Not fun.

Thus I took it upon myself to fix this problem. It also fixed the problem of creepy night-windows...

Curtains: Two large Command hooks, a piece of twine and two pillow cases I got from freecycle. Yay for resourcefulness!

This is a moose-head bottle opener I bought back in March when my family went on vacation in Waterville Valley. Unfortunately the test run didn't turn out too well...not sure if it's because the beer was actually a twist-off (seriously, a twist-off beer?!). In either case, it still looks neat.

Here is my lovely roommate making dinner. I really just took this picture to show off our supah-cool dish towels. Our kitchen has some what of a fish theme because in the back of all the cabinets is this teal wallpaper with fish on it. (Pictures to come, my camera just died...)

We also had beer that night, which, of course required cookies to go with (my favorite dessert combination). Surprisingly, despite being a twist-off top, this beer was pretty good.

I think that about wraps up this post, my next challenge is my studio, which is full of broken-down cardboard boxes right now. Monday is recycling day and it can't come soon enough!

* Where are all the large chairs?

Hiding in my closet. Being used for a desk.

Pulling weight in the kitchen

.

Being unwanted.

We also have the two large end chars with the arms on them. When I first moved in my dad and I asked the landlord if he could at least take those ones off our hands, since they were so bulky and horrible. He said he'd think about it. We put one of them out on the porch before my dad left last week (on Friday) and it's been there ever since, landlord hasn't said a word. The other one is now being used as a desk chair in my other roommate's room.

Let's get this settled: Post I

One of the mini-projects I decided to embark was to find a way to bring more light into my room.

The way my apartment is set up there are only windows at the front and the back, this due to the fact it is attached to the buildings on either side of it.

There are two bedrooms in the middle of the house, mine and one of my roommates (and the third is at the back and has a window).

Mine and the other middle bedroom don't have windows, but we do have large holes/gaps in the top part of one wall that lets in a little bit of light from the two front rooms that do have windows.

When my first roommate moved in last week her mom was nice enough to bring us to Ikea and a few other places not easily accessible without a car.

One of the things I bought was a cheap full-length mirror, from Ikea*, with the plan to hang it on my wall opposite the large hole, to help bounce light into my room.

My landlord, though, has a rule that if we want anything hung on the wall (that is significantly large like that) he has to do it. I can understand the reasoning, this means if anything gets damaged, or if he doesn't find the studs and the thing falls off the wall then it is his fault and not the tenants. It's only a pain because then I have to wait until he is around to hang things, and also either have him come in when I am not home (not something I'm entirely cool with) or be there and wait around while he takes forever (also not something I enjoy, but whatcha gonna do?).

Anyway, he hung up the mirror. Yay. It probably could be a bit higher, but I was here and he hung it where I told him to, so I can't really complain (and don't really feel like asking him to rehang it...took...forever.

Here are the results:

Before & After

It does bring a little more light into the room, but probably not as much if I had had him put the mirror higher...ah well.

I suppose my back up plan will be to wait until I know he is not home (which is never...) and rehang it myself, since now I know where the studs are!

*I had never been to Ikea, this was a novel experience for me...and yes we do have them in the states, just not where I grew up. They have a cafeteria!

Ring Ring Ring Ca-na-da Phone

I have finally acquired a cellphone. Go me.

The Verdict

As I mentioned in my last post I was going to try and get around Google Voice's not-available-outside-the-US thing. I tired, and failed. I had a friend sign into my account down in the states and set it up for me, then we tried calling my new GV number, and nothing. It was a good theory, and I know someone who claims their Google Voice works up here...so I don't know what I did wrong, maybe they are just magic.

Anywho.

I ended up going with a prepaid plan. I've never done a prepaid plan before, so there were some things I didn't consider. Like the fact I would have to actually buy the phone I wanted, and also that I will have to enter a code into my phone or "top up" my payment online.

I went with the prepaid not only because I didn't have a SIN and also had no desire to get a Canadian credit card, but because instead of having 2-year contracts they have 3-year contracts, up here in the great north. Even though my program is "2 years" it's really only about 20 months long, starting this September and going until April/May of 2013. Which means even if they offered a 2-year contract there wouldn't be a guarantee I would still be up here.

So, a 3-year contract? Forget about it.

I also figure that even with the $70 up-front cost of buying the phone, it's probably better than whatever "early termination" fee they would hit me with if I got a contract and then bailed.

Now my only puzzle is figuring out how to set up my voicemail...which only gives instructions in French...Also, since it is not set up for me personally yet, when someone calls it and gets the voicemail it tells them that my number is not available, please leave a message after the beep...in French. I suppose no one from home will be calling me on my phone, and some of my future classmates will most likely speak French...right now I am not worried about it.

I do wish I could change the text-message inbox set-up, and make everything bigger...

as you can see...I already miss my old phone. Alas.

Of Cellphones & Mothballs

Without going into too much ranting detail let's just say my new apartment has a lot of quirks...and rules.

The Area

I'm in a pretty nice location. My street is all residential, though we have a bit of traffic. It also seems, at least the last two nights, a small group of bikers enjoy zooming by in the evening at just around dusk.

It's about a 5 minute walk from a popular street with a lot of little shops, restaurants, and cafes.

Along this stretch is the Dollarama (one word), where I went today for a few things. I found almost everything I was looking for; light-bulbs, dish-soap, baking soda, and vanilla extract. No clorox wipes, though, or a Canadian equivalent. I also got to hear this gem from my high school days. At first I was afraid it was going to be the new rap-remix (ugh), so it kind of made my day.

The vanilla extract was purchased for a very specific reason (which I will explain later) but I almost didn't find it at the store, because of the size of the bottle.

Needless to say, I thought it was a bottle of syrup. Even after further investigation I wasn't convinced I wouldn't bring it home and find out it was vanilla flavored syrup. Considering the circumstances, though, the size was perfect.

In the opposite direction you can find la Banquise, which offers "no lessthan 25 different types of poutine" and is also open 24-hours. This is where we had dinner on Thursday afternoon for my dad and my Nana's last night in town. I'd say it's very similar to Redbones in terms of atmosphere, the tables are all painted differently and it's very loud and busy, but I liked it. If you hadn't already guessed, this is where I will bring you if you come to visit me. (Yes, there is a vegetarian option).

After dinner we went for a walk in the park near my house. Saw this cool tree, or, well the bottom of it.

The Apartment

Back to the vanilla extract. Why was such a large bottle a great find?

Before I moved into the apartment I knew that my room came with a bed and a dresser. Therefore I left my own bed and dresser back in the states. The only problem now is that the dresser absolutely reeks of mothballs.

To touch on the oddity/rules; I told my landlord about this issue and said I was trying a few remedies I found online, but if it continued to smell could we get rid of the dresser? The point being that I cannot and WILL NOT put my clothing in this thing only to have everything I own smell like mothballs. Gawd-damn do I hate that smell...

The answer was no, because it's a "nice" dresser (everything in my apartment is "nice." I'm sure even the couch pillow with the burn mark on it is, too...right)

He claimed he didn't know why it would smell like mothballs because they never put them in there (they being him and his wife...who don't use this apartment...tenants do...whatever). He also said he wasn't sure what it smelled like (since I already had some vanilla in there) but I assured him it was mothballs. My grandmother, love her dearly, uses mothballs in most of her closets, I know the smell. I told him, this dresser smells like my grandmother's house. True story.

Moving on.

The internet is a wonderful place and has given me many a home-made solution for ridding furniture of mothball stink. One of these cures is putting a bowl of vanilla in the dresser (while it's empty and with the drawers closed).

So, I decided to try this, only I just had half of that little bottle of vanilla shown above. I diluted it with water and put 3 bowls of it in the drawers since there are 3 sections to the dresser, each with 3 drawers. I've also been putting all 9 of the drawers out in the sun on my porch since sunlight is also supposed to help. I already knew this because sunlight (somehow, magically) helps remove the smell from clothes. You have to air out clothes/or whatever for a few days in the sun for this to work, it's not a one-shot deal.

For the time being anything that isn't hung up in my closet is folded neatly on a bookshelf I put on top of the dresser, or military-rolled and packed in clear-plastic buckets, also stacked on top. If anything it makes a good table, it's very long and wide.

Oh, let me show you a picture, I guess.

I put the drawers out in the sun today. Since I am the only one home for the weekend I just left them in the kitchen for night to put them back out in the morning. The vanilla cure is supposed to work best if the drawers of the dresser are closed (and in the dresser), but I figured it wouldn't hurt to just have the bowls in there while the drawers got a tan, seeing as I can't put the dresser itself out on the porch...

I also bought baking soda as a back-up plan, and to use in the bathroom, which smells like silicone caulking (from repairs). Don't go thinking I have an amazing sense of smell and can identify anything, my dad was the one that pointed out what the bathroom smell was. He's a handy-man and knows that kind of stuff.

Cellphones (and acquiring my school ID

Yesterday I spent most of my time walking. Googlemaps says it's about a 45-minute walk from my apartment to school (one-way). I do have my bike here but since I don't know the city yet I decided to learn it on foot first.

Even though the deals at Bell seemed better($10 cheaper) I figured I'd try VirginMobile instead because there is a location right near campus.

My first trip down was a predicted flop when I was halfway there, thinking, maybe bringing my passport would have been a good idea. Yeah, I know I mentioned that in my last post. About that. I am an idiot.

Being halfway there I went all the way, just to get in the walk and explore. The girl at the VirginMobile kiosk told me I would need either a Canadian credit card or an SIN (Social Insurance Number) which is the Canadian equivalent of a SSN. Some Canadian approved ID would help, too. Doh.

Though I haven't had a chance to look into it, I swear I received something from school saying I would be assigned a SIN at some point/somehow, or have a chance to get one, etc. With this is mind I set my sights on school after I gathered all my necessary documents and trekked back and got my school ID and health insurance card squared away (the latter being a happy accident). Yet, the woman helping me get my ID said she didn't know where I had heard the thing about getting a SIN, and also, she didn't know why I needed one for a cell-phone.

After returning to the cellphone kiosk I found out that I need either the SIN or the Canadian credit card for a credit check, and only if I want a monthly plan. I don't need either for a prepaid-card-doohicky plan.

I decided to sleep on it and have been exploring other options since yesterday afternoon. One suggested alternative was Google Voice (which is free) though it seems it is not available outside the US (much like hulu, which made last night very lonely, at first).

There may be a loophole, but I think I'll wait to see if it works before I blab about it.

I can still call phone numbers from my gmail chat, but not having Google Voice means not having a number for people to call me on. Google Voice is also all computer based (unless you have a smartphone with an app, I suppose, but that still requires a new phone).

I did find this service but it seems I need to have an already existing Canadian number to register for it.

My mom also suggested MagicJack, because we were discussing if there was a way to keep my current phone number (it's been around for almost 10 years now, and I am pretty attached to it...lame, I know). MagicJack, though, also assigns you a new number, and it is also computer-based just with your phone hooked up to it.

At the moment I still have my old phone, I am just not using it unless it's an emergency.

The idea of having a free service, especially for calling home, sounds very appealing. But, having it all be internet/computer dependent only bothers me in the respect that my laptop would become even that much more of a necessity. I guess I will most likely be bringing it to school with me everyday, but if I am out and about say, with friends, or at a party, how will anyone get ahold of me? Hmm...

I think I will probably end up with a cheap pre-pay and just use it for texting...?

Eh?

Ok, just a few things to appease the one persistent follower masses while I unpack my life in a new country. :P

Regardless of the fact my mother used to live about 2-2.5 hours away from all of my friends & other close family, the drive up to Montreal has flown (both times) in comparison. Both trips being 6+ hours. How do I explain this?

No clue. I guess interstates in NY and VT are more interesting to drive on than the pike? The pike is boring, I hate the pike...

Moving on.

I made it through customs. Was approved for a student visa, yay!

It's this fancy piece of paper that they fold in a certain way so it fits into your passport (where they staple it to it)

Which, I guess, means I should carry it with me everywhere? In case I am stopped or questioned?

Probably a good idea.

Might make going out to clubs a pain, though...not sure if it fits into my super-tiny purse (which is my mostly everyday purse...)

I seem to have moved into the french side of town, which is ok...not very challenging, for the most part everyone speaks both french and english. Really, this just makes me feel like an idiot...wishing I could speak french, and, at the same time, thinking I will never be fully confident in my ability to speak it (in general I am horrible at pronunciation)

So, we shall see.

Until my next post...I have way too much stuff...

Half a World Away: Long Distance Relationships [Updated]

Now that it is getting down to the wire, just a week until I start packing up a U-Haul truck, a lot of people have been asking if me and the boy are doing the long distance thing.

Details of my personal-life aside, I have always had an aversion to the idea of a long-distance relationship.

I guess, though, it depends on what you consider "long distance". It seems that, from the get go, I have always had to travel a decent amount to see whoever I was dating. The one exception being my most recent ex, who lived maybe about 20 minutes away, but only when I was living in the city/school dorms. For the most part the travel time has always been 45 minutes to 1 hour, and at the moment it is 2 + hours. I don't consider this long-distance. A pain in the ass, maybe, but manageable (and worth it).

Surprisingly, though, Montreal isn't that far from where I live now. With no stops it is estimated to take only 4.5 hours, which adds up to about 6.5 hours from where the boy lives. Not terrible, a weekend trip, maybe. Now, let's add into the mix the fact he is moving to Colorado in October. Totally different animal.

There are many reasons I don't jive with the idea of long distance relationships, just in general.
One of the big things is the cost. For me this is especially a problem if the long distance is for an undetermined length of time. Well, actually, just the idea of having a long distance relationship when both partners aren't planning to move is just completely pointless. Anyway.
Traveling costs a lot. A lot, a lot. I like to be frugal with my spending, and the cost of having to travel to maintain a long distance relationship just makes me roll my eyes.

Really, I find the whole idea to sound very ridiculous stressful. You're never with the person, you spend all your time missing them/wanting to be with them(in person), you spend tons of money just to see them every now and then and only for a few days at a time. Meanwhile, life is going on, passing you by, and you're wasting time and money. You could be saving that money, spending time with friends, who live near you.
I also feel that in today's world, with all the different ways to communicate it can be even harder because one partner or the other may expect them to be in contact all the time, which can put stress on the other partner if they don't feel the same way, this can lead to intentional avoidance of the other partners calls/messages, stress, mixed messages, you get the idea.

Being so far away from the other person means you have no way of knowing what they are up to. You don't know what their schedule is like 24/7. It can be easy to feel as if they are ignoring you or blowing you off if they don't respond to a text or an email right away. I know that the virtual world and emails/phone messages are a big part of our lives these days, but, seriously, you live your life where you are living, you can't (or shouldn't) be glued to a screen all day.

The risk for going broke communication breakdown is just too great.

So, now that we've come to the agreement that the whole thing is a big waste of time/money let's move on to my next point.
Wasting you time = missing opportunities. (also, wasting your life)
If the situation is one where neither person is planning to move to be closer to the other then there are many opportunities that both of them will be missing to be with someone else. Someone who is right there. Someone they could have a life with and not have to wait, or stress, or travel, etc.
There is also the issue of one partner deciding to move for the other. Uprooting their life and sacrificing what they were doing for the sake of the relationship. Missing opportunities or even leaving friends and family.
The bottom line being, they are taking a huge risk for something that isn't necessarily permanent. Then what?

Keep in mind, though, my plan isn't to move and immediately begin hunting down someone closer and more convenient. To be honest my plan is to enjoy my time by myself and possibly stay single for awhile. I've spent the last 8 years in and out of relationships, with no more than a 3-4 month break in between each one. I find the idea of being single a bit refreshing.

This isn't to say I am not personally torn about the issue. I am.
I am spouting all of this logical reasoning about not being in a long distance relationship, and in the back of my mind still wondering if it could work, in my situation.

Alas.

Disclaimer:
I know many people who have had, or are still in long-distance relationships and are quite happy. It's just not my cup of tea.

Poutine, not to be confused...

What is poutine? (and why is it part of my blog title?)

Poutine is a dish that is very popular in Canada, consisting of french fries covered in gravy and topped with cheese curds. Very simple.

Sounds delish? To me, yes.
Unfortunately I am lactose-intolerant, so I have never had the full poutine experience. When I visited Montreal back in June my traveling companion ordered it and I snuck a few fries that only had gravy on them.

This does not mean I have given up hope. I am always on the hunt for recipes to make certain dishes dairy-free, and, if all else fails, I will suffer through a chewable lactaid pill, much to the amusement of my friends at all the horrible faces I make. (The pills you swallow don't work for me and I loathe chalky things in my mouth.)

Another friend suggested I look into the possibility of goat-cheese curd poutine, something I still need to research, but definitely a good idea (especially since I love goat cheese...mmm)

Onto the next order of business...why is poutine part of my blog title if I can't eat it? (on a whim that is).
Well, I would like to eat it someday, and it seemed appropriate as it is something Montreal is known for, it also begins with a "p" so it worked well with poetry (something I love to do, and am not allergic to...oh, noetry)

Also, a similar topic I will later explore are "beaver tails" something a friend told me about after visiting Montreal. I guess it is fried-dough, though I wasn't clear if they call all fried-dough "beaver tails" or if it was just the fried-dough that they covered in chocolate sauce and a variety of candy.
After further research it seems they just call them all beaver tails. Yum?

Terrifyingly Excited

So, the countdown begins! I have a U-Haul truck scheduled for August 16th and the morning of the 17th I shove off.
To which I say, holy crap.

These last few weeks have just flown by, and I am still in awe that it is 3:30 on Friday and another week as slipped by me, barely registering.
The whole thing has started to feel surreal, though maybe that's not the word for it. My best way to describe it is that it is akin to when I was very little and my parents used to have savings bonds that they kept in the safe in my dad's office. The story was that these bonds were when I went to college, someday. Then I was a junior in high school and my mother was dragging me all over the East coast looking at schools and all I could think of was, when did this happen? Wasn't it just yesterday they were saving up for my eventual, someday, super-far-off college days? (the bonds, didn't make it to 2005, needed for other reasons over the years)
This is what this feels like. It seems like only yesterday was getting my acceptance letter (back in March) and preparing to move home for the summer to save up some money...but here it is, and I am excited and terrified all at once.

One issue that has become much less anxiety-provoking, as of last night, is my loan situation, as I finally got word that I have been approved for a healthy sum. This takes away stress of the fact that I will be unemployed for awhile, as I am not fluent in French (I'm horrible with pronunciation, but we'll work on that...) and I need to apply for a work visa...and may need to be in the country for a certain amount of time before that is allowed? Not sure yet.
Such a feeling of relief, though, I don't want to jump the gun, I still have a few more steps to go through before it is all finalized, but it still feels good.

Also on the agenda are acquiring a new cellphone and bank account, which I have researched, but will probably wait until I am settled in my new place before I pursue them any further.

I believe that is all for now.

Ciao!

The Basics

Welcome to my third blog*, created to record my experience of moving from a small town in Massachusetts, USA to Montreal, Québéc, Canada, to pursue a degree in Library and Information Studies with a concentration in Archives. I also hope to provide some information to anyone else making an international move.

Hi, I'm a huge nerd.

Background information:
I have a degree in counseling psychology, but enjoyed my 5 + years of library work more than my academics.
I have never lived outside of Massachusetts.
Since applying and being accepted to school I have only visited Montreal once, about a month ago, for the very first time, and I still haven't visited the campus. Regardless, I am in love with the city and not sure if I will want to leave when my two years are up.

*
My other blogs:
Yellow Pin Projects (my art and crafts)
Keyboard Rubbish (everything else)