hello friends. this morning was quite the disaster because i magically managed to erase some of my pictures. it was very sad. anyways, starting off from last wednesday: after school andrea and stefanie`s uncle took us all to this neat fruit market called the `jean-talon market´ where i bought some cilantro, an avacado, tomatoes and broccoli and apples (granny-smith style). then he took us around all these really really fancy houses on top of the mount-royal hill. we went for zataars for dinner (these delicious lebanese wraps with pickled radish and mint inside). after that we went to the contemporary art museum as it was free entrance that evening. they had this neat exhibit on music videos where they showed a multitude of music videos from the past couple of decades. very fun. and then they also had an exhibit by brian jungen who made native american masks out of nike shoes as well as massive whale skeletons out of lawn chairs. it was really neat and exceedingly creative. thursday was my little bro`s birthday - he is now 11. that day i went back to the fine arts museum to look around, bought my bus ticket for NYC ( i leave this sunday very very early) and watched some oprah and dr. phil while eating a microwave pasta dinner (this time with added cilantro and peppers). in the evening we went to oratoire st. joseph - this massive and beautiful church on top of the hill. and you have to climb a million stairs to reach it. the stairs were divided in three - the middle was reserved for those that wanted to climb up the steps on their knees - praying/thinking as they went. that evening homework and studying was the order of business. friday was my sister`s last day in her program in riviere du loup so she called to say hello and farewell. after school i went to this indian buffet near our campus. it was amazing: butter chicken, samosa, lentils, rice, delicious sauces and mango pudding. i ate so so so much that i didn´t eat for the rest of the day. but it was totally worth it. that night we had our farewell evening. there were some musical numbers, some skits and most people (minus me due to stuffage of le food) ate corn on the cob. that evening we watched high fidelity and i went to bed early because we had to meet quite early for quebec city the next morning. quebec city was amazing. we arrived in a city just across the water way so we took this sweet ferry across and then explored the city. chateau frontenac was everything i could have dreamed for... and more. while we were there it was `fete de la nouvelle-france´ so there were parades and people dressed in period costumes. all very amusing. we ate crepes for dinner. i really wish we could have stayed there longer but it was a really neat city and i will definitely have to head back someday in the future. sunday we went to andrea and stef`s uncle`s hotel for breakfast. it was amazing. yogourt! juice! croissants! smoked salmon and dill omelette! and then i went shopping to this neat store where i purchased some nifty post-it notes as well as these alphabet dividers for music collections. very neat. that afternoon i went to the tamtams for a tiny bit. the tamtams involve a huge mega group of people (anyone can come and join) that bring their own instruments (bongo drums, triangles, saxophones etc) and then play them for several hours every sunday. there`s one guy that whistles and then sets the beat for the song and then everyone joins in, improvising and dancing. tres, tres cool. oh - i gotta jad. i`m off to the botanical gardens. party out. xx nicole  ¶ 8:14 AM