Hey everyone it's Holly and today I'm going to be talking about
what I've learned since arriving here in Québec
during the last 4 weeks almost
because I'm here with a program called Explore.
It's located here in Québec City at Laval University
and I like it a lot. I've learned a lot of things since I arrived here
and today I'm going to talk to you about all those things.
There's a bit more than a week left now (less while I type this :( so sad...)
So it's really crazy
Because... I don't know I've always...
not always. In the last couple months before leaving to come here
I thought a lot about this program and I really wanted to speak in french again
because I loved my exchange in France!
So here I have the opportunity to speak in french again
and to learn lots of new things, like
cultural, about the language, about life in general.
So today I'm going to be talking about all the things I learned and I'll be starting with the culture. :)
So it's interesting for me to be here in Québec City
because it's a culture that's
similar
to the culture in Ontario where I live
but at the same time it's also very different.
I think lots of things are very similar but
at the same time it's very different because
Québec it a mixture of the culture's of France,
Canada, and the United States
so it's really a mixture
since it's the french language that is very old.
It's like the original french from France
but it's also a french that has evolved since
it came here at the beginnings of Québec.
Also, now I know that Québec City, the city where I am right now, was founded in 1608.
It's really old compared to where I live
So there's history here more than in many other parts of Canada
because it's where the colonization began.
so yeah. Another thing is the Fleur de Lys
and the pride to be Québecois (from Québec).
It really exists here but in Ontario there isn't really much of an 'Ontarien' culture.
The Ontario flag doesn't fly everywhere in Canada (I hardly ever see it)
but in Québec there is a flag with the Fleur de Lys that I see everywhere
especially here in the capital.
We see it everywhere here.
And as well there's just music,
literature, and art that's unique to this region
It's very interesting
to know of new songs I'd never heard of before.
For example, I was at the Québec City summer music festival (Festival d'été de Québec)
and I saw a singer named
Alexandre Poulin
and it's just cool to see singers from Québec
and to know it's in the same country where I live
and that it's a type of music
that I like as well.
It's just a constant discovery of the culture here
and I like it a lot for that reason!
Secondly, there's the grammar
of course. Obviously, I knew grammar before coming here;
I was in France for three months before this.
But I think here there's been some clarifications
about things in the language
that I wasn't sure about.
For example, about when to use the auxiliary être (to be) or avoir (to have).
I wasn't really sure.
We have an acronym in english called DR MRS VANDERTRAMP
and you're supposed to use être with all those verbs
but that's not always the case... some of those verbs can also be used with avoir.
It depends on the situation, like if it's a state of being or a specific type of verb (transitive, intransitive, etc)
It's just nice to have some clarification about things like that.
And also we learned other verbs tenses like futur anterior and conditional past.
Things like that
Also the plus-que-parfait
I'd never learned those verb tenses before.
Now I can use them, like "j'aurais du faire quelques choses" (I should have done something)
and then it sounds a little more sophisticated!
Like I could use other verb tenses to
express the same emotions.
but it's just an extra thing that I find interesting. When I read books in french
I can know about them.
Also for me I think it's good that I was in France before this
since I already know how to use many verb tenses
so I don't have to translate everything into english before I speak.
But at the same time
it's interesting to know about and
know how to conjugate verbs using the actual rules.
And it's nice to know how the words are then supposed to sound.
The third thing I've learned since getting here
is just about how to be more confident when making decisions.
I've always been the type of person who wants to make the best decisions.
Here I've had more chances to make choices by myself
like to clean my room
or what should I do this weekend, what should I do this evening,
how will I get there on time.
So it's just that I have my old calendar and
things I have to do and it's interesting to have
the freedom to make choices like that at 17 years old.
Most people stay home
before they
go to university or whatever other path they take.
But it's interesting to have this program here so I can
improve my confidence when making decisions and also my self-confidence in general.
Another thing I've really, really liked here
is that with all my new friends I can
go into the city and explore just us :)
I think that's the best way to travel because we can
go into the city
without a plan. Just for fun.
And we can walk wherever we want,
go into any stores we want, look at a map to go to any restaurant if we want to.
Anything we want to do,
we can do it if we feel like it.
It's cool to discover how to navigate a city and how to use the buses
and how to use a map on the internet.
It's those types of things,
to be in a city to to navigate it, to travel around alone...
Not alone exactly because we're in groups of 4 or more with the rules of the program
I'm having fun exploring the city like that!
The next thing is just the new experiences I've had that I'd never experienced before coming here.
For example, I went to the music festival in Québec City like I mentioned before
and I went to a concert at the Bell Stage to see Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, and Oh Wonder
and it was just incredible!
At the beginning I was a little scared
since there are like 100,000 (a hundred thousand) people there.
So it's a gigantic area/stage.
And at the start I was scared because
we were close to the stage and there were a lot of people.
But then we watched the concert
and it was INCREDIBLE so I'm very happy I did that.
And now
it's just a new experience that I hadn't had before then.
So I'm happy
that I'm experiencing these things now with my friends
and that I'm creating this
new feeling of being almost an adult.
Next, I've been thinking a bit more about my future
since being here is like university life.
Of course we're staying in a university residence.
Right now I'm in my room
in the residence and it's my own room.
And we walk around the campus since we have classes in the morning from Monday to Friday.
And then
on the weekends we can do what we want.
But it's not exactly the same
as university life because
we don't have university courses and
we're not totally alone since we're all part of a program with rules we have to follow.
But at the same time it's different that living at home
and I think that living here in a residence
without my family
is an experience that really prepares us
for the future--and that makes me think about what I'm going to do in the future!
Because right now I'm thinking about
which universities I'm going to apply to.
So yeah.
This program has reminded me of my hopes and dreams for the future
Another thing that I realized
is that I love the québecois accent a lot, a lot.
And I think that when I was
I didn't really hear a lot of other french accents from around the world
because I was
immersed in that accent in France
in Lyon where I lived.
But here I have the opportunity to learn about lots of different accents. There is
a typical Québec accent but at the same time there are also
many different accents from the different parts of Québec.
So I think there are some slang words
that I've learned and
just in general they say words a bit differently than
what they say in France.
Lots of times I say words like "goûter" (snack)
but here they say more often "collation" (snack)
or they say "week-end" in France but here it's more common to say "fin-de-semaine" (weekend).
So of course there's things like that.
But it's jus that I find the accent
to be very, very beautiful. Before I came here
I hadn't really heard the Québec accent much.
When I heard it it was mostly on Youtube.
I believe that before
I felt kind of that
the accent in France was the accent that is
the most beautiful----just because it was the only accent
I'd heard for the most part.
It's not like I think that anymore!
Now that I've heard many more accents, I believe that
the accent in Québec is something... I don't know, it's just that
when people speak with that accent,
I'm really, really happy because I find it to be really pretty
and it's something that
yeah it's just so, so pretty!
It's the intonation of the words, you know.
Because I speak with an english accent
but
it's just that
how the sentences are shaped,
it's the same in english when you hear people speaking from different regions
they speak with a different accent.
Like at the end of a sentence the tone of their voice might go a little higher or little to the side.
I don't know, it's just something you feel inside
and when you hear different accent it's something that
you can hear and you can feel how it moves, if that makes sense.
Finally, something I've learned since arriving in Québec...
well not learned, it's something I did:
it's that I've made lots of friends that come from everywhere
across Canada and kind of around the world.
Not completely around the world, but a little bit. People from the United States,
Mexico, Columbia,
and across Canada like
on one side I have friends from British Columbia that I love!
And friends from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia
and also friends from Toronto
and other parts of Ontario.
I feel really proud to be Canadian
because it's such a beautiful country
and a country where I find
there are lots of nice people...
I don't know how to explain it
but it's just that I feel proud to be Canadian
and to have friends that come from all across Canada
and to know a bit more about the language spoken here and the culture.
That's why
I'm very happy
to have decided to do this program.
I know I'm going to learn a lot more in the next week
and then I'm going to leave :( It's really sad for me because
I'd like to stay here. It really is -
Of course I miss my family! I miss you all a lot,
but it's interesting to create a new life and to know that it was you that did it.
To know that it's you who met all those people and made all these friendships,
who discovered this new culture.
Now I feel very at home here
and I'm happy that I'm able to
feel like that even though I'm not at home.
That gives me confidence that in the future
at university or in life in general I can do that.
Anyway, I think that's everything I've learned since arriving here in Québec City!
If there's anything else you'd like to know,
don't hesitate to leave a comment below
and I can try to answer it and maybe make another video like this.
So this is the only video I've made like this in Québec where I just speak to the camera
because we're always doing stuff. Even now,
I have my literature workshop in half hour which I love!!
And
this morning I had my class and tonight I'm going to do something.
So yeah, leave a comment below and thanks for watching!! Bye <3
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