Trip to Montreal

One of my great regrets from my time here in Vermont is not making it up to Montreal more. Beyond a few isolated trips - for example, my son and I went to the next to last Montreal Expos game - I haven't taken advantage of this amazing city that is within two hours driving time of Burlington. It is definitely a shortcoming that I'm hoping to address in the very near future. And what makes this sin even more egregious is that Champlain College actually has a campus in Montreal (which always allows me to repeat the joke when I'm visiting universities overseas that Champlain is the only university in the world that has an international campus that you can drive to in two hours). Yesterday was my first attempt at dealing with this hole in my life. The most excellent Nicole Baker, who, in addition to being an RA out here at Quarry Hill, also helps to run the student International Development Club on campus. They, along with Professional Writing, were planning a trip to Montreal and at the last moment had a professor/chaperone drop out. So, Nicole, as is her wont, charged down the hall and pounded on my door - she's tried to explain to me that when I want to get the students at the Q to do something I have to stop knocking on the door and start kicking it down, which I'm slowly learning - to ask me if I wanted to pinch-hit. I was only to glad to do so, and we had a great time. We visited our Montreal campus, which is truly beautiful, and located right downtown in a great location on Sherbrook. It gave me a chance to spend some time with Genvieve and Wesnide (pictured in the third shot down) who run the campus - and it's always great to see them. It is a first-rate location and the faculty who work there are great folks. The students who made the trip were a lot of fun. We took a tour of the facility, and a separate tour of the city that focused on immigration into the city and how it has shaped the different neighborhoods of Montreal. Along the way we had great Indian and Chinese meals, a cool trip to a popular bagel shop, and ended the evening with a great walk around Chinatown. I can't wait to get back.