Well, Montreal was fun. It tried its best to make itself hated, what with freezing rain and high winds, but I still enjoyed the city, and would like to visit again in summer. Due to incliment weather and a faulty Memory card, there aren't a lot of photos of it, but I'll try to get those up soon enough. It all looks like a very chilly version of southern France in old Quebec, and the rest looks like a nice, not overly large, French city. You immidiately notice you are in France-Canada, not Canada-France. Everything is written bilingually, but unlike in Ontario, where the English on top is the same size as the french on the bottom, the Quebecouis make no such pretense and make the French about size 12 and the English about size 5. I had Poutine, which is very good and very filling, if you don't mind getting fat very fast. I walked up Mount Royal, which is actually covered in snow, showing that Montreal is delicately balanced on the dew point between rain and snow at this time of year, the difference really is only about 50 meters. Visited a very nice hostel, and can only recommend "L'Auberge Alternative" for the price, the awesome common room and free tea. Can't recommend it for the crazy lady in her 70ies who was apparently a muslim-chaser and lived full-time at the hostel, but I guess you can't blame the hostel for that.
And boy is the 7.5 hour drive from Montreal (aka, Mun-Tree-awl, which is how the Ontario people pronounce it, I think they're trying to be funny) dull. Prairie, clumps of wood, Prairie, a farm...hey, check it out, this goes on for several hours. Ontario has a lot of room, but sadly not a lot of landscape to fill that room with, and what is there is, in winter, singularily ugly. Except for the lakes. Oh yes, the lakes, vast shimmering expanses of sky and water, they really pull the landscape together.
But, nothing saves the towns. One of the reasons the way back took so long (except for the prerequisite traffic jam in Toronto) was that we detoured through several towns for stops. And as much as I love cities, and love the open countryside, I really hate towns. And Ontario gave me ample material to hate. Among the wonderful places we visited were
Kirkland (notable for the worst roads I encountered in Canada thus far)
Cornwall (apparently notable for its XXL truckstop and not much else)
Iroquois (full of white trash, fittingly)
Brockville (home of the 1000 island park, and possibly the sauce as well)
Kingston (notable for containing many sensible people doing the only sensible thing, leaving Kingston via bus)
Scarborough (already part of Toronto, but still 1.5 hours from city center, full of appartment blocks and highways)
The towns just kind of drift into and out of each other in a never-ending urban trickle. The lesson here is probably that I hate sprawl. My ideal city has a neat edge, and beyond that only landscape that is vertically challenging, not vertically challenged. I guess this is what, in my eyes, reifies Vienna, as it doesn't have a lot of noticable sprawl (there might be a yet hiding in there). Some people might disagree with me (looking at you, George), but while Vienna can't compete with the size of the GTA, it can compete with the population numbers in the respective urban core, and it manages them more efficiently and densely, in my opinion. If Toronto were Vienna, Biedermannsdorf would have been swallowed by faceless strip malls and highway junctions long ago. In this, I agree with Margaret Atwood, Toronto is a VM, a vile Metropolis, but only because it mirrors the typical US city so much.
But in any case, it is now 11:20, and in a scant 7 hours and 20 minutes I'm leaving Canuckistan behind for a few weeks, leaving for mountains, good food, and properly priced beer that I can buy at a supermarket.
A nice vacation, in my opinion. See you there, I hope.
Dienstag, 20. Dezember 2011
Dienstag, 6. Dezember 2011
Heureka!
-Which is Greek and means "give me a towel, quickly!"
Well, I figured something out last night. I've been feeling rather morose and stressed out the last week, and there was a mounting feeling of discomfort I'd been dragging around with me for the whole last month. I boiled it down, and after a ridiculously small amount of honest soul-searching, it hit me.
My Thesis.
Yes, my thesis is what I am afraid of. The realization of that was so utter and so straightforward it kind of boggled my mind. But yes, I'm stressed out about it. Why? Well, I have a reading list, I have some preliminary work, I have a lot of notes, but I didn't know what exactly to write on. So I resolved to narrow down my choices, scrap my old research questions, and basically start a new page in and on the face of my writer's block. I had that slated for the next couple of weeks, maybe compare with the notes I left in Austria, but that apparently wasn't necessary.
Because I had an epiphany.
Epiphany: An epiphany (from the ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, "manifestation, striking appearance") is the sudden realization or comprehension of the (larger) essence or meaning of something.
I was walking home from my last lecture for this semester, only today, and as I was just plodding along through Queen's park, with my thoughts on nothing in particular, suddenly, A THESIS APPEARS! I had a realization, a revelation, and I wrote it down immediately, ultimately expecting it to be bogus upon considering it again at home. But it works, somehow. I have a vague idea what book ties into what part, and I actually know what exactly I want to write now. Now all I have to do is write it!
This, my friends, is seriously good news for me, and it verily did brighten my day considerably. I doesn't save me from another 300 pages of soul-destroying urban geography for the test on Monday, but it did give me something I can work on, finally. The new sense of direction is dizzying, and I hope it lasts, because I need it to last for, oh, 80+ A4 pages of rough draft.
It also means I'll have to freight myself down with a few extra books. Oh well, I'm still too amazed with how positively this influenced my general mood that I won't bother with cold realism right now.
Well, I figured something out last night. I've been feeling rather morose and stressed out the last week, and there was a mounting feeling of discomfort I'd been dragging around with me for the whole last month. I boiled it down, and after a ridiculously small amount of honest soul-searching, it hit me.
My Thesis.
Yes, my thesis is what I am afraid of. The realization of that was so utter and so straightforward it kind of boggled my mind. But yes, I'm stressed out about it. Why? Well, I have a reading list, I have some preliminary work, I have a lot of notes, but I didn't know what exactly to write on. So I resolved to narrow down my choices, scrap my old research questions, and basically start a new page in and on the face of my writer's block. I had that slated for the next couple of weeks, maybe compare with the notes I left in Austria, but that apparently wasn't necessary.
Because I had an epiphany.
Epiphany: An epiphany (from the ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, "manifestation, striking appearance") is the sudden realization or comprehension of the (larger) essence or meaning of something.
I was walking home from my last lecture for this semester, only today, and as I was just plodding along through Queen's park, with my thoughts on nothing in particular, suddenly, A THESIS APPEARS! I had a realization, a revelation, and I wrote it down immediately, ultimately expecting it to be bogus upon considering it again at home. But it works, somehow. I have a vague idea what book ties into what part, and I actually know what exactly I want to write now. Now all I have to do is write it!
This, my friends, is seriously good news for me, and it verily did brighten my day considerably. I doesn't save me from another 300 pages of soul-destroying urban geography for the test on Monday, but it did give me something I can work on, finally. The new sense of direction is dizzying, and I hope it lasts, because I need it to last for, oh, 80+ A4 pages of rough draft.
It also means I'll have to freight myself down with a few extra books. Oh well, I'm still too amazed with how positively this influenced my general mood that I won't bother with cold realism right now.
Montag, 5. Dezember 2011
Some observations...
Well, the finals are still rolling, but with only one test left next Monday, I do have some breathing room, so here a short little update so you know what I've been up to.
Over the weeks, I have narrowed down my lingering disdain for the house to my own room, and in that mostly the virtual lack and placement of windows. I have one, as you know, so all my activities necessarily are near that window, as my desk is there. What little light it provides is partially swallowed by the dark brick wall opposite the window, as the distance between our house and the next is only about 3 meters. in that narrow space is wrenched the fire exit, which is my second problem, as the smallness of the room forces me to have the window open most of the time, or die of heatstroke (yes, even now that the daily average is in the single digits, the room is still too hot) and since everyone on the top floors uses the fire exit as a convenient back door, I'm constantly having people walk by my window. That rattles me, and annoys me.
Soooooo, I asked Coop to tell me if any other rooms become vacant, and I might consider moving. The main argument against that is that I actually like the people I live with pretty much, and elsewhere might be worse. But it might also be better! So let's see how that pans out, maybe I'll stay here for the rest of my stay, maybe not.
What else has been happening? I tried to get some christmas shopping done, but seeing how I usually get my christmas ideas by close observation of my family from October to December, I'm in a bit of a bind this year, and I hope I think of SOMETHING because I only have about one week of uninterrupted shopping left. What happens then?
Oh, I'm going to Quebec for a week.
Yes, trip time! I'll be leaving for Montreal on the 13th, after my last test, and return the 19th, fly home on the 20th, arrive on Austria on the 21st. Kinda cramped, my schedule. And while I am sure that there will be opportunities for some shopping while I visit the crazy french-Canadians, I will also have other things to do, I hope. Well, I will, I'm not going alone, but with some people from the exchange who, like me, missed the original Quebec trip.
We're planning on going to Quebec city as well, and we were going via car. As far as I know my license is not valid in Canada, which is both good and bad. Bad because I was supposed to drive, good because I don't want to drive. Not in wintry conditions, not in a country where I have never driven a car before, not a rental car, not from Montreal to Quebec City. There will have to be another way, and if the others rent a car, I am taking the bus on my own. Yes, I do not trust them enough, and I've had enough highway hijinx during the Huron trip to last me for another 4 months.
Also, I figured out that instead of giving you another long article about what Toronto is, I'll end today's installment with one of the few things which it is not: Ein österreichisches Bundesland. It is, however, a province of China, a district of Singapore, a prefecture of Japan, a subdivision of Russia, a state of Germany and several other things. There really are a LOT of foreigners.
Over the weeks, I have narrowed down my lingering disdain for the house to my own room, and in that mostly the virtual lack and placement of windows. I have one, as you know, so all my activities necessarily are near that window, as my desk is there. What little light it provides is partially swallowed by the dark brick wall opposite the window, as the distance between our house and the next is only about 3 meters. in that narrow space is wrenched the fire exit, which is my second problem, as the smallness of the room forces me to have the window open most of the time, or die of heatstroke (yes, even now that the daily average is in the single digits, the room is still too hot) and since everyone on the top floors uses the fire exit as a convenient back door, I'm constantly having people walk by my window. That rattles me, and annoys me.
Soooooo, I asked Coop to tell me if any other rooms become vacant, and I might consider moving. The main argument against that is that I actually like the people I live with pretty much, and elsewhere might be worse. But it might also be better! So let's see how that pans out, maybe I'll stay here for the rest of my stay, maybe not.
What else has been happening? I tried to get some christmas shopping done, but seeing how I usually get my christmas ideas by close observation of my family from October to December, I'm in a bit of a bind this year, and I hope I think of SOMETHING because I only have about one week of uninterrupted shopping left. What happens then?
Oh, I'm going to Quebec for a week.
Yes, trip time! I'll be leaving for Montreal on the 13th, after my last test, and return the 19th, fly home on the 20th, arrive on Austria on the 21st. Kinda cramped, my schedule. And while I am sure that there will be opportunities for some shopping while I visit the crazy french-Canadians, I will also have other things to do, I hope. Well, I will, I'm not going alone, but with some people from the exchange who, like me, missed the original Quebec trip.
We're planning on going to Quebec city as well, and we were going via car. As far as I know my license is not valid in Canada, which is both good and bad. Bad because I was supposed to drive, good because I don't want to drive. Not in wintry conditions, not in a country where I have never driven a car before, not a rental car, not from Montreal to Quebec City. There will have to be another way, and if the others rent a car, I am taking the bus on my own. Yes, I do not trust them enough, and I've had enough highway hijinx during the Huron trip to last me for another 4 months.
Also, I figured out that instead of giving you another long article about what Toronto is, I'll end today's installment with one of the few things which it is not: Ein österreichisches Bundesland. It is, however, a province of China, a district of Singapore, a prefecture of Japan, a subdivision of Russia, a state of Germany and several other things. There really are a LOT of foreigners.
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