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When we landed in Canada, I was thrilled to explore Montreal, Ottawa City and Quebec City. The city was booming with excitement and beauty. I was taken back with how much Montreal reminded me of Berlin. Beautiful graffiti murals were scattered along the City’s walls. Art in Montreal seems cleaner and more refined than the bold graffiti in Berlin. I have put in pictures of both so you can make your own opinion. Little cafes and tall buildings of apartments with balconies filled the streets. Both cities have metros for public transportation. During a walking tour of Montreal, we saw what used to be a wall to separate white and Native Americans. How ironic it is that both countries would have a wall to separate its own people. I also found Canadian’s and Germans’ views of the last two United States presidents ironic. While in Ottawa City, Julia, Nick and I enjoyed Obama cookies.  They are named after Obama because on February 19, 2009 he bought some cookies from the Bywater Market for his daughters. Canada was one of the first countries he visited. When Obama visited Berlin, they painted a huge mural to celebrate his arrival. Canada was offended after helping out the United States post 9/11. President Bush stated there was no reason to thank them because thanking family is not necessary. While in Berlin, the class found graffiti on a walking tour that said “F*** Bush. This makes a statement on how different leaders really do affect the worldwide view of the United States.

Montreal Photos:

           Berlin grafitti 

Nikki Cotton

ASC 2798.04

Dr. Cabral

June 2, 2014

            Inhale Yoga, Exhale Therapy: Therapeutic Use of Yoga in Canada vs. United States

While yoga has become vastly popular in the western world, yoga therapy is an emerging field. The International Association of Yoga therapists defines yoga therapy as “the process of empowering individuals to progress toward improved health and well-being through the application of the philosophy and practice of Yoga.” (Taylor 1) Yoga therapy is defined by Dr. Richard Miller as “the application of Yogic principles to a particular person with the objective of achieving a particular spiritual, psychological or physiological goal.” (Miller 1) Dr. Miller explains the three perspectives that yoga therapy is applied from in his article Yoga Therapy: Definition, Perspective, and Principles.

1.      The use of Yoga to gain a sense of power, i.e., to develop muscular power, the power to concentrate, the power to do difficult postures, the ability to work over an extended period of time, etc. This is called the application of shakti-krama.

This form of yoga would be used well as therapy for PTSD, anxiety, OCD, ADD, ADHD, sexual assault, addiction, eating disorders, depression, abuse and other traumas.

2. The use of Yoga to heal specific problems, such as eliminating impurities in the organs (doshas) or energy centers (cakras) and channels (nâdîs) of the body. This is chikitsâ-krama.

• If sickness is present, it needs to be cured (chikitsâ).
• If sickness is not present, protection is necessary (rakshana).
• If sickness is not present and one has learned how to protect oneself, training is necessary (shikshana).

This application of yoga would be used for back pain, sleeping disorders, stress, physical illnesses, detox, cancer and overall health.

3.      The use of Yoga to go beyond the physical to understand what is beyond the limited sense of self; to know one’s true self as unchanging Witnessing Presence (Purusha) of all that is changing (prakriti). This is called the application of âdhyâtmika-krama.

Dr. Miller also explains the principles behind the application of âdhyâtmika-krama.

Teach what is appropriate to the individual (yukta-shiksana).Differences in different people must be respected (bheda).Teachings must consider the situation, place, or country from which the student comes (desha). Each person needs to be taught according to his or her individual constitution, age, disposition, etc.(i.e., obese, lean, young, old, etc.) (deha).The method of instruction depends on the time of year, the seasons, etc. (kâla). Depending on the occupation of the student, he or she will need to be taught different things (e.g., a runner would be taught differently than a philosopher) (vritti).One must understand the capacity of the student, how much endurance he or she has, how much memory, how much time to study or practice (shakti).The teaching must conform to the direction of the mind (i.e., it must take a person’s interests into account, such as exercise, devotion, God, chanting, etc.) (mârga). This application is appropriate for overall well-being. (Miller 1)

To obtain understanding of Canadian’s view of yoga therapy, Dr. Stéphane Bensoussan filled as a reference. Dr. Stéphane Bensoussan is a holistic health and educational psychologist, Director of Clinique Psy-Santé, author and an inspirational speaker. Dr. Bensoussan has a bachelor degree in psychology from McGill University, a master degree in Educational Psychology and Counseling from McGill University, studied behavioral cognitive therapy and behavioral medicine at Montreal General Hospital, child development and parenthood training, psycho-oncology, psychoneuroimmunology from the National Institute of Clinical Applications of Behavioral Medicine, spiritual psychotherapy, mindfulness mediation, natural health and a yoga therapy license and clinical applications. Dr. Bensoussan uses a variety of therapeutic tools including cognitive behavioral therapy, hypothesis, play therapy, drama therapy, inner child, imagery and therapeutic use of yoga.

            Dr. Bensoussan has been practicing yoga for 22 years and enjoys it very much. He has been using yoga therapy for eight years. He has seen improvement in his work becoming more and more refined. He has also become better at selecting postures for different programs and clients.  As a young psychologist, he was trained to use cognitive behavioral therapy and other talk therapy tools. While he enjoyed it, he also realized that these widely used therapy tools have limits. Clients going through difficult times come to therapy searching for answers to questions. He noticed that many clients had more questions than answers at the end of therapy sessions. Talking too much about traumas or unwanted emotions fires up neurons in the brain creating more negative mind space.

While re-evaluating his methods of therapy, Dr. Bensoussan realized how much psychology is in yoga. He started using Buddhist principles and mindfulness techniques. Dr. Bensoussan stated that emotional suffering is because the mind is busy so it thinks of painful things. His number one rule as a psychologist is to release emotional suffering. When it is capable, he believes that bringing someone to their inner self through yoga, meditation and other mindfulness techniques will give them more self-power. Yoga also influences the brain’s fat.

During mediation and movement, the mind is very focused. Energy and breathe goes through the muscles, body and back to the mind. By keeping the mind busy, it is unable to make new neurons about traumas or other difficult emotions. Yoga also teaches an important lesson of feeling pain, then working through it and finally letting it go. During each pose, there is a level of discomfort while the muscles are stretching, retracting, lifting and holding balance. A client practicing must first accept the presence of discomfort, work through it by deep breathing and then let go of the pose. Yoga allows the patient to connect what is going on in their body and let go of the story going through their mind. For traumas, it helps them find empowerment and let go of the role of the victim. By not giving a lot of emotion to the event it does not create too much mind space for the event. It will also make them feel like they are accomplishing something during therapy sessions.  Talk therapy often has the reverse effect. Dr. Bensoussan realized that yoga was working better than other techniques.

Dr. Bensoussan uses yoga therapy for many populations. He uses it with clients with ADD or ADHD. Leading them through a series of poses helps focus the mind. He uses yoga on kids who like to play and be busy. It takes away rituals for people with OCD. It takes them out of their mind and focuses on their body. He also uses it with clients with anxiety, depression, trauma and eating disorders. For eating disorders, yoga allows patients the experience of loving their body through a stretch and release tension. It is a victory for them. They learn to re-appreciate muscles and their body. 

Dr. Bensoussan explained his knowledge of the view of yoga therapy in Canadian’s healthcare system. Yoga therapy is not recognized and not widely known in Canada. It is viewed by most as a sport. Although it is recognized by the complimentary therapy world, it is not covered by insurance. Clients who benefit from therapeutic use of yoga must pay out of pocket for the private service. The decision whether or not to include therapy sessions under insurance is made by Health Canada. Each providence has their own organization. Doctors will recommend yoga for stress, anxiety, back pain or sleeping problems. They rarely recommend yoga therapy since many do not understand the difference between them. Psychologists also view yoga therapy in the same way. Psychologists are trained in a variety of ways so there is a great lack of awareness. Dr. Bensoussan stated that yoga therapy has only started to become known in the past three years. He predicts that it will become mainstream in Canada in the next ten years or so.

Canadian and United States healthcare has similar views of therapeutic use of yoga as of present. It is not recognized by healthcare or covered by insurance in either country. It has not been well defined in either the United States or Canada. Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) claims that for yoga therapy to be covered in the United States it would have to include a definition, a scope of practice, standards of training and organized representation. Insurance for yoga in the United States is controversial. Many CAM therapists do not wish to be compromised into the current health system. Dr.Stéphane Bensoussan stated in his interview that he would like to see the two worlds bridge and work with physicians. He does not, however, represent all of Canada’s current yoga therapist.

Dr. Rao, Dr. Varambally and Dr. Gangadhar, psychiatrists from Toronto, Canada, explain that the present method for classifying physical and mental illness is based on allopathic understanding of body-mind dualism. Yoga is based on body-mind interaction. Therefore, yoga practitioners must find a way to diagnose disorders more closely to the body-mind dualism. Compromising between both systems of medical and yoga practitioners proves to be difficult. (Rao 148)

A difference between yoga therapy in the United States and Canada is the standards for being a yoga therapists. Dr. Bensoussan has a psychology degree and yoga therapy license. The standards in the United States for a yoga therapist is as of the following: well-trained yoga teacher (meets Yoga Alliance standards at the 500-hour level), well-experienced yoga teacher (four years and 1000 hours teaching experience) along with additional training (300-500 hours) including therapeutic applications, biomedical sciences and practicum or externship. (Kepner 98) The United States is progressing ahead in making standards for yoga therapists as a whole. The Canadian Yoga Alliance is concerned about making paper standards for their teachers stating; “It takes years to develop and refine ones understanding of true transformation, as well as learning and mastering the vital breaths. If an instructor is not proficient in the breath (pranayama) and understanding of the ecology (of the body) and economy (of the energy) of the body, than it is not True Yoga that is being taught.” (Canadian Yoga Alliance)

Another difference between the two countries is the difference between the two countries are the organizations supporting yoga therapy. In Canada, there is the Canadian Yoga Alliance which supports anyone who practices yoga. Both countries have members in the International Association of Yoga Therapists. The United States, however, has a more active role in publish articles for the association. In the U.S., there are also many up and coming foundations that support the therapeutic use of yoga. The Give Back Yoga Foundation gives out grants to individual/organizations who use yoga to help heal underserved groups and inspire communities. Grants have helped veterans, prisoners, kids with cancer, Women and Children centers, low income families, pregnant women, addiction centers and mental disabilities across the country. Eat Breathe Thrive is a program created by Chelsea Roff to helped survivors of eating disorders. This program has been taught to yoga and eating disorder centers from coast to coast. The Joyful Heart Foundation was founded by Mariska Hargitay who was inspired by her role in Law and Order: Special Victim Unit. This organization takes a holistic approach to help healing those who have survive sexual assault, domestic abuse and child abuse. They also have a program to help the healers and anyone else affected by helping the survivors. Yoga and meditation is part of The Joyful Heart Foundation’s retreats. In Canada, single psychologists and yoga experts have programs to benefit certain populations such as Dr. Bensoussan.  

Yoga therapy is a new, growing field in both Canada and the United States with progress being established in different ways. Both countries lack awareness of the difference between yoga and yoga therapy in the medical world. It lacks standards in both countries to allow it to be covered by health insurance. The United States is starting to form standards and organizations in support. Canada is focusing on coming up with a way to comprise the body-mind dualism and body-mind interaction to allow medical practitioners and yoga practitioners to work together. Yoga therapy will most likely be established in the United States first with Canada following behind within the next decade.

Work Cited

Bensoussan, Stéphane, Dr. “Yoga Therapy.” Telephone interview. 20 May 2014.

Interview

Kepner, John. “Alternative Billing Codes and Yoga: Practical Issues and Strategic Considerations for Determining “What Is Yoga Therapy?” and “Who Is a Yoga Therapist?”” International Journal of Yoga Therapy 13 (2003): 93-99. Web. Journal Article.

Miller, Richard, Dr. “Yoga Therapy: Definition, Perspective and Principles.” International Journal of Yoga Therapy (n.d.): 1-2. Web. Journal Article.

Rao NP, Varambally S, Gangadhar BN. Yoga School of thought and psychiatry: Therapeutic potential. Indian J Psychiatry 2013;55:145-9.

Taylor, Matthew J., Dr. “What Is Yoga Therapy? An IAYT Defintion.” International Journal of Yoga Therapy (2007): 1. Web. Journal Article.

“Welcome to Canadian Yoga Alliance.” Welcome to Canadian Yoga Alliance. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2014.

Julia Barrett

Research Essay

ARTSSCI 2798.04

Dr. Cope/Dr. Cabral

May 28, 2014

The Bilingual Challenge

Being bilingual is not an easy thing to do. Imagine if the U.S was both English speaking, and Spanish speaking—politicians and the media would have a field day over the “controversy” it would cause. However for the province of Québec, this theory is a reality, and there were many struggles and hardships to end up where they are now—as a bilingual province. From the very beginning it was a struggle between French and English. Who would come out on top? Would they just separate all together? Well, in the end, it was proven throughout the history, present, and future that separation is and never was a good idea.

Canada—translated to “the little village”—is anything but little, with 10 provinces, and 3 territories, it spans over 3,000 miles across, making it the second largest country in the world. But can you imagine if 1/3 of it split away? In 1995, the province of Québec came very close to doing just that. Quebecers voted, and were less than 1% close to having their province separate from Canada entirely. But why do this? Canada is a nice country with nice people and plenty of space to go around…well in Québec, French is the “majority” of the population and its culture, and language engulfs the Québécois society, but on the other hand, English are the “minority” who, for a long time, governed most of Québec…this caused for a lot of controversy between the two of them.

It all started back in 1608 when a French explorer by the name of Samuel de Champlain landed in what was called “Kébec”. From there on the French would rule over this region, which is now called Québec, trading fur with aboriginals and building grand churches such as the Notre Dame cathedral. However, on September 13, 1759, the English army of General Wolfe attacked Québec, and within 15 minutes the French flag turned into an English flag with the conquering of the French General Montcalm. This made the French society forcibly intermingle with the English.

For a couple hundred years French was the dominating language and culture, but by the confederation of Canada in 1867 French culture was starting to fade. With most of the English minorities in the converse of Québec society, the French Quebecers were concerned their heritage would soon be thoroughly taken over by the English speaking minority…thus, leading to the Quiet Revolution in the 1960’s.

This revolution was anything but “quiet” though. The liberal party leading this siege on English speakers shouted their slogan through the streets “it’s time for change”, riots broke out, and the F.L.Q. (front de liberation du Québec: a liberal terrorist group) started planting bombs in many Anglophone neighborhoods and kidnapped politicians. Their search for a solely French speaking society induced fear in all Anglophones, and painted a bad image for the liberal party. The French Québécois felt so beaten down by the English Quebecers that they over dominated the government and created “les maîtres chez nous” (“masters in our own house”) philosophy.

(http://frenchcanadianrightssovereignty.weebly.com/objective-conditions.html)

In July of 1974, bill 22 was passed. It had three major impacts on the government. One, it allowed French to become Québec’s only official language. After 200 years, English was no longer considered an official language. Two, it restricted access to English schools. All of those, whose parents did not graduate from an English school, were unable to enroll in an English school. And three, it restrained the freedom of expression in corporations and on signs. Any sign that had English on them were regulated to be taken down…French Québécois were bullying the Anglophones into submission. This made it very hard on the Anglophone community who now felt the weight of being a minority on their shoulders.

Two years later the infamous Bill 101 was passed. It was designed to “protect” and “promote” the French language, but it basically mimicked Bill 22 with minor changes. With the new leader, Rene Levesque, backing this bill, the “Parti Québécois” was stronger than ever before. This bill had an even greater impact on the French speaking and English speaking communities. It made the French speakers become even more in power, and kicked many of the English speakers out of government positions. Quite literally many Anglophones just packed up their things and left—they knew a storm was a brewing, and it started with this law.

The first part in Bill 22 added on; “members of professional orders must pass French-language proficiency tests in order to practice in Québec”, to Bill 101. This was to insure more French speaking Québécois would join the government, and less English speakers would be permitted to rule in the government as they did 200 years before. As well, bill 101 said “Corporations with 50 or more employees must obtain a French language certificate”. Many of the English speaking businesses started to struggle due to these laws.

In the second part, Bill 101 added, “Children of immigrants, Canadians from outside Québec, and French speaking parents are barred from English public schools”. The decline in enrollment for English public schools started to effect the English speaking population as a whole, and Anglophones somewhat resembled African Americans in our schooling system in the 1960’s.

(nodogsoranglophones.blogspot.com)

The third added “English and languages other than French are forbidden on commercial signs”.  Millions of signs were replaced in order to make way for this new law, and a lot of money was spent taking signs down and putting new ones up that were regulated. Another part was “municipalities that wish to have bilingual status must have a population consisting of 50% mother tongue other than French”. This complicated the hiring process, and fewer jobs were open for Anglophones who did not speak French. Meanwhile, all the laws from Bill 101 were enforced by the language police who could fine you up to $7,500 if a language law was broken. Some English speakers went so far as to picket the bill—calling it a fascist movement.

The Anglophone community had become more and more repressed. Looking for help they called out to the federal government for support against the Parti Québécois. The whole time Bill 22 and Bill 101 could have been totally avoided if the federal government vetoed it. But, unfortunately for the English speakers, the government’s laissez-faire attitude did them no justice and the feds did nothing to stop the tyranny of the Parti Québécois.

The Parti Québécois feared the French language would be taken over by the English minority so much that Education 101 was born. In 1992, English institutions were shut down with a leading decline in enrollment by 57%. Not only were the Anglophones being affected by this, but the French Québécois as well…French speaking children were denied equal access to public education. They were unable to go to bilingual schools, making the “bilingual schools” not so bilingual. This also went against Canada’s UNESCO language discrimination agreement which stated any child may go to any school.

Previously in 1980, Rene Levesque called for a referendum on Québec’s role in Canada. Should Québec negotiate a new government away from Canada? As a result 59.56% of voters said no they should not break away, and 40.44% said yes they should. The vote was close, but the 1980 referendum did not pass. This made many Quebecers fearful of separation, and some took the advice of the campaign slogan, “accept bill 101 or take the 401”, and moved out of Québec. This affected the economy so much that Toronto became the most important economic city in Canada, in which Québec city formally was.

However this was football fields away from how close the 1995 referendum vote was. On July 12, 1995 the previous referendum was opened up to the public once again to vote on the same issue. This time the vote was denied by less than 1%. Less than 1% determined whether or not Québec would separate or not. The results were 50.58% no, and 49.42% yes. The liberal party was furious that it was so close. Both sides accused each other of cheating on the votes. The Anglophones supposedly received helps from the federal government—finally. It was said that the feds were lining immigrants up by the hundreds in order to get them their citizenship and to allow them to vote…by doing this more immigrants could support the no voters. Although, after hearing about this the Francophones claimed many of the no votes were not clearly indicated so thousands were thrown out of the vote.

(www.segacs.com)

From all this raucous, even more people moved out. This time by the thousands, leaving Québec’s economy and real-estate to go down the drain. Houses were going up for sale, but nobody was buying so the prices were going down. Even now you can rent—what would be a $5,000 a month apartment—for just $2,000 a month.

Now a day Québec is still a province in Canada; however, the intense laws that took a hold of the Quebec society became more relaxed. Bill 178 and Bill 86 both protected English speaking rights. Bill 178 said you could not ban English entirely. It brought back English as an official language, thus, making Québec bilingual. As well it gave freedom of choice in education; therefore, students could study at any school of choice. It also opposed Québec independence. As well Bill 86 permitted the use of English on signs as long as the French font was twice as large as the English. This made it less hard for the Anglophone community to survive in Québec.

Many people now that I have talked to are opposed of separation. They state either the economy is not healthy enough, or that the English community is on the rise and it wouldn’t make sense for Ottawa or Montreal to separate. Although, one of the major benefits now for separating would be to protect Quebec Cities most precious resource—water. Yes, water…fresh water to be exact. Within the next 20 years it is estimated that fresh water will be the most in demand resource of all time. There will be wars fought over it, and many countries will soon run dry. Quebec City holds approximately 17% of the world’s fresh water, and in the next 20 years Québec will be a highlight in the world’s economy. If Québec had separated while having a good economy in the 1980 referendum then it would be on the rise to power by now in many economists’ opinions. But unfortunately now it would be a terrible idea to separate with the state they are in.

Québec now is accepting their bilingual status, and with things such as “Bonjour-Hi” it is making life a bit easier for both French Québécois and English Quebecers. When you enter a shop or food place in Québec it is necessary that you are greeted with bonjour-hi so the customer/you get a chance to speak which ever language you are most comfortable in. This is almost inviting people back in to Québec, and their economy is getting stronger by the day.

(qpirgmcgill.org)

When I originally came to Québec I was under the impression that it would be a great idea to have Québec separate—it could be a miniature France that I could drive to every summer to practice my French. But after learning about the history and what the future holds for Québec—I changed my mind. The fact of the matter is both the French and English have a lot of heritage and influence in Quebec and they just need to put up with each other in order to survive…separating is not a choice. All that it caused was violence, and fear. It is better if everyone just comes together instead of separating. Being bilingual is a challenge, but Québec can do it.

Works Cited

“Angryphone.” N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2014.

“The Death Of A Province.” The Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2014.

“Quiet Revolution.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 June 2014.

“Portrait of Québec.” Québecs History and Heritage: Colonial Days, Modernity. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2014.

“To Separate or No?” Interview by Bar Tender At Sky Bar, Quebec City Tour Guide, Stephanie Rivest, and Diejo Fuego. N.p., n.d.

My time in Montreal was interesting I encountered many cultures, and different people. I did go to Montreal once before, but I was in middle school and I stayed with a host family, so I never got to experience it as a tourist would so I appreciated this trip a lot more the second time around. I got to see all the cathedrals, which I didn’t expect there would be so many, but they were all so beautiful and skillfully crafted, from the wood carvings to the stain glass, and the one that had the crypt in the bottom and had the three sixty view of old Montreal and the water was so cool.

Also the Museums, The bio dome was really cool because all the animals weren’t caged the monkeys were free to jump from tree to tree, and the birds could fly around. I even saw some animals that I’ve never even seen before. I liked the change in temperature throughout the exhibits depending on which biome you were walking through.

The planetarium was by far my favorite the visual experience that was like an imax theater but like it really felt like they were taking you through space. The cool part about it was that there were no words, just music and the digital art, which was amazing. The sounds would vibrate the floor. And the setup of the room we were in, there were bean bags in the floor and camping chairs to sit in if you didn’t want to lie on the floor. The planetarium was truly a unique experience.  One day we were hungry and we stumbled into china town one day and there were so many restaurants to choose from some with dumplings and desert and others with rice meals it was great. And the food was delicious. I also really enjoyed Poutine for my first time on this trip!

The little cafes along the street in old Montreal remind me of Europe, although I’ve never been I imagine it would look like that. This was an exciting and interesting trip and i really enjoyed myself.

Our visit to Québec City on Friday was probably one of my favorite parts of our study abroad trip. Québec City felt like a not-so-hidden treasure I was able to discover before leaving Canada. The 400 years of history is noticeable in every corner and in every aspect of the stunning city. It’s covered in architectural treasures with its’ European charm. Just walking through the streets felt like living a history book thanks to our tour guide.

Among the amazing architecture and the history we learned while our walking tour, the two that impacted me the most were the Parliament building and the Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral . The Parliament building, built between 1786 and 1886 – according to our tour guide – pays tribute to 26 bronze statues. Between all these beautiful statues, includes  Jacques Cartier who, if I am not mistaken, was the French Canadian explorer and the first European to describe and even map the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Saint Lawrence River, calling them “The Country of Canadas.”

The Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral was another breathtaking moment of my visit to Québec City. Walking inside the cathedral and just looking at the “Holy Door” left me speechless because of the fact that it is one of the 7 holy doors in the world and I was able to see it. The Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church was also beautiful from what we saw since we did not go inside, but it surprised me to learn that it is the oldest stone church in North America.

I hope next time I am able to visit Canada, I can spend more than just 4 hours in Québec City and perhaps learn more about the province. 

My time spent in the city of Montreal can definitely be considered one of the most influential memories. It was nice to go to a city that had such a vibrant, urban setting that still possessed an authentic and rich background. The city reminded me somewhat of New York, busy as ever with a growing population but with the old- fashioned village scenery that areas of France possess. I was excited to go around the city and find different kinds of settings around each corner. One street would have skyscrapers and more modern, contemporary café shops and stores, another street would have open markets and well-known churches and other significant buildings that carry some of the city’s most historic attributes. My biggest fascination was the Metro system. Even though I knew of places that had used the metro system, and have even lived in a state that had one, to me it was one of the biggest conveniences of the whole trip aside from the location of the hotel. I was able to travel to so many places that I had on my itinerary because of the metro and I think my excitement was due to the fact that I have lived in Ohio so long that I had not remembered how beneficial it was to ride the metro. The places I was able to visit such as the Planetarium, Olde Montreal, and McGill University were not within walking distance, and each place carried some kind of significance to me on the trip. As I mentioned before old vs. new especially where Olde Montreal and McGill University were considered but visiting Planetarium made me realize how great it was to have the Metro to our accessibility to be able to visit such extraordinary places. In a sense, I wish I could have explored the city more in depth and use the Metro system more to my advantage, and I probably will in the future, but for now I am happy to have been able to become more familiar with the use of the system.

By Rebekah Abel, Janet Agyeman, David Higuera

While in Montreal, we tried to take advantage of the museum passes and transportation passes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  We planned the museums that we wanted to see each day, but towards the end of the week we decided to make a more rigorous schedule so we could go to as many museums as possible.  On Tuesday, we started off by going to the “Space for Life Tour”, which included the Planetarium, Biodome, Botanical Garden and Insectarium.  At the Planetarium we were able to watch both of the planetarium shows; the Chaos Show which was more of an artistic engaging experience, and the From Earth to the Milky Way Show, which was a traditional planetarium lecture, and was not as entertaining.  Next we visited the Biodome, which was a very cool experience.  It was a representation of the various ecosystems of Canada, and included both plants and animals from those ecosystems.  The cutest animals in the Biodome were the puffins.  Afterwards, we visited the Botanical Gardens and Insectarium.  Many of the flowers were not yet in bloom, so we just enjoyed the wonderful weather.  We also saw the exhibits at the Insectarium.  We visited the Olympic Stadium, but were not able to see the Observatory because it was too expensive for our budgets.  Afterwards we walked to Rue Prince Arthur, which was the Montreal equivalent of Haight-Ashbury, but is now basically just student housing for the University.

On Wednesday, we had several difficulties with our museum passes.  We were not able to enter the McCord Museum, due to our passes not being activated.  After being denied entry, we decided to come back in the late afternoon, when it was free.  We then visited the Redpath Museum, which was part of McGill University.  The museum was reminiscent of a Victorian Era museum, with taxidermy animals, and artifacts that were not behind glass, which made the experience more worthwhile.  Next we visited the Museum of Fine Arts, which was a fabulous art museum.  Unexpectedly, the museum included several buildings, so we were not able to see all of the exhibits.  We did, however, see exhibits about Napoleon, Renaissance art, Victorian art, and Modern art.  Our favorite was a statue entitled “Old Enemy, New Victim”, in the modern art exhibit.  The statue was extremely strange, which is why we found it so interesting.  Next we went to the Musee des Hospitallaires, which was a museum focused on the oldest hospital in Montreal.  The hospital is still in use, and was located right next to the museum.  It included many historic artifacts related to the hospital and medical field.  One artifact was a historic staircase built in the 17th Century.  On our way to the next museum, we encountered a public art project called “21 Swings”, which included several swing-sets that played music, as part of a collective musical production.  The public was welcome to use the swings through June 1st, which actually ended up being fun and entertaining to experience.  The last museum we visited on Wednesday, was the McCord Museum, which was free after 5:00pm on Wednesdays.  It included artifacts from the ’67 Worlds Fair, and some art from a local artist.  Overall, this museum was disappointing compared to our expectations.  We finished off the day by visiting several historic churches in the area, including St. Patrick’s Basilica.  We attempted to visit the so-called ‘Underground City’, which ended up just being a shopping mall that was closed very early.

Thursday, we started off the day very early, so we could visit as many places as possible.  First, we went to the St. Joseph Oratory, which included a very cool exhibit of international nativity scenes.  We also stayed for the morning mass.  Surprisingly, the mass was in French, when it is typically in traditional Latin.  Next we went to the Montreal Holocaust Museum, which was a very small museum.  It was not a very hands-on museum, and the museum was very crowded while we were there.  However, we did receive the unique experience of meeting an actual Holocaust survivor, Joe Fellner, from whom we heard several stories about his experience during the Holocaust.  This was a very emotional experience, of which we won’t soon forget.  Afterwards, we headed over to Chateau Ramzey, in Old Montreal.  The museum was pretty small, but interesting.  It had costumed interpreters, historic exhibits, and an exhibit about historic punishments.  Next we visited Point-a-Calliere, which was an archeology museum.  It had underground crypts where visitors could view the foundations and sewer of a historic building.  It also included a special exhibit about the journey of Marco Polo, and included many historic artifacts from the 15th and 16th Centuries.  One of our favorite exhibits was “Scandal! Vice, Crime, and Morality in Montreal 1940-1960”, at the Montreal History Museum.  It included many of the crimes and moral issues that were in Montreal in the mid 1900s.  The exhibit was very engaging, and interesting.  The exhibit told a story as visitors walked through the exhibit.  One surprising fact was that Montreal had a red light district.  Afterwards, we attempted to visit Pied-du-Courant Prison Museum but it had already closed by the time we got there.  On the way there, we acquainted ourselves with two girls from France, who accompanied us to the Margaret Bourgeoys Museum, which included going up to the top of the church steeple.  While the French girls were with us, we asked them about the comparison of Montreal to France, and the Quebec-Quois language to French spoken in France.  The last place we visited was the Cinematique Quebecoise, which was a museum focusing on the film industry in Canada.  It included historic televisions, movie cameras, and a special exhibit about special effects.  The special effects exhibit was cool, and showed how special effects are incorporated into films.

Overall, all three of us had a fantastic time in Montreal.  We really felt enlightened by the language, art, and culture of the city, and enjoyed talking to new people, seeing historic buildings, and experiencing a new city.  We are all three very glad we were able to have this experience, and are looking forward to studying abroad again in the future!

  On Thursday, May 22nd, I went to visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Montreal. About halfway through the exhibits, I met the man in the center of this photograph. His name is Joe Fellner, and he was a Hungarian-born Jew who survived the Holocaust. Joe is the youngest of his twelve siblings, and his father owned a slaughterhouse in Hungary. Helping out with his father’s work made him bigger and stronger than most boys his age. When Joe was thirteen, he was taken to his first concentration camp, Auschwitz. Upon arrival another prisoner asked Joe how old he was. When Joe said he was thirteen, the prisoner replied, “No. You’re eighteen. When they ask, you’re eighteen.” So when the officers came around asking age, Joe said he was eighteen, and was put to work with one of his brothers and his cousin. Even though they begged, pleaded and cried, afraid that they would be killed because of Joe’s lie, he refused to go back and correct his age (later, Joe told me he found out that anyone under the age of eighteen was immediately sent to the gas chambers).

Joe was in Auschwitz for two months, and then he, his brother and his cousin were sent in a group of 700 to start a new camp near Berlin. By the time the camp was shut down, it had grown to more than 1,300 people. 90 of those 1,300 walked out alive. Joe was the only one of the original 700.

Joe went to three more concentration camps, visiting a total of 5 during the Holocaust. He survived by eating anything he could find, including worms, rotten scraps, partially-eaten food from officers running the camp, and even one time oats from horse poop. He watched prisoners brutally tortured before being killed; he saw two Russian prisoners of war dragged around by their tongues until they died. He was forced to dig mass graves for American soldiers, and again for Canadian soldiers. By the time he turned fourteen, he had lived in five concentration camps and had gone from 176lbs. to 58lbs. He was little more than a skeleton, and even when he did find people from his old home, they thought him dead, and placed him with the other bodies, saying the Kaddish (Jewish prayer for the dead) and leaving him to die. It was now June 4, 1945.

On June 4th, 1945, Joe felt someone measuring his pulse. He lifted Joe from the dead bodies, and began trying to get Joe to wake up. He gave him two booster shots and slapped his face repeatedly, saying in German “We are the Americans. You are free.” He finally managed to bring Joe around, and Joe could see light on either side of him, but he couldn’t see the man’s face. All he could see was black. When he told the man this, the man said, “You’re supposed to see that; I’m a black man.” He stayed with Joe for an hour, and then left to find help. Joe never saw the man again.

In 1948, after traveling back to Hungary and finding out that of all of his family, only he, two brothers, and three of his sisters survived, Joe decided to leave Hungary, which was becoming more and more of a Communist country that Joe wanted no part of. He chose to go to Canada, where he would not have to join the armed forces, and has lived there ever since. He has been married to his wife for the last 58 years, and has two sons, two daughters-in-law, five grandchildren, one great-grandchild and another on the way.

Meeting Joe that day completely blew my mind. Joe described horrors to me that I had never imagined happened before, and he not only survived this terrible ordeal, but has thrived since. He goes to schools all the time to talk to students about his experience, to make sure they are informed so that he can help ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. He made it through everything without losing his faith in God, and without doubting that he would make it out alive. I am truly proud to know him, and have never met a stronger man in my life.

When President Barack Obama was first elected as president, one of the first countries he visited as president was Canada. This really excited the Canadians, who didn’t even get a thank you visit after 9/11 from the previous president even though he had done that in many other countries. When he came to Canada’s capital, Ottawa, he went to the Byward Market and bought cookies for his daughter on February 19, 2009.

This moment has become really famous in this area and they renamed the simple cookie– which is shaped like a maple leaf, is red, and says “Canada,” the Obama Cookie. I had the pleasure of purchasing an Obama cookie yesterday from Byward Market.

One of my favorite things about Montreal is the city’s emphasize on health. They take a practical approach to solving some of the world’s biggest problems and implement them into the daily lives of the citizens. To solve the burning issues on global warming, the city adopted the Bixi-bike (a taxis/bike hybrid) to reduce CO₂ emissions and promote exercise.              

As you walk throughout the streets of Montreal, you will notice that for every trashcan there is a recycling bin counterpart. The idea seems simple, but surprisingly it is something the States have yet to adopt. Sure, the U.S does recycle, but we don’t go the extra mile to raise awareness to our people.

The province of Quebec has also made efforts to improve the health of its citizens. Buying a pack of cigarettes in Montreal will run you about $10.00 and you will also have to get past the disturbing image located on the front of all cigarette cartons.

These are just some examples of the actions Quebec has taken to promote the health of the environment and its people. There is a lot we can learn from the people of the Great White North and the U.S would benefit from following their lead.