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. 

We learned in class that Bonjour-Hi is just a way of Montrealers to greet people to give them the opportunity to choose the language they want to speak and how Frencophones do not want Hi to be part of the greeting anymore. As Americans we are not used to hearing such thing other than “Hey,” “hi,” and even “What’s up?” when we say hello to someone. That is why as soon as we landed in Montréal, I was shocked because the first thing I heard was “Bonjour-hi” when I had to hand in my passport to pass customs.

After being in the city for 5 days I have noticed that most of Montrealers use this expression all day long. When someone has greeted me with only “bonjour” and I have said “bonjour” back, they immediately start speaking French and because my eyes open wide trying to process the words the person speaking to me realizes immediately that I obviously don’t know how to speak French whatsoever. Thanks to this way of greeting people, I have truly come to really like the city and not feel like a total foreigner and tourist like I felt the first day. It has given me many opportunities to meet people and learn about the culture and the life of the Canadians, especially Montrealers. Therefore,  really hope the Hi in the expression is kept alive because it opens up the door to many experiences to tourists and people like us studying abroad.

Special thanks to our social tour guide,

Jenilee, for teaching all of us about Montréal and for a really unforgettable week!

You’ll always be the “I” in our OHIO.