A Whale of a Time (forgive the pun)

I was recently talking to a friend from home about what it is like to meet many people from around the world at the same time. The Spontaneous International Phenomenon - that is what I will call it for now (aka: SIP). She is someone who has travelled a lot and always told me stories about how she would meet people from all over and the feeling she got from it. It is exhilarating. Until last weekend, I didn't understand this at all. But now I do.

Last weekend, we went to Tadoussac. This is a little tourist town on the other side of the St. Lawrence River where people flock to go whale watching. Seriously, this town is tiny but there were so many people there. I think that only about 850 live there year round. So, a carload from Rimouski made the long trip down and around (8 hours) because the ferries were closed due to high winds. We got there around 7pm on Friday night and the hostel we stayed at (Auberge Jeunesse) was already filled with other 20-something aged people. We assumed that these people were all fellow Odyssey-ers or language assistants in the British, German, or Mexican programs. But, no. They were with an international student group from UofO and from Bishops university. The whole night was spent finding out about where these people were from and sharing stories about what our countries/provinces are like. 

PEI is very unknown by the way. Even to the Quebecois. Sometimes if I say Ile-du-Prince-Edouard, they understand, but rarely. And they would never abbreviate it like us Islanders do. Explaining my province to people from the Czech Republic, Spain, and China was very interesting for them. 

One of my favourite parts from this night was when a birthday cake was brought out for one of the UofO students and all around the hostel people broke out into "Happy Birthday". Singing a simple song and celebrating in this familiar way brought us together and yet everyone was singing in their own language. So cool.

The next day was whale watching day. It. Was. Freezing. Like, we put on five and six layers, plus the suits that were provided and we were all still chilled to the bones the next morning. But it was so worth it! We saw probably about thirty whales - belugas, minkes, and fin whales. At one point, a little pod of belugas swam under our zodiac! It was so neat!

It was such a great weekend, filled with new friends, new stories, and my very first hostel experience. I must say, it was a great one!