Who
could have known that winter, piles of snow and ice would be so much fun?
Bryant students did suspect it
would be fun, but the trip to Quebec by far surpassed their expectations.
As Adi astutely pointed out
during the Quebec winter carnival parade:
"This is so much better than Macy's
parade in New York! This is the most fun I’ve had in my life!"
The
atmosphere of the winter carnival parade was somewhat reminiscent of Mardi Gras
parade in New Orleans, yet in a completely different setting with a different
set of themes, floats, costumes and special effects.
Airani live streamed the parade.
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| Quebec winter carnival parade |
What preceded
the evening parade is as follows.
We had a
wonderful breakfast at the Chateau des Tourelles, which was included and freshly
made to order by a French cook who was born in Paris and lived in Bretagne
before moving to Quebec City.
We also met
Lily. Lily loves to stay around you and will love you more if you share
some of your breakfast with her.
Adi, Matt,
and Ben enjoyed helping a few Quebecois to get out of the parking spaces as their cars were
stuck in the snow.
Bryant
students enjoyed a degustation of maple syrup candy made right in front of them
at the Cabane à sucre du
Québec:
Apparently,
there’s over 200 of them scattered around the Quebec City during the carnival
season. The process of preparation is simple, yet unique. The boiling maple
syrup is poured into the snow and rolled into a candy on a stick. This Cabane à sucre was conveniently located near the entrance
to the winter festival activities, which are too numerous to name and describe. They
are all associated in one way or another with the Quebecois culture, way of
life and celebration of winter.
Our visit to
Musée du Fort provided some additional insights into the resilience and pride
of the Quebecois people who throughout centuries managed to withstand hardships
and resist multiple invasions.
The Carnival
is another way to celebrate their French cultural heritage, embrace their
identity, and reassert their resilience, conviviality and joie de vivre.
We enjoyed our convivial dinner at le Petit Coin Latin. For many students,
this was the first time trying la raclette:
The best part of it is that you share
the experience while preparing the meal together.
Cheese is melted at the bottom rack and
scraped into your plate over potatoes. The meats and eggs are cooked on the top
rack. The Quebecois version of raclette is different from the Swiss and French
equivalents, because it includes more ingredients - salads, tomatoes, onion,
bacon, egg, mushrooms etc. The Swiss and the French like to stick to cheese, charcuterie,
pickles, and baguette.
Katie's (Franco-BU's president) favorite part of the trip was walking through the old city and seeing Le Château Frontenac (it was in our French textbook, Liaisons)
On our way
back, we took a wrong turn and ended up having to go in the direction of Quebec
City for a while. This turned into one of our jokes on the way back to Bryant,
as students kept saying let’s go back to Quebec and spend another night at
the winter carnival.
When we
returned to Bryant in the evening, it was beginning to snow here. We
brought along with us a part of Quebec City. Thank you to
all the students for going on the trip and sharing your experiences and memories with each other and other members of Bryant community until next year’s Quebec winter carnival 2020.
Vive le Québec!
