First Impressions

After a seemingly endless trip, which included stopovers in Munich (by car) and Frankfurt (by plane) I finally arrived in Montréal yesterday, alive and well.

Things I learned about myself on this trip:

1. At the airport before boarding, you are kindly reminded over the speakers, in all languages known to man, that you will be asked to board in the order of your seat-row-number (i.e., at first only rows 40 and higher, then rows 35 and higher, etc.). The majority of the people at the gate jump up at this announcement and start standing in line, regardless of their seat-row-number. I hate those people.
2. I have claustrophobic tendencies, apparently. Around the 5-hour mark of my 8-hour plain-ride I was suddenly hit by the realization, that I was on a motherf*****g plane with motherf*****g people. Lots of them. Hundreds! For three more hours! And there was absolutely no way out. I did not like that idea. (If for some reason you were offended by the "motherf*****g", rest assured, I am not that vulgar. I was just quoting the most hyped and sadly extremely unsuccessful Samuel L. Jackson masterpiece blockbuster "Snakes on a Plane". I have not seen the film, but have been informed, that the title basically says all there is to know about it.)
3. When the plane lands, you are kindly reminded over the speakers, in all languages known to the flight attendant, that you should remain seated, with your seatbelt fastened, until the plane has reached its final parking position and the belt-fastening-light-thingy is turned off. The majority of people on the plane jump up at this announcement and start taking their bags out of the overhead-compartments, and then stand in the aisle of the plane (some of them crouched, because they're too tall for the damn plane) for ten more minutes. Minimum. I hate those people.

Anyway, I arrived safely and under extreme scrutiny of the Canadian Immigration officers. A friendly but not very talkative taxi driver then took me to my new residence. He took me all the way to my front door. Which I'm trying to post a picture of here, but I'm not yet sure how that works, so...it might not work.

In order to show jet-lag who the boss is around here, I went out with my cool new roommate Annie and her friends until 7 a.m. CET and then dropped dead for about 11 hours. Oh, and Montréal is cold, but not much colder than Switzerland. And there's snow! But to my horror food in supermarkets is even more expensive than back home (or I just bought the wrong stuff). I haven't decided what to do about that yet. And, I live in the gay quarter! So many pretty rainbows and so many gay cinemas and stores and bars that I don't even know where to start.


Well, so much for now. Happy New Year everyone!


Sorry, heute keine deutsche Version...wär dann irgendwie etwas zu lang geworden...