Previous: May

This month I didn’t have time to write much on the site. Here are only a few events which took place in June 2003.

French at COFI
We studied more grammar areas, such as past conditional, past infinitive, and subjunctive.

There was more writing assignments: we wrote each other’s biographies and a composition on a chosen subject (my subject was "Have the Russians become free?").

We also made oral presentations. I spoke about the ecologist Pierre Dansereau and the history of the French language in Québec.

Library of Laval University
I often visit the university library. It has many more books than the city library. There are a few hundreds books in Russian, published in Russia and in the West. I wish I had more time to read them!

So this month I read mostly in Russian: Tolstoy (small stories, often religious; an edition for students of Russian published in Paris) and Solzhenitsyn (his smaller works, published by Posev in 1966; I was especially impressed by Matryonin Dvor and Etudy i korotkiye rasskazy).

The library has a cinema section where one can watch videos and DVDs or borrow them (for free). The films are mainly French, Québécois, and American, but there are also titles from other countries, including a few Soviet and Russian films.

Among the films which I saw in June were Nikita Mikhalhov's Urga (in French) and documentaries Anna 6-18 (also by N. Mikhalkov), Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky (a Swedish film), Frenchkiss. La generation du révé de Trudeau (a Canadian film which we saw at the Integration class)

Other things I did on campus
Music - From time to time I went to play the piano at the faculty of music, and also listened to music on the site Classical Archives (students enjoy an unlimited Internet access).

Teaching Russian - I started to give lessons to a history student, who is a beginner. I’d like to gain teaching experience, so for the time being I do it for free. I meet him once or twice a week.

Garden - A few times I went to do a bit of gardening at the students' garden.

Pool - I also went to the university pool. It is located in an enormous university sports complex called PEPS. I'll be going as much as I can until the end of the course (it's free for students), and then I'll use the pool in the city again.

Scientific experiment - Once I participated in a research on the memory at Laval University. I was to hear to two sounds and then to identify them in a quick sequence of other sounds. The experiment was paid ($6 for 40 min.). There is quite a lot of medical research here, for which the subjects get paid, but I'll take part only when medicines are not used.

My neighbours
I share the flat with young Quebecers, brother and sister.

I get on well with the sister, Sara. She used to study agriculture at Laval University (where I have my French classes now), but she didn't finish it and now she works as a cook at a restaurant. At her spare time, she still works at the university garden. She also plays the violin, bakes her own bread, and in general she is a nice-looking and interesting person.

Her brother, Anthony, is quite different. He doesn't speak much, and he spends a lot of time on computer and video games, but he is also calm and good-natured. He works in the same restaurant as his sister.

Biking
In June, instead of using a bus, I biked, because I got a bicycle as a present (from Sara's and Anthony's father). It's a light, 10-speed bike. It only needed minor repairs, and Francois kindly helped me. I'm not used to brake with hands, so I cycle carefully and always wear a helmet.

Day of John the Baptist (24 June)
This is the biggest holiday in Québec. In the evening Francois and I went to see the concert held on the Plaines d’Abraham. About 200.000 spectators gathered on this historical field, and thousands more were celebrating on the streets. Almost all of them were young people. The concert included pop music, dances and patriotic speeches, during which the crowd waved thousands of Fleurdelisé (Québec's flag). It was very impressive.

Next: July