Hello! My name is Eric Boyle and I am a senior at UCCS majoring in History, as well as minoring in Political Science, Anthropology, and French. I have been spending my 2023 spring semester here at the Université de Montréal in Montréal, Québec, Canada. Now several months into my experience (and with the end already in sight with finals at the end of April), I have, without a doubt, plenty to write home about. Everything from its linguistic surroundings to the physical environment of Montreal has been both exciting changes to my usual life in Colorado Springs as well as challenges that I’ve had to overcome. I am happy to report that, thus far, I have been able to overcome many of the difficulties that I have thus faced, and that I have developed quite considerably as a student and an individual as a result.
Attending the Université de Montréal has itself been an enlightening experience in even a general sense. The student population here is much larger than UCCS, just shy of 50,000. Stepping off the metro at the university’s station on the first day of school was crazy, and attempting to find my correct building (let one the correct lecture hall) was an adventure all by itself. Luckily, in the months since I arrived, I’ve gotten far more comfortable with the campus. With all my courses being given in Pavillon Jean-Brillant, I’ve been able to get my bearings, despite most classes having about 50 students, and upwards of 150 for my largest ones. Never mind the difficulties of studying in a new country and culture, even the size of the school was enough of a challenge at first, but I am most definitely quite at home at this point.
All the being said, academically this semester has been quite the challenge. When it comes to just understanding the lectures I attend every week, it truly has been truly a varied experience. Without a doubt, many of my initial fears about understand spoken French mostly faded away once I attended my first few sessions. Indeed, when over 8 years of French doesn’t seem to enable you to perfectly understand the Quebecois French you hear all around you out on the street, you start to get worried. Luckily most of my lectures have actually turned into an environment when I have improved the most, whether it be from better understanding what the professor is talking about in relation to his busy slideshows about the history of Canadian foreign policy, or just picking up new vocabulary in reading and taking notes on the assigned reading, my journey into francophone academia has been fantastic so far. Of course, it does vary from professor to professor –some of whom I understand far less than others– but in a general sense, I’m happy with how it has progressed thus far.
What I can say is that I have had moments where I proved to myself that I was far more capable than I ever thought. When we were informed that our midterm exam for one of our courses was going to include a five-paged timed essay, I began to worry. At the beginning of the semester, I truly didn’t know whether I was even capable for doing such a thing in French let alone concerns over whether I would be able to master the content required to even write such a thing. Honestly, it scared me in the weeks leading up to that exam. However, I wasn’t idle: I studied and a practiced and I took note of new terms and manners of writing that could perhaps help me complete such a task. When the time came, not only was I able to fill those five pages in that short hour and a half, but I felt that it was even of a decent quality. I left that lecture hall with a smile on my face, which I can’t say I usually do even if I thought I did well. Just proving myself wrong and showing that I was able to do so much more than I thought possible, in that moment, inspired me to continue throughout the semester in pursuit of not just survival, but of true development and excellence.
That all being said, life is not merely school (as much as it seems like it is sometimes). Living in downtown Montreal has been amazing. While I can’t say that I have had much time to go out and about all too often, I have had the opportunity to meet so many interesting people. My roommates themselves are each from Luxembourg, Turkey, France, and Saudi Arabia, and each of them have proven to be such unique and colorful characters with whom I have been able to enrich my time here. I have made friends at university as well, including other English speakers who are nonetheless quite worldly, including those from Ireland, England, and Hong Kong. The most enriching French conversations I have actually been with my team mates on the local color guard team that I compete with out here, Les Éclipses de Longueuil. They have provided me with a comfortable and welcoming environment where I can better apply myself to improve my spoken French, whereas I find myself often intimidated in more formal academic ones. The team and its members are something I cherish, and I am so happy that I chose to really put myself out there and engage in an extracurricular during my stay in Montreal.
In conclusion, I am happy that I took this big step. There were many times, even after I had already arrived and during those first few weeks, where I thought that I wasn’t going to be able to succeed, that I simply wouldn't get better and that I was in over my head. I can admit to myself that I have not magically become fluent in French since arrived in Montreal, but it would be equally dishonest to say that I haven’t learned quite a bit, about the French language and about myself. It’s been tough, but I’ve done a lot to be proud of during my stay, and I’m looking forward to growing even more before it comes time to leave.
