Trekking and wildlife concert at the Forêt Montmorency

What a unique and memorable experience this was, something I thought I'd never have the opportunity to do. Honestly. 

The Bureau de la vie étudiante organises multiple activities for exchange students, a great way to grasp the idea of life as a Québécois whilst sharing these new experiences with the many other alienated students. 

On Friday, a trip to the Forêt Montmorency was organised; this entire territory was given to Université Laval and in exchange the forestry faculty were to continue with its profound research as well as the teaching of natural sciences. Boring stuff over! So, we all met up outside a pavillon at 11am ready to embark on a yellow school bus, (so cool) there were quite a few of us, around 45, and an impressive mixture of students from various countries. It took roughly one hour to get to the forest, so not the closest or the furthest! Once we arrived, we set foot in the campus. A campus literally in the middle of nowhere, we were then sent downstairs to a room whereby an expert was present to hand out maps and vigorously explained the instructions to avoid getting lost. I didn't understand anything he had said; so let's just say I was slightly worried. We were then finally freed.

This wasn't my first time trekking, so I thought I was mentally prepared for this. Well, let me tell you, it was perhaps one of the hardest things I've done in my entire life. The funny thing is, everyone seemed fine. In fact, more than fine, whilst I was slowly dying. However, it was definitely worth it when you arrived to the chute de la riviere noir, I sat right next to the waterfall. Amazing! The pictures aren't even capable of illustrating the beauty of it all; so let your imagination run wild. We also passed the lac Piché, the scenery was beyond what words can describe.  

Once we had finished the 5-hour trek, we returned to the campus to await the next part of the trip. Four musicians first introduced themselves to us indoors, and explained what was to happen. We were then handed blankets, and dropped off by a large lake in the complete dark and in complete silence and led ourselves to benches. Once seated, we were to enjoy the next hour or so listening to the musicians play their instruments on their canoes in the lake. Accompanied only by the light deriving from the moon and stars along with the echoing silence, it was simply beautiful to feel reconnected with ones inner peace. The evening ended at around 11pm, safe to say, we were all terribly exhausted. I know I definitely was.

I really hope the pictures give you all just a slight idea of the scenery I came across.