Mon quart d'heure Canadien

I moved from Canada to Poland two months ago, and there were many things I needed to figure out. Now, after handling almost all of them, I'm back here writing my blog. However, this time I'd like to address the topic of it. So, after this post, I'll tell you about my experience and my new life as a postdoc researcher.  Since most of my readers are students (and my friends, thank you guys, you're the best), I think that it will be a good idea to tell you how life is after a Ph.D. , (in the words of the goddess Cher: "do you believe in life after Ph.D.?").  However, this will be the topic of the next posts. From now on I'll tell you about my last month in Canada. Particularly, in the province of Quebec

28 days prior

At the beginning of August, my Canadian advisor announced to us that he would have a two-week vacation starting on August 2nd and after that, he'd spend a week in France for work. Then, we will only meet each other in the last days of August. For me, this was "the farewell", because I already had my ticket to travel to Warsaw on the 31st of August. Thus, my internship officially finishes this day. That was the first time in six years that I really had a vacation and most importantly I have money to spend on it. But, there was a minor inconvenience between my dream vacation in Canada and me... A global pandemic crisis!!!

Fortunately, my advisor came back two days before I traveled, and together with Axel, a master's student that I work with, We said to each other: "au revoir" (Axel also was in his last days, he had just finished his master's degree and he would travel to France the next day).

Knowing "la nouvelle France"

A few weeks after arriving in the province of Quebec, I bought a book titled: "Dix journées qui ont fait le Québec". In this book, some historical moments of this province are presented, such as the discovery of Quebec by the French, The treaty of Paris (where France gives its North American colonies to Great Britain), the quiet revolution (according to me a way to understand the lack of Catholic faith in this province compared with the rest of Canada), among other interesting historical facts. So, on my vacation, I visited some of the places I had read about in the book. It is awesome how much a place tells you when you know its history. My favorite place without a doubt was Quebec city. I visited this city with my friends and they also loved the architecture and how everything in this city is full of history and beauty. I also used this time to talk with natives and practice my french (every chance to speak in french should be taken hahaha). Passing through a local library the seller told me a phrase from a famous poem: 

"Je me souviens... Que né sous le lys et je croîs sous la rose. (I remember... That born under the lily and I grow under the rose)."

Referring to Quebequers that were born when the province belonged to France (the lily) but lived their life on the British domain (the rose). I would like to clarify that he only told me that to offer me two books about this topic that I clearly bought.

Here is a photo with my friend Geandra when we visited Quebec City.

Until death do us part

In this last month, two friends of mine, Rafa and João, got married, and Geandra and I were the witnesses of the marriage. João is a material scientist that was going to Canada to do a master's internship, but he got an employment proposal to do his Ph.D. in Canada. Rafa, his girlfriend of ten years came with him and in the light of the new job they decided finally to take the great step. Because in our house everything was a good excuse to celebrate, Despite them being married on a Monday, we did a mini party when we arrived home just to not let this day pass.

You can see my talent to take photos... All the good photos weren't taken by me!!!

I gotta go

My last day in Canada wasn't much different from the previous ones. Running, reading, sharing time with my friends, learning some expressions in Polish (spoiler alert: it was very useful after hahaha), and setting up the things to travel. I walked for the last time in my favorite place, the park Jacques-Cartier, reflecting on these last six months in Canada, my experience, my new friends, how my new life in Poland will be and realizing that this internship was a blessing. I breathed new air and recovered my strength to continue on my way, researching and learning about nature as a physicist, with the conviction that I am on the right path. And now, looking at my old pictures to write this post may give me a thrill in invoking Quebec's motto  and my feeling:

JE ME SOUVIENS (I remember).

When we left the house, the owners took a picture of us as a souvenir. Here is mine (in the back the owner being funny).

Thank you for reading my post, I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it… Feel free to leave your comment about travels, history, or even if you already traveled to Canada, tell me how your experience was.