So, we had to interview someone who’s not originally from Quebec. The person I chose is from British Columbia and she’s been here in 2009 for a student exchange. Her name is Emilie Mercier, she is 19 years old and she lives in Langley. I have met her during the same student exchange because her “twin”, that’s how we call the person that we were paired with, went to the same school as I did. My twin and her were also both staying into the same city, but going into different high schools.

So, when I asked her what was her first impression of the Quebeckers? She said that everyone were very accommodating and friendly. She said that, when she was in bigger cities than Mont-Joli or Price, like for example in Quebec City, people were tended to speak to her in English rather than in French, to let her practice her second language. When it comes to the education system, what’s mainly different is the Cégep. When it comes to the food, she loved the Quebec’s food. Mostly poutine, she said that “Quebec was amazing for food. Poutine had to be the one thing I ate on a regular basis while I was in Quebec. BC isn't particularly famous for any type of food. It’s very multicultural so we have a mix of everything.” So, even though there’s a lot a choice where she lives, she loved what's the most representative of us in food, our “national meal”. When she first came here, it was after Christmas and I’ve asked her what was different about the way we celebrate holidays, which was Easter in her case, and what was similar. She answered that, in her family, “a bunny comes in the middle of the night and leaves behind a trail of chocolate eggs” and that into her exchange family, they went to church and then they had a big family breakfast and diner.

Finally, Emilie Mercier is a young student of 19 years old. We have had kind of the same path, because we did the same exchange and learned a lot from it. Like she said, “Doing a cross country exchange when I was 15 definitely made me mature a lot faster. I have a whole new respect for people who come to Canada speaking a different language. It’s very brave to put yourself in that situation. I've already re-visited Quebec since my exchange and I most likely will go back again!” I hope I will have the opportunity to see her again, because she was a wonderful person and by the same way, I hope that I will have the opportunity to go back to the “Beautiful British Columbia”.

Hi, mi teachers ask me to write another blogpost about: Whether or not I supported the student strike, here it is!  

Here in Rimouski, the students strike began on February 28^th 2012 at night. All of our classes were suspended until we decided to stop it, which we did on April 3^rd 2012. WE HAVE BEEN into the movement for 5 weeks, including our mid-term week and it HAVEN’T CHANGED anything. The strike is going agains’t the increase of our tuition fees. The increase is 325$ per years for five years so it is going to cost us to go to university 3,793$ PER YEARS in 2016-2017.

Here’s now, what I think about the tuition fees: Why, here in Quebec, are we paying less than every single OTHER provinces? We ALL KNOW that the major part of our money is going to health care because the Quebec’s population is getting older and older; here I am talking about the baby boomers. That’s a society choice that we have made. We put the major part of the government’s budget into it so we are keeping the population healthy. We haven’t decided to put ALL OF THAT MONEY into the education! The government can’t create money; we have to deal with what they have! Now, I done about that part, you know what I am thinking about the fees, let’s now talk about the strike.

I know that a lot of people have spent all their time into it and they really believed in it. But I personally didn’t. Here’s why. First, some university and cegep have been into the movement for 11 weeks. (I don’t know if you are familiar with the cegep, but we have 15 weeks of school per semester.)  Don’t they think that after almost their WHOLE semester manifesting and NOT going to school, they are going to change the government’s point of view? I don’t know, but to me, it looks like their losing a year of studying and I don’t personally think that at the end, they are going to win their fight. Some people are saying that students HAVE TO make sacrifices, but why would they? Why would some students lose THEIR summer jobs or at least summer money, because THEY PAY what they have to, they work their b** off just to make sure that they’ll have enough money to pay for their year tuiton fees, books and apartment. Also, another thing, I am sorry, but to all the people that were crying (I’m exaggerating of course) because they aren’t going to have enough money to pay the increase I would like to say:

WHAT A MINUTE !!!!

You don’t have enough money to pay that, but you have it when it comes to your iPhone, your Mac, your 2012 BRAND NEW CAR, you also have it when it comes to drinking every night of the week, to have a television, internet and all stuff that aren’t, to me, obligatory.

I have read on a French blog, but I don’t remember where, that a woman what saying something like:  You keep saying that education is a RIGHT, but let me remember something: To eat is MORE IMPORTANT THAN a right, it’s a necessity but it isn’t free. So why would university if it’s not a necessity to our survival?

I know, some programs, like Comunications at University Laval requires a Mac, but remember that you are not the only poor people on heart and that students are not rich people, that it’s normal that we have to work and the more we work for something, the more we appreciate it.

I’m sorry if you don’t think the way I do, I mean, I’m not sorry! because you have the right to! I am certainly not a big fan of the student strike, but I respect what you’ve done! I takes a lot a courage to sacrifice the way you did, but I am also SUPER DUPER glad that we’ve come back to school my friends!

Peace out,

I loved that video, hope you will too!

Émilie F.