To Montreal, my second love: An international student’s musings on making a home abroad

The Dollarama near my house gets a visit from me every week. Sometimes it’s out of necessity, but mostly it’s because I’m bored and it’s the only place where I can afford to impulsively shop. When I walked in one day this fall, the entire store was covered in shades of orange and yellow, in preparation for Thanksgiving. Shortly after, the store dons an outfit of red, green, and white in anticipation of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/us-news-blog/2012/dec/22/christmas-cards-holidays-us" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">North America’s most celebrated</a> holiday: Christmas. As I see the store changing its dress according to every (Christian) occasion, I see Montreal doing the same. The week leading up to Halloween, for example, I see everyone on the street fitted out in their best costumes, on their way to a party, or perhaps already tipsily walking back from one. All of December, I see every building ornamented, often excessively, and hear Christmas jingles ringing in my ears. As I walk home, they haunt my already-looming fears that my brother-and roommate-has devoured that last bit of cake I left in the fridge. <a href="https://medium.com/weekend-travellers/to-montreal-my-second-love-an-international-students-musings-on-making-a-home-abroad-85f91a567041">Learn More</a>