Blast83

My Vancouver-born first cousin, Samara, is in town. She’s checking out schools for next year and helping her mom move her other grandmother into an old folks chalet. I get to show her around but as a 17 year old, how deep into the rabbit hole will she go? I mean, I had a significant resume of success a 17but on the other hand, as a sheltered prep school kid, it took moving out to University in order for the final reveal on young existence to occur.

At 17, I had never been to detention, kept my shirt tucked in and had taken my high school choir to Europe after my graduation ceremony and still led by example, no drinking, no staying out late, no hitting on cute German boys… I made sure that everyone made it back on the bus in time. One week prior to my Montreal departure, everything changed. Having never even set eyes on the hyped Christmas trees, I smoked for the first time at the camp fire behind my best friend’s house. After having successfully navigated myself down level one into the underbelly of the world, I knew I could take it from there – said my thank yous and good byes, packed up and headed out.

Frosh week at McGill changed my life; booze, boys, a 3 day controlled bender (my first, supervised by an experienced student who had been there before, perhaps even the previous year) I achieved my corruption goals quickly, nothing ever too stupid, but definitely stupid enough. Over 2000 teenagers, freshly freed from their parents, attempting to shed their lingering high school images and get wasted collectively, perhaps for the first time, making friends, exploring a new city, trying to remember and hopefully making a somewhat/positive impression memorable just long enough to be able to walk down the street and yell, “Hey you! You were in my Frosh group remember? How’s school going so far?… Ya, I’ve decided not to drink for a month… You too? Ya, that was crazy fun!”

Although my own personal bundle of issues may be a work in progress, I take pride in my 17 year old success. I’ve told my cousin lots. No holds barred. She’s eating it up, she wants to come to Montreal for University. Excellent! Sharing tidbits to a captive audience is such a joy.

And just as an aside- along with the unique, relatively unknown, and fantastically free fun available any night of the week (except if it’s raining), Montreal remains a cheap, great city for students, communal but definitely big enough to grow into. I kept attempting to share my Frosh experience with my American friends, all developing and growing through their own first weeks of school, but alas, it was the first of many untranslateable Montreal-centricities that I absolutely love about this city.