The Flophouse landed late yesterday in Montreal, the largest city in the province of Quebec.
The quality of the welcome was outstanding. Given the diversity of our passports and status (1 French passport, 2 French or US passports, and 1 US passport holder with legal residency in France - 3 tourists and one international French/American student) we braced ourselves for the inevitable confusion or difficulties as we entered the country. Not only were there zero problems (the custom declaration form actually allows for multiple nationalities within one family) the customs/immigration people were gracious and helpful.
As an international student my daughter could have benefitted from a program called Accueil Plus+ set up to welcome and guide students from abroad through the entry process. We didn't use it but we watched some of the young adults arriving alone from abroad being welcomed and thought it was a really brillant idea, nicely implemented.
Today we spent our time walking around the city and taking care of paperwork. The elder Frenchling was accepted at McGill University so of course we spent some time walking around the campus. Really nice though I couldn't help but wonder what it's going to be like in the middle of winter.
Once all our official business is taken care of we plan to spend some time sightseeing. Both my spouse and I have visited this city many times but always on business which meant that we saw the inside of many office buildings and meeting rooms but not much else. We hope to rectify that in the next few days.
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