Today was my first day at the language institute I am at here in Montreal. The building is an amalgam I did not expect. There are 11 floors in total, and the building houses the offices for Korean Newsweek, various lawyers, a Japanese art gallery, 4 restaurants, and a psychology practice. Oh, and a 250 student institute for learning French and/or English.
I am typing this in a computer lab I have access to as part of tuition. There are two Spanish speakers Skyping with abandon in the room with me. I am therefore getting some free Spanish practice by eavesdropping on them. Man, I love Spanish. It is hard to decide whether French or Spanish is more beautiful. I might be one of those folks who land on the Spanish side of this debate -- but I'd equate this finding Penelope Cruz hotter than Eva Green; there's a point beyond which it becomes meaningless to even compare, both are so beautiful.
In terms of the city itself, I am in love. Great food, great cultural events, clean streets, a stunning lake and mountain, and sweet architecture.
Stay tuned for more. In my next post, I promise longish meditations on Voltaire, wasted time, and The Good Life.
About Me
- Okla Elliott
- I'm a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of Illinois, where I am engaging in the high-falutin fields of translation, trauma studies, and Theory (apparently, I only study things that begin with the letter "t"). My nonfiction, poetry, short fiction, and translations have appeared in literary journals like Circumference, Indiana Review, The Literary Review, New Letters, North Dakota Quarterly, New York Quarterly, and A Public Space. I am the author of two chapbooks and co-editor, with Kyle Minor, of The Other Chekhov. I like theatre and film and write some of that stuff too. I'm from Argyle, Kentucky (no relation to the socks), and have lived in Mannheim, Germany, and Wroclaw, Poland, among other places. Oh, and I'm a great fan of bunny rabbits, robots, and monkeys.
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