Travel from Putney to Quebec
By student Katie Butler
To start, going back to Quebec City feels like I am going home for the reason that some of my family is French Canadian. Quebec City is currently my favorite Province in Canada since I have only started my travels in this enormous country.
My return to Quebec City was filled with several different emotions, but mostly anxiety due to the two countries' relationship at the moment. When the relationship between the two countries was less tumultuous, the Haskell Library, was and still tries to be, a place where citizens from both countries could come together to form a multi-country friendship at a more human level. You certainly know you are in Canada when you walk into the library and see a giant moose head on the wall. And it certainly is trippy to just casually walk into the Canadian portion of the library without going through border patrol. you can look at the door that the Canadian citizens and library employees walk through every day without going any closer than the doorframe because I am from the United States.
Another interesting thing is that there is a tape line on the ground separating the countries. You go all the way through the library, even upstairs in the opera house.
Our tour guide, Evaline, who is just a beautiful human inside and out, was extremely knowledgeable about the library and made us feel welcome despite the growing tension between the two countries. Evaline and I made each other's day because I had/have family in the Canadian Parliament, and to both our shock, I found out that one specific person from my family is in history textbooks across the country. The Opera House was primarily intact and had all the original details from the beginning of the early 20th century, including the tapestry, the seats, and the chandelier.
The drive to Quebec City was so much fun for the first two hours because I got to sit between Kenney’s and we were causing trouble and making jokes with each other. As soon as we got over the border safely, we went to lunch, not even 5 minutes from the border. But as far as the driving went, we got to drive through the more rural parts of the province. I compare the countryside to upstate New York mixed with Iowa for the reason that Canadian agriculture is super similar to United States agriculture in terms of buildings with a big silo and a barn for the animals and the house for the farmer's family to live in on the side.
There were also medium-sized towns in between, and the Canadian versions of chains like Tim Hortons, the most famous of them all. Canada also has a subway, Dollarama (instead of the dollar store)! Some small but big details I noticed was that they have a deer and moose caution sign since Canada has a significant moose population, they have all their road signs in different colors or the could just be my bad eyesight, and they are the same color. They say Maximum and minimum for speed limit, and everything is in French. KFC in Canada is PFK, they have billboards advertising local Canadian companies, maple leaves are everywhere because they are a country symbol, unlike in the United States, everything is in Kilometers instead of miles.
