It’s been two weeks! Time goes fast. The first week was intense. On the second day I went to UQAM to know the research group and my supervisor. On the third, fourth and fifth day there was the annual meeting of our research network. And between all this we were searching for a house to stay at least until July 1st. 

We rented the first one that we visited and was available for the day we needed. Not the wisest choice, but we didn’t want to stay in an hotel any longer. At least it’s just for 49 days. 

We spent the weekend and next week looking for a better house to move on July 1st, the “moving day” in Montreal. 

Fist we walked the neighborhoods looking for the ones that we liked. Then we visited 14 places, and finally were able to find a place that we both liked, with an affordable price. We signed the contract the next day after seeing the house. 

Now we can relax and begin the search for home furniture. 

We didn’t spent our days just looking for houses. The first weekend we climbed the mont Royal (very beautiful views of the city) and this last Sunday was the “free annual museum day”, so we visited the biosphere (not very good for adults. Good for children) and the museum of beaux arts (this one was very good). 

We arrived safe and sound in Montreal. 🙂

The immigration was really simple and the only part that took time was the queue. We spent almost 1 hour at the line. Lots of flights arriving at the same time. 

A friend of ours was at the airport waiting for us, and he drove us for our temporary house, that we rented at the last minute in Airbnb! 

The first day at UQAM was nice. I met with my advisor and everyone from the research group. I was just a little scared with the language. I definitely need to improve my French as soon as possible. 

We spent the last few days looking for a permanent house. The neighborhood that we are in now is nice, but we found so many better places. We fell in love with the Jean-Talon and Atwater market. We will go to a new place this Friday, near the Atwater market. Then we’ll look for a new place to move after July 1st. 

These last few days were really nice. Just the weather that was a little crazy. There were snows at Monday!! 2 degree temperature, feels like -2. 

So, we are in Chicago now, at my sister in law house. The flight was anwful. The food was horrible and I barely slept. But, after The landing, everything went smoothly. No queues at the immigration and bags readily available. The most troublesome part was getting the train with three 32kg bags plus 2 handbags. 

Today we visited the terracota exhibition at the Field Museum, and now we will finish the bags so we can get ready for the big day tomorrow!

This week was a little stressful. Lots of things to do, travel preparations and the wait for the final steps of the visa process. 

That deserves a special paragraph. The visa office gave five working days for the final phase. And then we bought the airplanes tickets for two days after the date they gave us. Guess what, we should have waited a little more. Usually they send the passport home via post. But we had to go to the office to retrieve the passport before they sent it via post. Luckyly we were able to get the passport and we didn’t need to change our plane tickets!

After that we booked a nice apartment on Airbnb for 5 days. In these five days we’ll search for a provisory place until July first, when we want to move to a definitive place. 

And now we’re on our way to the airport. I think that we managed to put everything in the bags. Three big bags plus 2 small ones.

The first step of the travel will be in Chicago, where we’ll stay for two days in my sister in law place before going to Montreal. 

We already sent 4 other bags to her house! We’ll rearrange then there, and take 4 bags to Montreal. After we have a proper place we’ll come back and take the rest. 🙂

After a few hiccups, the visa is finally done!

I received the message that is was done last Tuesday. Wednesday morning I was at the door of the Canadian office to get the visa in my passport.

Now I need to continue my search for a good apartment in Montreal, finish the last things related to my work here in Brazil and make the last preparations for the move!

Cheers,
Caio