Not far from final exams and right after midterms for most students, a week off school is always a welcomed break. This year, deciding to take the bus to Quebec to ski down Mont Tremblant and witness the Lumiere festival, was by far the most defining Reading Week for many Schulich students.

It took a ten hour bus ride with several stops in between to reach Mont Tremblant, where we spent the next two nights amidst the beautiful vicinity of Pedestrian Village. Adorned with colorful lights and buildings, Pedestrian Village looked like the backdrop of an animated Disney movie, and being surrounded by friends, tourists and other students, it truly was.

The weather was chilly, but the lack of cold winds made it almost peacefully beautiful and thus we headed towards the top of the mountain to ski, despite not knowing how. We appreciated the view from the top only to realize how small we were in comparison to the trees and quickly found our way down through lift services. We skied instead, on the adult bunny hill, where we could almost never get ourselves to come to a halt and ended up more often on the heavily snow carpeted ground, than not. What we did learn, however, was to laugh uncontrollably at the unfortunate, yet generally mostly painless, falls of others that, if recorded, would have definitely made it to one of America’s Funniest Videos.

Other activities available to students were tubing, skating, and the spa, although we chose to tour around the Pedestrian Village, stumbling across another cafe called Cappuccino, that had a huge map of the world pinned to its wall, to track where its visitors were from, giving me and some of my international friends pride in being the first to mark our hometowns. Closer to the end of the day, it started to flurry softly and we found our way to one of the Beavertails cafes, welcoming a delicious combination of fried dough, oozing with glazed vanilla and crunched up Oreos, with a cup of hot French Vanilla.

Spending the nights in Mont Tremblant with people we shared the life of Schulich with, gave us the opportunity to connect to those we knew and then a ton of other students that we hadn’t had the chance to bond with before. From experimenting cooking skills with fourth years to beating them at a quick game of Monopoly Deal, it definitely gave us all a chance to meet people and bond with them in an atmosphere unattainable elsewhere.

Known for its exciting festivals, vibrant nightlife, delicious cuisine, and for being the city of artists, we arrived at Montreal late afternoon the third day, and the first thing we did there was find the closest and best place that served poutine, courtesy of helpful receptionists. Then we walked to Old Montreal, the perfect fusion of North America and Europe, with an undeniable touch of history. The Lumiere Festival was the highlight of the city that night filled with tons of activities from Ferris wheel, ice slides, fun games, food and even incredible performances.

Being in the company of a lifelong friend who shared the excitement of spontaneous and random adventures, the morning of our departure was an eventful one. We literally went the extra mile by walking to McGill University when the lady bus driver turned us away saying she would not be able to take our five Dollar bill. Short on time, instead of waiting for the next ride, we braved the storm and made the 20 minutes walk stopping by strangers to direct us every now and then. Their campus is filled with castles, but apart from more comfortable couches in the Student Center and a bigger pile of snow, it was not too different than our own campus.

Filled with first years who were still evaluating the best ways of coping with all the responsibilities of a university student, and fourth years, who’d been there and done that, and came together perhaps one last time to cherish and relive the past years and last few weeks of their Schulich journey, as well as several second and third years, it was a good mixture of everyone who wanted to explore new places and embark new adventures.

Long bus rides, constant packing and unpacking, living with friends and traipsing around unknown places, Frost Week 2013 was definitely a start to lasting bonds, wonderful memories and an experience to remember. Well planned, and tons of fun, cheers to the Schulich Athletic Committee for organizing such a great trip!

Fatema Haque, BBA ’16