Health & Fitness month is alive and well at EC Montreal!  Today, our Special Projects assistant, Andrea, lead an energetic and dynamic zumba class!  It was wonderful to see our students race to the bathroom after their class today to change into their sports clothes and so excited to work out!

Andrea set the perfect tone for the class!  She had festive music blaring and got everyone pumped for the class!  Her dance moves and athletic abilities were very impressive!

The students appreciated the class so much they asked if it could be repeated every week!

EC Montreal’s mission this month was to make students aware of the importance of our health.  The heart is a muscle and it should be worked out regularly.  We hope we have inspired our students to continue on this healthy path and put their well-being first!

We will end our Health & Fitness themed month with a spiritual and uplifting yoga session next Wednesday.  We hope our EC Montreal students have appreciated all the wonderful activities we planned this month….I know our staff sure did!

It is officially the start of my third year at EC! Two years ago, I was a summer monitor, and last summer, I was one of the two coordinators of our summer program. This summer, I am the Coordinator of our summer program, and I have many fond memories of my experiences so far. I know that this summer will continue the happy trend I started years ago.

The entire EC Montreal team and I would like to thank you for having joined us over the past few summers. The Teen Language Adventure has been, and continues to be, a great success. We know we could not have done it without you, the students and families who came and spent some truly memorable and exciting time with us.

This summer, the Teen Language Adventure program has changed its name to Young Learners. Rest assured that, though our name has changed, the experience of spending a summer with EC Montreal is just as exhilarating as it has been in years past.

As a former student in the Teen Language Adventure / Young Learners program, you know what a summer with us is like, and we know just how much enjoyment you have brought us. In addition, your feedback over the years has helped us improve the program in many important ways. We make sure we are always getting better, so we can offer you the best experience possible.

We would like to invite you back to spend another great summer with us in Montreal!

Meet our summer intern Sophie Degabriel!  She will be helping us out in the office this summer!  We wish her a successful and enriching internship at EC Montreal!

Here is what she would like to share with all of you:

“Hello everyone, nice to meet you!!!
I am Sophie Degabriel. I am 22 years old and I am from France.
I am in EC Montreal for 3 months to do my internship. I am studying System of Information, but in Master I will study Logistic.
Last year, I studied in a school like this one. I really enjoyed my time there: to meet a lot of people, to visit… It is the reason why I wanted to come back.
Looking forward to meeting all the EC Montreal students and to enjoy Montreal !!”

Whether it’s late at night, or early in the morning, pizza is one of those wonder foods that you can eat at any time of day, hot or cold, on a plate or wrapped in a napkin…EVERYBODY LOVES PIZZA!!

EC Montreal staff recommends:

BEVO is a charming spot in the heart of Old Montreal. Situated in the corner of a beautiful cobblestoned pedestrian mall, their tables spill out onto the sidewalk forming an informal patio, perfect for people watching and enjoying the summer air. Bevo features a wood-burning oven and a pizza menu with 10 signature pizzas. The Margherita is the traditional favourite; sauce, fresh cow’s milk mozzarella, and basil, a perfect way to showcase the BEVO’s fresh ingredients and perfectly cooked crust.

A long time player in the Montreal pizza game is a place that on a good night can see a lineup of 45 minutes. Pizzeria Napoletana sits in Little Italy and has been pumping out pizzas for over 60 years. They have a roster of 41 different kinds of pizza – from the Salumeria (mozzarella, mushrooms, procuitto, capicole, Italian sausage and grilled red peppers) to the Primavera pictured above: mushrooms, mozzarella, anchovies, olives, clams and artichokes. With so many choices to make, the only bad choice would be coming here while on a diet.  This one is our Centre Director, Elisa’s pick!  She can’t say enough about this restaurant.  She will tell you, however, that the service isn’t great, it’s cash only and you have to wait no matter when you go, but it is worth it.  The food is divine and it’s ‘bring your own wine’!

In the Mile-end neighborhood sits Magpie, a rustic spot filled with pizza, microbrews, oysters and old-school Dum-Dum suckers by the cash register. Wood-fired pizza is what they serve here and my favourite is the Prosciutto: fluffy dusty crust, topped with cherry tomatoes, bocconcini cheese, arugula and prosciutto. Salty ham balanced by the bitter greens and sweet sauce – a little bit of everything, paralleling this eclectic neighborhood.

One of the go-to spots for pizza in the McGill ghetto is none other than Amelios. This family-run restaurant has seen its share of hungry students walk through their doors and be fed accordingly. One of the must-haves is the Florentine: spinach and cheese pizza with a signature artichoke sauce. Their second location in the posh Outremont neighborhood has the exact same great menu.

These are EC Montreal’s picks for best pizza in Montreal!  We recommend you give them a try!  If you have found a great pizza restaurant during your visit, please let us know so we can share it with our EC community!

THE DETAILS

BEVO, 410 Rue St-Vincent

Pizzeria Napoletana, 189 Rue Dante

Magpie, 16 Rue Maguire

Amelios, 201 Milton & 1205 Bernard

One of the most beloved festival hosted in Montreal – The World Beer Festival!  This year the festival will take place at the Palais des Congres – the convention centre.  We will definitely be adding this outing to our social events calendar!  The festival will take place from May 29 to June 2. EC Montreal students will have a chance to sample beer from all over the world in such a festive and joyous environment!  Admission to the event is free.  Students can purchase tickets for their samples.  They are given a beer glass a souvenir and all their tastings can be made using their glass!  Each sample is only $1.

As Montreal is a food lover’s paradise – food will be present, of course!!  There will be all kinds of delicious snacks available to be paired up with the different beers.  If it is like previous years, we can look forward to tasking different kinds of sausages like bison, moose, caribou, deer and ostrich.  Nothing goes better with beer than fries!  We can be sure to have the smell of fries floating around the event!!

Montreal is such a cool destination to visit!  There is always something to celebrate – and we Montrealers love our beer!!

Another cool reason to study ESL abroad at EC Montreal!  Beer, food, fun, friends and excitement!

On June 5, we will transform the student lounge in to a F1 shop!  The first week of June, Montreal has Grand Prix fever!  Visitors and celebrities from all over the world come to watch the Grand Prix.  The entire week is dedicated to this event!  Crescent street is closed to cars and there are a bunch of F1 cars on display.  There are also free concerts to get everyone dancing and partying in the streets!  Little Italy’s Ferrari club get together and put their Ferrari’s on display.  EC Montreal students can buy what they need in our F1 shop and get out there and celebrate with the rest of the world!

On June 12, in honor of Montreal’s beloved Beer Festival and Francopholies, we will be having our very own Beer & French music festival!  We will be serving a variety of international beers while listening to French music from different parts of the French-speaking world!  We will also be giving out information to our students about the Beer Festival taking place at the Gare Centrale as well as the Francopholies festival taking place that week!

One June 19, we will be celebrating Quebec’s sweetest fruit, the strawberry!  The province of Quebec grows local strawberries and there are fields and fields of this sweet fruit all over!  Families get together on weekends to go strawberry picking during the month of June.  It is a time honoured tradition that we are happy to share with our EC Montreal students.  During our strawberry festival we will set up our chocolate fountain and have tons and tons of strawberries and strawberry flavoured marshmallows for students to dip!  We will also be serving strawberry smoothies!

On June 26, we will celebrate both La Fete Nationale and Canada Day in the student lounge!  June 24 is Saint Jean Baptiste day.  St-Jean is the patriot saint of the province of Quebec.  This is how it became Quebec’s sacred day!  All businesses and schools are closed on this day.  There are usually parades, fireworks and music shows all across the province.  July 1st is Canada Day – a very exciting and celebrated day in the country.  We will celebrate both Quebec and Canada on the same day at EC Montreal!  We will be serving hot dogs, beer and chips!  Perfect summer food!!

Let the summer festivals begin at EC Montreal!  We can’t wait!

Being in EC Montreal was really a great experience, the environment they provide you, is just fantastic, and not only for learning a new language, but also to get to meet people from all around the world. With diverse activities and fieldtrips you really feel welcome not only to the school, but also to Montreal.

Thank you EC Montreal!

- Roberto Basso

One of the most touching stories was the one that our homestay host Carol Fogel shared: some years ago, she hosted a Japanese student that had come to EC Montreal to improve her English. She and Carol kept in touch after the student returned to Japan, Carol was actually invited to go visit her in Japan! – and this is not the most interesting part! The student decided to immigrate to Canada, and Carol was her sponsor for the immigration process- now this is truly amazing!

What more to prove that your homestay experience with EC Montreal could surpass your expectations!!!

Marcela and Mishal are doing a great job as EC Montreal student ambassadors. They eagerly participated in our Giving Back volunteering activity and are looking forward for other volunteering opportunities.

They are also taking an active part in EC Montreal’s social activities as well as assisting the staff with welcoming and entertaining the guests that we receive at the school.

Thank you guys and keep up the good work!

One of the accommodation options that EC Montreal offers is the shared apartments at the 515 residence, conveniently located in the heart of downtown Montreal, at 2 metro stations away from the school.

It turns out that the place offers more than just a place to keep you belongings and sleep. Staying at the residence you can easily make new friends or you can invite your friends from EC Montreal to enjoy together the multiple recreational facilities offered, such a small cinema, a cardio room, a weights room, a music room, and even ping pong tables and pool tables.

A few days ago, while on a 515 tour with agents, I saw 3 of our students (only one living there) playing Ping-Pong: a fun afternoon that didn’t cost any of them anything and I’m sure they all had fun!

The next day, as soon as I saw them, I had to ask who won!