I opened my eyes in Montréal this morning. I have been waiting for this moment since I was a young girl watching those weekend travel shows during my early days living in Istanbul. After I moved to the U.S., I had even more of a desire to capture some of the magical aura of this French-Canadian city. The more people I met, the more I realized I was missing out on an amazing destination. I’m not sure what kept me away from traveling here for so long; but when my boyfriend suggested we do a half-marathon at the end of September, I jumped on it with all fours. Not many people know this about me, but I studied French in high school and even took the French SATs to receive college credit. At one point in my life, I could write a mean essay in French. Well, the moment finally presented itself, and I am now able to see how much of those linguistics days I will remember. Although we arrived late last night, we did a quick excursion near our AirBnB house. Yes, everything is in French. Yes, there is a lot of pork on the menu and not enough chicken or beef — I don’t eat pork —  and yes, I still remember a lot of French. I am mad at myself for not taking advantage of how close I have been to Québec sooner. Well, c’est la vie! Je suis ici! Stay tuned for my follow-up post on the food scene here. I’m sure you all already realize this is going to be mostly about the cuisine and not much about the 13 miles I have to run and didn’t train for. Pray for me! Travel on!

— Banu Yilmaz, advertising director