Exploring your own backyard is never going to be quite as exciting as someone else’s.

Maybe that’s why exchange students seem to stick so solidly together at their host universities.

 With their shared fascination for the locals’ everyday and ordinary and the freedom of only having to just pass their subjects, it makes sense.

At McGill, the international students’ network (MISN) is so welcoming that it would be easy to socialise and travel with students from everywhere and anywhere but Canada.

But, of course, meeting true locals is also an exciting part of being an exchange student.

That’s why I’m so lucky to have had the best of both worlds over the past two weekends.

The first was in Boston with fellow exchange students keen to pack the weekend with as much sightseeing and camera clicking as possible.

And the second was at Mont Tremblant with McGill students from Toronto keen to make the most of the last of the snow by skiing in Spring sunshine.

They will probably be my last two away-from-Montreal adventures before the end of the semester now as those final-exam jitters start to creep on up.

Spring skiing in Tremblant

Soaking in the hot tub after a sunny Saturday of skiing in positive temperatures, I was feeling pretty lucky.

Day two wasn’t quite so perfect though, with early-afternoon rain cutting our ski session short.

But I was actually a little secretly happy – the rain had smelt so beautiful on the top of the mountain!

I’m sure my skiing/snowboarding buddies weren’t quite so impressed.

A perfect day on the slopes

All four were from Ontario, where it sounds like skiing closely follows walking for most toddlers.

As I found out though, skiing is about much more than skiing.

A big part of skiing is eating.

And I was definitely just as good at that, especially when it came to beaver tails!

Beaver tails are yummy fried dough creations dowsed in maple syrup or sometimes chocolate and caramel sauce and topped off with lollies.

They taste even better after a maple taffy – another great Canadian invention, made from maple syrup frozen into a toffee lollypop on fresh snow!

April about to devour her beaver tail

Power sightseeing in Boston

In Montreal I’m a fairly laid-back sightseer.

A Bostonian avenue on the edge of the afternoon

Having a whole semester to really see things takes that fast-paced, touristy edge off travel.

But when we got off the bus in Boston with two-and-a-half days to discover one of the oldest cities in the States, we knew it was time for plenty of power walking and some intense map-deliberation sessions.

Boston is full of must-dos – The Museum of Fine Arts with its iconic impressionist pieces and ancient Egyptian mummies; Fenway Stadium, home of the Red Sox baseball team, and Mike’s Pastries where fans queue the block for giant eclairs served in boxes tied up with brown string. 

Of all the places we visited, my absolute favorite was undoubtedly The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – the public legacy of a wealthy Victorian lady with exceptional panache for the beautiful and rare.

Mrs Stewart Gardner traveled Europe, Africa and Asia collecting art, jewelry and furniture and then expertly pieced the treasures together in her Bostonian mansion complimenting them with musical soirees and indoor gardens.

As the museum’s guidebook states, “it is one of the few museums in the world that speaks to nearly all the senses through flowers, music and architecture”.

And there was plenty more sensory delight to come.

The next day we crossed the Charles River, where rowing and sailing boats glide by on cue, to visit Cambridge, home to Harvard and MIT.

At Harvard, the buildings seemed to match perfectly. There were lots of little red brick cottage-like ones mixed with elegant white towers, all surrounded by plenty of lush lawn.

They made striking contrast with the space-age architectural feats at MIT.

Both universities seemed like such inspiring places to learn in.

But, of course, I’ll always have a special spot for a certain set of sandstone arches, jacaranda blooms and even those overly friendly ibis!

Quaint red brick buildings to match Harvard’s crimson colour code

Contemporary architecture at MIT