Snowed in at Montreal

So, this weekend, Amber and I went to Montreal, Quebec for my first philosophy conference paper presentation at McGill University (it was only a graduate conference and I only presented in front of a handful of people so don't get too excited for me). Well, the Friday conference went very well, but today Montreal is getting 39 centimeters (that about 15 inches of for you non-metric folks) of snow. Needless to say, we're going to be here for a while. Our flight got canceled, and we got on another one for tomorrow that will involve two layovers... meaning its going to take us nine hours to get back to Pittsburgh on top of the extra cost of another night in the hotel. Thankfully, at least part of our trip will get reimbursed by Duquesne. I think Amber's decided that she's not going to be coming on anymore of my conference trips... and we hope to not come to Montreal in the winter anymore either. [Amber thinks getting snowed in is fun]. We're having fun becoming curling fans.

The conference went pretty well. I sat in on a session in the morning that included presentations on Levinas (the reason why I went to the session - it was deplorable how badly he Christianized and ignored the entire setting of his project... ugh... sadness), Ricoeur (the presenter's French accent made it impossible to understand her), Jainism, and Kierkegaard (which was very interesting). My session included a presentation on Lonergan, my own, and one on the influence of Gnostic Christianity on Greek philosophy (which was quite intriguing). I received some questions but not any profound feedback that would help me in tweaking my paper. Nonetheless, the whole process of editing and presenting was really helpful, and I look forward to making adjustments for my next paper presentation at the University of Kentucky at the end of March.

Last night, after the conference, we walked around the area near our hotel. It was quite cold, so we didn't make it very far, but we did find an Irish Pub with some good beer and eats. Hopefully, I'll be able to upload some pictures when I make it home, as I forgot my adapter... Aside from that, the day was pretty uneventful. Montreal is a unique city. One minute, you feel like you're in Paris, with people asking you questions in French. The next minute, you feel like you're in the States, as the majority of their news is still focused on what happens in America, particularly the presidential primaries.

Today, before the snowstorm, we were able to take the metro out to Montreal's Biodome, an extraordinary work of architecture, which houses an educational ecosystem - where lots of families were enjoying the macaws in the rain forest, otters in the streams, and penguins in the tundra habitats. It was actually quite small compared to similar environmental museums in the states, but we had a good time nonetheless. The Biodome is located right next to Montreal's Olympic Park where the 1976 Summer Olympics were held. We had the chance to go inside the stadium where the swimming pool is housed, but that's about it.