Montreal Pride 2015 – Where to stay for Fierté Montréal?

Montreal Pride 2015 – Where to stay for Fierté Montréal?

Montreal is about to become a lot more colourful, as our vibrant city hosts the annual spectacular that is Montreal Pride 2015. This week long event is expected to be bigger and better than ever before, with organisers planning a collection of new surprises for this year’s community festivities. Over 400,000 participants and spectators both local and international, will be taking part in the largest LGBT celebration in the Francophone world.

Beginning on Monday 10 August, the party starts with Urban Forest at the McCord Museum, a popular free musical event that is now in its fifth year. Other highlights of the festival include a one-off performance from The Trouble-Maker’s Sister Show and a Mega Jump Dance event hosted by Ubisoft that aims to encourage thousands of visit to take park in street dancing with simple choreographed moves. With more than a 100 different culture and entertaining attractions planned over the week, organisers are promising something new to explore every day.

The Parade itself is the star of the event once again and will take place on Saturday 15th August. The biggest parade of its kind in Montreal, this year the theme is “Our Flag, Our Energy” in reference to the colour yellow so expect to see lots of cool yellow outfits along the route. The highlight will also feature a giant yellow doll that will meet and greet the thousands of visitors along the 2.6km route.

Where to stay during Montreal Pride 2015

St. Cathy’s is the perfect location to stay during the Montreal Pride 2015 festival and beyond. We are located next to the Start Line of the Parade itself and with most of the Montreal Pride taking place near downtown and central areas, we are super convenient to the action. We’re also close to some popular student bars and cool places to eat. To add even more colour to your experience and see how we can help with your stay in Montreal, call St Cathy’s today on 514-574-3336.

Montreal hosts the World’s Largest Outdoor Games Festival

Montreal hosts the World’s Largest Outdoor Games Festival

Are you ready to play? Montreal is about to become the most fun place on Earth as the largest outdoor games festival kicks off on July 11th. This unique games festival is expected to attract thousands of players from Montreal and beyond, seeking to enjoy the very best board games, video games and local outdoor gaming events all for free.

The action will take place at Quartier des spectacles where students, locals and tourists are encouraged to come together in a true multiplayer experience. The event will last just over two weeks and is expected to exceed last year’s 150,000 players.

Visitors can also expect to meet some of gaming’s leading creators from both the digital world and traditional games industry. Warner Bros will be sending their local Montreal Games team, who will be joined by other legends including Nintendo and the team behind the popular ‘Just Dance’ game.

Montreal’s Gaming Boulevard

At the heart of the festival will be Maisonneuve Boulevard, which is being transformed into an open-air playground. Even for those who don’t wish to participate, this outdoor gaming event is a spectacle not to be missed. This summer will see a collection of new games available from multiplayer shooting action on the WiiU, to giant sized board games from the popular gamers Sociojeux. The Boulevard will have an assembly of Booths available to explore with some of the latest and coolest games to try out before most of the world.

Montreal Video Games Lounge

Feeling competitive? Complexe Desjardins will be the home of an epic video games lounge during the festival. Here the best players will battle to become the festival’s ultimate gaming champion. A live studio will also be broadcasting a special eSports contest to millions of Twitch users around the world.

The annual Mondial des jeux Loto-Québec event will take place from July 11th until July 25th and is likely to be the biggest event yet. With over 100 different games on offer, this festival will cater to gamers of all different ages and tastes.

St Cathy’s is ideally located for this summer’s Gaming Festival. We are just a 12 minute cab ride away from the Boulevard and at the heart of an area popular with students. To find out why we receive such amazing reviews for our rooms, give us a call today on 514-574-3336.

St. Cathy’s Residence- A safe home for your child

St. Cathy’s Residence- A safe home for your child

Education is most essential part of life and parents always try to provide best education to their children. Leaving home for higher studies as at earlier age is common now a day because people wish to join the best institute ever to beat the competition. But for parents, the matter of worry is just the residence for their child when they are going for a strange place to take education. If one got perfect place to live, everything get managed easily and parents can stay tension free.

Canada is one of the most preferred destinations for higher studies and in Montreal there are most of the popular colleges that you would like for your child’s higher education. With high quality education and huge exposure, these universities or colleges will give you best experience ever. If you have planned to join this place for studies, you must be searching for accommodation facilities that fulfill all your needs at one place. St. Cathy’s residences are best housing option for all students who want to study at Montreal. Students can find affordable and well furnished rooms in the locality of their university so that they need not to travel everyday and can spare more time for studies. St. Cathy’s housing options provide you secure safe and beautiful rooms where students can stay happily and enjoy their time in this amazing city.

Students can live at four to five minute walking distance from their college and rooms are well equipped with all necessary services. For shopping, you also need not to go far away because you will find a number of shops or market around the residential area. Students can easily go anywhere to buy any item of their need. The most loved aspect of St. Cathy’s housing complex is its peaceful atmosphere with fantastic environment where students love to spend more time. This place is perfect for studies as you will never ever disturb with unnecessary noise and everything will remain as quiet as you need for your concentration. All rooms are designed perfectly with attractive interior decoration and these residences offers attached bathroom as well as kitchen with every room. Rooms are having perfect electricity arrangement and students can enjoy fresh air and natural light by opening windows. The weather conditions are very friendly for students and they can enjoy studies in all seasons without any tension.

Usually many events are organized in this area to entertain students such as “Butterflies Go Free” festival and Tribute shows etc. Students can attend these events with best safety facilities of St Cathy’s residence. With all these facilities, it becomes home like environment for students where they can study well as they don’t even feel homesickness. Students love to have fun together and they find best study companions over here. For those who choose to reside at St. Cathy’s housing, spends most beautiful time of their education career with safe and caring environment. Parents can feel free from all tensions after sending their lovely child to St. Cathy’s home where every student is given proper care and best environment for studies.

Tips For Finding The Best Student Housing In Montreal

Going off to college is a wonderful time for millions of students. Entering the halls of higher education is something that creates a lasting impression for life, and career. The cost of college is usually inflated, however, especially when you factor in more than tuition. For instance, if you’re going to be looking for student housing in Montreal Quebec Canada, you are going to be with a great deal of options. Narrowing them down can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. The key is to look at the college experience with realistic expectations, and find the right place to live and learn. Don’t worry, St Cathy’s student residences is here to give you tips for finding the best student housing in Montreal.

Look For Standard of Living Not Luxury

This may come as a difficult thing to deal with, but college students often times put on rose colored glasses when they are moving into their housing situation. If you are going to go off campus, then the idea of anything but luxury may seem a bit left of center. It’s best to look into a standard of living that is lower than luxurious accommodations. The more luxurious the residence, the higher the price will be and the smaller the space will be overall. When you’re going off to college, look for what will suffice for your academics, not social life. This is a shocker, but it’s going to safe you headaches, and money. More importantly, the money aspect, especially with the high cost of tuition.

Ask The School For Help

Every major college has offices that can help you locate housing. Some may even allow you to live on campus. If this is your choice, make sure that you educate yourself on all the possibilities and whether or not you will have a roommate. Part of the modern college experience is to go through the process of living on or near campus. Just remember, this factors into the overall cost of your tuition, so be careful with this solution and weigh the costs very carefully.

In the end, when looking for student housing in Montreal Quebec Canada, make sure that you take your time. Assess your needs and proceed carefully with the right choice that meets your needs as a student first. The more time you take to assess your needs, the better off you will be when it comes time to decide what housing arrangement will be best for the next few years.

Working while going to school: what to keep in mind

Every single year, the same concern is on every lips: “How am I going to pay for college?”. Yes, Quebec tuition fees are the lowest in Canada but even for residents it might be quite an investment! and I’m not even talking about out of the province students (who pay about 4 times the price) or even international students who can pay as much as $30,000 a semester to get their education in Quebec.

If you’re only starting university now and that you’ve never gotten a job before that, my advice to you: wait a term or two. Why? Well, you need to know how the schedule of a university student looks like. If you’re taking 5 classes a week, you should have up to 20 hours a week, it may not seem like much but the work that you will have to do at home can be a real challenge between all the readings, papers, team projects, exams… You will need some time to make sure you can balance work and study at the same time so it doesn’t have a negative impact on your studies.

So… have you decided to work? Great! Time for you to make some extra money to enjoy your weekends then! But where could you work? Two solutions are presented to you: Working on campus or off campus.

Working on campus

Working on campus is definitely the most convenient for a student. Need to go to work right before or after class? It’s right there! No need to hurry, you’re already there.  You won’t have to get stuck in public transportation and that  time you save makes you have more time to work… and more money as a result! However, it is not that easy to find a job on campus… You can however look on your university’s website and give it a try!

Working off campus

Goodbye monotony of being on campus all day, and welcome to a new environment! The easiest job to find near the residences are definitely in retail (like target or similar stores) and in the food industry (try all the cafés like Tim Hortons, Starbucks, Java U…)! Those are all student jobs that will hire all the time and will help you earn some money, even if the wages won’t be that high for the work you’re doing…

My advice to you is to try to find a job related to your field of study. I know it is easy to say that but try to find an internship in the field you want to work on, it will have many advantages: you will get some money in order to pay your fees, your rent, activities…. It will also give you relevant experience in your field and will give you a competitive advantage over the other students. It will also help you decide if you really want to work on this field or not! Oh and last but not least: it will help you develop a network, thing that will truly be available in the future!

Good luck on finding a job and dealing with work and school at the same time! Don’t worry guys, you can definitely do it!