<p>Thanks to IB I was done school last week! The pains of IB do pay off in the end. We can go to school if we want to for the rest of May and June if we want…but no one will be there so there’s not much of a point. I’ve heard of that system where you don’t have to write exams if you’re getting a B…although I think I heard of it from someone in university. It has something to do with the fact that you can’t fail even if you failed your exam so they don’t bother making you write the exam or something. although that wouldn’t make much sense for university, would it, since almost all of your mark is dependent on the final. maybe it was high school then. That is a good idea though.</p>
<p>i know this doesn’t entirely suit this thread…but i was wondering about the necessities when moving into the dorms…do they provide bed sheets? or do we have to buy them? i know i know…sounds stupid, but i don’t want to be sleeping in the cold without any warm sheets. Also, what stuff are people bringing with them to res other than the usuals like clothes, pcs etc?</p>
<p>Have you seen this site yet?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.firstyear.mcgill.ca/essentials/[/url]”>http://www.firstyear.mcgill.ca/essentials/</a></p>
<p>This is a super site for new McGill people. It has a list of everything you should pack.</p>
<p>o yeah i saw that link before…didn’t pay much attention to the packing list though…thanks for the update. i reckon i’m going to get all the toiletry stuff when i arrive in montreal so it saves me some packing space.</p>
<p>Good plan. I am thinking the same thing. I might hit up the montreal flea market scene to get things like an extra desk lamp or a fan if I need them. I have no clue how i’m going to get all my stuff up to McGill. Its definitely going to cost a small fortune in shipping.</p>
<p>I’m with you on the flea market idea, because there’s going to be stuff that you don’t know you need until you get there. Plus, with the way I decorate and the stuff I’m bringing, my room’s going to be like 1930s on safari, and a new lamp just wouldn’t do, unless it was a very stylized new lamp, which would be expensive.</p>
<p>On a somewhat related note, I was wondering if you guys know about the heating in the dorms (and other buildings too, I guess). Does each individual room have a heating system? Can each room adjust how hot/cold it is? Or does the entire dorm building have one set temperature? What is that temperature like?</p>
<p>Does anyone know how often it rains in Montreal? On the McGill website, it says to bring a raincoat and umbrella because it rains a lot. But how much is a lot?</p>
<p>I know that only new rez has air conditioning. all the other residences have heating though, but I doubt each room can adjust their own temperature…that’s a little too luxurious. </p>
<p>I doubt it’ll rain THAT much…maybe once every couple weeks or so? each time lasting a day or too? I dunno…that’s just my guess. Prolly more snow than rain.</p>
<p>flea market shopping sounds very cool.</p>
<p>okay i honestly skipped a lot of the posts above but you guys shouldn’t worry that much. negative 40 is really only if you go skiing on tremblant. i think the coldest it got was like -30 this past year? and that’s during those cold spell days… negative teens and twenties aren’t as bad as you think. though i must recommend an ionic hair dryer (keeps you from killing ur hair with so much hair dryer use).</p>
<p>and Mountain equipment co-op (MEC) is a great place to get ur stuff. if you’re by new rez (avenue du parc) you can just take the number 80 bus up all the way to the last stop and go to marche central (big outlet mall type of place) and get lotsa good winter stuff there. don’t buy it right when u get to montreal tho…it’s actually hot in august. wait till fall when everyone’s buying stuff for winter and all the sales come 
:-D</p>
<p>all the rezes have heating. ooh, warning about mcconnell and upper rezes. it’s central heating and you can’t control the temperature. in mcconnell, the side facing bmh gets insanely hot while the side facing the city is not. we kinda made a theory that it’s because of the wind blowing on that side of the building, but either way living in upper rez during winter = sleeping with like no blanket or with the window cracked open just for some comforting cold air heh.</p>
<p>new rez’s air con is also a heater and you can control the temperature. there’s two layers for the windows and don’t be like me and my roommate who got their outer window layer frozen open. well…hmm…in a way that was good cause if it were frozen shut then we’d have no fresh air at all. blah ignore that then.</p>
<p>rooms in the more houses that i’ve been to each have their own thermostat.</p>
<p>oh, and yeah invest in a good umbrella. those transition periods like early spring and late fall tend to have some rain… late fall’s freezing rain is not fun. i got a london fog umbrella cause it has some reinforcing stuff that keeps it from flipping and etc and it was one of the smartest purchases i made early in the year.</p>
<p>one of the maps you get when u first move in btw is this map of the mcgill campus with some directions to value village…walmart…and ikea? try going to those places. sears would be good too. it might be smart to look up some addresses for these places online first and figure out which metro stop to go to, etc (or if ur lucky and have parents driving you, a set of mapquest directions).</p>
<p>walmart’s at metro namur. ikea’s a bit farthur and really not as necessary but it’s at metro du college and then bus 202 ouest/west. other stuff, try going to <a href=“http://www.stm.info%5B/url%5D”>http://www.stm.info</a> and using tous azimuts (this automatic route finder that’s very helpful).</p>
<p>okay i think that’s all…hmm… long reply. i’ll get off the soapbox now :-)</p>
<p>haha oh and just wanted to post. if ur living in upper rez…that transition period to winter will be…fun. but snow clearance and etc gets better after that :-)</p>