Canada: a land of freezing tundra, friendly people, and most recently, two students from CHS. Charlie Abbott and Loic Plunier will be taking their talents to the Great White North this fall as they join McGill University’s Class of 2025.

Though both Abbott and Plunier are thrilled to be attending McGill, the choice to go to school in the middle of Montreal was not always as clear as it is now. After all, the college admissions process is a long, winding road fraught with all sorts of unexpected surprises, both good and bad. There are countless factors that go into every choice, and the paths that Abbott and Plunier took that led them both to McGill were vastly different.

“After going through the admissions process, where I applied to a bunch of schools, some I got into, some I didn’t, McGill was still on that list,” Abbott said. “I always knew it was a good choice for me.” Though Abbott had McGill on his mind for months, Plunier decided to take the plunge and apply to McGill in late January. McGill utilizes a system known as rolling admissions when accepting students, and this allows for prospective students to apply much later and hear whether they have been accepted much earlier than schools that opt for a more traditional acceptance regimen. As it would turn out, this system gave Plunier that extra little bit of time he needed to think his college choices over and realize that he wanted to apply to and attend McGill.

“I always had McGill in the back of my mind since I know a couple people who have gone to McGill and they’ve told me that it’s a really great school, but I never really considered it until late January, when I thought ‘might as well apply to McGill,’” Plunier said. “As soon as I started looking into the details, I knew that that was the school I wanted to go to.”

Now that they’ve emerged from the other side of the college admissions rigamarole with their McGill acceptance letters clutched in hand, Abbott and Plunier can focus on the great things that lie ahead of them in McGill and Montreal. While both of them are undecided as to what majors they would like to pursue, both are interested in political science and philosophy. Abbott and Plunier will surely have more than enough time to explore these options over the course of their four years at McGill, which leaves them ample space to explore something entirely different: the city of Montreal. Although it is a mere 35 miles from the US border, Montreal’s unique French-Canadian culture gives it a feel that is entirely distinct from anything Abbott and Plunier have experienced here in the States. Plunier has had the opportunity to interact with French culture before, but the experience of living in French Canada will be an entirely novel experience. On the other hand, Abbott has already had the opportunity to go to Montreal on a handful of occasions and is particularly smitten with the “City of Saints.”

“I really love Montreal, I’ve visited there a couple of times over the past few years, and I’ve never loved a city as much as I love Montreal,” Abbott said. “McGill was an opportunity for me to get out of the environment I’ve always lived in and into a city. I have always lived in an environment like Claremont, so being in Montreal, which is a city in a different country that generally speaks a different language can be a little intimidating. More than anything though, it’s really exciting.” While the culture and the prospect of living in a city are what draw Abbott in, Plunier is interested in the new opportunities Montreal will provide him.

“I’ve been in desperate need of a wardrobe change, so I thought that it would be really cool to go to Montreal, since it would force me to get new clothes for a while,” Plunier said. “Also, I’ve always wanted to ice skate, and I feel like being in Montreal would be the perfect excuse to do that. Those were two key selling points for Montreal.”
But that’s not all that Montreal has to offer.

“I’m really interested in trying bagged milk,” Plunier said, with a straight face. “That was a major selling point for me.” In case bagged milk does not sound particularly enticing, worry not! Montreal has countless eateries to choose from, something that Abbott mentioned as a major upside to living in Montreal. Plunier, on the other hand, is more than happy to cook for himself with some of Montreal’s signature ingredients.

“I’m basically Gordon Ramsay with curly hair,” Plunier said.

“I’m not,” Abbott said.

It is more than evident that Abbott and Plunier are ready for whatever opportunities and challenges that being an international student at McGill will pose. After all, they have made it this far, and there is so much that they are looking forward to doing north of the border, from meeting fellow international students from around the world to getting to know the local culture. All that stands between them and these experiences is a handful of months.