Author Archives: champlainmontreal

The Internship Chronicles: Kyle Mayes

By Kyle Mayes (California Lutheran University ’18)

When it comes to what my goals in life have been, the opportunities I’ve found often presented themselves to me in ways I wouldn’t have particularly chosen. In that way, I have chosen to take that as a lesson to be more excited for the times in my life that I didn’t plan for: Where things don’t go according to plan, and seeing how I am able to get to the same place I was going from where I ended up, or for finding a new place to go to with what I learned. For better or worse, I feel like this way I learn a greater amount about the world and myself. With all the highs and lows unexpected experiences that stem from the mystery of the unplanned unknown might bring me to, it all leads to me being whoever I become, wherever it ends up leaving me. I’ve accepted this as an inherent good aspect of life, even if it takes for some struggles to find the good it brought me. Continue reading →

The Internship Chronicles: Conor & Amanda

By Conor Tully (GDES ’19) & Amanda Gates (GDES ’19)

“Congratulations on becoming International Arms Dealers!” our new boss, Ryan, hollered as we came in for an initiation breakfast during the first week. With a little piece of context, this excitement makes a bit more sense.

As a company, IronBelly Studios makes most of their profit off of weapon assets for the Unreal Marketplace and Unity Asset Store. Their weapons have been used in a variety of popular games, such as Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, otherwise known as PUBG. Additionally, they cover other client based requests related to development, 2D and 3D art, level design, user interfaces, and virtual reality. Continue reading →

The Internship Chronicles: Anna Steeley

By Anna Steeley (FILM ’19)

This semester I interned at Eyesteelfilm, a documentary based production company in Montreal. The company was founded through making films with the homeless community and founded by Mila Aung-Thwin. Eyesteel creates a diverse range of documentaries such as Manic about a woman who sets out to find the truth about her father or A Note’s Ark, about Kiribati, where a community within the island must evacuate their homes due to extreme climate change.

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23 Reasons to Study Abroad in Montreal

By Amanda Gates (GDES ’19)

[Throughout the Spring ’18 semester, Social Media Ambassador Amanda has explored Montreal and its many hidden corners. Here she gives her best reasons as to why students should consider coming up here with the Champlain Abroad program]

1. New way of living

College dorms can be boring. Picture this instead: hotel-style rooms, kitchens, and freedom. Continue reading →

Botany & Bugs

By Lenny Gingello (GDES ’19)

Last Thursday SCI-155 Global Environmental Earth Science visited tropical rainforests, a forest full of butterflies, a hacienda, and many other ecosystems. How did we do this while in Montreal? Well, we went to the Montreal Botanical Garden!

Our first stop when we got there was the Insectarium where we saw many cool (and terrifying) insects. Not only did they have many preserved specimens, but they had some live ones as well. Most notably, they have an open vine on the top floor where ants are freely roaming around. This is something that people normally aren’t able to see so seeing ants interact with each other and move about an open space was really cool. Next we moved into the greenhouses. This was a truly beautiful space. We entered in the middle and to either side the building had rooms filled with different kinds of plants from different environments. We walked through environments ranging from a tropical rain forest, a temperate forest, an Asian garden with bonsai trees, a hacienda in the desert, a room full of cacti and plants from arid regions, and even more impressively a room full of butterflies.

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A Certain Vintage

By Amanda Gates (GDES ’19)

It’s to no one’s surprise that college students tend to run short of cash. The hunt for the cheapest deals is an ongoing personal battle during every hour of the day. The most important survival factor is of course, food, but clothing comes in as a close second. In a city where fashion is so prevalent, how and where can students keep up?

Thrift is a great answer to a lot of problems. Need something cheap or want something unique? Perfect. Need to get out of your room or go on a new adventure? Also a good choice. A glance at the past isn’t always for the museums and Montreal provides great opportunities to find it elsewhere. Throughout the year, Montreal hosts a variety of different thrift events all across the city. No one sale is the same, and better yet, every find is unique. Tons of people have found crazy items and insane brand deals at the cost of almost nothing. So, it was my time to find something of my own! Continue reading →

Tunnel Vision – The Underground City

By Amanda Gates (GDES ’19)

Have you ever felt like exploring beneath the city streets? To your luck, the entrance to one of Montreal’s very own Narnia’s is right at your fingertips. For what feels like miles throughout the downtown core, a series of malls and tunnels connect the above to the below. The adventures and discoveries double with the existence of this underground city, and while sometimes difficult to find and navigate around, the easiest first step to get there begins at the McGill metro station. Continue reading →

A Day in Virtual Space

By Matt Nesteroff (CREM ’19)

Earlier in the week my Emerging Media in Montreal (CCM 301) class was lucky to visit the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium at Montreal’s Olympic Park just a short walk from the Viau metro station. We watched two shows: Space Next documented the past and predicted the future of space exploration, and EXO tracked humanity’s search for other forms of life in the galaxy.

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Marketing in the Digital City

By Sophia Penna (GDDM ’19)

MKT 350 teacher Mariella Katz in the classroom (Sophia Penna)

Digital marketing (MKT 350) is a new course offered on the Montreal campus, taught by first time teacher Mariella Katz. I decided to take this course because my advisor and I both believed it would be a beneficial class to take as a Graphic Design major. My hopes before entering this class were to learn how to better market myself as an artist as well as any businesses I may work with in the future.

Mariella started her career as a photographer when she was just 16 years old, six years after her family moved from Bulgaria to Canada. She later went on to study interactive media and web-tv in college and then advertising and public relations. Mariella used her experience as an influencer and her background in marketing to take a risk and open her own company, Frenzr, which works with clients by managing their social media accounts and creating relevant, marketable content. They work with clients in an effort to pair them with influencers to make the brand seem more tangible. Mariella also hosts social media workshops where she teaches companies how to use social media to their advantage. Many of the topics she brings to MKT350 come directly from these workshops. Continue reading →

Summer (Programs) In The City!

By Ryan Hipgrave (Assistant Director, Montreal Campus)

Ask any Montrealer, and they’ll tell you that the best time to be in this city is the summer. During those sunny months, the streets of North America’s largest French-speaking metropolis pulsate with the vibes of festivals, concerts, outdoor restaurants, and the millions of tourists flitting about our many antique cobblestone roads.

Given all that is exciting about Montreal in the summertime, it makes perfect sense that Champlain College would offer two different, immersive study abroad opportunities in the capital of French-Canadian identity. From May 25th to June 30th, 2018, students are invited to descend on Champlain’s Montreal Campus to participate in one of two exceptional for-credit programs! Through both the Summer Culture and Summer Filmmaking programs, students will engage with the city on meaningful levels as they focus their projects on the unfamiliar territory in which they find themselves.  Continue reading →