My friends and I are planning to brave the cold weather for a spring break in Montreal. We're broke college students with a pretty open itinerary of about four or five days. Any hostels recommendations (in convenient locations), places to see, things to do, cheap food to eat?

Wow, I like your choice... and I recall Montreal to have been very suitable if I were looking through the eyes of budget-minded college students.

I suspect you might see mounds of snow higher than shopping malls in some parking lots around there, but there are so many unique french sights and things that you won't have to spend much money to make a go of it.

I really wish I knew the perfect answers for your lodging - not that they aren't out there, from the next person, but I just don't know.

Most of my recommendations relate to Priceline... and depending upon how many of you there are, that could work reasonably when compared to the daily costs for lodging you're expecting.

Downtown Montreal area is quite suitable for walking in many directions, and for being on an island, Montreal didn't exactly cause its elder citizens to have to add "uphill" to the old adage: "when I was a kid I had to walk three miles to and from school, in the snow, barefoot".

You COULD walk through areas of the central part of Montreal and actually be disappointed at NOT hearing a ton of french - so language would seldom be a barrier.

I hope everything works for you.