I find Canadian people very welcoming, at the first sight. They look very open-minded and speak to each others without many boundaries (in the street, in the bus, and every place of the daily life). Their way to talk, even to people that they meet for the very first time, is quite informal. For example, the cashier or the seller in a store, would say you, to greet you “Hi! How are you?” as if you were his friend! It can be your professor, your boss, or your best friend, everybody say “Hi!”. And as people always use “you”, I feel like saying “tu” to everyone!

Welcoming people

The gesture to greet is also different, just a hand wave when you don’t know the person, and for friends, a hug. At the beginning, I found their way to greet people (great smile, big hug….) a bit overplayed. In many situations, I have met girls who greet me on a amazing way, but after we didn’t have much things to tell us. Actually, we didn’t know us very well.  It is part from their culture.

About religion, I find that religion have to them, a greater influence. It is possible to study about the religion and, as I went to the catholic studies, I could notice there are many students who attend these classes, compared to France. I think catholic canadian students are less ashamed to assert their faith. This point is less “tabou” than in France. Moreover, the catholic community is really developed on the campus. There are a chapel and church on the campus, a center run by sisters, where the chaplaincy gathering hold and where students can come studying and eating during the daily time. There is a chiore during mass, on Sundays, and a band made of students who play christian songs. And the JAM (name of the chaplaincy group) is totally run by students. The priest doesn’t do anything. Also, as, it is at the fundamental point a catholic university, it can explain this deep involvement of the religious involvement on the campus.

This trend can maybe explain their open-minded way to talk.

About the eating habits, I find that Canadian eat rather on a fat way: many cakes, from the whole sizes, colors and flavors are sold in stores and very sweet or very salt things. Their meals contain much sauce and fat and their dishes and cakes are less refined than these in France. They appreciate to eat ice cream. They also don’t have any specific time to eat, that means they eat when they want it in a day.

A poutine, a fries and mozarella canadian dish.

Meanwhile, I find their way to live quite healthy, as they are much sportier than us (I have encountered  many people who do sport three or four times a week). The sport center is opposite my residence, and there are often plenty of students who do sport over there, especially in the gym room (on machins). It is their way to keep the fit. People here are bigger and many are overweight. However, they smoke much less than us.

About prices in stores, dairy products (yogurts, milk, cheese…) are much more expensive than France. It is because dairy producers in Canada have quotas to respect. (they can not produce over a particular amount of milk). Yogurts are sold in big packs (as for cream cheese in France), that worth from 5$. Fruits and vegetables are also pretty expensive. In the whole, life is more expensive here. In Nova Scotia, as it is on a peninsula, far from the continent, all these products need much transport to be brought here. Products are also translated in French, that is very convenient to figure out the different features of the product.

A big event also in Canada is the Super Bowl. It is a football match (American football, off course) broadcast on the 2^nd February, that everybody watch, by eating on the same time (it is a moment of the year where people eat the most, after Christmas event), and the most famous part of this show is the break, because a guest star makes the show. This year, it was Bruno Mars.

Super Bowl, 2014

Hockey is really the national sport here. American football and basketball have also a major place. Every weeks hockey and basketball games are played at the university.

A hockey game in StFX

The national celebration day is the Canada day and it is celebrated on the 1st of july. It is also called by some medias Canada’s birthday. This date celebrates the gathering of the four British colonies that were Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec in 1867. Even if the British still owned the political control until 1982 when the Constitution Act patriated the Canadian constitution, on that date Canada officially became a kingdom with its own rights.