<p>I know I sound ignorant and naive by asking, but I've never been to Canada and I was just wondering what major differences there are between the US and Canada besides being completely different countries? Be kind with this question...I'm just curious!</p>
<p>canadians love maple syrup so much that it's considered a beveridge. they say "eh" and "aboot" all the time. all boys want to grow up to be mounties or hockey players. hehe jk!!!!</p>
<p>seriously, i don't think there's much of a difference. though i personally think the major cities are a lot safer. ppl are actually nicer in canada. hockey is more popular than football and the CFL totally sucks. tim hortons absolutely kicks starbucks and dunkin donuts butt! oooh and a lot more diversity.</p>
<p>bulldog: You cant stereotype Canadians any more than you can find a typical American. Montreal is the closest large city to where I live so I go there often. Based on my experience, English Canada is very much like the United States, with Ontario and BC being like New England states and the central provinces like the US mid-west. French Canada is very different- it is truly wonderful. Based upon its history, the Province of Quebec has much greater European influence than any part of the US. The Quebecoise have a definite "joie de vivre" as can be seen in the numerous cafes, clubs, movie theaters, restaurants, shopping, fetes, and livelihood on the streets. People have fun-activities start later- downtown is NOT a separate business district but is intergrated with housing so the streets are active and safe even at 1 a.m. McGill is right in the middle of this mix- if you havent visited you should.
People are not just "hyping" the City as a great place to be-it is diverse, and will be a different experience than an American campus.</p>
<p>Quebec is proud of its French heritage and language laws protect that tradition. Relations between the linguistic communities are much better than a decade ago, and Quebec is truly a unique multi-lingual society. I am definitely jealous of my d. as she embarks on her college career. Canada is not a mini-US, but an independent country with its own priorities and dreams, for example gay marriage is legal in Quebec. </p>
<p>I am sure a Canadian can give a better answer.</p>
<p>Chuck</p>
<p>I haven't been to the US recently except on vacation, so I'll try to make an accurate comparison. Crazychai is definately right about the streets being safer and hockey being a big thing. Except this year of course, every saturday night is hockey night in Canada on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). I don't know about Tim Horton's kicking Second Cup's butt, but we are very proud of our history and culture. We promote diversity and acceptance of everybody. In downtown Toronto there's a Greek Town, Korea Town, Chinatown, Little Italy, and god knows what else. We have lots of festivals in the summer, which are fun to watch and participate in. On TV we have both French and English channels. Some movies are even translated into French. I don't know if they have that in the States with spanish or if that's a good thing for english viewers, but it's interesting. It's a real test trying to watch a movie in French. I would also agree that Montreal is one of the more livelier cities in Canada. At night you walk down a street like St. Laurent and you hear music every couple of metres. Although stores seem to close kinda early. Canada's a great place to live and study.</p>
<p>lol bittersweet i didn't say tim horton's kicks second cup's butt. i said starbucks! lol unless second cup merged with starbucks cause then i'll just be sad. OMG ITALIAN SODA AT SECOND CUP ROCKS! but i refer the iced cappacinos at tim hortons and their little donuts for a toonie. i forget what they're called</p>
<p>you mean timbits?? lol, how can you forget?! Tim Horton's does have great stuff for so little money. The Italian Soda's are great. Second Cup's like my morning routine. Ok...twice or thrice a week probably doesn't count as much of a routine, but those moccachinos are a saviour on a bitterly cold morning. Yes, for all of those who are wondering, it does get bitterly cold. Actually, we just got snow again. I don't know if you guys did too..but it's snowing and it's nasty.</p>
<p>I'm Canadian, and like most Canadians I am pretty familiar with Americans.
We are a neighbouring country so of course we're not much different. But overall Canadians are definitely more laid back and less paranoid in general. Much less conservative and more accepting of people. Canada is huge so there is a lot of variation and I can't really make generalizations, other than hockey being absolutely huge and Tim Hortons being the main supplier of coffee and donuts if that's important to you. And slight differences in language. Oh, and I've found that Canadians are funnier: the scale of funniness goes British>Canadian>American.</p>
<p>YES TIMBITS!!! tiny balls of heaven!</p>
<p>Starbucks kicks Second Cup's butt to kingdom come. It is worth it, for me, to walk the much further distance to the starbucks when I want a coffee.</p>
<p>In terms of the people you'll meet at school, one thing that's kind of interesting is that Canadians will know a lot more about our political system than we know about theirs. Do some study beforehand so you don't make an idiot out of yourself like I did (I knew a lot about their government structure, but called Toronto the capital of Canada). </p>
<p>Montreal is much more liberal than any US city I've been to. Both politically and in what's tolerated. Think Club Super-Sexe on Rue Sainte-Catherine. haha. What else....clubs, pubs, bars, etc are much less strict about IDing people than the US is. I'm 18 and don't necessarily look it and I've never been carded in the grocery store, in the pub, and only a couple times going into clubs. </p>
<p>The news is a lot more globalized than in the US. yes they do focus some on local issues, but they do care a lot about the US and European news. </p>
<p>They care less about school sports, and sports in general, than the US does. </p>
<p>At least in Montreal there are a TON more beggars around on the street than anywhere in the states.</p>
<p>there are other little differences, but there's not really any culture shock. It's pretty similar. And Montreal is seriously a kickass city. </p>
<p>And if you live in RVC there is a Tim Horton's right across the street :D</p>
<p>O U DID NOT JUST SAY THAT STARBUCKS IS BETTER! <em>GASP</em> lol pshhhhh!</p>
<p>hello guys, I'm new to this forum.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think I'm probably gonna go to McGill. I visited the campus and I love it. It was beautiful. I'm looking forward to going to school in a city, being as there aren't really any large cities in vermont.</p>
<p>As far as "canadians love maple syrup so much that it's considered a beveridge" goes, I would have to say that my state is pretty close up there. Vermont makes the best syrup and I don't care what you guys say.</p>
<p>muahahaha.</p>
<p>So, who of you guys have been accepted?</p>
<p>I would say that most people here have at least been accepted to one faculty or another, or already go to McGill. I would be an exception to both, lol. I'm still waiting though with my fingers crossed! I totally disagree that Starbucks is anywhere CLOSE to comparing with Second Cup, but that's only opinion. About Toronto being the capital of Canada, it's a very common mistake and I say that Toronto should be the capital of Canada. It's where everything's going on! Well, maybe not, but it seems to be a very common misconception. There are a lot of bums on the streets of Montreal? I took a random picture of the Sainte-Catherine at night and when I came home I realized that I accidentally included Club Super-Sexe in the background. It was very funny. I also went to Tokyo Bar and had lots of fun. Open bar till 12?? Didn't figure it out for a while...I kept wondering why the bartender kept giving me free drinks. lol, anyway, I'm counting the days till the early acceptances come out!</p>
<p>I got accepted and was thrilled, I hear Frosh Weak at Mcgill kiks ass and is a good way to meet people</p>
<p>frosh week is an amazing way to be introduced to montreal and to mcgill, and to legal drinking age. ha
In response to what differences Canada has from the US: Language based, of course you have the French, but Canadian English is actually slightly different from American English. The first few weeks you're here (if you're an American, and have never been to Canada before) you'll notice all of them. I remember frosh week the Americans and Canadians on my floor sat around one night and just tried to pick out the differences in words and spelling like the infamous U in flavour and neighbour. It's fun.
Politically, the Conservative Parties of Canada are pretty much equal to the Moderates of the United States. There is barely any EXTREME Conservatism, which I think is wonderful :)
I honestly find Canadians to be more open minded, and cultured. The Canadian government/people certainly take pride in being Canadian and make sure that any Canadian culture is upheld. Hockey is big here, and its quite intense to see how much they get into it, it seems like every commercial on TV has to deal with Hockey, its even on their money.
They value the ARTS a lot more than the US. They have different foods! You will be introduced to Poutine, Ketchup Chips, Smarties (no, not the ones you're thinking of), Coffee Crisp. Their Corn Pops are different from ours, they don't caffeinate their soda unless its dark (cola) and they don't put nutritional facts on their food (because Canadians are not obsessed with their weight like Americans are)
Canada is diverse! Canada takes in a lot of refugees and immigrants, and therefore you'll find many different nationalities and minorities in almost any Canadian city.
Montreal is completely different from the rest of Canada, because its very European and cosmopolitan.
I would like to echo the importance of knowing a little about Canada when you get here- most Americans can't even name the provinces of Canada, or know that the head of state is the Queen. I think it offends Canadians a little, so if you know a bit about their country, it'll make them happy.<br>
Canadians also are very worldly informed, their press is great, bipartisan, not censored. They seem to be much more informed about whats going on in the world then most Americans.
That's my catch at least... you'll just have to visit, or make the decision to come here. Canada I have to say is an amazing country, and there are so many aspects that just make it so much better than the US.</p>
<p>We do have nutritional information on pretty much everything...
And I wouldn't say we're "very worldly informed" - compared to other countries the average Canadian is very ignorant. It's just that we're much less ignorant than the average American. That's for sure. Not that it's their fault; Americans are pretty much isolated by their media. American news programs are ridiculous.</p>
<p>Guys, don't be so critical. I can't bring myself to believe that Americans really are that ignorant. We're (canadians) such hypocrites sometimes when it comes to judging Americans.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to judge anyone. If anything I try to avoid that, and I'm not the kind of person who's all into national pride - I'm not "proud to be Canadian"; I happened to be born in this country, I did not control that and didn't accomplish anything to be Canadian and therefore I can't be proud of it. I know there are a lot of Americans who are very intelligent and open-minded, but let's face it: the average American is more ignorant than the average Canadian and substantially more ignorant than the average, say, European. I never wanted to believe this stereotype, but the more time I spend in the states and the more Americans I meet, the more I realize that it is somewhat true. And like I said before, it's not their fault that they kind of live in a sheltered environment. I've seen American news programs and there is a huge difference. I didn't intend to offend anyone and I don't think I'm being hypocritical.</p>
<p>Canada does seem a lot more liberal. I picked up a newspaper in Montreal (le journal de montreal) and it had topless shots of women, a big article about sex shows, and advertizements for XXX DVD's in the back. Compared to what we have, that's pornography :D</p>
<p>you don't need comparison to tell you that that's pornography, dude, lol. "..."- I'm glad you're not a hypocrite and I didn't intend to attack you or anything either. At least for me, just like how an American may not be able to name all 10 of our provinces, I can't name even close to 50 states. It seems to me that we'll be dealing with a lot of Amerians at McGill, so that should be interesting. I actually really look forward to hearing what they really think of us. Have you ever seen that show..no idea what it was called..where the host person went around the states asking random people things about Canada and they sang our national anthem with all the wrong words and thought that our PM's name was Jean Poutine. That was hilarious.</p>
<p>Talking to Americans from This Hour has 22 minutes?</p>
<p>Americans are nice people. a lot of time you perhaps wouldn't be able to tell we're not canadian if we didn't mention it. especially if we have studied up on canada, know about the politics and can name the provinces, capitals, prime minister, etc. ;)</p>