Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: Leaving Canada for a Weekend

I left Montreal for the first time since my arrival this weekend. To put it simply, leaving was the best thing I’ve done in a long time. Now I’m hardly saying this in a negative way. In fact, I mean to say that by leaving Montreal for a weekend I learned more about it than I would have if I’d stayed.

In order to describe this I need to first tell you where I went this weekend. I first stopped in Vermont for a night before heading towards New York City to spend some time with a close friend of mine. I was excited to take this mini vacation but I had no idea how much it would affect me.

More or less, the second I crossed the border I experienced a little culture shock. I was entering my home country, my home state, and still I instantly felt that something was different. Even road signs that were written in English I immediately thought of in French. When stopping at a U.S. gas station I pulled out my Canadian money and handed it to the cashier only to be told that “no, we don’t take that here.” The green of a dollar bill I almost forgot. There was not a demand for “loonies” and “toonies” (a one and a two dollar coin in case you didn’t know).

My friend had made a few mix CDs for the long trip. His CDs were comprised of our favorite songs and some oldies but goodies. I asked him “who does this song” about seven million times and what was the reply? “Oh this group from Nova Scotia,” or “this dude from Montreal.” Anne Marie, DTM, Nelly Fertado, and Shania Twain (my guy friend admits to loving “Still the One") all these artists that played track after track were Canadian. It looked like Canada was everywhere.

Upon finally arriving in New York City I would have assumed that my slight culture shock would have worn off. This wasn’t the case. Walking down the crowed city streets of Times Square I kept hearing bits of French conversation like the background hum I was used to hearing in Montreal. Yet these folks weren’t speaking French at all. I repeatedly asked my friend if he heard them speak French and he assured me that they were not. Was I going a little crazy?

No, I don’t think that I was going crazy at all. I think that by leaving the country for a few days I was able to take a look at the culture from a fresh perspective. I never would have noticed these differences had I opted to not study abroad in Montreal. Who would have known that such a mini-vacation could end up teaching me more about Canada than I would have expected?
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