2 months abroad : an experience I recommend!

I’m going to tell you about my time spent in Canada when I was in Seconde. It was now 2 years ago but it was an amazing experience that made me grow up a lot. That’s why I still want to talk about it!

I spent 2 months, from April to June, in the beautiful city of Victoria. It’s in British Columbia, on the Island of Vancouver. And, contrary to what one might think, it’s not cold at all there! It’s even the warmest place in the country.

The Parliament Building, in Victoria :

I didn’t go there with an agency or anything. It was an exchange I set up with Canadian people I met during my summer vacations. That’s how a friend of theirs, called Alexa, who is one year older than me, accepted to come to France for two months.

Her coming here was as positive for her as my own trip there. Alexa was very different from me. She didn’t come to France to discover a new country, but rather to have fun abroad. I was astonished to see that she didn’t care at all about our rich heritage or the history of my country.

When I was in Victoria, it was the end of the year, so I had a month and a half of school, and then two weeks holiday.

I will begin by describing the school because their system is so different from ours. What I noticed first was that pupils there are encouraged to take responsibilities. As a result they are more mature than us. For instance, pretty early on they choose the subjects they will study, in connection with their professionel project. I think this can be risky for some young people, those who think more about having fun than about their future. But, as I said, they are more grown-up and aware of what they have to do. They think long and hard before going into something, and they know they have to bear the consequences of what they have chosen to do.
A girl from my school, during the Victoria day parade. She belongs to the school band and walk by the streets with all the others school band.

So, everything at school is intended to enable them to take initiatives: it’s very easy for them to organize events, contests, sales for a cause, exhibitions, etc.

Also, with school ending early in the afternoon (3pm at the latest), everybody has one or even two jobs. And this contributes too to making them responsible. They are payed and have more money than us, so the question of money and savings comes early. When they get their car license at 16 or 17, they buy their own car, it’s not their parents.

At school, the relation between pupils and teachers is a lot more informal than in France, though pupils remain very respectful of adults. My Maths teacher was very young and relaxed but she made her pupils work hard.
This picture was taken in math class, on the teacher's birthday ! It was a real party !

We could eat and drink during classes. The Maths teacher even ate sushi! Puzzled at first, I finally got used to having my own Starbucks cup on my table! In fact you can do whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t disturb the others.

Out of school, the main difference I noticed was food. It’s well-known that north-Americans don’t have the same notion of lunch as us! In fact they eat when they need to, or when they want. Sometimes we did not eat from 8 in the morning until 3 or 4 pm! And once again, contrary to the prejudices, I think the problem of obesity in America is not, for the most part, due to their junk food. Their body is used to eat whatever, whenever, and in small quantities. When Alexa came to France, she put on a lot of weight because she ate a lot, three times a day (and she liked bread and cheese too much!).

I was also impressed by the lack (if we can call this a lack) of history of the country. France is so old, we have known so many periods with prosperity but also crisis and revolutions. But Canada’s history is rather recent. For instance the city of Victoria was founded in 1842! The culture is a mix of many different ones, mainly British of course, but also a lot from Europe and Asia. You can have the traditional tea time at the Empress Hotel, and then go back home through the Chinese neighbourhood.

This experience was my first trip abroad on my own. Every day I discovered something new. During these two months I learned to cope by myself in a place where everything was strange to me.

It gave me the taste for travelling and now if I could I’d like to visit many other countries. Since then I’ve also been fond of the English language and I speak with native English speakers whenever I can.

I plan to spend some time in England or Ireland this summer, as an au pair, but mostly to visit the country.

I’m also eager to do my work placements for my future school abroad!

I wish you will all live this once in your life ! If you have the opportunity, do not hesitate, and gooo!!