the end.

I don’t know where to start. We lived such wonderful moments together, but I think our relationship has reached a crossroads. We’re just in two different places right now and I’m not ready for a relation. Maybe we need to see other blogs. It’s not you, it’s me... Remember: there’s plenty of blogspots in the sea...... Oh hi! I was just preparing myself to say goodbye to you, dear readers. The time has come for me to do my last blog post in here. So here it goes...

Last week, I had a very interesting discussion with one of my friends from another country. As language students, we all have a great interest in foreign cultures, so I thought it would be a wonderful idea to present you this person and share with you her background as well as her thoughts on Quebecois culture.

Born on January 28^th 1988, Anaïs Nollet grew up in the suburbs of Paris, France. Like me, she comes from a family a six. She has three brothers. She told me her parents always pushed them to travel around the world and discover cultures other than theirs. As a kid, she travelled a lot and even once made a trip to Quebec, which really made her want to comeback one day. Thanks to her superior studies who gave her the opportunity to do a student exchange at the University of Quebec in Rimouski in order for her to accomplish a masters in education. Finally, she didn’t like it and decided to go to the Cégep de Rimouski in Éducation spécialisée. She found the first months to be really challenging: coming to a new country without knowing anyone was tough. However, she got to meet a lot of Quebecois, which she really wanted, since she lived in the residences of the university. When I asked her to compare her life in Paris and her life here, she said it was totally different. She finds that we are way more relaxed and welcoming than the Parisians. Also, she was very surprised to see students having to work while going to school in order to pay their tuition fees. In France, parents use to pay for the education of their children and prefer that they concentrate on their studies. The food was another different thing for her: she didn’t know about poutine and was more used to eat fine cheese and delicatessen. She also noted big differences in our language: special expressions and swear words are very typical of Quebec. That being said, she found no particular similarities between both of our cultures, except the fact that we speak the same language.

Finally, she fell in love with the large spaces, the nature and the fresh air, but especially with the accent québécois!

I want to thank her a lot for taking the time to share with me her story.

In conclusion, I wish you all the best of luck in your future plans and I hope we can still be friends ;) xoxo