5 Things I learned in Canada

Canada is arguably one of the most popular destination for all the students around the world. What makes Canada so attractive? Here’s what I learned.

1. Language advantage

As it’s obvious, Canada’s official language is English (and French). This makes it so much easier for everyone. Especially for people like me, who was there as a scientist. I was once in Germany studying and there were so many times I had trouble communicating.

The tricky thing is though, for people who want to study English, Canada might not be the best place. First of all, Canadian tend to speak very first, which makes it extremely difficult for English learners to have a decent conversation. And also they have an accent, which sounds completely different from what we learn in a text book. So if you want to be fluent in English without accent, maybe your destination is not Canada.

2. Learning environment

This is a huge advantage, which I didn’t know about till I got there. You can call your professor in their FIRST NAME. It was almost a culture shock for me. Since I’ve never done such a thing in my whole life in Japan, I needed to spend some time getting adjusted. When I finally got used to it though, I realized there was a lot of great things about this relationship between students and professors.

First of all, it can save so much time to communicate. You can express your opinion  frankly, faster, without offending them. This is almost impossible in Japanese culture as far as I know.

AND this relationship could lead to faster progress in my research. New ideas were coming in everyday.

I’m not saying Canadian culture is better than Japanese culture though. Each culture has its own beauty. However, when it comes to STEM field, we have to focus on ‘WHAT’ is right rather than ‘WHO’ is right. And it is easier in Canadian culture to do that.

3. Work-out

Are you a fitness enthusiast? Then, Canada is the right place to be. They can offer a great facility with unbelievably reasonable price. Awesome environment with the greatest equipment.

4. Diversity

Canada’s great strength comes from its diversity. You will see people from all over the world. And as it’s well understood by now, there are so many benefits being in a diverse society. For example, you’ll be able to see the things from different perspectives. This can help you expand your knowledge wider than ever you could imagine. Those knowledge is inevitable to do business in this global age. It certainly gives you bigger possibilities.

And there’s a good thing about being an open-minded person. Most of world’s problems are caused by misunderstanding, mainly because of distracting media. It is critical to actually talk to people from the other side of world. You’ll find much more similarities  than differences. Canada can provide you that opportunity.

5. People are nice!

After all, this is the greatest thing Canada can offer. I assume most of you have heard ‘Canadians are nice’ at least once in you life. As a Japanese, where people seem to be kind, I was a bit sceptical about it.

Things are different in Canada though. People are genuinely nice there. Even you put your expectation really high, like I did,  I can assure you they will still be able to somehow surprise you with their niceness.

After all, Canada is the best of all countries I’ve ever visited, including Japan.

 

Author: Nobuyuki Takizawa