Since I grew up a few hours from the Canadian border, trips to Whistler did not really seem like a foreign excursion. The line on maps delineated a different country, but crossing those lines physically made the distinction seem arbitrary. I mean, they spoke English without any telling accents. I don't think this was entirely fair criteria to test Canadian nationality. Yes language does contribute an important role in a sense of nationality, but language certainly does not generate/encapsulate all feelings of nationality.
Well this summer I went to Canada and it did seem like a foreign country because I visited Quebec. You see, in Quebec they speak French. Yes, they really speak French. Well, it sounds like a different language than the Parisian French I learned - they incorporate the hard Canadian "aye" into their pronunciation.
Do not worry, I still found a way to communicate despite the Quebec accent. When we got lost in a less touristy part of town. I had to use my mad French skills:
Où est le magasin de
anthropolgie?
Those three years of high school French and five semesters of University French really paid off.
Coming Soon on Musings of an Elitist: More on my summer excursion to Quebec, Prince Edward Island & New York
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