Final essay

Canada X Brasil

Everyone knows that Canada is the second biggest country of the world and one of the best places to live. People here have great public systems and a government that truly worry about the population needs. Brazil on the other hand is the sixth largest country of the world and shows a different panorama, in this country prevails social inequality, corrupt politicians, and public systems that do not satisfy the population needs. However, a country is not just made from these general aspects, a country is mainly made by it`s culture practiced by the population.

I am Brazilian and I have had the opportunity to live in Canada for a whole semester, studying in a canadian school and living in a canadian family. My exchange gave me the chance to know another country and develop my own thoughts about how a country should be managed and see differences in culture among these countries.

    I arrived in Canada on a saturday, january 28th and three days later I started to go to school. As soon as I have spent my first school day I could see that the school in canada is way different than in Brazil, the students here have the right to choose their subjects and you have just four classes for the whole semester long and the students just leave the school by the middle of the afternoon ( my school is 2:50pm ).In Brazil the students do not have the freedom to choose their subjects and they have six blocks of classes a day, classes that alternate every day from monday to friday. Still talking about school , in spite of the time schedule,  what really shocked me is the philosophy that both students and teachers have here in canada. The canadian student is not pressured by the teachers and principals, unlike in Brazil, where the students are pressured by the school everyday in order to make them prepared to the “vestibular”, sort kind of an exam that Brazilians have to do to join universities, making Brazilian students overwhelmed while here in Canada you can see even grads that are calm about school and their future.

When foreign people think about Brazil very often they automatically picture in their minds beautiful women, football and exotic beaches and all of this is true, but Brazil is much more. One of the things that I noticed while my stay here in canada is how big Brazilian culture is and the huge diversity we have, at the same time I realized that I became kind of disappointed about Canada in this aspect. Culture cannot be measured but I felt like this because I was expecting more typical things here, like music , food, traditional festivities,etc. As a matter of fact Canadian culture is greatly influenced by the americans due to the proximity and language.  What I see as really typical here in Canada is their behaviour and the passion for ice hockey, besides some special dates like Canada day and some food like maple syrup. As for Brazil, this country has hundreds of aspects that make of it an unique country. Brazil has such a diversity that impresses me that it is only one country. This country has a huge diversity of typical food , etnies, music, accents, religions, traditional festivities, etc.

Another canadian characteristic that I could notice while on exchange that is way different from Brazil is the behaviour of the people, characteristic that I point out to be the main difference between those countries. Canadians are extremely polite, they follow the rules very strictly, and in my point of view canadians are more  “ cold “ in human relations as friendships and relationships than brazilian people. One of the things that I found strange here in Canada during my first month is the way the people greet each other here. Canadians are used to greet each other saying normal greeting words but what I found weird  is the lack of human contact, of course,  in comparison with Brazil. Brazilian people are not as polite as canadians, and we brazilians sadly do not follow the rules the way they should be followed like canadians do, but we are more “warm” in human relations. I mean, we have more body contact, we hug more and kiss people on the cheeks more, and I think this is the latin general way of behave.

In conclusion, Canada and Brazil are countries that I loved and I respect both of them the way they are, what I did was just point out their differences. In my point of view everyone should have the opportunity I had to be no exchange and learn about other culture, it is a unexplainable experience.

ILAN BLANCHE