I’m an international student from Thailand who always had a dream to travel around the world alone. When I was a teenager, I saw many movies and documentaries on TV that showed geography, nature, and culture from all over the world, which is what inspired me to travel around the world by myself. However, 15 years ago, traveling around the world was difficult because buying a flight ticket was expensive and the process of making a visa was more complicated than it is today. Moreover, I had to finish my elementary school and high school in Thailand, so I had to keep this dream on my mind for many years.
However, my dream came true when I was a second-year student at Assumption University.
When I studied at University, I felt myself loosing motivation because I had been studying for so many years since elementary school. I was so tired and really wanted to take a break, so I spoke to my mom about my feelings. Luckily, me and my mom are very close together, so she already knew what I wanted to do. I remember the first question that she asked me was, “I know you want to travel; where do you want to go?” I answered, “America”
In October 2013, I went to Boston to study English, and it was my first time visiting the North American continent. I was so excited, and I had a good time in Boston. However, I only stayed there for 2 months because I had to go back home to finish my Bachelor’s degree. I went back to Thailand to finish my degree, but I didn’t get enough of North America. I wanted to come back to this beautiful continent, so I told myself that I will come back again after I finish university.
After I graduated from Assumption University, I worked as a marketer for 6 months to earn some money, and I decided to come to Vancouver, Canada because one good friend of mine who lived in Vancouver suggested that I come here.
I came to Vancouver as a student at BCIT, and I have been living in Vancouver for 2 years. I have visited many tourist attractions and have gotten to know many people from Vancouver. Moreover, I have seen and learned about Canadian culture here.
As a result, here are some cultural stereotypes that impress me since being in Vancouver, Canada.
“You guys are so nice to everyone”
When I first came to Vancouver, the first thing I noticed was that people in Vancouver are very nice. They are so friendly to everyone, including me. I had many problems when I came to Vancouver in the first couple of months because I wasn’t familiar with everything in the cities. However, I could solve all of those problems easily because people always helped me with everything. For example, sometimes, I lost my way when I went out to visit tourist attractions. I could always ask someone around there to help me with directions. Moreover, people here are very polite because they always say “thank you” and “sorry” even when they haven’t done anything wrong. One thing that I really love to see is people saying “thank you” to the bus drivers while they are getting out of the bus. I have never seen this behaviour before in my country. I’m very impressed with this culture, and I try to honour it by saying “thank you” to the bus driver whenever I get out of the bus.
“nature in the city is so valuable for you guys”
I’m from Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. Bangkok has many buildings and doesn’t have much nature so, personally, I am not passionate about nature. Also, I hate rain so much and I believe many people in Bangkok also hate rain because it causes floods and heavy traffic in the city. Therefore, when I came to Vancouver in the first 3 months, I got kind of bored of the city despite the beautiful nature here. I was shocked to see that Vancouver has a lot of rain throughout the year. However, my perspective has changed after I talked with one of my Canadian friends. I remember she invited me for a hike on a rainy day, and when I met her, I told her that I don’t like rain. After she heard that she said, “but rain creates a forest for you, so you can hike today.” That sentence has changed my perspective about nature and rain. Since then, I have started to enjoy nature in the city, and I see many people in the city enjoy and value the nature around them. It seems like this is embedded in Canadian culture, and I’m very impressed with this culture. Therefore, I will enjoy and respect nature in the city as well.
“You guys are so passionate about hockey”
To be honest, I didn’t know anything about hockey because hockey is not a popular sport in Thailand. Nonetheless, when I came to Vancouver, I was very surprised because Canadian people are very passionate about Hockey. It seems like a shared interest that many people have here. I have seen many of my friends talk about hockey, and some of them wear a Canucks jersey to school and go to see games after school. Moreover, many people in Vancouver support the Canucks, and they are very passionate about the team, whether they win or lose. As a sports fan, I have tried to gain a better understanding of hockey, and hopefully one day I will enjoy this sport as well.
I have been in Vancouver for 2 years, and I have learned a lot about Canadian culture from this city. There are many components of Canadian culture that impresses me, so I’m very happy that I made the right decision to come to Vancouver and gain valuable life experiences. This is a dream come true, and hopefully, I will have more chances to learn more about Canadian culture.
If you liked my analysis of my experience with these cultural stereotypes and want to tell me more about Canadian culture, you can write a comment below.