Culture Shock

With the students being here for almost one week now we asked them to share their most surprising facts about Canadian culture.


"I think that what has surprised me the most is the schedule people have here in Canada. I mean, they wake up early, then have luch at 12 pm, and have supper at 5 or 6 pm, which I think that is too early for us, since in Spain we have lunch at 2 or 3 pm, and have supper at 9 or 10 pm. Furthermore, they eat more food at dinner time than at lunch time, which I don't like very much because after having lunch we still have class, and after dinner we don't do much." -Clara A.


"The cities are very big.  European cities are better than here because they are smaller than Canadian cities."-Salvador I.


"The most different thing I found in Canada is that they have very big houses, for dinner they have lots of barbeques and they have lot of cars that you can't find in Spain (like GMC...)." -Piero P.

(Having Tim Horton's coffee and Timbits, a Canadian specialty)

"In Canada, there are 6 hours less than in Spain, so to talk to your family and your friends you should choose the correct moment to do it, because when they go to bed, we are having our dinner or having a shower, so it's difficult to communicate from Canada to Spain. As in other countries, in Canada they have also different time tables, and the hours that they have dinner or lunch are really different from the hours in Spain. For example, here they have lunch at 12 o' clock, and in Spain we have lunch at 2 PM more or less. So when you have dinner it's 6 PM, and later you don't eat anything else until next morning at breakfast!, So usually when I go to bed at 10 PM , I drink a glass of milk. If you get up late, you can have 'brunch', this means that you have a very big breakfast and you don't have anything until night, when you have dinner. I think that it is a very shocking fact about Canada." -Ana J.


"All the people live far away but in Spain we have a lot of flats, so if we want to meet each other we sometimes have to take the bus but you have to wait for it for too much time. My family is very nice and friendly."-Inaki D.


"The food is so different, I like Spanish food more than Canadian food. The people here are so friendly. Here you can see a lot of types of personalities and different nationalities, that is very different from Spain. Here there are different churches for different religions too." -Maria I. G.


"The culture in Canada has many differences from Spain. Firstly, the biggest thing that I find different is the meals. In Canada they don't have lunch, they only have a small break and they eat less than in Spain. When I first arrived another thing that shocked me was that people leave their shoes next to the door, they walk inn the house without shoes... Canadian people don't have a routine. Their time tables change all the time. They go everywhere by car and the petrol is expensive. Moreover, people don't kiss when they meet like in Spain, they only shake their hands. I think Canadian people are so polite and they are outgoing. They help you everytime and they aren't rude." -Maria I. B.

"Canada is being a very nice experience, but when I came here I had to change some of my habits.The most important difference is that they have lunch at 12 p.m. and they have dinner at 6 p.m. They don't eat so much when they have lunch, but they eat more than in Spain when they have dinner. Another difference is that I can't wear shoes at home. Another thing is that I have to go by bus to school, and this takes me nearly 45 minutes. When I'm in Spain, I go on foot, and this takes me 5 minutes, because Hamilton is much bigger than my town in Spain. Canada is very different from Spain, but it doesn't take so much to get used to it here."-Mikel E.

"In Canada, in the cities there are only houses and in spain there are only flats. It's this thing that makes the city look bigger. Here the meal times are too different because it's like in England not like in Spain. -Agustin Ponce

As we expected, since the first moment, there are some things which are different, here in Canada, due to the Canadian culture not being like the European.

One thing, which I found interesting to point out, is the difference in the meal times. As you now, in Spain people have breakfast at 8, lunch at 2 and dinner at 9. But here, in Canada, people have breakfast at 8, lunch at 12 and dinner at 5.
Another thing which makes an important difference with Spain, is the fact that the Canadians do not have alredy added the tax (IVA) to the products, so you have to add the 13% of tax to the products you buy. And here the daily goods are so expensive, in comparison with Spain, the only thing that is cheaper is music CDs."-Carlos L.

(Enjoying some downtime during lunch break)

"In Canada there are 6 hours less than in Spain. In Canada we eat at differente hours.  Lunch is at 1 o'clock and the dinner is at 6 o'clock. In Spain lunch is at 2 and dinner is at 9. Here, when you are at home you have to take off your shoes. They have a common thing, the people are very nice." -Maria T.

"I can't tell you a lot of differences because I've just been here a few days but I saw some of them. One of them is that in Canada people eat earlier than in Spain, specially lunch and dinner. In Canada people usually have lunch between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m and have dinner betwen 5.30 p.m and 7 p.m. In Spain it's completely different as people usually have lunch between 1.30 p.m and 2.30 p.m and have dinner betwen 9 p.m and 10.30 p.m.Another difference is that Canada has more green areas than Spain, and the shopping centers are bigger than in Spain.The third difference is that in general people are more polite and calm than in Spain.On the one hand, people can't drink alcohol until 19 but they can drive at 16 years old, on the other hand in Spain teenagers can't drink alcohol until 18 and drive too. And that's all!" -Alicia B.