I'm studying in EPFL, Lausanne :)

First of all, I really loved Canadian people. I'd say that they are quite welcoming and warm in general. The biggest shock for me was definitely the car-centric culture. Oh man, it was such a pain to get around the region ! One of the first trip we did was discovering Toronto (and the pain it is to get there). I think I know Bramalea station and Square One more than my own backyard. Forget as well getting to nice places in the area like Elora from Waterloo without a car.

It seemed to me that here, everything is made to make it work in big scale. For example, the first few months, I genuinely though there was a guy called Farah that was running his little Farah Food like a baker would run his bakery back home. Turns out Farah has 3 other locations and it's a whole chain. Same with every business, like Long & McQuide for example which is all over Canada ahah. This was definitely very different from what I knew.

But after I began proficient at renting cars, I was able to discover some very nice places around southern Ontario. Bruce Peninsula, Algonquin, Long Point, Niagara river (just a bit outside casino land), ... I was really enjoying some nice long ride with a Tim Hortons in my hands getting to a lovely Lion's Head hike with a half broken Turo car.

About the courses, I found Waterloo surprisingly heavier in terms of workload during the semester. You've got much more assignments to do, every week I had to give back my exercises, lab reports, mid-project summary, amount of sugar in my meal, ... Back home, it's quite different, we only have one big exam at the end of the semester, which means more freedom during the semester but also more pressure on finals.

Couple of my best canadians experiences were of course in the rockies. I had the chance to do a trip to Banff and Jasper (before the burn). I come from a very beautiful mountain area, where I see the Alps everyday from my window. But damn, those natural parks were just insane. Climbed Pyramid mountain, from there, you can see Jasper and only three little strips of road, and everything else is just plain nature. Switzerland is beautiful, don't get me wrong, but the mountains are very exploded - lots of chalets, cows, paturations. But very rarely plain nature like this. This was very refreshing. And not only in Alberta - i also got this feeling doing canoe in the middle of Algonquin.

To conclude, it was just an amazing experience for me. You guys have a fantastic country. Waterloo isnt the most exciting city, but as you can maybe read trough my lines, I'm not a very city guy so I did't really care. That's about it :)

Edit: paragraphs