Moran Abroad

More things I’ve learnt during my seven months in Canada:

• Biscuits are called cookies, even the ones that aren’t chocolate chip cookies
• Canada Goose is a coat, lululemons are trousers
• Canada thinks of Toronto as England thinks of London (disdainfully)
• Cell phone plans are ridiculously expensive, and just calling someone in a different part of Ontario is “long distance” 
• Drugstore, not chemist 
• Hockey players can continue playing even if they go behind the goal
• Hockey players can start fighting with each other and it’s not a huge deal
• It’s a cell phone, not a mobile phone, and cell phone numbers look just the same as home phone numbers
• Loonies and toonies are forms of currency
• Newfoundland is an hour and a half ahead of Toronto, and Newfies are funny
• On a romantic note; snogging is called necking, and you don’t fancy someone. I don’t know what you do do, but you don’t fancy them
• Paper money is in bills, not notes
• People in Canada don’t take the piss (it’s not that they’re serious all the time, they just don’t use that phrase)
• People you should read up about if you want to fit in in Toronto; Margaret Attwood, Justin Trudeau, Group of Seven
• Poutine is fries (chips) with cheese and gravy. It alright, actually
• Recycling is very important
• There’s European football (soccer) and there’s American football and there’s Canadian football
• There’s no Lucozade, Haribo or Nik Naks (which, incidentally, are three of my favourite things). There’s Marmite in “British” sections, but it’s very expensive
• To lose one’s shit is to go crazy (something I’ve also learnt; Australians say crack the shits, to get annoyed)
• Toronto has a big, bumbling buffoon of a mayor (Rob Ford), just like London does (Boris Johnson)
• When riding the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) remember to take a transfer. You can take a bus, the subway and then a street car (tram) and - as long as you do it all in a row- it’s just $3