ENTRY #5

Discuss linguistic interference

In the organization, we can't see cultural objects displayed. There is no flag, no religious symbol... There is only a very big graffiti painted on the wall but it represents the members' kids so it is nothing related to culture. There is a place where there are a lot of flyers and they are written in English AND French, which shows how bilingual Montréal is.
People here celebrate almost every holidays, except those who can't because of their religion (some don't celebrate Halloween, for example). The adults celebrate most of the holidays in family whereas younger prefer celebrating it with friends, except for Thanksgiving, because I was told that it is a holiday that has for goal to gather family.
What has surprised me about holidays here is that people are truly involved: for Halloween, I saw so many houses decorated, probably more than I have ever seen during 17 years in France. This is outstanding because there, I used to be the only one who was excited about this holiday.

Rewards and challenges

My main challenge was about my shyness.  This internship helped me overcoming it so now I am not so afraid talking in English and/or making mistakes. I am so much more comfortable at speaking English, even to strangers. The total immersion helped me to improve my English because it forces me to practice my english, I have no other way to communicate but in English.