It’s incredibly daunting to attempt to write about what’s interesting about Toronto after being here for only one month. It’s even more daunting if you’re writing for (primarily) law students – an extremely sophisticated and intelligent audience.
Therefore, I must preface this with a little portion on my background, so as to give some perspective on, well, my perspective. I’m a third-year student at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law, on exchange here at the University of Toronto for one semester. I’ve lived in Singapore all my life. Law school in Singapore is generally a four-year undergraduate programme – so, as you might expect, I’m quite a bit younger than some of you.
It was a long flight here, and as the plane prepared for landing at Pearson, I felt an odd mix of excitement and anxiety. What would Canada be like? Would people be friendly? Would they understand my accent? (I had anticipated to-may-to/to-mah-to problems.) How cold would it be? (I come from a place where 22˚C is uniformly considered cold.) What would school be like? (People had told me that school would be intense.)
One month later, I daresay that I’ve settled comfortably in Toronto (well, somewhat anyway.) People are generally friendly and they get my accent most of the time. I’ve gotten better acclimatized to the cold, and, fortunately or otherwise, this has been one of the milder Toronto winters. I’ve got a better idea of what the demands of law school here are like (and hopefully I deliver on those demands later on in the semester).
And so, these are three of my favourite things about Toronto so far:
1. Multiculturalism
Toronto is an incredibly multicultural city. In the one month that I’ve been here, I’ve heard so many accents and languages being spoken – Korean, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Spanish, French and Swedish etc. The list goes on.
One consequence of this multiculturalism is that I’ve tried so many types of food during my relatively short stay in Toronto. Some of these types of foods are, quite frankly, entirely new to me. For example, I wouldn’t even know where to find Ethiopian food back in Singapore.
The other consequence is that I’ve learnt so much about other cultures and countries by talking to people from backgrounds different from mine. For example, I’ve heard one perspective of what its like to be a Quebecer in Canada from a graduate student at the University of Toronto who grew up in Quebec City. I’ve also had dinner with a French exchange student and learnt more about modern French politics. I know I’ll continue to benefit from similar opportunities over the next few months.
2. Environmental consciousness
Toronto is incredibly environmentally friendly.
Firstly, it’s very convenient to deposit recyclable materials into appropriate drop-off centres. It’s just so easy to recycle here. I even have recycling facilities at my dorm.
Secondly, it’s an extremely walkable city as well. Therefore, it’s usually unnecessary to drive (or even take the TTC). More often than not, it makes sense to simply walk from point to point.
On a deeper level, I’ve sort of sussed out an environmentally conscious mindset amongst people in this city. To be fair, I haven’t met that many people here to generalise accurately. However, many of those whom I have met do take recycling seriously. While they do not pontificate on the importance of recycling, it’s obvious that they appreciate the importance of conserving resources, and their mindset rubs off people who are new to this city – such as me.
3. Tim Hortons
Have you had the Boston Cream donut and a hot chocolate? ‘Nuff said.
