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[sockysockthesockman]

O wise and hopefully partially Canadian forumites,

I'm a US citizen with an upcoming interview for a tenure-track job at the University of Western Ontario. I would absolutely love to take this position, and the idea of being an expat is quite appealing. However, I have very limited experience with Canadian culture. Is there anything I should know or be careful about in order to give the best possible impression?

[montrealer]

"Western" as it is known, is one of the top universities in some disciplines (for example, in Business, Law). PM me if you want more information. People consider themselves a top school, too, although U of Toronto and McGill and Queen's consider themselves better than UWO.

[busyslinky]

O wise and hopefully partially Canadian forumites,

I'm a US citizen with an upcoming interview for a tenure-track job at the University of Western Ontario. I would absolutely love to take this position, and the idea of being an expat is quite appealing. However, I have very limited experience with Canadian culture. Is there anything I should know or be careful about in order to give the best possible impression?

I just saw on Television that Canadians have an extra bone in each hand.  So  be careful when you shake hands.

[systeme_d_]

Be ready to do lots of walking, as the campus is quite spacious.  Also, be ready for the brutalist architecture.  

In terms of culture, just don't be a loudmouth braggart, comment on every single "difference" from American culture or practice, or fit any of those kinds of American stereotypes, and you'll be fine.  I think London is lovely, and I think it would be a very nice place to live.

Good luck!

[sockysockthesockman]

So I probably shouldn't mention how I've never really seen snow in person before?

[systeme_d_]

So I probably shouldn't mention how I've never really seen snow in person before?

Correct.

[cranefly]

"Western" is known as a kind of snob-school in Southern Ont....the stereotype is the students drive Beemers and are frat-happy brats. It is a good school, though, and aside from the "my daddy golfs with the dean so you can't give me a bad grade" attitude of some of the students, most students are quite good.

The town is bland, with a dying downtown core and a depressing lack of decent restaurants and culture. Although it used to have a strong labour history (a memorial rock to the Tolpuddle martyrs stands in a park downtown), it's now kind of in the conservative belt of Ontario. It's very white, and has a slummy part that you'll want to avoid if you end up moving there (ask the locals what the "bad side of the tracks" is). But, decent schools and relatively safe neighbourhoods make it liveable.

As for fitting in, it's never inappropriate to talk hockey to a Canadian.

[janewales]

At Queen's (the other very good, limestone, Ontario country-club university), you can buy a T-shirt in the bookstore that says "Friends don't let friends go to Western."

To be serious, it's a good school, and London isn't so bad. It does get a lot of snow. You're a few hours from Toronto, so there's relatively easy access to high culture and one of the best university libraries in North America.

There have been threads on Canadian universities/ culture before, but I can't find them, so here's a primer:

"University," not "college." A college is a technical/ vocational institution. And we say "I'm going to university," which apparently sounds odd to Americans.

University sports culture is nothing like what you might be used to at US schools. There are sports teams, but they aren't the overwhelming focus of campus life (or funding), even in southern Ontario, where you'll find the closest approximation to American university football culture. Hockey, which is the main Canadian sports preoccupation, is played at universities, but the guys on the university hockey teams are the ones who _didn't_ take the professional route, which is normally through the junior hockey system and then into the NHL or its farm system. There are some Canadian universities that have hooked up with the NCAA for some sports, but even so, there's just nothing like the big US football or basketball programs.

Sororities and fraternities are either non-existent or very low-key in terms of impact, even in the schools with country-club reputations, like Western. That is, while there are frats in some places, and they sometimes behave badly, school culture isn't dominated by a "Greek" system.

The legal drinking age is 19, so university students can (and do) drink freely.

First-year students might be called "frosh" in some places, but other terms (sophomore, junior, senior) aren't commonly used.

Western does have a high proportion of students from privileged backgrounds, but remember that even the schools that seem to mimic aspects of US private universities are public, so while they're not cheap, they're not at the same level of expense as, say, an elite private US school. Tuition at Western is currently about 6.5K a year for Canadian undergrads; engineering is much more expensive, though (about 10K a year).

Canadians do not all say "eh."

We do all eat donuts, but at Tim Horton's (Timmy's), not (shudder) Krispy Kreme. A "double-double" is a big Timmy's coffee with double cream and double sugar.

A "2-4" is a flat of 24 beers.

You might try listening to CBC radio for a bit in the time running up to your interview, just to get you in the mood.

Good luck!

[merinoblue]

So I probably shouldn't mention how I've never really seen snow in person before?

Correct.

I think mentioning that could be quite charming, actually.  But eating it...no, that's not okay.  We only do that during sugaring off season with maple taffy, and then, only at cabanes à sucre.

Good luck and have fun!

[helpful]

Western has had a good football team for years. The parks in London, especially along the river (yes, it is called the Thames) are great for cycling.

And London isn't as white as it used to be. I hear it is getting downright diverse.

If you love theatre, Stratford is just down the road a few mileskiometres. And if you get homesick Detroit is the other way.

[janewales]

Western has had a good football team for years.

Yes, the Mustangs-- I didn't mean to disparage them, I was just trying to convey that even at the more football-oriented Canadian schools, even the ones with fight songs and traditional rivalries (the annual "kill McGill" road trip from Queen's comes to mind), there just isn't the same sports culture as at a big US sports program. You don't get huge stadia, millionaire coaches, that sort of thing. You do get alumni weekend games, and if a team gets far in its season, you'll get a flurry of interest on many campuses.

OP, the Canadian university football championship game is called the Vanier Cup. Western last won in 1994, but they made it to the final fairly recently. Some of the perennial contenders are teams from smaller schools (though this year, McMaster, which is a big place, won); at those smaller places, the combination of small school-successful football team can make the sports culture more high-profile (I'm thinking of somewhere like St Mary's here).

[anon99]

So I probably shouldn't mention how I've never really seen snow in person before?

And when they tell you the average winter temperature is -8C, mild compared to some Canadian cities, and it can get to -30C try to avoid looking shocked.  Also sitting on the lake, it get the "Lake Effect" and upto 2 m of snow.

[cranefly]

So I probably shouldn't mention how I've never really seen snow in person before?

And when they tell you the average winter temperature is -8C, mild compared to some Canadian cities, and it can get to -30C try to avoid looking shocked.  Also sitting on the lake, it get the "Lake Effect" and upto 2 m of snow.

And remember that's Celsius!

[ursula]

Sometime last year Playboy included Western on its list of top party schools in North America.

[sockysockthesockman]

The legal drinking age is 19, so university students can (and do) drink freely.

A "2-4" is a flat of 24 beers.

Excellent. I've always hated having to worry about legalities when drinking with students. And beer comes in 24 packs? That sounds like my kind of place.

Perhaps weirdly for an American, I don't really do the spectator sports thing at all (don't know the rules of football, have never watched the Superbowl, etc.). So it's nice to know that the sports culture is a little less intense.

Western has had a good football team for years. The parks in London, especially along the river (yes, it is called the Thames) are great for cycling.

And London isn't as white as it used to be. I hear it is getting downright diverse.

If you love theatre, Stratford is just down the road a few mileskiometres. And if you get homesick Detroit is the other way.

Oh my goodness. I've seen a company from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival perform here in the US. They're freaking awesome (and I'm a bit of a drama buff). That's great to know. I'm a cyclist, too, though more as a means of commuting than for recreation alone.

Confusing the Canadian terms "university" and "college" is exactly the sort of thing I would have done (and might still do without thinking about it). I'd be interested to know any other differences in academic terminology you guys can think of.  (E.g., Do you grade papers like in the US, or do you mark them like in the UK?  Do you "write" the exam, or is that something the students do (= American "take", as in the UK?)