I basically only brought winter clothes with me because everybody (in Scotland!) was warning me how cold it gets in Canada in virtually every season and, being just at the beginner of Spring, I thought I would freeze as soon as I stepped out of the plane upon my arrival…but it wasn’t so.
A mild (actually hot) temperature of around 25 Celsius welcomed me to the capital of my new hosting country as I got off the airplane about a month ago.
I had been desiring to visit the Canadian capital for a few years now so I was very pleased to be sent here for work.
One of the fist events I truly enjoyed here is the Canadian Tulip Festival, which has been held in Ottawa every May since the end of Second World War. I found out that the first edition was created when the Queen of the Netherlands sent 100,000 tulips here as thanks for the hospitality received in the period when her land was ravaged by the Nazi occupation.
My Canadian co-workers claim that Ottawa is a boring city to live in because it is not very stimulating.
It may be true, but when I arrived I was amazed. I found it to be a beautiful and above all clean city.
I was impressed by its cleanliness of both the tourist areas and the residential neighbourhoods.
Ottawa does not seem to be chaotic, like bigger Canadian cities (I have visited) such as Montreal and Toronto, despite being the capital of Canada it’s a relatively small and liveable place.
Inevitable is the comparison with other capitals that I have visited over the years. Paris, Rome, London, Madrid are not comparable to Ottawa, and I am not referring to architectural beauties or what they can offer as tourist facilities, being visited by millions of people every year; I’m simply talking about habitability.
So here is a small introduction to Ottawa for what I learnt or first noticed.
In the easternmost part of Ontario, Ottawa is the capital of Canada. It is the fourth most populated city in Canada and offers a good quality of life. As an important technology centre, expats can find vacancies in the tourism and high technology sectors. Ottawa is a multicultural city with different ethnic groups. The newcomers will be able to settle down easily and adapt to the new environment.
Although Canada is huge (it is the second largest country in the world), it hosts a population of only 33 million inhabitants. As a land of a new world, Canada welcomes people from all over the world and this multicultural and dynamic society makes Canada an excellent place to live and an excellent place to study.
When people think of Canada, many think of open spaces, wilderness, cold and snow. Of course, Canada is all of that, but it also has much more to offer.
Canada is a highly advanced country, with excellent working conditions, an education system that is above average and a very high quality of life and it’s also favoured by one of the best healthcare systems in the world. The United Nations has proclaimed Canada one of the best places to live for many years in a row and the canons of judgment are the quality of life, the opportunities for study, the rate of unemployment and crime and life expectancy.
There is no nation in the world with a higher per capita immigration rate. With more than 200,000 new immigrants per year and a story of migrants, Canada is a fully multicultural country, where being Canadian means sharing the same passport and a set of common values, not necessarily the same ethnicity. Canadians are friendly, well-mannered, warm, and make visitors and new immigrants feel welcome and at home.
You can find some of the best academic facilities and institutions here and whether your goal is studying abroad, learning English or French, or having an international experience, Canada has a lot to offer you.
