So, we had to interview someone who’s not originally from Quebec. The person I chose is from British Columbia and she’s been here in 2009 for a student exchange. Her name is Emilie Mercier, she is 19 years old and she lives in Langley. I have met her during the same student exchange because her “twin”, that’s how we call the person that we were paired with, went to the same school as I did. My twin and her were also both staying into the same city, but going into different high schools.

So, when I asked her what was her first impression of the Quebeckers? She said that everyone were very accommodating and friendly. She said that, when she was in bigger cities than Mont-Joli or Price, like for example in Quebec City, people were tended to speak to her in English rather than in French, to let her practice her second language. When it comes to the education system, what’s mainly different is the Cégep. When it comes to the food, she loved the Quebec’s food. Mostly poutine, she said that “Quebec was amazing for food. Poutine had to be the one thing I ate on a regular basis while I was in Quebec. BC isn't particularly famous for any type of food. It’s very multicultural so we have a mix of everything.” So, even though there’s a lot a choice where she lives, she loved what's the most representative of us in food, our “national meal”. When she first came here, it was after Christmas and I’ve asked her what was different about the way we celebrate holidays, which was Easter in her case, and what was similar. She answered that, in her family, “a bunny comes in the middle of the night and leaves behind a trail of chocolate eggs” and that into her exchange family, they went to church and then they had a big family breakfast and diner.

Finally, Emilie Mercier is a young student of 19 years old. We have had kind of the same path, because we did the same exchange and learned a lot from it. Like she said, “Doing a cross country exchange when I was 15 definitely made me mature a lot faster. I have a whole new respect for people who come to Canada speaking a different language. It’s very brave to put yourself in that situation. I've already re-visited Quebec since my exchange and I most likely will go back again!” I hope I will have the opportunity to see her again, because she was a wonderful person and by the same way, I hope that I will have the opportunity to go back to the “Beautiful British Columbia”.