Nitpicking the Culture?

There is just something indescribable about the city that I find quite appealing. For a big city, the crime rate is considerably low. The cost of living is relatively low. It has all the perks of a big Metropolis like New York City, yet retains much of its Euro/French feel. I was unaware of the diversity and ethnic nature of Montreal until I moved away from downtown. Maybe it is the mix of cultures topped with the Francophone culture that brings about this rather "un-American" feeling. I find there is something genuinely surprisingly about a city where 69% of the people are not only bilingual, they speak the same two languages, English and French. Amidst the mixed atmosphere, there is this strange insistence of cultural segregation among the  French and English. Which I personally do not understand. From the little I have seen, I notice very little difference between the French and the English, other than the essential language difference. In fact, they are not even different by ethnic make-up. I have read articles which tell me that the Caucasian Francophone and Anglophones are both people of mixed ancestry (Irish, French, Scottish, and English). Now, the picture is more diverse. I am very aware of the  strong presence of a few ethnic groups that are non-European, Iranians and Lebanese. There are also people from French speaking African nations. It's rather amusing to see small schoolchildren speaking to their ethnic Chinese parents in a mix of French and Chinese, and I bet they probably know English quite well too.

Liberal (I think)

Montreal seems to be the most liberal city in North America. The culture is less puritan compare to American cities. There seems to be no concept of checking ID's for drinking age. Strangely enough, that has not made McGill (my University) a disaster or a party school. I cannot speak for the French universities, but I imagine they have a better hold on it since drinking is seamlessly part of the French culture. It is possibly more complex than simply drinking age and tolerance of sexual culture. But to me, the very liberal movie ratings (most US R rated films like Saving Private Ryan is ok for 13 year olds here), and existence of soft porn shows in a regular TV channel at 11PM are overt signs of a more liberal culture. Especially so when compared to neighboring Ontario which seems to be more American.

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