Poor Man's America

Ok so during my stay in Italy, I went out with a lot of different people around the world. One particular night (well morning since it was 2am) I was taking a taxi back to Termini an important station in Roma for buses, trains, subways etc, with a guy named Mike.
Mike lives in England and we were just talking about where we've been when I asked him about Canada. He is a cool guy and we can't judge him based on ignorance, but part of his response was so ridiculous, rude and just plain irritating.
He said he had been to Canada when he was young and not to get a offended but that he figured most countries think of Canada as 'the poor man's America'.

Of course I was offended. What he said at first was not really offensive, in fact it's probably true most countries do think we are the poor man's America, they might not think that but it is how the media portrays us. It is what followed next that bothered me. He continued to add 'I mean really what is there to see/do in Canada'. He agreed with his earlier quote.

Now at the time (2am) I was exhausted and all I could think of was the CN Tower and a joke I once heard about all it is, is a bunch of rich people eating while spinning around in a circle. So of course I mentioned the CN Tower and then continued to babble on aimlessly about this movie I saw a commercial for called One Week, a movie about a dying man that spends his last week left to live on a motorbike seeing all the sights across Canada.

Later on that week and through out the past month I look back at the comment he made and I can't help it, I'm livid. I am one of the proudest Canadians I know, I have a multi-cultural background that might not have been allowed if my parents hadn't met in Canada. I am the first generation Canadian on my dad's side of the family -in fact one of the first people in the whole Nelson family born here, and I am the 5th generation Canadian on my mother's side.

I keep kicking myself for not standing up more for my country however I know it couldn't be helped I was tired and after all I can't really speak much for outside the province of Ontario. My Canadian travels are pretty limited to around Toronto, Ottawa and around Quebec City. I went to B.C when I was four but it doesn't count if I can hardly remember it.

Canada is a great place, to live or visit and I know it.

Expect a future blog about what Canada has to offer. I don't have time or money to travel right now but I will at least be doing some research in order to fill you guys in because when I brought this up here in Canada many people responded with 'what is there to do here?