I'm a U.S. student on exchange and I want to go home. I am going home in less than a week but the closer it gets, the more depressed I get. I started experiencing culture shock after the initial " Canada is so beautiful!" phase. That slowly died with having no social support (because I'm here alone and tried to make new friends but I'm slightly older and don't like to party much), no financial support ( as I'm not allowed to work because I'm not a citizen), and no transportation, except for the expensive buses and taxis.

The economic system here is an oppressive one if you don't money then your standard of living is not very healthy. The electric bill can get up to 300.00 if you run the heat in the winter time (which gets very cold). The prices in the marker at ridiculously high (unless you catch a sale). A slim carton of milk here is the same price as a half gallon of milk where I'm from. A loaf of bread costs almost $4. at home there are $1 loafs. they also make you pay for plastic bags... $0.05. Walmart is a 10 minutes bus ride away but everything is in french and I don't read french well. I can speak it a very little but not much.

I thought I would meet some nice, helpful people but not really as I was alone on Thanksgiving..away from my family and no one invited me for a supper for the sake of being compassionate so I wouldn't feel lonely. I'm in a small town where not may people who look like me live here so I get stared at while I walk down the street (very uncomfortable).

and don't get me started on the politics. there's a battle between the francophones and the anglophones that is utterly ridiculous (in my opinion). So it's either butcher the french language and get looked at weirdly or speak in my native tongue and get looked at condescendingly.

I miss my home town.