Nova Scotia, Canada

I've officially said goodbye to the United States for almost 4 months! Yesterday I flew from San Francisco to Philadelphia, then had a three hour layover and then I flew to Canada! Right now I'm in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Halifax is the city, Nova Scotia is the province, and Canada is the country. Provinces are equivalent to our states and there are 10 provinces in Canada. While we were driving from the airport to our hotel, it first felt like we were in Tahoe. The freeway was surrounded by tons of green trees, and then all of the sudden the freeway takes you through neighborhoods. I then felt like I was in San Jose right by San Jose State but while crossing the bridge, it felt like San Francisco. But today I've had a much different feel! Nova Scotia is absolutely beautiful. It is so clean and there's only 1 million people in the province. As our cab driver put it, there's 1 million people in Nova Scotia while 100 million people in Vietnam, and they're the exact same amount of land! How crazy is that! Canada is a mix of America and Europe. It seems like I'm in America, but then there is definitely a European feel. Halifax is one of the most important ports in the world. All of the ships for WWII came out of Halifax. It's the most Eastern port of the Americas that doesn't freeze due to the deepness of the water. And the reason it's so famous is because the Titanic sunk just near Halifax, and the people of Halifax retrieved the dead bodies and then buried them here (49 were claimed by their families, while 150 were buried in Halifax.) We woke up pretty late because we got in so late at night but it was a really nice day. The weather is fantastic; sunny, but not too hot. It's relaxing to just walk the pier. The food we've had today is amazing and we've been to two museums (an Immigration museum and a Naval museum.) I've met some people from Semester at Sea; they're everywhere! Everyone is really nice and friendly. I can't wait to get on the ship and get situated, but I don't want to say bye to my parents!

So for each port I'm going to answer a few questions. I can't answer them all for Canada right now, so I'll write the rest later. Let me know if there any others I should answer!

1. What's the currency?
    Canadian Dollar; one dollar coins are called "Luneys" and two dollar coins are "Tuneys"

2. What's the religion of the country?

3. What's the official language?
English and French. In Nova Scotia it's English, but everything is in English and French

4. How safe do you feel on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the safest?
5; I feel really safe in Nova Scotia!

5. What is the food like?
So far it's all very similar to anything you could get in America, but some things are slightly different.

6. What is the country's politics?
It's a socialist country

7. Is there a class system? Is there a large gap between the rich and poor?
There doesn't seem to be. Everyone receives healthcare and 10% of the population of Nova Scotia is     college students. 

8. What's the time difference from California?
4 hours 

That's it for now! I'm miss home a lot but I'm so excited to see where this adventure takes me! I'll be taking off for Ireland on the ship tomorrow evening and we'll be sailing for 7 days! Remember my email is jamilyn.carter.f12@semesteratsea.org. I'd love to hear from you! :)

Love you all,
Jamie