Hi! A little background here, I am a 19-year-old woman born in India. I currently live in the U.S. and I'm completing my undergrad. I'm a pre-law student and to be fair, I've had limited exposure to Canada (I've spent a few months traveling and visiting relatives). But, for a variety of reasons I have been considering immigrating to Canada after my undergrad (and pursue my JD).
As a 'visible minority', I've never faced overt racism of any kind in the U.S., but I do get the feeling of being considered an outsider a lot of times. During conversations with acquaintances and such they would say things like, "oh I like Bollywood too," (I had said nothing about Bollywood, only mentioned that I came from India) and this one time I mentioned to a friend that it sucked the days were shorter now, and he said "oh yeah, compared to India days are shorter here", and I was like, "no...I meant...compared to summer" (Winter had just started and I was just complaining about the weather) and none of these comments were made maliciously but I'm tired of people seeing only my ethnic identity as opposed to everything else that I have to offer. Nevertheless, (and though this is especially hard for me cause I'm pretty introverted) I am--somewhat--able to adequately socialize with people here, and I'm not only talking about socializing with other Indian people (which a lot of immigrants tend to stick to).
But with Canada, I've seen that people are polite here but not as...gregarious as Americans can be (of course there are exceptions). Americans can be loud (stereotyping here again. I'm sorry, and there are many exceptions to that) but in general, they seem to be more open to being friends as opposed to Canucks just being polite. In addition to that, from what I've seen, Canadian-Indians tend to live in more insulated enclaves (especially in Toronto and Vancouver) and only mingle with people of their ethnicity. I've seen similar trends in the Indian population where I live, but there's still more branching out especially in second or third-generation immigrants. Again, this is just what I've gathered from my limited time there, and anecdotal stories from family members and online forums.
My question is, if I'm in school in Canada, as a female minority will I have even worse troubles making friends here? And I understand that it differs from place to place, province to province. I personally do not want to live in big cities (maybe in nearby suburbs but that's not a requirement), but I also don't want to feel like an outsider. I guess I would just appreciate anyone who knows the stories of immigrant students socializing with communities other than theirs, or any student themselves who immigrated here, and I would love to know your experience from a female perspective--what's the dating scene, social stereotypes of south-asian women, instances of discrimination (or inclusion!). This is a tough decision for me, but Canada's health care, societal values, government leanings, and immigration processes (and legalization of weed, personally) are some of the reasons I'm attracted to it--but I cannot face moving there if I'm going to be even MORE socially isolated and ignored there. I just want to know all the different experiences all of you have had. And I'd appreciate any and all tips and advice that you can give me regarding making friends and networking and stuff.
TL;DR: What are the experiences of South-Asian immigrants (esp. women) moving to Canada, and what is your social life like? How easy is it to make friends in Canada as opposed to in the U.S.?And I'd appreciate any tips on integrating and expanding my social circle!
As a 'visible minority', I've never faced overt racism of any kind in the U.S., but I do get the feeling of being considered an outsider a lot of times. During conversations with acquaintances and such they would say things like, "oh I like Bollywood too," (I had said nothing about Bollywood, only mentioned that I came from India) and this one time I mentioned to a friend that it sucked the days were shorter now, and he said "oh yeah, compared to India days are shorter here", and I was like, "no...I meant...compared to summer" (Winter had just started and I was just complaining about the weather) and none of these comments were made maliciously but I'm tired of people seeing only my ethnic identity as opposed to everything else that I have to offer. Nevertheless, (and though this is especially hard for me cause I'm pretty introverted) I am--somewhat--able to adequately socialize with people here, and I'm not only talking about socializing with other Indian people (which a lot of immigrants tend to stick to).
But with Canada, I've seen that people are polite here but not as...gregarious as Americans can be (of course there are exceptions). Americans can be loud (stereotyping here again. I'm sorry, and there are many exceptions to that) but in general, they seem to be more open to being friends as opposed to Canucks just being polite. In addition to that, from what I've seen, Canadian-Indians tend to live in more insulated enclaves (especially in Toronto and Vancouver) and only mingle with people of their ethnicity. I've seen similar trends in the Indian population where I live, but there's still more branching out especially in second or third-generation immigrants. Again, this is just what I've gathered from my limited time there, and anecdotal stories from family members and online forums.
My question is, if I'm in school in Canada, as a female minority will I have even worse troubles making friends here? And I understand that it differs from place to place, province to province. I personally do not want to live in big cities (maybe in nearby suburbs but that's not a requirement), but I also don't want to feel like an outsider. I guess I would just appreciate anyone who knows the stories of immigrant students socializing with communities other than theirs, or any student themselves who immigrated here, and I would love to know your experience from a female perspective--what's the dating scene, social stereotypes of south-asian women, instances of discrimination (or inclusion!). This is a tough decision for me, but Canada's health care, societal values, government leanings, and immigration processes (and legalization of weed, personally) are some of the reasons I'm attracted to it--but I cannot face moving there if I'm going to be even MORE socially isolated and ignored there. I just want to know all the different experiences all of you have had. And I'd appreciate any and all tips and advice that you can give me regarding making friends and networking and stuff.
TL;DR: What are the experiences of South-Asian immigrants (esp. women) moving to Canada, and what is your social life like? How easy is it to make friends in Canada as opposed to in the U.S.?And I'd appreciate any tips on integrating and expanding my social circle!