The days in North Carolina were amazing. Along the way we met a lot of friendly southerners, who were nice and helpful. We spent Canada Day there, and some people with New Jersey plates yelled "happy Canada day!" at our car. How sweet.

And – the whole thing got me thinking. In Canada, we watch American TV, use their products, eat at their chains, follow their politics, read their books, work for their companies, get mistaken for them when we go to foreign countries, so in a way, we really think that we know about them. But we don’t. I have always had a positive view of Americans (and my own American heritage with having an American grandmother). But, I can’t help but feel that my view is even more positive now after this trip.

In general, I really don’t think you can see a whole country as a concept you create through products, politics etc. But we just can’t make conclusions based on that. You may think that you never do that (I know I did), and nothing about others filters your view of them. But next time you are someplace new, meeting someone from another place, see if anything surprises you. 

The first thing we noticed was how forward American men are compared to Canadian ones. Where we come from you go out to a crowded club but still have a quiet night since Canadian guys tend to give you space and wait for you to approach them. In Seattle though, we were getting approached by dozens of guys – it seemed like almost every 10 minutes someone was talking to us. It was fun and we really liked the boldness of American men.

Another thing we noticed was all of the other Canadians that were there – coincidentally, the Toronto Blue Jays were playing the Seattle Mariners last night. Canadians were there waving their giant flags, singing the national anthem at the top of their lungs and saying "Canada says hello" to passers-by. I realized that Americans would never come to a Canadian city, wave the stars and stripes and say "America says hello". Funny that us Canadians are forward in that way, if not in all ways .