By: Zara Lewis

As an exchange student from the University of Leeds in England, the past three weeks have been a crash course in Canadian culture – from learning how to cut a milk bag correctly to realizing that black squirrels exist to discovering what a “smoke show” is and what it means to have “flo.” It’s fair to say that I have felt like somewhat of an alien over here. There are many aspects of being a Canadian student that were not explained to me in the Studying Abroad Handbook.

But of all the new things that have both enlightened and shocked me, nothing was quite as jaw dropping as the dancing that I have witnessed. With seductive hair flicking and dry humping from both the front and behind, it is evident that the Canadians know how to grind.

I’m not trying to claim that British kids are all prudes and dance at an arms length from one another, but over here, the dance floor appears to be a space reserved for pairs of grinding bodies, while the other not so daring onlookers remain hugged to the bar or their drinks.

So, far I have been one of the latter, crossed with a ‘deer in headlights’ expression etched upon my face.

However, the most pivotal moment of my Canadian dancing experience happened on Friday while I was innocently dancing with my friends, and I was repeatedly being pushed in the back. After turning around to see who the offending dancer was, I was presented with a girl with her legs wrapped around her thrusting dance partner’s waist. The pair danced and gyrated against one another, obviously unaware of anyone in the surrounding area.

After a few minutes, the twosome unsurprisingly left the dance floor. Let your mind fill in the rest.

So, after an educational first few weeks here in Canada, it is safe to say that whilst I expected there to be some cultural differences in comparison to England, it appears that the greatest difference is where I least expected there to be one. That is, on the dance floor.