Hi

Just a thought that I had about friendship once you have made the big move and settled in Canada.

How many expats have friends that are Canadian, or do you find that you gravitate towards other expats?

I have found that the majority of our friends are all expats. We do have some Canadian friends, but our social circle is all scots and English.

Our friends are a very mixed bag, some Canadians and some expats. The expats themselves are a mixed bag, some Brits, some people from former Warsaw Pact countries, a couple from Pakistan, a Chinese couple from Hong Kong, a couple from South Africa, a couple from Zimbabwe, some Latin Americans, a Kiwi, some Americans.

I don't know if we count in your survey, in that we aren't Brits. I'm from Swaziland and my husband is from South Africa.

We had friends visit us, who had also been over 2 years ago. They commented that two years ago most of our friends seems to be Brits, and this time around they all seemed to be Canadians...

I think in the beginning it helps to have friends who have been in the same situation as you

Clare

I don't think we know any Canadians. That is, I don't think we know any non-aboriginal people who were born here to two parents who were born here. Our friends include Indians, Swedes, Americans, some Brits, a Pole, a South African couple, a Russian, a Jamaican, a Cree; a reasonable representation of the population at large. Maybe we don't fit the survey either, we're one Brit, one American, some Swiss children.

My friends seem to be mostly Canadian, but I do have a few British friends too.

When you first get here, it's very easy to gravitate towards other Brits, they give you a sense of familiarity/safety when everything else seems foreign. Plus other expats know excactly what you're going through, so there is always something to talk about.

It would be pretty weird if after a few years a Brit expat didn't have any Canadian friends, probably means that person is not integrating very well.

One another note though, if you click with someone it doesn't matter where they're from!

I think your close to being right but after 40years we still have more Brit friends than Canadian but still love it here.