I compared everyday life in the USA to Canada — Here are the 9 biggest differences

Americans personally identify with their state

Before moving to the U.S., I don't think I understood how much the state you're from can become part of your identity.

Obviously, Canadians have provincial pride. I'm from B.C., and being from the West Coast is definitely part of who I am. But I've never heard a Canadian introduce themselves as an "Albertan" with quite the same conviction that someone will tell you they're a Texan.

Americans don't just say where they're from — they're Californians, Texans, New Yorkers, Southerners, Midwesterners. They wear their state on T-shirts, put it on bumper stickers, and sometimes literally tattoo it on their bodies.

After living here, I've realized that asking an American what state they're from can tell you a surprising amount about how they see themselves.

Sorry Canada, but American TV is better

I love Canada. I will defend Timbits, healthcare and ketchup chips until the day I die.

But American TV? I'm sorry. They win.

The biggest thing for me is late-night television. The U.S. has Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers and Saturday Night Live. Canada has produced some of the funniest people on earth (hello Norm Macdonald), but we don't really have an equivalent late-night ecosystem where major celebrities come on every night, and the next morning everyone is talking about what happened.

Even their commercials have their own micro-celebrity culture — Flo from Progressive, anyone?

Maybe it's just the sheer size of the American entertainment industry, but television here feels like a much bigger part of the culture.

American flags are EVERYWHERE

On a similar note: Americans really, really like their flag.

You'll see American flags outside houses, hanging from apartment balconies, attached to cars, in restaurants and flying over businesses that have absolutely nothing to do with the government.

Of course, you'll see Canadian flags in Canada. But I don't remember driving through residential Vancouver and seeing house after house flying one from the front porch. It's also a fashion statement. Bikinis, crop tops, hats — there is really nothing you can't put the star-spangled banner on.

The funny thing is that after living in the U.S. for so long, I barely notice them anymore. It's only when I go back to Canada and suddenly don't see flags everywhere that I remember how uniquely American it is.

Canadian politeness and American friendliness aren't the same thing

Canadians have an international reputation for being ridiculously polite, and I don't necessarily disagree. But one thing living in America has taught me is that being polite and being friendly aren't exactly the same thing.

Americans — or at least the ones I've encountered — are much more likely to just start talking to you.

Someone in line at the grocery store will compliment your shoes. A stranger will tell you their entire life story while you're waiting for coffee.

Canadians might say "sorry" more, but I actually think Americans are more outgoing. You know exactly what's on their mind, and they aren't afraid of offending you — which sometimes actually means they're more authentic. Canadians pride themselves on being polite, but sometimes that's just code for passive-aggressive.

As a Canadian, I hate to admit it, but I kind of love the American way.

Amazon.com is better than Amazon.ca

I'm sorry, but this isn't even close.

Amazon.ca is perfectly fine until you've lived in the U.S. and experienced Amazon.com. There is way more selection, and things arrive impossibly fast. Two-day Prime delivery is standard across much of the U.S., with one-day and same-day delivery available in many major cities.

But the selection is what gets me. Half the random products I find online are either unavailable in Canada or noticeably more expensive once I switch over to the Canadian site.

It's one of those differences I barely think about until my U.S. Amazon account randomly switches to my Canadian one and I realize I can't buy the thing I'm looking at.

College sports is too much of a thing

The most I've ever interacted with college sports is that one time I watched The Blind Side.

So imagine my surprise when I moved to America and discovered people — and by people I do mean adult males over the age of 65 — pack massive stadiums to watch university students play football. Games are broadcast nationally and people have lifelong allegiances to schools they didn't even attend.

Canada has university sports too, obviously, but this is a different universe.

America has a wild number of fast food chains

I thought I understood American fast food before I moved here. McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell. What else could there possibly be?

Then I went on an American road trip.

Suddenly there was Whataburger, Culver's, Raising Cane's, Sonic, Carl's Jr., In-N-Out, Chick-fil-A and a million other places I'd either never heard of or had only seen online.

Fast food can also be regional, which makes it even more fun. Driving across America means watching the fast-food landscape change as you go.

Canada obviously has plenty of fast food, but America has turned it into something closer to regional cuisine.

Healthcare (obviously)

Healthcare is the biggest adjustment I've had to make living in the U.S. because in Canada, I never thought about how much it would cost before deciding whether I needed medical care.

Here, I once went to the ER, had health insurance and still ended up with a bill for hundreds of dollars. My insurance alone had a $600 ER charge.

Nothing makes you appreciate your provincial health card like being sick and trying to calculate whether you can afford to be sick.

Online shopping comes with less heartbreak

This is such a small thing, but it's one of my favourite parts of shopping online in the U.S.

As a Canadian, seeing something online for $100 doesn't necessarily mean it'll cost you $100. You add it to your cart, get all the way to checkout and pray that somewhere in the fine print it says CAD — only to discover that, nope, it's USD.

Then comes the conversion, the more expensive credit card charge and potentially international shipping on top of it.

Living in America, I almost never think about this anymore. So much of the internet defaults to USD that when I see something advertised for $100, I can be reasonably confident I'm actually paying $100.

It's a tiny difference, but Canadians know the specific heartbreak of realizing that dollar sign was lying to you!