7 things that feel completely normal in Ontario (but nowhere else I've lived)

As someone who grew up in Ontario , there were definitely parts of everyday life I considered "normal" until I started travelling.

I mean, it's easy to think that the things you're used to are universal until you've experienced anything else, especially when you're young.

But even now that I'm older, it's funny to see how leaving a place suddenly makes all of those things that were once monotonous stand out.

They're things I've been reflecting on a lot lately now that I've spent the last year living abroad .

Some of them are obvious in hindsight, while others are a bit more subtle, things that didn't feel particularly Ontarian at all.

While not all of the things I'm listing below are exclusive to Ontario, they are things that I strongly associate with home now that I've left.

Going to pumpkin patches to take cute pics each fall See on Instagram I know there are pumpkin patches elsewhere in Canada (and the world), but every fall, farms around Ontario seem to do it differently.

They truly transform into elaborate autumn wonderlands with hay bales, wagons, corn mazes, apple cider and stunning piles of pumpkins.

Half the appeal is wandering around in a cozy sweater and taking pics that make October look wholesome as heck.

And of course, it always felt normal because everyone around me was doing the same thing — but apparently all of this pumpkin patch frolicking isn't quite as universal as I'd initially believed.

Constantly checking the humidex, wind chill and "feels like" temps The actual temperature has never felt like enough information when I'm checking the weather in Ontario.

Summer means checking the humidex because 30 C can apparently decide to feel like 39 C, while winter requires checking the wind chill to figure out just how hostile the outdoors is going to feel that day.

Then weather apps added the wonderfully vague "feels like" temperature, which somehow became the number I care about most.

Ontario weather has such dramatic seasonal (and sometimes day-to-day) swings that you can't really trust the basic forecast.