A Place Determined to Remain Itself · Week 42
By Luca Bonafede · October 19, 2026 ·
A lot can happen in a week.
A gecko can live for over 15 years.
I did not go looking for this information. It found me, somewhere between French school, the gym, friends and parties, which is how most things find me these days. Who knew?
It was that kind of week. Entirely spent in Québec City, with Thanksgiving and my very first hockey game thrown in, and Life filling every day with new experiences, new faces and discoveries I never ordered.
The song of the week arrived in the least poetic way possible: while I was doing my meal prep. “Take Me to the River” by Kaleida (2017) came on, and I liked it before I understood it. Then I looked at the lyrics. It is a song about asking to be taken to the water and washed clean, about letting go and coming out new on the other side. For someone who has just closed one chapter and is starting again in a city built on a river, it landed. Sometimes the meaningful things show up while you are busy with the practical ones.
This week also brought together people from all over the world. Different nationalities, languages, backgrounds and perspectives. And somehow, these encounters made me appreciate Québec even more.
We live in a world that is changing rapidly and stupidly, where political correctness is often confused with respect, and where welcoming everyone sometimes seems to come at the expense of preserving what makes a place unique.
And that’s precisely what I admire about Québec.
A place that takes pride in its language, protects its culture, and isn’t afraid to defend its identity. Because the beauty of travelling isn’t about discovering how similar the world can become, but about appreciating how different it still is.
I’ve lived in many countries, and one principle has never changed: I am a guest wherever I go. I can embrace the local culture, respect its values and traditions, or choose to leave. But I cannot expect a place to change its identity simply to accommodate mine.
You can welcome the world without losing yourself in it. And respect for another culture should begin with respect for the place that welcomes you.
Diversity means very little if, in the process of celebrating it, we erase everything that makes each place different.
The more I discover Québec, the happier I am with my decision to come here. Not because it tries to be like everywhere else, but precisely because it doesn’t.
And in a world increasingly obsessed with fitting in, there’s something beautiful about a place determined to remain itself.
A lot can happen in a week.
Thank you, and ciao for now.
Luca Bonafede
Quebéc City, QC, Canada 🇨🇦