Karine,
yes, Montreal is very different from french cities. It's just big enough to have the advantages of a big city but not too much inconvenients...
The bad thing is that it's not a high place for visual arts, and even less for figurative art ( but all this is going to change: I'm here!
)
But for the moment I feel homesick, but I have to wait until this summer to go back "home"...