the amount of vacation time american students get baffles me
then again universities here give you about 4 months off not counting the mid-term breaks
Canada has fall break in universities because of high suicide rates in northern schools. And by "northern", I include uOttawa, although Algonquin College curiously does not have a fall break. They're starting to integrate fall break at the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, etc. - more south - lately, too.
I honestly didn't believe it was due to suicides until I researched it a bit. Apparently the stress for international and even cross-country students causes a lot of depression and people commit suicide due to the stress and pressure of school + being so far away from "civilization". I don't think Canada is so sparse for accommodations as that, but apparently so if people are committing suicide partly due to the feeling of isolation they get from it.
So we start school here early September, have a fall break in mid-October, and end regular studies by early December. Then there's a three week exam period, two week Christmas break, then school starts back up in early January. "Spring" break is mid-April and studies end early April. Exam period ends by April 30th. May-August is school-free and intended for students to make some money to off-set costs the other eight months of the year :pink_nod: If all your exams are crammed into one week, though, and not spread out over the three-week period, your winter/summer breaks could start really early. My last day of school is April 13th and my last exam is the 22nd, so that's not too bad!
So we get a full month of mid-semester breaks on top of other holidays like Good Friday. Canada has one of the lowest national "paid" holidays totals in the world, though: some places in Europe have upwards of 20 national holidays per year. We have ten I think. We have other holidays, but schools and workplaces aren't closed / aren't required to pay time and a half on those days, so they don't count :pink_no: