Otherwise, the Canadian aspects of the strip's story setting is usually presented subtly in details such as the presence of institutions such as Canada Post and practices like the family buying milk in milk bags, a common packaging in Ontario for that grocery item. However, one major exception Johnston indulged in was having Michael take his post-secondary education in the city of London, Ontario, a mid-sized city 300 km west of Toronto. Johnston chose that setting considering a native of the province of Ontario could choose that city with its major educational institutions like Fanshawe College and the University of Western Ontario, while its distance would allow Michael to have some length from his parents; yet still be within driving distance for vacations and summer breaks. Furthermore, Johnston also intended that story turn as partially a prank, anticipating ignorant readers to assume that Michael was studying in the city of London in Britain and enjoying imagining those people being embarrassed when the regional geography is explained to them. Johnston later confessed it had backfired on her and she had been fooled along with her targeted crowd when she got a congratulatory letter from Texas along with an earlier strip showing Michael in a cowboy hat, saying the Lone Star State would be a great place to tend to his education. Johnston jokingly remarked she got a taste of her own medicine and realization she did not know all regional geography, due to the other community of the same name. For their part, the citizenry of London, Ontario welcomed their city's inclusion in the strip, including an official welcome from the University of Western Ontario when Michael switched to that institution.