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Been in Canada 3 months now info inside
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Been in Toronto over a year now. Going to head home in the coming months...
Originally I intended on a long term stay, but I cannot accept the fact that they completely disregard your work experience accrued outside of Canada...
Aside from the work, I just find it kind of boring here. The people are v nice but not a whole pile of fun.
Its big city expensive here but they don't seem to pay big city wages!
And I'll never get used to the chunky tax and chunky tip custom!
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Great to hear from you all again, and best of luck to those heading home!
I'm pretty much in agreement with what dealhunter said. I'm in the same job here that I started in. At this point I count myself lucky to have a job at all. I've tried for so many better jobs and radio silence. I was starting to think it was me, so I sent a few CVs off for jobs at home and got calls right away. The job I'm in now is probably a step lower than I would have started at when I left college in Ireland. I just took it to keep me going until I got something... At least I've money coming in though.
As I mentioned before my partner is Canadian so I came here with him. At this point I plan to stay my 2 years. I might even stay for the summer next year as a tourist but I really don't see myself staying past that. With the cost of living here and the tax & tip, as you say, I'll not be going home with savings, that's for sure.
It's just not for me. As you've all said the outdoor stuff is great, I'm into running myself. But the fact that it costs $50 to do a 5k here and the money doesn't even go to charity, where I can do one at home for E5-10 & the money goes to a local school or whatever is much better imo. So my racing has been limited since I've been here.
I've been getting out hiking & cycling to enjoy the summer & enjoy the nice weather when I can. But I do agree with you dealhunter life here is a bit flat or something. There's no real excitement or fun.
I've passed my year here now. I do get on well with the people I work with, but they're all close to retirement age. So I still don't have anyone that I would really count as a friend. That's the bit I'm finding the hardest. I've tried, gone to so many different clubs & meet up groups, but I find the people are just there for the hour or whatever it's on & if they see you again they see you again.
Does anyone else find that things here seem to always have start & end times? And that people leave at the end times? I find that really strange. It's like it doesn't matter if a good conversation is going, they're all off.
Anyway that's my sceal so far. As I said best of luck to all going home, thanks for the company over the adventure! 0 -
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Over the one year mark in Toronto and going home some time early next year at the latest.
I've had some great experiences here and there are aspects of life that are genuinely better than home ($15 for a ball game on a sunny day on a whim? Variety of food? Reliable and extensive public transit? Drinking culture more geared towards appreciation than getting hammered? Damn right!) but I think settling here would be too expensive. To get a bigger place would entail moving further out from the downtown core and then you get into running a car, box-box-store suburban life, etc. Apparently locals are used to long commutes but I think it's a fairly big quality of life reduction. And once you've lived downtown you can't do without it.
Also, the weather is brutal in winter and suffocating in summer. I'll never complain about having to wear a light jacket at all times again
If I could go back in time I'd still chose to come here and if others have the opportunity then they should definitely do so. The first few months were tough but stick it out and you won't regret it 0 -
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I moved to Canada in February this year with my bf but we ended up moving back to Ireland after just over two months and tbh it's the best decision we ever made! We started in Vancouver and stayed for one month before the cost of living and lack of job opportunities became too much. We found it very hard to meet people there too so it was kinda lonely. After the first month we decided to move to Calgary and try it out for a few months as we heard jobs were more plentiful there. It turned out to be even worse for us, the only response my bf got for jobs he applied to was for a part time position in Walmart! My job search didn't fare much better. Aside from the lack of decent paying jobs we were bored senseless living there.
So at the end of April we made the tough(ish) decision to swallow our pride and book flights home - it was hard to fight the feeling of being a quitter or a failure after spending two years planning to move there only to be giving up after two months, but honestly those two months felt like an eternity!!
Within a month of moving home we both found full time jobs, himself in a good paying position in what he'd studied in college and we're now in a much better position than I could ever imagine we'd have been in had we stayed in Canada.
I don't want this post to come off as overly negative and I know some people might slate my opinion blah blah blah but just wanted to share my experience. With all that said, I don't regret going to Canada because at least now we know we're not missing anything by staying in Ireland for the rest of our lives, it's really not such a bad little country when you see the other side of the coin! We found that the most criticism we got for moving home so fast was from people who've never actually had the balls to leave the country themselves. As another poster said above, Canada just wasn't for us.
So long story short: we moved to Canada, moved home much earlier than planned, regret nothing about the whole experience (apart from maybe the thousands of euro we wasted on it all). Just my tuppence worth 0 -
I moved to Canada in February this year with my bf but we ended up moving back to Ireland after just over two months and tbh it's the best decision we ever made! We started in Vancouver and stayed for one month before the cost of living and lack of job opportunities became too much. We found it very hard to meet people there too so it was kinda lonely. After the first month we decided to move to Calgary and try it out for a few months as we heard jobs were more plentiful there. It turned out to be even worse for us, the only response my bf got for jobs he applied to was for a part time position in Walmart! My job search didn't fare much better. Aside from the lack of decent paying jobs we were bored senseless living there.
So at the end of April we made the tough(ish) decision to swallow our pride and book flights home - it was hard to fight the feeling of being a quitter or a failure after spending two years planning to move there only to be giving up after two months, but honestly those two months felt like an eternity!!
Within a month of moving home we both found full time jobs, himself in a good paying position in what he'd studied in college (graphic design) and we're now in a much better position than I could ever imagine we'd have been in had we stayed in Canada.
I don't want this post to come off as overly negative and I know some people might slate my opinion blah blah blah but just wanted to share my experience. With all that said, I don't regret going to Canada because at least now we know we're not missing anything by staying in Ireland for the rest of our lives, it's really not such a bad little country when you see the other side of the coin! We found that the most criticism we got for moving home do fast was from people who've never actually had the balls to leave the country themselves. As another poster said above, Canada just wasn't for us.
So long story short: we moved to Canada, moved home much earlier than planned, regret nothing about the whole experience (apart from maybe the thousands of euro we wasted on it all). Just my tuppence worth
That's great that it worked out for ye guys in the end.
I'm counting down the days until I can hand in my notice at work (once I complete the year) and then can get the fook out of here.. 0 -
dealhunter1985 wrote: »That's great that it worked out for ye guys in the end.
I'm counting down the days until I can hand in my notice at work (once I complete the year) and then can get the fook out of here..
How long have you left there? You won't regret moving home. Things seem to be improving in Ireland job wise, still a long way to go but not nearly as bleak as it was a few years ago.
It's funny how much more I appreciate the little things since we got back, everyone should leave for a while then we might not give out so much about the place!!0 -
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dealhunter1985 wrote: »Been here since May of 2013.
I left a very good job back at home to come here only to be working in roles that a graduate would be doing since I arrived!
Sickening really but you live and learn
Ah at least you've stuck it out for a respectable amount of time, we've been back in Ireland now for longer than we were actually gone so it's pretty laughable when I think about it like that! Exactly, it can all be chalked down to life experience. If you'd never left ireland you'd probably always be wondering "what if", at least now we know the grass isn't always greener.0 -
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