Entry 6 - Friday 11th December 2015 - Half a Year
Half a year ago, I packed up and left sunny Belfast for my new life in Montréal. Last weekend I went back to where my journey began, New York City - where I saw some great friends and my sister and brother-in-law for a fun Thanksgiving weekend in the Big Apple.
It’s been a busy six months, I have made lots of great friends, challenged my comfort zone, travelled as much as possible, became great at yoga, moved into a lovely apartment with my friend Chloe, and got massively into cooking.
The next challenge that I set myself around my Birthday was to find a job. So I set about it in October. After a few interviews and many applications, I have been offered an amazing job with AskMen.com as an Interactive Designer and will start next week. I hope to continue with French classes in the evening too, as I’m finally doing well with that, as I completed Level Two with 87%, guaranteeing me entry to Level Three after Christmas - but we’ll see how I manage both come January.
Have I changed? Probably. I definitely feel more stable, more relaxed within myself, calm, independent and focused than from when I left Belfast in May.
I’ve been thinking about home quite a bit recently, especially on the run up to my first ever Christmas away from home.
The more I meet people here, the more I talk about home, as people are curious about what it’s like there and often know a little about the political and social situation already. Sometimes I can’t help but be negative based on the tragic politics there recently, but mostly I am positive, still acting as Northern Ireland Tourist Board Dan, highlighting the best of my city and country encouraging people to visit.
There are many differences and similarities between these two cities - I’m going to share some of those to give you all an idea of how it is here:
- Belfastians are definitely friendlier and more talkative to strangers than Montréalers.
- In Montréal it’s as common to meet someone on the street who’s from foreign lands as meeting a Montréaler.
- The city is planned around people more than cars.
- People will often serve themselves wine at a table here. Only themselves.
- They like to wear black clothes here, lots of black.
- Montréal doesn’t have a big Christmas tree.
- It’s common to smell pot on every corner of the city.
- People here really like their Prime Minister and are engaged with politics.
- There are free events going on every weekend, which are well attended and organised.
- The underground clubbing scene is literally amazing.
- Belfast’s dark humour isn’t really understood here, I’ve had to tone it down a bit.- There is an underground city, which is connected to the world’s only full underground Metro system.
- Montréal’s oldest buildings are as old as Belfast’s, which is surprising being the “New World”.
- “Salut, ca va?” replaces “Hey, what’s the craic?”.
- The French language is beyond being used as a political statement and is very much part of people’s identity.
- The majority of Montréalers are bilingual. Under a law that was passed in the late 70s, all business has to be named in French, even Café Starbucks.
- There are dedicated bike lanes throughout the city, but lots of pot holes and constant road closures for resurfacing. Bureaucracy is common here.
- There are as many statues of Queen Victoria in Montréal as in Belfast. The majority of people don’t like the Monarchy in Québéc and find it irrelevant to their lives.
- Like home, identity is a strong topic here. Many people in Québéc identify themselves as Québécois more than Canadian.
- Cheese and wine have replaced Guinness and stew.
- Like in Scandinavia, you have to buy your alcohol from a government run store called SAQ, which is expensive, has a limit of choice and strange time restrictions.
- Mobile phone contracts and utilities are around double the cost of home, with far less competition and deals available.
- A jumper is called a sweater and trousers are called pants.
- Crisps are called chips and chips are called fries. Québéc’s national delegacy is Poutine - chips covered with gravy and squeaky cheese with optional smoked meat. Heart attack goodness.
- Pâté is like a cottage pie here, made with squash, veal and corn, not a spread for your toast.
- During the summer, you can sit in Montréal’s beautiful public parks all day and night with your friends and drink beer legally, as long as you have some food with you.
- Farine Five Roses, is Belfast’s famous Harland and Wolff Cranes, where you’ll see many people posing for Instagram outside the old concrete factory.
- Buying local and reducing carbon emissions are both very important in Montréal.
- Montréal’s electric grid is completely run from Hydro power. They find it funny that we still use oil to heat our homes in Belfast.
- Like Belfast and despite their high taxes here in Québéc, Montréal is one of Canada’s most affordable cities to live in and have a great lifestyle for much less than the other big cities.
I’ve yet to experience a Canadian Winter, but so far, Montréal has ticked so many boxes for being a city I want to live in, replacing lots of my favourite things at home with happy alternatives.
Even with all these positive changes though, I miss Belfast a lot, the Christmas cheer, the lights, the joy, my family (especially my little niece) and close friends. As Dorothy said, “there’s no place like home”.
I’m looking forward to working again and experiencing Montréal as a young professional, albeit it with less time for my housewife lifestyle. It’s all positive though and part of the process of living abroad.
Hopefully my journey thus far can give some of you reading this the confidence and courage to make the jump you’ve also been longing to do. It’s the best thing I have ever done for myself. I regret nothing and only encourage you all to do it at some point if you have the opportunity.
I wish all of you all a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
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