Arriving on a drab and grey afternoon at Vancouver International Airport, in what seems a lifetime ago now, was the start of the first stage. The feeling I had at the time was of being lost, and having no idea what would happen within the next hour, let alone the next day. Who would I meet? Where would I live? What sort of job would I get? Would I get settled here?
I would not go as far as to say I was scared at the time, but it was a period of living by each hour, living on the edge. I can remember clear as day sitting in my room at UBC soon after arriving and worrying that I had so far only met one person (Helen - at Heathrow Airport!) and would end up hating my Canadian experience.
Fortunately, Stage Two began shortly after - beginning with my move from UBC to the Youth Hostel down at Jericho Beach. This experience was the complete opposite of my first week in Canada. Everywhere I went in the Hostel there were people, all of whom who were keen to make new friends and share experiences. I met so many people there, and made friends from all parts of the globe. For those three weeks life was a whole lot of fun from dawn 'til dusk. Each morning the British Columbian sun would rise over Downtown Vancouver, Jericho Park and the Youth Hostel, we would head down to the beach, play soccer in the park, or sit outside and watch an England-less Euro 2008 play-out with a massive group of travellers.
The highlight of that time, however, was undoubtedly Canada Day - July 1st. Our group of friends had been together for around three weeks at the time, and now many were moving on to new places in the world, and many of us staying, but moving away from the Hostel to rent rooms in houses or flats. Almost everyone I knew from the Hostel was in attendance, and the sun beat down upon the huge outdoor party the Hostel staff had organised. The smell of BBQ food was in the air, the drinks flowed, nations fought hard in the Beer Olympics (with Brazil emerging victorious), and everyone had the time of their lives. We went to, and got massively burned on, the beach, relaxed in the park, and had an impromptu 6-aside soccer tournament, which was won by a team of spirited Irishmen, who beat our own 'Holland' team (comprising only one Dutchman) in the final. The favourites Italy were knocked out in the semi-finals, and the Irish took their chance to overwhelm a Holland team who were a man short for the duration of the match. The day ended with everyone heading to the beach, to watch the Canada Day fireworks taking place just off English Bay, and our time at Jericho was over.
Stage Three began abruptly the following day, with a 6:30am wake up call. It was my first day at my new job, and once I returned that evening, I would be moving to my new place on Granville Street - a 15 minute bike ride from Downtown. It had taken me a couple of weeks to obtain employment in Canada, and I'd got this job - at Business Objects in Yaletown - through Kelly Services, a job agency in the city. I was employed as part of a team of temporary workers, who were there to sort out the mess of data following a merger between two multi-million dollar software companies.
The work at Business Objects was dire, but that was offset by my fellow temps all being a great laugh, and the fact that there was a table football game and roof patio on top of the building. The team mainly consisted of other travellers on work visas, so I made more friends from Australia, England, Scotland and Ireland - as well as the Canadian contingent in the office. We made the most of our time there, and I left after about seven weeks. That was enough time there for me.
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