Last night, I was talking with my brother about this change of life. He told me how worried he was, because of that move to a small city, leaving my friends in Montréal and "anulate me" (his own words). I think people generally have the same opinion about this, so I want to set the record straight.
The past: When I came to Canada, I didn't have a lot of clue with what to do with my life. I dropped a good and safe job in Brazil (didn't pay much, but the place was really nice), a house and a relashionship to try something else. I was risking everything I got until there (not much, though) and I was in severe depression at the time. So, I pick all my money (it wasn't much, too) and I decided to take this big step. I can tell you it was the scarriest and best thing I did in my life. I proved to myself how much I can fight, how good my work is and how much I'm worth. Once again - I did it for myself.
The path of the warrior: I had so many amazing experiences it's difficult to explain. I practiced my humbleness, I learned how to ask for help when I needed it. I am grateful for all the things I've been through. I learned another Language, I made friends and they were always there, as my friends in Brazil.
So, let's jump in the future 1 year and a half later.
On dit oui pour la francophonie! I love Montréal, but I wanted a real francophone experience, something unfortunatelly Montreal can't give me. I want to live like a real québecoise, learn more about the culture and the people. It's another step, like jumping to another level in the game. I want to improve the language until the day I speak French as good as my English (where you have a lot of work to understand where I came from, as I have just a slight accent). I want to spend the winter in a place where you have snow from September to March - see, those people are born in the snow! I want to breath pure air, to have a garden, to buy a house - impossible things in Montréal. I love the cultural life back there, but maybe a small city gives me more about History and where they came from.
The future: I want to tell I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of changes, not afraid to find another job, not afraid at all to start all over again. This time is different, because all the struggle I had in the beggining, it went away. I already have the canadian experience, I came from a big city, I already speak French - actually, at this point, I'm fluent in 4 Languages, which is kind of impressive for them and I use this just to show off, hohoho!
The dark side of the moon: Another thing most of the people don't know is about how much I was working in Montréal. I tell this, because even with a good paycheck, it became difficult for me to go out. I was going to nicer restaurants, nicer places, buying nicer things but my quality of life was decaying. I think when you just get better things but always the same, it's time to rethink. I didn't travel so far to not enjoy the path. It was difficult even to go to shows - as I had to work early the other day. Even the huge quantity of things was overwhelming - sometimes, I had so many choises, I get stressed and didn't when out. It may sound ridiculous, but you have to buy tickets 2 months in advance to get a place (reason we lost the canadians game in Sep, 28th and the Unicorns show in a few days, with the tickets already bought). You never know how your day or your life is gonna be so, believe me, it has to worth a lot for all the stress.
Another funny problem you have there is the distance. Montréal is a long city and to delocate to one place to another, sometimes it takes 1h, 1:30h. Believe me, the public transport really works, but because of the distances and turns the bus gives (all the buses cover just a small area, so you are obliged to pick 2 or 3 buses to go anywhere far), after a while you want to never pick a bus again in your life. That's why Mile-End (my old neighborhood) and Plateau are so expensive: you have everything more or less near, so you save a lot of time and money in public transport if you have a bike.
The price is right: once again, Montréal is an expensive city. Rent is so outrageous if you live in a good area, it's impossible to think about save money and buy a house. Most of the people I know can't save money at all, they live in a small apartment, no forniture, that's it.
I'm the passenger, I ride and I ride: Since I came to Montréal, most of my friends moved or are moving to another city. My friends start to spread all over the world, so our big group shrinked a lot since last year. A few friends came to Alma and, even if I didn't have a Welcome Party as I had in Montréal, I think I'm gonna have another solid group really soon here.
So, this are the big reasons I decided to move. I'm not bashing Montréal, I love the city, I love to live there, but as everything, it has a good and a bad side. This is just for people who think living in Montréal is the most amazing-fucking-bad-ass-thing in the world (ok, sometimes it is), but it's mainly a city with the great things and problems all the cities have. Another time, there's my personal experience - I want to live the Québec fully and completely. I want to be part of the "experience québecois" and I really think the cultural path it's not just montréal-centric. It goes through the forests, food, rivers, beaches, snow season, autochtone culture, parcs, roads, Language and everything around in the Province of Québec.
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