Thenewcomer started blogging in June 2008, and three years onward, she has had the privilege of visiting various Canadian cities.
Fair enough, I stayed in these cities at most a week, and on some occasions, such as my recent sojourn in Charlottetown, only half a day. How can you meaningfully compare such flying visits with the town where you live, where you know, and which knows you? Where almost everytime you go shopping or go to the park, you bump into somebody you know, a friendly face? Where you have built up memories from this restaurant, and that one, and that street, and that building?
Still they say first impressions are the lasting ones, and it is inevitable that the cities I visited made left some trace on me. And in all honesty, I can say that in each case, I felt truly glad I lived in Halifax, and my decision, made so many years ago, to apply to Dalhousie University based on the random comment of a passing acquaintance (“Oh- but you must apply to Dalhousie. Halifax is so beautiful.”) was right.
Other Canadian Cities According to Thenewcomer:
Montreal – Toronto – Vancouver: Too damn big. Who wants to spend hours and hour on a commute each day? And have their day totally screwed if they miss the last train downtown or whatever? Condo prices too high. People too shove-y. Vancouver too damn far. Who can fly another 8 hours after they arrive in Canada to reach it? Seriously, who does that?
Edmonton: No historic feeling or character. Streets have no names- you say: I live on 3567 “ave”. Downtown nights feel insecure, with oil-rig men shouting at passers-by. Too flat. Too blah.
Charlottetown: People have crazy-eyes. Too insular. It’s an island, after all. They make you pay $43.25 when you want to leave it.
Sydney and Antigonish, small town Nova Scotia: Too damn small. Everything closes at ten o’clock. Sydney is also very ugly and apparantly poisonous- ironic when you consider it the gateway to one the most beautiful scenic trails in the world.
So there you have it. Halifax rocks.
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I loved this post, it made me laugh all the way over here in London (UK, not ON). I moved from Vancouver to here three years ago and I feel almost the same about London as you do about Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. And, yes, indeed to the further 8 hours onto Vancouver, it’s absolutely brutal. Makes visiting friends very hard.
Love your blog–thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you!