"How are ya there bud?": a realistic rundown of 6 weeks in a new country

Linkedin-Merchant (definition #10)

NOUN

1. Someone who thinks moving to a new country or going travelling is a substitute for having a personality. They will love to tell you about it at any chance they get, no matter how little anyone cares. It will be brought up incessantly at job interviews, first-dates, the pub and, of course, on Linkedin. They often have a superiority complex about where they chose to go and what they chose to do.

• This week's example is the entire upcoming blog post.

Dear Network,

Away from our usual subject matters, I wanted to take a second to talk about my favourite subject. Myself...

I have reached the half way point of my Canadian effort at a quarter life crisis and I have to say, it now feels like one of the best decisions I have ever made. I absolutely love Montreal, have met some great people and have settled into work nicely.

As mentioned in the definition, I am quietly harbouring a major superiority complex over the fact that I chose to do something different to the "typical" post graduation trips to destinations such as Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Bali etc. so you'll have to excuse the self-indulgence this week. At least its a break from pessimistic cynicism. I want to take you through my experience so far and talk about the highs, the lows, the learning curves and the "oh s***" moments and hopefully it'll be somewhat entertaining and you might consider something similar (or not).

Back to the usual next week...

"Why Montréal?"

"Where are you headed again, Adam?"

"Montréal"

"Oh cool, who are you going with?"

"No one, I'm going by myself."

"What are you gonna do out there for work?"

"Not sure yet really"

"And do you know anyone out there?

"No one at all"

"Oh right..."

Above is an account of a conversation I had around 40 times before leaving for Canada and at least another 20 in my first two weeks after arriving and it's pretty much entirely accurate. I did have a very loose plan that I was going to work part time to cover my rent and allow me to live once my Tesco money ran out but aside from that, it was really just going straight in and see what happened. To use the technical term, f*** around and find out.

I wish I could give you a deeply satisfying answer as to why I chose Canada and Montreal that could inspire and enchant. Unfortunately for you, I can't. I had always wanted to see this side of Canada having visited the Rockies, Vancouver and Toronto in 2006 and, as a French speaking province, Quebec's largest city seemed like the best way to dress this up as somewhat productive (always thinking like a merchant). It was also shown to be cheaper to live in than Toronto or Vancouver and is close to Quebec City, an historical port that I have wanted to visit since studying A-Level history.

There was definitely an attraction to going somewhere with a couple of friends and I can see why people do it, it's a daunting experience to land in a new country with no prior contacts whatsoever. However, despite being intimidating, I can say that it really pushed me to be proactive in making friends and connections where I could. I headed to as many open mic sessions as possible and was shocked at how friendly everyone was. It feels uniquely Canadian that almost anyone sat next to you is more than willing to strike up a conversation and help out a newcomer. Not only had I met plenty of people and even got some leads on some jobs (including Hurley's) just by going in and having a chat, I actually stumbled across Billy, another recent grad from the UK and we have been friends ever since!

All this being said, I want to keep true to the title and the word "realistic" and avoid glossing over things to make all seem ideal and easy. Speaking of Hurley's, finding a job didn't take that long but again, I had to be proactive. The cost of living out here was much higher than I had expected and not finding one soon would have meant going home. I dropped my CV into endless bars and restaurants and spent my mornings on Indeed and Linkedin like the true LM that I am and received very few responses. My CV does not contain a huge amount of relevant experience and it seems that with jobs like this, catching the right person at the right time is absolutely critical and this is the lucky break I caught with Hurleys. I think that unfortunately, like with most jobs, it's a numbers game but it has worked out well overall.

There's also the matter of just "going" to these places and meeting people. As easy as I can make it sound as I write this, it's important to note that it can feel really tough and the first couple of weeks were very lonely at times. I questioned and second-guessed myself a lot when choosing to go to these events and it can feel really far out of your comfort zone. However it did ultimately pay off and, again, the necessity that came from having no prior connections in Montreal helped me to push the boundaries. I really want to stress though that despite feeling difficult at times, it was never impossible and it should never discourage you from doing something similar, there is a group of people or even just one person out there waiting for you that can completely make your experience.

"I'm sure you've been so busy since you arrived!"

One of the major differences between my experience so far and some of the more typical trips is that my days have not been filled with endless travelling, partying and hostel-hopping. As mentioned before, the cost of living in Canada is high and much more comparable to the UK, US or Australia rather than the more traveller-friendly nations of Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam etc. I have been staying in an Airbnb and paying a similar weekly rent price to what I did in Exeter. Outside of work, my days consist of writing these blogs, meeting friends in the city, playing music and initially checking out all the sights and exploring. Outside of a short trip to Quebec City and my plans to head to Atlantic Canada and Mont Tremblant for a few days at a time, my time in Montréal has been fairly "normal". I was able to sort out my SIN, bank account and library card pretty quickly within the first couple of weeks and getting a job prevented the "excess of freedom" that I have spoken about in a previous post. I have found my regular "haunts" with Turbohaus on Rue Saint-Denis being my major favourite as well as various different coffee shops and restaurants and Parc la Fontaine and Mont Royal being my preferred running spots.

However, I would not change this for the world. Since my time on placement in Paris and Barcelona, I have found that getting embedded into a city and fully immersing yourself is one of the best things you can do. In a major effort not to sound completely pretentious, I will steer clear of the "living like a local" analogies as much as possible but for the life of me I can't think of an alternative. I feel like the relationships I am forming here run deeper than those you establish whilst staying in places for a matter of days/ a week maximum and now after 6 weeks, I can say I feel incredibly settled and would be comfortable with staying much longer term if required. I am not saying for even a second that one approach to travelling is better than the other (I would love to do a more "typical" trip as soon as I can), I am just trying to show that this kind of approach is a valuable alternative that provides a different experience.

The major parallel between the two types of travelling though, as I'm sure many will agree, is the positive impact on your mental health. Despite initial issues with Airbnb and the baltic temperatures over the past two weeks, the most liberating part of this experience for me so far is the lack of responsibility and obligation which I have not felt in years. I would never say that I had a "difficult" life by any stretch of the imagination, but 5 years of deadlines, commitments and future related panic definitely takes its toll and it is so nice to be able to relax completely, my only obligation being to turn up to work on time a few days a week! Sometimes on the days where I feel like I should be doing something, I remember the importance of just taking a breath and unwinding. These blogs have actually been a fantastic way of keeping myself somewhat productive, but not stressed. There's plenty of time for that (40+ working years to be exact).

"Culture Shock"

As a recent graduate of languages, and as an absolute fiend for talking about my love for "communication across cultures" in cover letters, I would be remiss if I didn't briefly talk about some of the points that have come up during my short time here so far.

In general, Canada and North America as a continent are pretty close to the UK in terms of culture, sharing broad Western values and young people's approach to drinking, friendships and relationships is broadly similar to Britain and Europe. This meant that integrating was pretty easy altogether. The major pothole I ran into though, which was actually really embarrassing at the time, was the "tipping culture". There are two established minimum wages in Quebec and if there is an opportunity to earn gratuities the regular minimum wage of $15.25 per hour (£9.03) is reduced to $12.25 (£7.26) per hour. In my experience, earning tips will often allow you to earn more than the standard minimum wage but this is down to the cultural phenomenon in Canada that tipping is not only encouraged, but expected, and with the wage being what it is, rightly so. This also means that if you don't open a tab, you are expected to tip each time you order a drink. You can imagine my embarrassment then, when I had to be told by a bartender that it was customary to leave a tip after I had paid for 3 drinks without leaving one each time. I stammered through some kind of explanation that I was expecting to tip as I left and he was very understanding, but a lesson learnt for sure. Having been on the other side of that transaction now as well, I can say that it does feel particularly insulting when a tip isn't left given the cultural expectation. Lesson learned.

Quebec as a province also provides an interesting case study from a linguistic perspective. I was shocked at how French really is the assumed language of communication by most people in Montreal, outside of the more Anglophone areas of the West Island at least. The government are hellbent on keeping the province as French as possible, creating controversial and divisive policy. They can send the "language police" into establishments to check a multitude of things from signage to the staff's ability to speak French, with non compliance leading to hefty fines. It was a non-negotiable requirement for every job that I applied for that I was able to speak French fluently. This may not seem too crazy and, as a Welshman, the idea of preserving bilingualism in any country or province is something I wholeheartedly support. However, some of these measures seem to go beyond pragmatism. The most ludicrous example I have seen is where the Montréal chain of pubs known as "Ye Olde Orchard" have changed their name to "Maison publique Orchard" in an attempt to comply with Quebec legislation. You can read more about that here: Ye Olde Orchard changes name after OQLF run-in | CTV News. There are also ongoing issues around the fact that English speaking educational institutions are not government funded and tuition fees for students coming from outside Quebec are set to be hiked up. This is particularly contentious in Montreal given that there are at least 5 major universities here including the prestigious McGill and Concordia universities.

You could (and people do) write essay after essay on Quebec language policy and I will definitely look into it more. For now though, I encourage you to look into it yourselves and read up on it from people that actually know what they're talking about. In terms of its impact on my experience, it's been great to hone my French skills and hear the infamous Quebecois accent. All part of the fun.

Takeaways

Again, this is a bit of a different post this week and I don't really have an inspirational message for you. More than anything, I wrote this post to make sense of my time here so far and show a different side to travelling. Overall, I have valued the time immensely and have met some amazing people and have started to feel settled and the experience, despite its challenges, has been overwhelmingly positive. I can honestly say during that my short time here I have been at my happiest and I can't wait to see what the rest has to offer. I also want to thank those who have made the experience so great up to now, and to my parents and brother that have come to visit me! I guess one major takeaway would be to not fear going out on your own and doing something a little different. Just because you don't know anyone else doing it, doesn't mean you shouldn't. Also, you don't need to feel like you have to fill every day to the brim to be "making the most of it".

Next week: the recruitment process.

Have a good weekend, merchants! Hope you managed not to vomit whilst reading this one.

Your favourite LM,

AT

Open mic at Grumpy's bar - the place where I was educated on tipping.