On Moving to Canda

     I'm obsessed with Canada. It's no secret. I'm in love with the hockey, the friendly people, the landscape, and the aspects of their socialist system are just an added benefit for me.
     Ever since visiting Vancouver my freshman year, I fell in love with the city and started to think about moving to Canada after graduation. While I did visit Niagara Falls (on the Ontario side) when I was about four years old, I mostly remember being amazed by the falls and crying in a tall building because I was terrified of falling.

Mountain view from downtown Vancouver (Elizabeth Doll)

     A lot has changed since then; during a Torch conference in Seattle, two friends and I made the drive to Vancouver to go to a concert that was 21+ in the U.S., but only 19+ in British Columbia. I was still a few weeks shy of turning 19, so I took to the streets of Vancouver and walked around for hours while Martin and Kate were in the venue. While this might've seemed very gutsy for someone that was walking alone at night in a city they've never been to before, I felt very safe and there were a lot of other people out as well. I got to see Rogers Arena, home of the Canucks, as well as the Vancouver Art Gallery and many shops downtown.  The city was incredible and even though I just saw a few parts of it, I fell in love. That night, we couch surfed at a home outside of the city. Even though we got in late and left fairly early in the morning, the owner of the house pointed us in the direction of a great breakfast diner. She apologetically told us that she had work that morning, otherwise she would have given us a tour of the city. As is, I felt like she was a great host and gave me a really positive view of the city. Later on, we walked around the Gastown District downtown. 

     Now, I'm halfway through my last real semester at Wittenberg and next semester I'll be teaching Spanish to high schoolers at Shawnee High School. Before student teaching, the Education Department has various meetings to talk about licensure and testing and basically getting ready for life after graduation. At one of these meetings, I found out that my Ohio licensure is reciprocal with British Columbia! So now I'm working out the details and looking up jobs and legal forms, but if all goes well, this time next year, I'll be in Canada, living out the dream.

Vancouver at night (Elizabeth Doll)