burnse86

Well....what do you know....

Its been 1 whole year since I left london town and moved to the booming city of Calgary...and what a year it's been!

I have to say that I fallen a little in love with Canada, now dont get me wrong London is my home and will always be. I have friends and family there and will move home in the next few years but Canada has that little something...

In the summer I did bike rides along the river, laid in a blow up boat and gently went down the Bow river enjoying the sun, got my first taste of the calgary stampede, saw a rodeo (bull riding...yep....never gonna do that) did white water rafting, hiking and saw my first bears...two baby ones!

As the fall started to settle in, I was worried that the winter would stop me from all the activities I was doing (and losing a bit of body weight in the process....hello toned legs..where have been all my life!) but as soon as the snow started falling and the ski slopes opened, I forgot how much I loved the summer and starting learning to ski...and snowmobiles..and ice climbing...and ice walks, skating....again the list could go on! The winter has got plenty to offer you! oh.....the mountains is a sight that takes you breath away and you can take lots of photos but you can never imagine how stunning the rockies are until you have seen them with your own eyes.

The City of Calgary is one of the best, at night the city is stunning and there is plenty of places to eat, drink and shop. The large shopping centre called Chinook is great for all the ladies out there and the cinema there is pretty good. The people in Calgary are friendly and it's easy to make friends here.
I found a job within two week and got to work in amazing new office near the river. Which is a nice change from my last view which was the loo! The Hockey..how could i forget! Everyone who comes here has to see at least one game and our home team is the Calgary Flames. The game is a great family night out and I see lots of children with there flames shirts enjoying ice cream and cheering on the team. The saddledome is Calgary's entertainment venue and I was lucky enough to see Rihanna there only a few weeks ago.

It does take a while to get used to few things like missing your fav british foods, but Walmart does a british section and there are a few little british shops in town for you to get your little taste of home. Driving on the other side of the road...that one you need to learn fast and km instead of miles....this one took me a while...started driving at 110km and thought wow...I am driving so fast and I am allowed..weeee!

So I can say that Canada is an amazing place and I understand why so many people want to move here. If you in the process of applying to come here and going through the long process of having the LMO approved and thinking is it worth it? My reply to you is...yes it's worth it!!!

So why would you ever want to move home, I hear you say? Well London is my home and call me old fashioned but I love the idea of royal family, having landmarks like big ben and london eye...I even miss the tube and I used to work in Central london! I think we did great in the 2012 Olympics and felt a stab of home sickness when I missed the london marathon this year (erm...watching it on telly..no way I am running that far). So yes, when my visa is up and it's time I move home than I wont look back at Canada with sadness of having to leave but instead I will say..well..that was something!



Emma x

luvmeboys

Nice post Emma, happy for you

MillieF

Good for you Emma. You have seen it, done it....and more importantly - enjoyed it! I can't imagine a better ambassador! I hope you continue to enjoy all that Canada has to offer and have a blast....you wait, one day you'll miss those cold winters when you get home! Happy trails

JBJ14

Great post Emma

Glad you have taken in all that Calgary has to offer, I'm moving there in a few weeks and can't wait to start enjoying all the things you talk about. I would love to ice skate, can't seem to get the hang of it as my ankles bend in and the blades head out . But hopefully will master it with my kids once we're there!

Will we stay in Calgary forever, who knows, but it's great to read a positive post like that to get me more excited for our upcoming adventure!

Wayne

januarymix

Great post and good tidings Emma.

Cheers.

rugbymum

Great post, touched my heart. It's been an adventure here (2 yrs 9 months so far) but it will never be home for me either!

Another UK Emma x.

Animal

I read your post and it reminded me of a saying that seemed to fit perfectly.

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

Piff Poff

Animal, I like that

Emma fab post.