Novocastrian

Your mate's experience mirrors my own (especially back when I was your mate's age). I exclude the part about tattoo diversions.

flyboy74

ditto... i work very near there (in a similar field), and live out near dundas (west of hamilton)... the commute is actually not that unpleasant (anywhere between 60 and 90 minutes door to door depending on how much money i feel like throwing at it and the time of day). we're... perhaps 5 minutes drive from some fabulous open space, but close enough to civilisation that we have solid internet connections (which means that i can also get work done from home when needs be). the hours can be a little nuts though, and toronto isn't like many of the other canadian universities, in my experience, so i'd recommend making sure that you at least live somewhere with a very reliable internet service... feel free to pm if you want more info!

dbd33

As a general rule, that means along a highway; QEW, 401, similar. North of 89 there's quality internet along the 400 but dick all if you go east or west more than a few miles. Note that any service with "rural" in the name isn't good enough.

The same is true, though to a lesser degree, of mobile phone service; Erin and Dundalk, by way of examples, are poorly served.