colchar

I don't understand how they can do that when the three year residency thing is down to the EU.

I have sat in meeting with Jack McConnell in which the issue was discussed (the main issue was getting people of Scots descent to move back). I mentioned that myself, and a few others in the room, were the poster children for their scheme as we were all born to Scottish parents and therefore had British citizenship and that many of us had lived in Scotland at various points in our lives so would integrate perfectly were we to move back there. I mentioned that I would have loved to have done my PhD in Scotland but that the international fees prevented that (as did the fact that they do not fund PhD students in the same way as Canadian schools do). I suggested that, if they wanted people like me to move back, they should come up with a scheme that exempted us from international fees as it was highly likely that students like myself would do our degrees in Scotland and then stay there permanently. McConnell replied that he would love to be able to do that but that the three year period before one qualified for home fees was an EU regulation that they simply couldn't do anything about.

If Scotland couldn't get around that, how can France? or is this just another case of the British bowing to everything the EU says while other countries, such as France and Germany, just do as they please?





See above.

EllenLouise04

Hi! Yes that was what I was hoping to do if I were to take a gap year, work in the UK and then work in France and see a bit of Europe
Thanks!

orly

Somewhat agree. I have a union flag but it is stored away rather than flown or otherwise displayed. I essentially no longer watch UK TV shows besides a few that happen to make their way on to the Canadian version of Netflix. I don't get people to send me over boxes of UK food or drink. I occasionally buy some in the shops if they have it here. Looks like my favourite Irn Bru will be removed though lol.

I keep an eye on the footy and rugby back home but don't really follow it that closely to be honest. I much prefer giving myself a heart attack every other evening watching the Maple Leafs.

I really do have to get back into ice skating though. Oddly, I did a lot more of it back in the UK than I do in Canada.

izzi81

The other problem with a British bubble is its not necessarily accurate! It's probably a 'best of Britain' bubble, rather than reality. Which I suppose is Ok if you're happy to live in Canada in that, but not the best as a basis for what the UK might be like to live in.

EllenLouise04

Haha! That's good!

I am not trying to be British or promote it. It's just preference, I prefer British dramas to American and like the culture better back home (food, humour etc).

I would love to Canadianize myself and I have tried by skating, following hockey etc but I just can't seem to embrace the lifestyle and the cold here lol.

I completely agree, I know UK isn't brilliant. No matter where you live there will always be pros and cons.

Edo

Sorry, cant offer you much advice other than just try it our for the next few years. The Canadian university educations isnt so bad and the UK isnt what it used to be anymore.

However, I am really interested to know how do you manage the below here?:

The apps for iPlayer, ITV and Channel 4 just dont seem to work on this side of the Atlantic.

EllenLouise04

Hi! Thanks!
My Dad actually has a business that enables you to stream BBC, ITV and other programs on your television.
Here is the website:
http://www.netglobaltv.com/

bats

There's more to Canada than hockey and skating

I think you missed my point, constant links and comparisons to the UK are just a recipe for discontent. I know because i used to do it, then I realised that it was a case of "suck it up Buttercup". I live here, this is my life for now, and to use a cliche, I will make the best of it and stop harping on how how much better things were/are in England. You don't have to actively Canadianise yourself, i think that's a mistake as by doing that you are still thinking of yourself as an outsider..

Take control, you live here, your recent education is here, build on that.

Do you have ctizenship yet? Make sure you get that sorted out.

dbd33

Do go on ...

dbd33

colchar, is your PhD in a scientific subject, something very mathematical?

bats

Doughnuts?

I meant that one doesn't have to be beer swilling, hockey playing, plaid shirted, bear hunting, atv driving, to enjoy life here. Once you give up hankering for the old country and trying to fit in then it works. Well it did for me.

dbd33

Well, no. One can be happy say gardening, painting or walking the dog but then being in Canada is incidental. I think that engaging with the people in Canada is a recipe for homesickness, if you watch the television you're going to see that it's lame, if you turn on the radio you're going to have to go to wikipedia to find out who the popular bands of the (19) 80s were, if you go to a food court or a plastic paddy bar you're going to miss curry and proper pubs. It seems to me that the people who move successfully to Canada either ignore the fact that they're there or they do embrace plaid wearing, recreational seal clubbing and all the rest of it.

6monthshere6monthsthere

Not going to go through the whole thing..

but

you are old enough to travel, you should def go to the uk

one of two things will probably happen

1. It is clear for you that you want to return to the uk

2. You realise the memory of all the good things slowly ommitted some of the less than perfect and actually its ok to visit but is not some amazing place that you have built up for years in your memory.

A Summer in the UK, a year of work experience in the UK post High School.. then you get to choose

If you are not designed to be somewhere do not be there, you only live once

bats

Maybe I ignore that I am here but stopping railing against it. I've met like minded people through art, they tend to be lefty hippies, and feel quite content these days. I think the trickk for me was to stop trying so hard to fit in and now I sort of do in what they see as an eccentric English way.

I really do think that the OP should stay in Canada for her degree. Travel afterwards.

dbd33

I don't think that matters so much as that she move away from her parents to go to university.