Sephiroth

Been here about a month now so I thought I'd do a quick snap review on my judgements so far.

Tons of brown people
Toronto is a very multi cultural city. If the prospect of lots of minorities bother you then you may want to rethink it. I live in China town and quite like it. I'm from London so same shit different bucket really but I imagine if you're from some outback place up north it may be a bit of a culture shock.

\
There's tons of stuff to do. It's a pretty cool city. At the weekend something i cool i alway going on. I got to see ****ed Up in Dundas square for free the other week which was pretty sweet. There's tons of people to party with in TO too. That's where the good points stop. After that it mostly looks the same, the people are shite. I met a girl I'm seeing from Barrie (which is also a bit of a shithole) and she' one crazy broad. I'll see how it goes. Shes amazingly good looking (hence the putting up with crazy). I'm pretty much just here to shag everything though.

Torontonians are arseholes
That's a fair generaliation yet so far I've met more canadians I liked travelling in Asia than I have in Toronto. You have to remember there isn't an arsehole drain. For instance you could live in one of the nice pockets around London with all the arseholes/attitudes going off to London central. In New Zealand you have a nice asshole drain with Washington so Auckland is pretty cool. I'm sure my view will change when I start work next week but so far it seems everyones got an attitude. It seems like a very New York attitude here though...despite not being New York.

Toronto is a bit scummy/dirty
It's quite a dirty city. This city has by far, more crazies than any place I've been. So far I've walked up University Avenue (between queen and dundas) and some black guy was jerking off right there on a bench not 30 feet from the entrance to an office skyscraper. I watched another guy fly kick a cyclist off his bike and when the cyclist got up bemused the fella yelled out "this isn't montreal bitch". Another time I saw a dude walking down Spadina then spazz out and start punching the **** out of a tree. Don't get me wrong theres crazies everywhere and I have a fair few stories of crazies in London but I've been here 20 days and seen that already.

Canada really is same shit different bucket
(To me this is a non issue as I expected it but can imagine what some people back home dream it to be)
Everyones got the same issues here. Everyone my age (early 20s) are all dealing with exactly the same shit back home so if you move here hoping your teenager won't self harm/get into drug/be a whore or shag loads of girls then you'll be sorely mistaken as all that shit goes on here except pot is WAY more acceptable over here. It's more common to be a total life style thing and people back home that wouldn't smoke pot do at parties over here. To the point you can be at a gig smoking a joint and no one bats an eyelid whereas if you're drinking (but aren't allowed to in that area) you can be sure bouncers will pick up on it.

London V Toronto
You'd have to be a mug to pick Toronto over London. London beats it in terms of the people are far better, far nicer parks, more culture, more things to do. However
at the moment Torognto is better for me. I picked up a 60k job here by pure luck (was on 25 at home) meaning in a years time I can return home (or go to Oz, or work in America) and net a 35-40k job doing the same thing. I need that years experience before I can **** the company off though. Also my rent is 500$ here so I'm goin to be able to save a ton.
I find myself wishing people would walk faster so I'm having to adjust to a slower pace of life.

Job hunting sucks
Job hunting here sucks the fat one. I got lucky but work in a fast paced industry and had been applying for jobs 3 month prior to arriving and when I did arrive I applied to over 400 jobs (professional work not casual). A friend of mine who been at a coffee shop for 6 months tell me she didn't hear back from the one job she applied for. I shook my head. 400 applications and I had 5 interview....
It sucks balls here I wonder what it's like in Vancouver where there aren't very many industries.

It's ok so far
It's cool for me cos I'm just doing bunac so it literally cost me £200 for one way flight and 150 or so my visa. No way would I pay more than that to move to Canada. And the weather has been fantatic since I arrived. If the weather was snowing every day for 4 months I'm unsure how I'll react. Probably just save cash up with plan to get the **** out of this city when the weather gets nicer. Whether that's another city in Canada or back to a european country or Oz, or NZ I'm not sure yet. Hope this review gives any romantics some perspective.

All I can think of to some up Toronto so far. Don't get me wrong I'm having an amazing time and met some proper fun people but in reviews you tend to hear more of the negatives (as the positives get taken as a given I guess)

iaink

Hey, your new, you have opinions, I get it.

But I dont want to waste my time editing your posts, so stick to the rules regarding posting style, language, swearing etc, and I wont have to delete all you hard work next time.

Sephiroth

You don't want to waste your time editing my posts but you'll post 23,000 time on an internet forum.

Seem to me pal like I'm doing you a favour and offering you a chance to occupy your time.

Oakvillian

shall we open a book on the shortest lifespan for a BE member?

iaink

Whatever,Im not paid to mod here, Ive taken a lot out of this forum, so now I give some back. But Im human, Im having a crappy day, and you arent making it any better.

If youve come here to start an argument youve picked the wrong time and place. Stick to the rules and youll be fine. I suspect some posters here are kindred spirits given your appraisal of Toronto. Most people dont recognise it for what it is that quickly

Sephiroth

I'm just tugging your chain fella. Bit of a mischevious chap me and couldn't reist trolling ya

Yeah I'll stick to the rules from now

xxdb

LOL that was pretty frank.

I find myself chuckling a little because although the OP is a bit over the top I can't help but agree with many of the observations in general from when I was living in Toronto in the 90s.

One thing I'll throw into the fire is that Torontonians love to compare themselves to New York and think they are the New Yorkers of Canada.

New Yorks are arrogant, rude, obnoxious, impatient, in-your-face AND friendly and funny.

Torontonians are the same as New Yorkers without being friendly and funny.

iaink

Better to vent here than when you start work next week I suppose. Unless you dont like the job of course. Canadians dont generally like people that point out there more obvious character flaws. My daughter is 5 and she no longer refers to people a brown or beige by the way...

scotspark

"this isn't montreal bitch"

xxdb

In Toronto, they don't like you pointing out *anything* that's wrong with Canada. The OP is going to have a "wonderful" time here LOL.

In Alberta they're more tolerant of criticism *as long as* you first say, "You know I thought things would be better here, because back home in Glasgow, e.g. my doctor was a nightmare arrogant bastard but here my doctor is a nightmare arrogant bastard."

That'll more likely get you a "I know, right?" rather than a "If you don't like it, don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out, idiot."

Oh boy, is the OP going to enjoy T.O.

I can hardly wait to hear more of the "episodes of seph".
(Goes to fetch popcorn).

iaink

Well, the silver lining is there are very few pure bred canadians in Toronto to upset I suppose.

I hope his girlfriend doesnt ever read that post...

JamesM

My observations of Toronto were the same at the same point as the OP.

I think the perception of Toronto shift's over a year as you meet more people and experience the seasons.

If you don't hang with the Canadian's at their BBQ's or cottages then your experience will be "same shit different bucket" as with any other type of city living.

The attitude in Toronto doesn't come close to New York. And by New York- I mean Manhatten. New York is a different place on any of the other islands.

Auld Yin

Purebred Canadians or not, if he takes his mouth and attitude into too many Toronto bars he will get good and properly sorted out.

Sephiroth

Forgot to say I did go to cottage country (about an hour up past Barrie) and it really was beautiful. Lakes to swim in, getting smahed on the decking and rocking out with my **** out cos there's noone about for miles and miles. Has to be my favourite part of Canada so far. However I was reviewing Toronto.
But thanks I'll take it on board and try to get out the city a bit more, once i get driving I'm going to see a bit more of Ontario - Oshawa and Ottawa look quite nice and I love camping as well. Camping in England isn't the same as here there's that prospect of being killed by a bear that just adds an edge.

Yeah XXDB, I firmly believe in the "when in Rome" principle. To native Canadians I give nothing but praise of their country and toa be honest I don't have any major problems with Canada. I'm having a great time in Toronto and realistically how I think of Toronto is pretty much how my expectations matched up. As I said in my review I'm having a great time but in reviews, generally, they lean to a more negative side as the good stuff just gets taken as "expected", like.

& IainK, I bladdy hope she doesn't read this as well but it's cool, I got this on lockdown like a ninja

Edit: @Auld Yin
Yeah I get warned about it a lot but I get told I could charm the pants off a nun which gets me out of a lot of s***.

@All
Oh yeah the beach in Toronto is also pretty cool and it's nice to be able to pay 3 bucks to get to and back from a beach. The summers so far has been really good here too - mostly 22-28 degrees and sunny all day long. Except today.

xxdb

Wow, it must have got a lot worse than when I was there Auld Yin because I reckon I saw maybe two bar fights in the whole time I was there (between 1994 and 2001 and was out drinking every weekend).