Originally Posted by ireland2canada

That's exactly how I would sum it up.

From a tourist perspective, it's a reasonable place to visit, especially if you are into outdoors activities. I liked Stanley Park, Gastown and the little ferries. Kits bored me to death, I had imagined a Vancouver version of The Beach in Toronto. UBC is so far removed from anything I don't know how the students function! The natural setting is very nice but is marred by the ugliness of the city itself. It is a shame to have a wonderful view ruined by some buildings that would not look out of place in Soviet Russia. I liked Capilano Bridge and the surrounding area. It was fun to be on boats. It's not very busy so being on the trains and buses was pleasant and it seems quite safe, we wandered the DTES without being traumatised.

From an immigrant perspective, IMO, it's a no go. I struggle to see how Vancouver is an aspirational place to live for people from the UK. It is isolated globally, that's one long flight to Europe. Housing costs (for the city proper) are appalling value for money. Rental costs did not seem excessive however, I would prefer to choose whether I rent or buy, not to have that decision made for me. Given the relatively small population, I have to wonder how the job market is?

The weather sucks. While we shivered and ducked for cover, Ontario basked in hot sunshine. I came to the non-scientific conclusion that people who move to Vancouver must be from places that are ugly, the natural setting seems to be the best feature of the city. I come from somewhere reasonably pretty, with a daily commute that took in unspoiled greenery on one side and a Lough on the other. So, while I thought Vancouver looked nice, I'm afraid that doesn't cut it. I would want a serious hike in income to persuade me to move there. Even then, I would be very sad to have to carry around an umbrella once again.

Granted a few days is not a lengthy visit, however, it is enough to form an impression of the place and I am not compelled to return to the city itself. I'm glad to have seen it, but for the cost of flights and time spent getting there I could have gone back home. The upshot of the trip was Seattle, a bustling, fun kind of place with excellent Alaskan cod burgers.

Originally Posted by Souvy

To follow on from that, I first visited Vancouver in the mid-1990s. Something about the place struck me and it strikes me every time I go back. I was last there late last year, for a meeting. The guy I was talking with is a Vancouverite by origin but lived in the US for years. He described Vancouverites as "smug". I used "up themselves" but we were essentially reading from the same script.

Originally Posted by shhhh

the cosmopoliton population

Originally Posted by dbd33

In Vancouver? That Vancouver in British Columbia? I haven't been anywhere so white in years.

Originally Posted by JonboyE

Don't get out much?

Originally Posted by JonboyE

Don't get out much?

Originally Posted by shhhh

I'm not entirely sure it takes all that much longer to fly to Europe from Toronto than Vancouver. You may also notice the closer proximity to China, Japan, US west coast, etc, and the cosmopoliton population, so I'm not entirely sure how isolated globally applies
I recall someone from Ontario describing the weather there as bone chilling cold in the winter and hot like an armpit in the summer - I think I'll live with the rain

By the way, where/what is Guelph - must be good?
(That kind of made me feel smug )

Originally Posted by Kiwilass

Um, yeah. That's just weird.

Originally Posted by JonboyE

Standard dbd33 style: post a load of bollocks and see how many people you can wind up by defending the indefensible.

Originally Posted by ireland2canada

Are you upset about the 'cosmopolitan' comments? Perhaps a comparison with Toronto is unfair but it's the best I have, I found Vancouver to be much less mixed. I noticed very few black people, for example. I accept that I was not really looking however, in hindsight, I don't believe that I saw many. Are there different ethnic neighbourhoods in Vancouver, a concentration of Somali people (for example) in one place that we probably missed? I'm genuinely curious.

Originally Posted by Kiwilass

I find it weird that, in posts like this, the only people who count as non-homogenous are black.

That's weird.

And yes, there aren't a lot of black people in Van -that's true. But there are lots of Asia-Pacific people, with all their different languages and cultures and stuff. Cos, like, Vancouver is a pacific city, not an Atlantic one. But I guess they don't count? I dunno. It's weird.

Originally Posted by dbd33

I suppose we'd just come from Seattle, Seattle has a genuinely mixed population so Vancouver seemed even less diverse than it otherwise would. Still, Vancouver has whites and Asians but most places in North America have whites and Asians. Toronto has other groups too. It just doesn't seem diverse to have a city with, for example, few visible black or Arab people.

Originally Posted by JonboyE

I think that describing the student population of UBC as homogeneous is willful perverseness at its finest.