Well, last night I got drunk and emailed three of my best friends in Toronto, asking to impose on their hospitality at the end of the month. The plan is to go scout out apartments for June. I don’t know if Toronto is my ideal city, but I know people there and there are certainly more employment opportunities than there are here—Windsor, ON; an automotive city, across the bridge from Detroit, which boasts, last I checked, a 14% unemployment rate.
Of course, Windsor isn’t without its charm: my mom and dad are here, as are friends—but less and less, as people move away for the same reasons that are prompting me to leave.
The thing is, I don’t know if big city life suits me; somehow or other I’d rather live in an old house with a rusty kettle, worn floors, and an overgrown backyard with a chicken coop. I’m not exactly a fast-paced city girl; I want to be able to sit on the back porch, drink wine, and watch squirrels hop around. Can I find this in Toronto? And can I afford it if I do? If I go, I imagine I’ll end up either in a basement apartment or, possibly, with a roommate in a 2 bedroom.
I’ve also thought about Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary. Beautiful cities, but ones wherein I know almost no one, and that’s daunting. I’m not the most extroverted person—I mean, I get by alright and manage to meet new people now and again, but I’m a little quiet, and how horrible to move to a new city and have no one to meet for coffee or have over for dinner. And then, they’re not exactly cheap places to live either.
Where to live is the first decision, but how to make it. I’m stumped.
