Small city girl living in the big city

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I’m Prince George born and raised, and I freaking love my hometown. So naturally, when I moved down to Vancouver in September, I was terrified about literally everything. Except the raccoons. I was excited to see the raccoons.

https://twitter.com/sylviamasich/status/1428863347148001286?s=20

Now, I’m not one of those people who hasn’t left BC before. I’ve spent a good chunk of my life away from home. I travelled a lot with my family, I lived in Germany for a few months when I was 16, moved out of my parents’ house for the majority of 2021… So why was I SO scared to leave my hometown?

Well first, I love Prince George. A lot of people look at me strangely when I say that, but the wilderness, landscape, people, and sunsets just make it a great place to call home.

Second, a little backstory about me. My family is really well known in PG. Like they renamed the stadium after my grandpa to honour all of the things he’s down for the city well known. And then I was the CKPG FunChaser for two years with Pattison Media, so like everyone got to know me and I got to know everyone?

And then poof. I was gone. I was no longer in my hometown. I headed south on HWY 97 and didn’t look back.

So having to say goodbye to EVERYONE was tough. And entering the big city was terrifying. Prince George is comfortable. From my parents’ house, I can get to Superstore and Costco in 3 minutes, downtown in 7, my friends’ houses in 5, and the rink in 10. Everything is just at the edge of my fingertips. And it doesn’t rain cats and dogs all the damn time.

Really tough.

But man Vancouver, you were better than I expected. Except the weather. That sucks.

Serious question. How do people survive with all of the train? Please help a girl out, it is slowly killing me.

When people ask me how I like it down here, I tell them I love it (which is true, why would I lie). It’s so much better than I expected and the transit down here is amazing.

That is usually followed by a funny look because most people who ask me who I like it down here don’t use transit, so THEY don’t even understand how mind blowingly good their transit system is.

Seriously. It is so good. I am so glad I did not bring my car down here.

For example. If I wanted to get somewhere from BCIT, a bus comes by like every 6 minutes that’ll lead me to a Skytrain system and the Skytrain just takes me anywhere. And comes every 2 minutes. It is truly the best of both worlds.

The busses back home usually run every hour, are usually late, and will sometimes completely miss your street and make you late for school. Not like that happened to me once in grade 8…

And we don’t have a Skytrain…

Also. I’m able to transit out to the Valley and back in a day. If I wanted to bus from Prince George to Vanderhoof and back, I would leave on the Monday, and wouldn’t be able to get back until Friday via bus. Ridiculous, right? I know. That’s why I have to tell everyone how great transit it down here.

And I only know this because my roommate and I went to Rocko’s Diner in Mission and took transit the whole way there.

Even though I was completely terrified to come down here, I told myself you need to embrace it all and take it all in. Don’t be scared to try something new, and say yes to as many opportunities as you can, because that is how you’re going to make amazing memories and new friends. Other people also told me to do that so that they could relive their youth and time at BCIT through me. Totally not strange at all…

But, that is exactly what I have been doing.

The nice thing is that I live on campus, so I have made countless friends with other people living on campus, and with my classmates who are on campus.

And we have done A LOT.

We have gone to the Rec Room numerous times, I’ve gone to 4 BC Lions games (they only won once :/), a Canucks game, and numerous different bars and restaurants. We are also going through all the Marvel movies which has been a blast. I don’t think I would have ever done that back home.

Any chance I get to check something new out, I take it. Because why not? You only live once and you’re only 20 once. Might as well make the best of it.

Plus I never got to experience 19 like people do because of the pandemic, so I have an entire year to make up for!

So what are some things I like about Vancouver?

  • The transit obviously
  • The Skytrain
  • All of the concerts, and things you can do throughout the week
  • The large variety of restaurants. I have a huge list of local restaurants to check out!
  • The skyline. So many tall pretty buildings!
  • Downtown. I love the vibe while walking down there.
  • When it is sunny, the mountains are stunning on the water is beautiful blue. But it’s rarely sunny so I never see them.

It is so different from home and to what I’m used to, but I love it. I needed the change of scenery and am glad I made it down here.

Do I want to stay here forever? Probably not. But you never know. 10 years from now, I could be a millionaire and be able to afford a one bedroom condo. But in all seriousness, I am really enjoying my time down here. There are so many things to do every night, lots of places to explore, and it’s forcing me to stop out of comfort zone.

So Vancouver, from this Prince George lover, you’re not that bad and thanks for having me.

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