My travels in Canada lasted for only 3 months but I packed a ton of fun and great learning experiences. I learned a lot about Canada and Canadian culture. I spent most of by time in the East and plan returning to see some of the unique things I didn’t have time to see such as Bay of Fundy and Moncton Hill. I ran into culture shock on many occasions when travelling to Montreal and even living in Toronto. I was able to meet new friends as well in the travel realm that I have still keep in touch with on a day to day basis.
Courtyard when you enter the apartment
Now I’m not going to lie to you and tell that I was able to score this apartment on the internet or through a magic trick, I actually got lucky. I have a few friends in Toronto and they were in the process of moving and had the apartment for sale. So I was able to move in and take care of the place while they were trying to sell the place. I used Rogers 3.5g mobile broadband for internet and frequent visits to the local Starbucks for fuel where I learned some conversational Persian.
Living Room of the apartment
The place was incredible: two bedroom, one bath, A/C (requirement in my book), and about 5 minutes away from the center of the city. I could walk to Dundas Square (the Toronto version of Times Square). I was 15 minutes from the main train station to get around Canada easily and less than 10 from main transit lines and the subway. My favorite place? The Lebanese food and Poutine right next to the crib!
Full kitchen & Washer and Dryer
Toronto is considered the most diverse city in the world with approximately 50% of the population being from another country. The largest of these foreigners are Chinese and Indian. I once was a poker game where an Indian, Hungarian, 2 Chinese, and myself were present.
My office 🙂
Pull out couch for those moochers who come and visit! Canada is very similar to the United States when it comes to housing so you can find cheap places on Craigslist and even student dorms where you can sublease rooms for less than $400 a month. Toronto is a great destination for anyone going to Canada.
That’s a great deal and can’t beat the location! You touched on two of the things I miss about Toronto, the multiculturalism and the variety of food, it is a pretty unique city.
I agree Catia.. thats one of the things I really loved about the city. You know in Montreal I ran into an Asian women listening to gangster reggae and speaking French! wtf? lol I got culture shock everywhere I went
Catia, you’ve missed the multiculturalism in Canada ? Have you really been to Canada ?
I’ve been living for a year in Vancouver and believe me finding a decent room to sublet for 400$ is just impossible, i’ve ear Toronto is even more expensive than Vancouver so just forget about subleasing a room for 400$ at least from less than 45min of metro/skyrain from downtown.
By decent room i just mean of a room big enough to put a one person bed (like 3-4 squared meters), i’m not talking about fancy room, i’m far from that.