to each their own

I don’t agree with much in your post, and tbh a lot of it sounds made up (particularly the warm beer) but I do agree with this. For some people Canada will have everything they want. For most Europeans I think they will find it will be lacking. The key is to know what it is and what it isn’t.

Some will read my description and say “yeah I don’t care about any of that” and will be happy with what it offers. If you want lots of land, don’t mind bears and mosquitos, don’t mind snow and lots of riving, Canada is a place where you can get that. For me I’m not interested in hunting, fishing, sledding, homesteading, etc and Canada doesn’t offer much else.

I came to Canada uninformed about the downsides and that was a mistake. Others may like it and that’s their prerogative.

Sorry man I’m not going to dox my address fingerprint with specifics. Let’s just say I went from east to west with stops in the major cities. I’ve seen enough to know it’s the same ugly bullshit everywhere.

TBH a lot of this stuff I think requires living here for a long time to even become aware of. I didn’t feel homesick until I’d lived here for 4 years. That was when I started to realise that for a European you have SO many boxes Canada can’t check. The abundance of good food, the variety of scenery, the urban landscape, the endless list of things to see and do, the social life, affordable travel, the culture, the history… That realisation might come sooner or later but for most it will come.

Canada is basically the same 10 house styles in the same suburbs from the 80s, the same roads everywhere, the same strip malls, the same junkie-infested half abandoned “downtown”. If you want to go out to eat your options are pizza, burgers, Mexican, and steak, all of which mediocre. Nowhere does a good sandwich. Nowhere even sells good bread. Fruit and vegetables taste of nothing. There are basically no bakeries. You can’t really walk anywhere, everything is driving distance. People think there’s nothing else to life than working and hockey.

There are places you can live that tick SOME of the boxes, but nowhere near enough to outweigh the often enormous downsides. You’ll end up coming to the same conclusion over and over; there’s no place like home.

I love Spain but Spanish banks are basically a legalised shakedown. I’m guessing you’re with Santander, certainly sounds like them.

Personally I’d ask them to waive the fees, but if they aren’t feeling generous I’d just pay them and get the closure in writing. It’s worth it to get them off your back. They WILL keep stacking fees otherwise, then when it’s finally become a large sum of money they’ll start chasing you internationally through local courts. Your only reprieve will be pointing to any EU law that says they’re not supposed to do that, but it will be a massive headache.

I hope that one day Brussels will force them to clean up their act.

Most Eastern and Central European countries have more approachable women than the west, because flirting is still part of normal romance there. If you’re funny, hygienic, tasteful, and flattering, but not creepy or pushy, you will score some dates (and some respectful rejections). You’ll find they’re very straightforward and will just tell you what they want, there won’t be any guessing games as such.

They will be expecting you to dress well and take them somewhere nice, and pay for the bill. You’d also be expected to meet the family if things start going well, and this will be tricky if they don’t speak English or you don’t speak their language. However if she likes you and speaks highly of you, then you’ve just been adopted into a large extended family who will unconditionally love you so long as you treat her well.

A friend of mine is a British architect and he did very well in Barcelona (he actually really regrets moving back to the UK) so yes I think working in a technical profession you would do pretty well there. The Spanish are very easy to get along with, many speak English as a second language, and Barca gets a lot of big international contracts. It’s a very relaxed culture, so you might find you mesh with it quite well compared to the states. It’s also a beautiful old city and you’ll practically never run out of things to see or do.

I’ve heard Berlin is extremely competitive for professions like graphic design, and Germans are an acquired taste… personally I wouldn’t be attempting to start a career in Berlin unless I spoke pretty good German and had an internationally respected portfolio. I say this as someone with great love and respect for Germans, but I’d 100% visit first to get an idea of it before you commit to that. If you did manage to land a job there you’d be making extremely good money, although you might not get to keep as much of it as you’d like as cost of living is quite high. I’d also investigate other cities in Germany as although Berlin is a cultural centre, many other cities are quite large and productive in the technical professions, particularly Munich, but the cost of living is lower.

Naples, VERY hot in the summer, and Italy as a whole is just barely avoiding a recession right now. I’ve heard the job market is very competitive. You might find that graphic design is in greater demand in Milan. It is a beautiful country though and very high on quality of life… not many in the world know how to live quite like the Italians.

I’d also take a serious look at Amsterdam, Bilbao and Zurich. All highly international cities with a strong design culture.

Canada is fucking awful compared to the UK. I honestly think this might be the worst country in the western world. There’s just nothing going for this place. It has high crime, high cost of living, low quality of life, and bad weather.

I think constantly about going home, although actually I think I’d be happier with a better European country like the Netherlands. The UK might not be the best place in Europe to live but goddamn even Russia seems great compared to Canada.

I’m from Cornwall, but I’ve lived in Devon, Hampshire, Yorkshire, Wiltshire, and Gloucestershire. I’ve also travelled around most of the Isles and some of the islands (Jersey, Scilly, etc).

Yes not everywhere is great, but you have to remember most of the criticisms are comparing Britain now to Britain 20 or more years ago, or to other European countries. I think it still compares very favourably to North America and there’s a lot of reasons why Britain on a bad day is still better than the US or Canada on a good day.

You’ll find the country is, for the most part, whatever you make of it. Unless you’re dirt poor it’s actually trivially easy to avoid bad areas.

Word of caution. Most Brits are friendly and earnest, but if you’re American you will find a small minority of people will poke fun at you for it. Some of it will be good intentioned, but some will be mean spirited and they will attempt to disguise it as “only joking” (that’s a favourite trick in Britain). Don’t be gaslit by “oh come on, can’t you take a joke?”, because if you take it once they will just continue to throw insults at you, and no it won’t ever get any better. You might also get the occasional asshole who has a chip on their shoulder about it.

You’ll eventually be able to avoid these people completely, but in the initial phase where you’re meeting new people and establishing your social circle you will unfortunately come across them. Don’t waste your time around people who try to drag you down, basically. There’s enough amazing uplifting people in the UK that you aren’t missing anything by telling the crabs in a bucket to go kick rocks.

What shocked me about Toronto is how run down it looks. It’s supposed to be Canadas international city, but it’s just fucking embarrassing. Also it STINKS… it felt like I was in some third world city like Delhi with all the garbage and raw sewage smells. I genuinely don’t understand how Canadians can live like that.

It’s things like this that make me realise it’s not just me, Canadians are just like a messy person who is content to live in squalor. It’s never getting better. If not even the primate city can be good, what hope does the rest of it have?

I feel sorry for people because while it’s a majority problem I also know a lot of Canadians who hate it too and wish they could get out. There’s the lucky ones like Not Just Bikes who managed to escape to the Netherlands but for most people they just have to deal with rampant incompetence, poorly designed infrastructure, bad food, and a trickle-up economy.

I don’t want to go back to Croatia, I’m fed up with the Balkans.

Do you mind if I ask why this is? It’s a place I’ve always wanted to visit.

Have you ever actually been to NYC?

Leave now, run away as fast as you fucking can.

I also came to Canada on a working holiday visa. I married a local girl and put down roots thinking it’d be better than the UK. How wrong I was. I’m now trapped here and I absolutely hate it, I consider moving here to be the biggest mistake of my life. The things you’re starting to notice about Canada; the terrible food, the high prices, unfriendly people, lack of any culture, nothing to do; it only gets worse over time. These shortcomings will grind you down as a person and you’ll stop enjoying life. It doesn’t get any better, I’ve tried 3 provinces and visited several others, it’s the same everywhere. It even LOOKS the same everywhere.

I’ve been here 8 years now, I basically never leave my house because there’s not really any fucking point. When I lived in the UK I used to go out for walks all the time because I genuinely enjoyed my surroundings; here I can’t stand the sight of it. Suburbs make me angry just looking at them, as do “stroads”, strip malls and “shopping centres”. Someone on here once defined living in Canada as “driving and spending” and that’s what I feel it really is. The worst part is that everyone here thinks it’s the best thing ever and that there’s nothing else in the world, so it literally has no hope of ever getting any better.

You’re having trouble making friends because frankly with few exceptions Canadians are absolute dicks. I’ve travelled the world and met all kinds of people, never have I met people as childish, emotionally stunted, vindictive, gossipy, unpredictable, irresponsible, and unprofessional as Canadians. This shows up in all kinds of areas, but the one that irritates me the most is having my life constantly threatened any time I have to drive anywhere (which is all the time). For such a car-centric society you’d think they’d at least be cooperative drivers but they seem to delight in making your journey as difficult as possible, actively preventing you from merging or changing lanes, and in many cases it’s just plain fucking dangerous.

Others have mentioned cost of living. I sometimes check the prices online for supermarkets back home and I’m always disgusted by how much I’m getting ripped off here. I’m not even joking when I say groceries are frequently triple the price they are in Europe. Housing is absurd now, when I first moved here it was significantly cheaper than the UK, now it’s about the same or worse.

My wife has a well paid job that she understandably doesn’t want to leave and is going through medical treatments to deal with a serious illness. We also have pets which makes moving a bit more difficult. I’m in the middle of starting up a business that will allow me to work from anywhere once it’s established. She seems to be gradually coming around to the idea of moving in future, but we’ve had fights about it in the past. The thing is, she’s spent her entire life in Canada, and apart from the occasional trip abroad she doesn’t really have much idea of what she’s missing out on, where as it’s all I can see every day. I’m hoping once the business is established and her illness is better, we can start taking trips to Europe so she can see what life is supposed to be.

Please don’t make my mistake. Nobody from Europe should EVER move to Canada for any reason. Not even money. This is a miserable irrelevant backwater with zero quality of life.