2017. The year I FINALLY moved out of Newfoundland. My home for the last 23 years. The only home I’ve ever known up to this point.
I say finally because I had been dreaming of ways to leave the island since I was 17. However, it took six years and two University degrees before I would get the opportunity to move away from home.
Although I had been dreaming, plotting, and scheming for the past six years, life had a different plan for me. At times I was extremely frustrated with my circumstances but in hindsight I wouldn’t have changed a damn thing. These past six years gave me the opportunity to live essentially on my own (but with the perks of parents nearby), a debt free solution for obtaining a University degree, and all the amazing experiences and friendships I’ve gained throughout my time as a student. (I have mad love for Newfoundland and I promise to boast more about how awesome it is in a future post!)
As my last year as a student at University started I began to give my dreams of moving away more serious thought. I never knew I would end up in Vancouver. I had daydreamed about it but the furthest west I had been in Canada up to that point wasOntario. My goal was to apply for everything and see where I ended up, with Ottawa as a dream location and Halifax as my second choice/backup plan. I knew that if I moved to either of those cities I would have built-in support systems in terms of family and friends in the area, as well as a familiarity with the city because I had visited both on more than one occasion.
But again life had a different plan. My best friend Amanda can attest to our many conversations about wanting to stay single so we wouldn’t have anything or anyone tying us down upon graduation, so we could take off on a grand adventure of living outside of Newfoundland. Funnily enough our single girl ways eventually lead us to Tinder.Amanda in 2015, where she promptly met Mike, her so-to-be reason for a renewed purpose on the island, and myself in 2016 thanks to some beers and the encouragement of friends, where I met Chris.
Luckily for us both, Mike and Chris are from the Maritimes, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia respectively, so we thought that they could potentially share our dreams of leaving the province once our degrees were finished. For me that was a stressful and very real conversation that needed to be had early on into our new relationship. Chris and I were both graduating, with no job prospects, but knew that wherever we ended up we wanted to be there together.
So as our final semester came to a close Chris headed home to Nova Scotia and I headed off on a European adventure with one of my best friends Megan. (More to come on that trip in a future post!)
Upon returning home I began applying for jobs in Halifax and looking for apartments there, believing that Nova Scotia would be the safest bet for both a move away from home and close to Chris. Until one day in late June when I got an exciting phone call that Chris had accepted his first grown-up, real life, adulting job! In Vancouver, British Columbia, and that he wanted me to come with him. I was soooo excited! But that’s when real life hit.
Cue all the planning and preparation it takes to uproot the only life you’ve ever known to move across the country!
We had to coordinate all of the following into our move:
- Packing everything into two suitcases and a carry on.
- Finding out how to fly Milo (my dog) across the country via cargo.
- How to find a place to live in a city we’ve never been to before.
- Finding Laura a job.
- Finding a place to live before Laura and Milo moved to Vancouver.
- Saying goodbye to all of our friends and family.
Somehow we managed to figure it all out and in late July I moved over 5020kms away from the only home I’d ever known to Vancouver.
I have been here just under three months now and as much as I love it, there have certainly been challenges and I feel like I am just finally starting to find my footing.
I am EXTREMELY grateful for my super supportive family and friends. For technology so I can reach them whenever I want. For the privilege of being able to bring my dog with me. And probably most of all, for the patience of Chris. He has helped set up this home and life for us and I am forever grateful. He has had to put up with my anxieties and meltdowns first hand, about everything from not being able to find a job, not making any new friends in Vancouver, and generally about feeling a little lost in life as I try to figure out my next steps post-graduation.
One of my best friends Kendra gave me a really sweet card as a goodbye gift before I left. On the front of that card it said “Life is an adventure without instructions”. So that is the inspiration for this blog. This is me figuring out life, exploring my passions, and sharing it all as I embark on this new adventure, without instructions, learning as I go. I’m excited to see where life takes me, and I hope you enjoy it too!
Laura B. Greene 