By: Jemma Dooreleyers
Sure not all of us are from a town where the local high school consists of 200 people, the Demolition Derby at the annual Fall Fair is the go to first- date spot and the grocery store smells distinctly like cattle because it backs onto a field of cows. However due to the downtown location of Ryerson University, there are bound to be some thoughts that run through your head the first time you try to navigate around campus and the city. Here are 6 that at least I experienced when I moved to the big city:
“Holy crap, would you just look at those lines.”
Chances are, within your first few hours of moving onto campus, you inevitably found yourself at the Eaton Centre and you caught yourself in the longest line you’ve seen since the Boxing Day Sale at Walmart; thinking to yourself “Yay, there must be a sale going on.” When in reality, you’re just at the Eaton Centre at 3:00 pm on a Saturday and you are about to pay $60.00 for a pair of fake vintage jeans that you have convinced yourself you need.
“My Calves will be that of a professional soccer player by the time April rolls around”
One of the best things about living in Downtown Toronto is that everything is within walking distance. One of the worst things about living in Downtown Toronto is that everything is within walking distance. Gone are the days when you can bum off a ride from one of your friends who was lucky enough to get the car for the day because you cannot possibly make it to work on time if you had to walk. Say hello to the constant debate between wearing sensible footwear or nursing embarrassingly relentless shin splints and blisters.
“Okay. Focus.”
From the guy who is dressed as a duck playing the bucket drums in Yonge and Dundas Square to the buildings that are over 50 stories high, there is never a shortage of things to look at. However, if you do not learn to narrow your eyes and move on a mission, you will become a victim of assault by a sprinting business man with somewhere important to be quicker than you can say “I’m not in Kansas anymore.”
“There are TOO MANY OPTIONS”
At home it was simple. For a cheap quick snack, you could always rely on Tim Hortons. There was never any disappoint and you didn’t have to worry about whether or not you had enough money in your bank account. If you wanted to class it up you could head downtown where you had three options: Italian, a hamburger and pizza. Here, it takes just about as long as it would to order, eat and pay for a nice wholesome dish of pasta as it takes to narrow down the options to three places. And even when you’ve gotten that far, you mull and meander those three options until you are so hungry and irritated that you give up and end up having a triple decker grilled cheese sandwich from the cafeteria downstairs for the third time that week.
“I will not be able to live here next year if I keep this up”
Speaking of all of the options you have, there are also a million more places and things to spend money on WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE. You better start searching up self control mechanisms before you have to start commuting three and a half hours from home because you cannot afford the sky high housing prices.
“It really is not as scary as they tell you”
If your hometown is anything like mine, “OH MY GOSH you’re moving to TORONTO” became a very common theme among my neighbours and classmates in the last few months at home. With their eyes bugged out and volumes over the top, they acted as though the next time they would see me, I would be on the news and not because of my major in journalism. Despite this and the countless number of people offering me their pocket knives, I have managed to survive thus far. As long as you stick to the buddy system and have your wits about you, it really is not the warzone people make it out to be.
All and all, you have just started the most exciting period of your life and your experience may be very different and mine from yours. But the important thing is, no matter what you are thinking and feeling at this moment in time, make sure you take time to congratulate yourself because moving here was huge.