beyondaporia

  Photo by Nik Ramzi Nik Hassan on Unsplash Seven years ago, I was wide-eyed as I boarded a plane to Vancouver, BC. After an arduous university search and application process, I was faced with a choice between a few schools in various Canadian cities. Where to go? What to choose? On the one hand, I'd heard Toronto was an exciting, big city. It was the Canadian homologous to New York. Multiple corporations had headquarters there, including some of the big 5 publishing companies in the world and some of the largest non-profits. But, on the other hand, there was Ottawa. I hadn't heard many exciting things about Ottawa, but I knew one thing: it was where the governmental power of Canada resided. And, I mean, I was going into Politics... It would only make sense I go to Ottawa, right? Yet, there was also Montreal. I heard this is where most people from my country who migrated to Canada settled, and there must be a reason for that I assumed. I heard it was a place with so much cul