magnusdeus123

You totally should.

It's been a dream of mine to go spend time in Japan since I was quite young. The dream has morphed; I have a serious relationship now, a good career and a place to call home that I don't want to leave permanently. But the dream lives on and we're planning to go there for six months in a couple of years to learn the language intensively.

Don't let your dreams stay dreams.

Moved to Montreal because found it completely the opposite when I visited. It's just generally the thing here that people tend to be more up for socializing it seems.

The cliquey and flaky nature of city, along with housing costs, are key reasons I left for Montreal five years ago and have never looked back.

I imagine that: the crush of living costs; the theory someone else mentioned of shops and restaurants closing early due to no affordable housing in the city and people living farther away; the massive influx of ill-adapted rich immigrants uninterested in building social ties, etc. could all be factors.

I used to frequent the social dance community in Vancouver and I'll never forget what someone told me about her having spent her entire time doing her PhD in Van essentially friendless because people really are the - as someone else mentioned - "friendly, but not your friend" type.

Man, so glad to be out of there. I'm surprised more people haven't left that sinking ship already. At this point, it feels like Vancouver needs a good recession and a couple of lost decades, similar to what happened to Montreal in the 90s, for it to eventually get back on track. I chose to make my life such that I could stop watching it ruin itself but it's still sad to watch our third biggest city and all those fellow Canadians suffer this.

As another Canadian immigrant who became a citizen I'm 100% with you. This country is not a revolving door investment scheme for libertarians to seek easier entry into Silicon Valley.

Yeah, I have a hard time buying any of this. Moved to Canada ten years ago and from everything I've heard even from friends who have stayed back is life is overall worse in India, not better. Sure, the market is growing and your work opportunities and salaries might have improved, but quality of life is even more in the toilet in all of the Tier I & II cities where you'd most likely be working that it's incomparable unless you want to live like a hermit in a walled compound.

Hello, fellow Montrealer. Totally a great place if you lean a bit more towards quality-of-life & affordability & national culture vs. more money & global,ethnic culture (Toronto)

Immigrant Montrealer reporting in. I've never felt any animosity or close-mindedness because of my ethnicity but being polite and understanding that you're in a 'country' that speaks French really goes a long way. I do so it's never been an issue for me, but I can see it rubbing the locals (including myself) the wrong way if people are deliberately being impolite about it.

Montrealer as well. I get the feeling like Montreal would be the best city between Berlin & Toronto. It's kind of grungy and full of culture like Berlin, but still authentically Canadian in terms of being open-minded.

Moved here from Vancouver and it's totally where I'm rooted now.

I haven't lived in Toronto but I imagine it's a lot greyer of a city with a deep hustle, work>life mentality. Not to mention the unaffordable living.

Definitely checks my list on the Life Goal aspect. Got into a serious relationship in Canada and part of moving forward in it for me involves a commitment to moving with me to Japan in a few years. Luckily, she's more and more invested in it and I've been pivoting my career to leave me the most options to end up there to work and learn Japanese. Been loosely studying the language for a few years now, ready to go faster when the plan becomes more concrete.

Plenty of Germans I've met here in Montreal echo the same concern; that the German way-of-life is depression inducing. Everything works decently well but it saps the strength from you to have the kind of vivacity and challenges that, while don't make life any safer or easier, make life worth living.

Atleast, that's my interpretation of what I've been told. It's a little what English Canada felt to me now that I've moved to French Canada. It's safe and fine but nothing's really happening. Your relationships aren't going anywhere; your career is basically about paying an oversized mortgage.

I agree with all your points. Don't be discouraged if you get called out by mostly unilingual Americans. As a trilingual Francophone from Canada, I understand from lived experience how language is more than just an economic consideration. In fact, I'd say that the idea of thinking of every aspect of culture purely from economic terms is a very Anglophone way of looking at life.

French & German as the core EU languages would be a great step forwards towards truly making EU independent of American & British influences.

Can you believe it, I opened this up and Ctrl+F'ed 'sophon' to see if I'd be the first one. Glad to see someone else beat me to it.