My First Time Leaving Home: From the Island to the Mainland

Foreword: Ok, so I'm a bit late to the #GaGWritingContest because I found the title misleading and thought it was about sex - I wouldn't have anything to talk about. Now that I know that it's about first time experiences I have something to share: my first trip out of my home province, which wasn't all that long ago.

Prologue:

Let's get some exposition out of the way first. I'm from Newfoundland and had lived here all my life. In university I studied environmental science, with a focus in chemistry, and graduated in 2013. Graduation was one of the worst moments in my life as I had no idea what to do next. In school there was a path to follow: go to classes, do your homework, and get good grades. After finishing there is little to no direction, so I felt kind of lost. A second reason I found graduation bad was that I had always identified as a student and don't know how to be anything else. I have always been a student - without that, who am I?

The next year was uneventful, and I was getting tired of being stuck on an island. All of my friends have traveled elsewhere but I have never been fortunate enough to be able to do that. My education had not panned out - I wasn't able to get a job relevant to what I studied. I started thinking that if I never figure my life out I at least want to travel outside of the province at least once.

Leaving the Rock

I found a fast-track 1 year chemical engineering technology program in Ontario. I figured it would help build on my chemistry knowledge, and it would also give me a opportunity to travel away from Newfoundland. The program started in September 2014.

Oh, by the way, this was also my first time on a plane (there are several other 'firsts' in this take too). 'Awesome' doesn't begin to cover it. During take-off the g-forces made it feel like I was in a roller coaster. And the view (I had a window seat of course) - it was amazing to be above the clouds. If you're ever in an airplane, take a moment to appreciate the view. Here are some pictures from my travels on planes:

aerial view of Newfoundland

My First Time Out of Province: From the Island to the Mainland

sunrise

aerial view of Toronto

Mainlanders

1. Family

I got to visit some family members that I don't get to see very often. They showed me around some places (more on that later).

2. Room-mates

My first room-mate was not good. When the residences put people together they are supposed to select those who would be compatible but he was very opposite to me. He would party, drink, and do drugs just about every day of the week. More people were going back and forth to his room than a whorehouse. I'm an introvert so my lifestyle is very different, but the breaking point for me was the smoking because I have ashtma. He and/or his friends would smoke in his room. He denied smoking, but regardless of who was doing it you shouldn't do that indoors. The residence assistants were kind of lax on that - personally I think they were in on it as the hallways would stink of weed on the weekends. But at least they let me change room-mates.

I find it amusing how I met my second room-mate. I was in the kitchen one day cooking rice and was just finishing up when he came in to heat up a can of stew or something. However, he turned on the wrong heating element: the one where my rice was, causing it to burn on. Once we realized the mistake he was so flustered and apologetic. I was laughing - it was very amusing to me. He started offering me some of his food, candy, even cds just to make up for a little bit of burnt rice.

He was a nice guy, but after we became room-mates I found out that he was also into drugs. However, he was nicer about it and was good otherwise - much better than my first room-mate. From him I learned that not all people who do drugs are bad.

3. Yoga Teacher

I took in some yoga classes on campus and got to know a great yoga teacher. We became good friends, and went out for sushi several times. We had some deep conversations - none of that small talk crap - I felt very open with her. From her I learned to be more understanding and patient. I hope I'll get to see her again someday.

Poker

While in Ontario I got to take in a few games of texas hold'em poker in person. Previously I had only dabbled with this online game. I won a lot (only with play chips though; I never play with real cash). Looking back on it I'm surprised I did so well as I've learned more since then. My main strategy back then was to represent good hands - I'm lucky no one had the hands I was trying to represent as that could have gotten me in a lot of crap.

Rollerblading

I bought a pair of rollerblades and got to live out some nostalgia for Jet Set Radio Future. The roads in Newfoundland are too gravelly and bumpy for rollerblading so there's nowhere to do it here. Unfortunately, I'm not that good at rollerblading. It was a bit of fun anyways though.

Relationships...or lack thereof!

During my time in Ontario, I was thinking about other people in relationships, and why I was never in one when I realized that I had never asked a girl out on a date before.

Yes, I'm an idiot! After that realization, I gathered up the nerve to ask one of my classmates on a date. She said no, but I still consider it a success in that I managed to ask. I consider it a 'floodgate' moment as I now have no qualms about asking girls on dates. That being said, I'm not going to start asking girls left and right - there aren't that many girls that I take an interest in. The second time I asked a girl on a date was just last month (again a no). Despite the rejection, I find it a bit thrilling just gathering the nerve to ask.

College vs University

The program I took was at a college - so I got to experience both college life and university life. I just wanted to make a short note here of some differences I noticed:

-in university it seems like people care more about their studies; it's more academic

-there seem to be more drugs and parties at college

-there seems to be more of a 'highscool' mentality (like immature) among college students than university students - I hope you understand what I mean. In university people seemed to be more respectful.

-classes are more laissez-faire in college. I had one teacher who, when asked a question, would often say "do what you want."

-university is more difficult but you get to learn more

Niagara Falls

One of my aunts and uncles took me to see Niagara Falls. It was a bit damp and drizzly that day - it kind of reminded me of Newfoundland weather. Despite this weather, it was still an enjoyable experience. I thought the falls would be taller though, but as it turns out the CN tower is much taller.

The Eaton Centre

Another one of my aunts took me shopping around the Eaton Centre. I was amazed by the sheer size of some stores: their Chapters had two floors and another store had several floors.

inside the Eaton Centre

Also, I must say that a lot of buildings in Toronto are really tall - we don't have anything so tall in Newfoundland unless you count the hills. Rural life, being closer to nature, has its beauty but I never realized before that urban life also has a beauty of its own.

careful, you might hurt your neck trying to look up at one of these

Car Museum

I'm not into cars that much, but my father and brother are, so I went to a car museum to get some pictures for them. Here are a few that stood out to me:

it has skis!

amphibious car

recognize this one?

Ripley's Aquarium

Lots to see here. I'll share a few pictures I took:

some weird looking fish - I got here just at their feeding time

these are like underwater roses

sting ray vs shark

I found Nemo

Toronto Zoo

Man alive, I was here for 6 or 7 hours and still didn't get to see everything. I would've if I didn't keep stopping to take pictures (over 150). The closest I came to visiting a zoo before was Salmonier Nature Park, but that pales in comparison to Toronto Zoo. Here are some pictures from my visit:

look at the size of those claws - Freddy Kruger ain't got nothing on him

And I just found out that there's an image limit of 20 for myTakes :/

Epilogue

Now I'm back home in Newfoundland where I was about 2 years ago - it's a big case of deja vu for me. The chemical engineering technology program I took wasn't that great but it was still worth it just to get to travel abroad. I still haven't gotten a job relevant to what I studied (damn that catch-22 about needing experience to get a job but needing a job to get experience). I've been trying harder the second time around, having put out over a 100 resumes, but it's a discouraging process, especially since I did so well all through school (greater than 90% averages, with several awards and scholarships).

Perhaps I was a bit hasty deciding to go to Ontario. This time around I feel like I need to be more patient. I'm working on a plan, and saving up some money over the next year. I was hoping to find work in my home province but our economy is crap and with our recent provincial budget it's going to be more expensive to live here. This in addition to the crappy weather (over 80 cm of snow for St. John's in April) gives me plenty of impetus to leave. The next time I go to Ontario it might be for good.