{"id":10058,"date":"2023-06-16T15:05:19","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T05:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/?p=10058"},"modified":"2023-06-16T15:05:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T05:05:19","slug":"travelling-through-tantalising-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2023\/06\/16\/travelling-through-tantalising-toronto\/","title":{"rendered":"Travelling Through Tantalising Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

Issy – Toronto Metropolitan University – Canada<\/h3>\n

Semester 2, 2022<\/h4>\n

Bachelor of Business \/ Bachelor of Fine Arts<\/h4>\n

Hello! My name\u2019s Issy and for semester 2 of my third year studying Bachelor of Business\/Bachelor of Fine Art (film), I was lucky enough to study in Canada at TMU. Being in a double degree, I only completed film units while on exchange as with this university I could not do both. I applied in the last few days of applications just as a \u201cwhat if\u201d and now after spending 5 months in Canada I can say it\u2019s the best thing I\u2019ve ever done. Before I left, the thought of committing to my first solo travel for what I thought was such a long period time, turned out to not be long enough and I pushed my flight another month\u2026here\u2019s why!<\/p>\n

Campus life<\/h4>\n

My first day in Toronto was in the middle of orientation week. The uni had a heap of different events on and specifically organized talks and gatherings for the international students. This led me to meet friends who soon became such a big part of my life, I am even planning to do a bunch of Europe travelling with people I met at these, going to their home countries! It can be scary at first but best thing to do is go to these events and you\u2019ll meet so many people that will help you along the way.<\/p>\n

The uni is located in the middle of the city and is very different to what I\u2019ve experienced at QUT. It can be quite overwhelming with the amount of people, and the things you see, but it\u2019s also exciting exploring a huge new city. Surprisingly, Australians aren\u2019t common in Toronto, and Canadian students found it pretty crazy as most international students are from Europe\/UK. I was always getting looks and comments for my \u201caccent\u201d which has never been pointed out before in my travels, so that was a funny shock! Most people were super helpful with helping me find classrooms and just tips on general living in Toronto.<\/p>\n

Accommodation<\/h4>\n

Originally, I thought I\u2019d be staying in a campus dorm; however, they changed it so they were only offering this to international students studying there for a year. In the end I ended up living in two different Airbnb\u2019s and made the right choice. There is private student housing near the uni, however you are very restricted with what you can do. The pricing of these places would have ended up being more expensive than having my own apartment through Airbnb so I valued the independence of it! Don\u2019t get me wrong, I am a big people person so the decision was tough but when I was there, I would have friends over all the time and big group dinners with my exchange group.<\/p>\n

My friends lived right near the university but we found it to actually be more dangerous as it was the heart of the city. I lived in two different suburbs that were really cute with lots of cafes\/parks and it only took about 30mins to get back to the chaos. Having somewhere safer and quiet was nice to come home to!<\/p>\n

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Travel<\/h4>\n

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If you are going all the way to Canada, you can\u2019t just see Toronto. We got a week off in October and me and my group of friends went on a trip to Montreal and Mont Tremblant which was one of the highlights. It takes 5 hours on a train and is so worth exploring, the city is quite different to Toronto as you enter French Canada. People didn\u2019t love that we couldn\u2019t speak French but it\u2019s not hard to navigate around. Mont Tremblant is a ski village but in fall season it was absolutely beautiful. We had this amazing Airbnb house on the water, which split between us was cheaper than my rent for the week in Toronto as it was off season.<\/p>\n

At the end of semester, me and the same group went on a ski trip to Blue Mountains which is a few hours away. It was super fun and my first time seeing snow! After this I travelled for a month and a half through the rockies (Alberta) and that was a whole other experience of its own. I would have stayed longer If I could afford it, snowboarding is expensive and living in a hostel dorm still cost upwards of $300 a week. But I\u2019d spend it any day for the experiences you get there.<\/p>\n

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Tips for Toronto<\/h4>\n