The Canada Blog
With utmost curiosity to learn & understand about millennial relationships, I made my way to Canada!
Initially my purpose was to meet coaches / therapists / counsellors and visit marriage & family centres. Had started doing my research via surveys about 2 years ago & finally managing to reach here was a dream come true!
I had booked my stay via Air BNB before I flew from India. It was 15 degrees the day I reached, was a very chilling climate for a person coming from ‘Mumbai’ especially. It was a bunker, the place I stayed. Also, I am still so grateful for the unexpected help & support by dearest Emily. What a warm hospitality!
Although, it took me barely 1-2 days to adjust there, I had not moved out from 27th January until 14th February. It was only on Valentine’s Day that I met with a dear millennial, Harshada, who gave me a warm welcome at her house, had cooked Indian food for me. We talked a lot, after all that’s what happens when you meet someone from your country in abroad!
Until that day, I have been exploring only digitally. Had started reaching out to like-minded people & associates via emails, linked in etc.
After my meeting with Harshada, I got myself a little boost to start stepping out to meet the wonderful people of the city. Ofcourse, I did move out for grocery & other necessities, which got me to spend a lot on Uber (since ofcourse I had no idea of commute).
Now that I started reaching out to different people, with my intention of helping millennials, I realised that the response was quite cold. No wonder I received a lot of praise & appreciation but the willingness to collaborate was none. I had this similar experience in India as well, which is why I was already prepared & had gained confidence to respond positively.
In the meantime, I had started attending online meet-ups, joined groups with common interest, dating culture etc. My purpose was to understand the millennials & continue with my research.
One of these days, I had been to a networking event where I met Andrea, who later reached out to me for curation of an online event on the occasion of International Women’s month.
I happened to meet some more interesting women who I could later collaborate with!
Eventually, Canada became expensive over the period of months so then I thought to give a shot to cash jobs which could help me with daily expenses. Along side, I started creating my own groups on Meetup & started building a small community of people.
I managed to gather 15 attendees from all of my events put together & I’m proud of it!
I visited the city with the intention to only work & believe me when I am sharing this, I did not go for site seeing even once! Just a day of shopping for my dearest husband & daughter & my beautiful angel, that too the day before I had to return. I have no regrets on missing out! I’m certain I will visit once again & also lineup my series of events in person.
The journey has been a hell of a ride! I have moved to various cities - Toronto, Mississauga, Niagara & North York & the experiences that I’ve had with people is surprisingly shocking. The city is quite impulsive & resistant, very few open up & communicate. The fear & doubt is unbelievable! I’m grateful to all those who were kind enough to give a chance to our friendship & collaboration.
I believe there is a lot more to achieve & I will make sure I work towards it!
A special mention to Stephenie & Bonnie! Such wonderful ladies.