HELLO CANADA

I safely arrived in Canada after a long 8 hour flight.

The most difficult part, obviously, was saying goodbye at the airport. I had a lump in my throat when I was hugging my mother. I've always been the biggest cry baby when saying bye to people but somehow I managed to keep the tears in. I knew that if I cried, I wouldn't stop. I also had very dark eyeliner on and didn't want to look like a panda.

It still hasn't hit me that I'll be living here. I visited Canada twice within a year. One time for a 3 month holiday then again for 2 weeks because of my cousin's engagement, so it still feels like I'm going to stay here for a short while then go back to London. But everything went smoothly, especially when I had to go to the immigration office when I arrived in Toronto. That part was nerve-wrecking. I've watched too many episodes of 'Border Force UK', a programme about people who are either smuggling drugs or intending to illegally work in the country. Somehow I thought it was going to be a complicated process but the immigration officer was a lovely guy. In the back of my mind, I knew I had nothing to worry about, I had everything ready and printed out. But there was always that "what if?" thought in my back of my mind. I tend to overthink about everything.

I was given a ticket with the number 60 written on it and was told to wait by the blue chairs. A woman dressed in what looked like a police officer's uniform was calling out the numbers. Only 5 people were ahead of me. Once it was my turn to be seen, I walked to one of the small booths where I saw a man wearing another intimidating uniform. He was really nice though. Very cheerful and friendly the moment I walked in which made me feel at ease.

"I've got a working holiday visa for Canada," I told him.

He looked through my passport and chuckled. "You've been to Canada a few times haven't you? Do you love it that much?"

I told him that I've always enjoyed coming here - basically stating the obvious. I handed him all the documents that he needed. He never really looked at it properly, just skimmed through it all. To be honest, it was such a waste of time printing out my bank statement because all he really wanted was my Letter of Introduction.

What I needed to bring:

- Passport

- My Introduction Letter from the Canadian Government

- Bank statement - proof of funds are needed to enter Canada (minimum of $2500)

- Copy of my clean police check

- Insurance that covers me for 1/2 years of my trip

I also had my CV with me, driving license certificate and counterpart and all the print outs of the BUNAC programme I'm with. Just for a back up.

Although my work permit is valid until August 2017, I only paid for 1 year's insurance. I was quite anxious about that part because I thought he would only give me a visa that covers how long I'm insured for. But he still gave me 2 years and told me that I will have to buy insurance again when the first year runs out. The officer printed out the visa and stapled it inside my passport. He pointed out the conditions to this working visa.

"Firstly you can't study in this country, this is purely a working visa. You also can't work with children or in the medical/health field unless you did your medical check when you were applying...."

"No, health isn't my field anyway so I wouldn't be working in hospitals," I said.

"Great, and er, one more thing. Don't do any sex work or anything to do with that. So no strip clubs, standing around on the corner of the streets, don't sell yoursel--"

"Yup, got it."

I put an end to that conversation quick.

The hard part was over and I walked out of that immigration office feeling very relaxed.

Things left to do:

Eat Timbits.

Get a sim card with a Canadian phone number.

Get a Social Insurance Number (SIN) in order to get paid.

Open a bank account.

Get a damn job.