Hello everyone,
I know it has been a while since my last post and I'm sure most of the people here now may not even know me.That said, I'd like to make a little post to let you know about how my last month and a half have been in beautiful Vancouver.
I moved here about a month and a half ago and I can't believe everything that has happened in so short a span of time. I'm already in my own apartment, have passed the first set of pharmacist registration exams and have found a job in a lovely little pharmacy (in the most beautiful place I've ever seen) where I am interning until I complete the rest of the examinations. To be honest, I've been truly lucky and blessed with amazing people around me who have helped me every step of the way. Thanks to them, I've never felt like a stranger here; in fact, this place FEELS like HOME!!! Having lived in Dubai all my life, it's almost strange to find myself in a place where I feel like I actually belong.
Now, I don't want anyone to think that it is all peaches and cream here. The truth is you will be challenged, this place is very expensive and unless you move here from a country with a higher currency rate, you'll be spending a lot of your savings much faster than you accumulated it. Without a credit history it is incredibly difficult to get a lot of things done, so you need to be patient. The only pointer I can give you is to stay positive, make sure you plan things well and formulate at least 2 back up plans in case the first one goes up in smoke. If you don't know anyone here, make sure to book yourself into a decent hotel so that you have a nice place to stay when you arrive. Trying to save money by checking into a flea bag motel will NOT help because you'll get depressed and feel 'homesick' faster than you can spell 'it'. Next, make sure you have enough savings, I know the minimum POFs are mentioned over and over again but I would recommend bringing in at least double that amount especially if you are in a regulated profession because you will NOT be earning as much as you are used to until you get your registration completed.
What else? Make sure you put yourself out there and make friends. Canadians are amazingly nice people and are always ready to help, just make sure that you are ready to help out when its your turn as well. As a very dear friend of mine here says, 'What goes around comes around'.
I wish you all the very best and remember, success and failure is determined more by your state of mind than the factors around you. To put it rather crudely, 'It isn't the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog'. If there is anything I can help anyone out with, please PM me and let me know.
With best wishes from Beautiful British Columbia
Wendy
...
