6 Things That Totally Surprised Me When I Moved From Small-Town New Brunswick To Vancouver
Hot take: The nightlife is worse here.
Morgan Leet canoeing in New Brunswick. Right: Vancouver, B.C.
The views expressed in this Opinion article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
Moving across Canada obviously comes with a whole list of surprises, but going from a small town in New Brunswick to the big city of Vancouver takes it to a whole new level.
Life on the West Coast is wildly different from the East Coast in some shocking ways, so there was a bit of an adjustment period for me when I moved last fall.
Also, I lived in a town called Rothesay, New Brunswick. Ever heard of it? I didn't think so.
It's the tiniest town where everyone knows everyone else's business. Imagine Star's Hallow from Gilmore Girls but without the proximity to New York City or Luke's Diner.
On top of it all, I was living in New Brunswick throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, so I wasn't even travelling. That meant a long stretch without really seeing any busy city streets, high-rise buildings or even a Sephora.
I did live in Ottawa throughout the university, so it wasn't like I'd never lived in a city before, but there was definitely still some culture shock when I first arrived in Vancouver.
There are storefronts for shops I thought were only online
Every now and then I'll be walking down a street in Vancouver and stumble upon a brand that I could have sworn was only available online. Honestly, I was so shocked to see that Mejuri had a storefront, which is probably super embarrassing to admit now.
I like the nightlife at home more
Hot take: Vancouver nightlife sucks.
I'll take a pub blasting Maritime music any day over waiting hours in a line for one of the few fun spots in Van.
The food is my favourite part
I was so excited to move because of the mountains, shopping and just the adventure of it all. But I hadn't really considered the food scene. So it's taken me by surprise when it turned out to be my favourite part of the move.
Making the most frustrating part about visiting the East Coast now the sheer lack of restaurant choices. Back home there are about two spots to order from.
The con to the amazing eats? Not great on the wallet.
I don't have to go far to get a small town vibe
Homesickness is easy to cure in Vancouver for me. All I have to do is take a little road trip, or hop on a ferry, to one to one of the many small towns in B.C.
Even driving over to North Vancouver and going for a hike makes me feel like I got out of the city.
It was super overwhelming
Like I said, having lived in Ottawa before made me think I was prepared for moving to a big city. But landing at YVR and driving into Vancouver I found myself super overwhelmed by all of the people, traffic, and buildings.
So if you ever decide to move from a small town to a large city, brace yourself!
The city looks like glass
I don't really know what I was picturing when I planned my move, but downtown Vancouver took me especially by surprise.
Driving into it, the entire city looks like it's made of glass because of all the sky-high buildings. It's also so different from other cities like Montreal or Ottawa which have totally different architecture.
Big surprise — it's a different scene than New Brunswick farmland and the small city of Saint John, which was the "city" I lived closest to.
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