I am actually a reverse story! I was born in Los Angeles, California and came here 10 years ago. I was ready to thow away all my short, spagetti staps, etc. thinking it never got hot up here. Boy, was I wrong. I love Canada, and the unique beauty it has that is all its own. Alberta is my favorite place and where I settled was Edmonton. 4 years ago I considered moving back to Los Angeles, after a divorce. I got there and decided, no Edmonton was "home" and came back. The stories you hear about Canada in the US are not true. There is so much misunderstanding to what it really is like here. It is a great place! Come visit and I will bet you will fall in love with the beauty, people, and culture.
I moved to Kentucky from Edmonton. Just a little bit of a shock. Tons of people come to Edmonton or Calgary to perform music and stuff. (I know Gretchen Wilson, Tim McGraw and some other people are regulars) When people hear that I am from Canada they say "I could tell you's from Canada cause you talks funny like"!
Marisha A.,
Springfield KY, British Columbia
April 13, 2006 permalink
We moved from my home town of Squamish BC to Colorado in August of 2000. I was suprised by how little the friends I made here knew about Canada, so I started a tradition of hosting a Canada Day party every summer. What began with 5 families has grown to over 20 families. We have a red and white food only potluck, play only Canadian music, and have a big get-to-know Canada quiz. We even have an honourary guest - a life-size cardboard Mountie!
Five years ago I moved from Canada to Detroit for work purposes where I met my future husband. Married, I knew I would be permanently living in U.S. as my husband's research career would not have thrived in Canada should we ever return. Although am I content enough living here, I have resisted applying for citizenship, feeling that it would somehow change me. Now, I have decided to apply for citizenship to try and make America someplace that I can be truly proud of. I am still the same person inside, I just hold a piece of paper that says I can vote. I will still wear my Canada T-Shirt on the 4th of July and I can still say: I AM CANADIAN.
I first came to the United State in 1998. My then Husband got transfered from Montreal, QC to Miami FL. Drastic change in the middle of the famously known Ice storm. I was miserable in Miami for the first year and couldn't wait to come back home. Another transfer and we were in Toronto. It took me less than a year and I longed for my hometown. These experiences changed me so much that I divorced my husband.
Two years later I meet my second husband who ironically is American. After a while of dating and going back and forth between St-Louis and Montreal we decided I would move to the US with him and we will see how it turned out. It wasn't as hard as I had feared. This time around I had family and friends to socialize with. We have thought about moving to Montreal but for now the best is to stay here in the US, careerwise.
We now live in Chicago area, my husband's hometown, and have a 3 years old daughter together. My husband would love to relocate to Canada when retirement time comes. He wants me to show him all the beautiful forests and mountains we have. What he doesn't realize is that I will discover those magnificent natural beauties with him since as a city girl I have never really been too far outside of Montreal!
I am now on my way to become American and will someday make my husband a Canadian as well. I am proud to show my colours. My flag is standing right by my husband's. I make a point to teach our daughter her mother's native language as well. Oh Canada!
While I was born in New Jersey to Canadian parents, I lived in Missisauga, Ontario from 1984 to 2006 and am a true Canadian girl. I currently live in Syracuse and I am pursuing my law degree. I miss Canada a lot, and I am always the first to inform my American friends who is Canadian and what part Canada contributed. I miss Coffee Crisp, Crunchie, Tim Hortons, This Hours Has 22 minutes, muchmusic and the Saturday Globe (online just isn't the same!) While I hope to eventually return to Canada, I am also excited about where life will take me next. Go Leafs!
In 1998 I "chance met" my now husband online. After chatting for 2 years, we met face-to face, and after another year of going back and forth we decided to get married, and my daughter and I packed up our lives and moved to the U.S. in 2000. Six years and two more children later, here we are, but my husband and I have agreed that I will get to come home when we retire in about 20 years. I sure miss snow and ice skating and some of the most wonderful beaches ever, and of course the "best people in North America"!
Boy, there's a lot of us down here who met on the internet!
I met my husband online (in VP) in February of 1998. We untangled the red tape eventually, long enough to get a fiancee visa and marry in July of 1999.
This has been terrific for my son, who is now in his sophomore year at Marshall University, in Huntington, WV (remember the football team wiped out in an airplane crash in the 70's?)
Traveling here is a lot of fun and I probably won't get back to Canada as much as I'd like because I also enjoy going to new places and there's only so much you can do on a two week vacation.
I miss Coffee Crisps, Aeros, yellow split peas, the Almaguin Highlands, President's Choice products and hearing more than two vowel sounds.
I miss people who don't laugh when you say French words as they are spoken - foyer, suite, au gratin.....sigh........and hey - do we pronounce "produce" (the veggie kind) with a long or short O sound?
I moved to Boston for work in the Semiconductor industry from Beloeil, Quebec in 1997, then on to Providence, RI about 2 years later.
I love it here. Rhode Island is the Ocean State; the summers are beautiful and the winters a little less harsh here than MTL. I still miss Canada as Montreal will always be the Promised Land for me, but RI has become home. I got married to a fantastic American woman in 2004 and we are expecting our first future NHL star in another month.
We are very lucky in RI as Tim Horton's moved in with about 20+ shops in RI and CT. A taste of home only a couple of km away. You can't beat that 'eh?
What a terrific idea. As for me, following grad studies at the U of A I worked off and on in the US with my home base in Edmonton and then in Vancouver. Ten years ago I quit to write fiction and, at about the same time, married an American who happens to be a lawyer. Since I can work anywhere, and she can only practise here, I moved to the US, first to Potomac MD, and now we are here in Tucson.
I am looking forward to this site and hearing from any expats who want to share their experiences. I miss home by the way.
