Home for the Calgary Stampede!

While traveling, Ryan and I met a lot of people who a) loved Canada, b) wanted to go to Canada, or c) wanted to work in Canada but got their visa refused because apparently Canada doesn’t grant many foreign working visas. We received many “Canadians are the best!”, “Canada is the most beautiful country!”, “I love Canada”, and “I would love to go to Canada” along the way. For me, Canada is simply home. I often take for granted the beauty of where I live, and how fortunate I am to come from such a beautiful country.

Arriving back in Canada felt strange. We flew from Jamaica to Montreal, and I was greeted by French signs, French people, and people speaking French everywhere. My French is very poor (essentially non-existent), and I felt as though I was a bit better equipped to deal with Latin America than I was to deal with Montreal. After spending nearly $40 on an average airport lunch, Ryan and I were wondering if coming home was the best decision; I had forgotten how expensive food is in Canada! We made it back to Calgary at almost midnight, and I was greeted by some familiarity; English, the white hat greeters than can only mean you’ve entered cowtown, and of course my parents. We arrived back to Calgary midway through the famous Calgary Stampede, which is a dangerously fun 10 day rodeo. This is the one time a year where the entire city of Calgary shuts down, enjoys the sun, and a few too many cervezas! Needless to say, it was a great time to come home!

Our Stampede festivities started almost right away with  a trip down to the rodeo to see one of my best friends ride as a Calgary Stampede Ranch Girl. This was followed by dinner and the Shania Twain concert with 2 of my best girlfriends and my mom. I saw Shania in Vegas, but that show certainly didn’t compare to her concert. She rocked this country, to say the least! Ryan and I also ventured down to the Cowboys tent with a group of friends, which is always a good time. In past years, I’ve frequented the Stampede grounds 4-5 times during the 10 days, and spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on entry fees, rides, games, deep fried food, and drinks…. Unfortunately, my bank account doesn’t have hundreds and hundreds of dollars left to spend, so we missed out on some of the fun, but made the most of when we were there.

In between enjoying the Stampede festivities, I packed my schedule with coffee dates and dinners with other friends that I hadn’t seen in ages. And in between that, Ryan and I attempted to get our lives in order. Because we were so busy when we first got back, it took us nearly 5 days to empty our backpacks and get all our clothes washed! On top of that, we began looking for somewhere to live, and somewhere to work. Although I do like Calgary, we decided that it was time for a change, and that we wanted to live closer to the mountains, so we began to look in Canmore, the gateway to the Rocky Mountains, about 45 minutes west of Calgary. There is a very low rental rate in Canmore right now, so I was feeling stressed about finding a place. Two unemployed twenty-somethings who just returned from 6 months in South America is not the most ideal tenant! Nevertheless, we found the perfect little spot for us, where we will be moving in August 1! In the meantime, we plan to enjoy our freedom and unemployment and see if we can get out to enjoy some of this beautiful country I call home!