Alright! So in today's video, we're going to talk about Life in Calgary.
As you already know, I recently moved from Toronto to Calgary.
And it's been more than 2 weeks since I've been living here.
And I think this is the right time to share my initial impressions about the city.
Like, How the city itself is?
What is the infrastructure, crime rate, Transportation, weather conditions, and job opportunities?
So if you are planning to move to Calgary then all the things that I experienced here, I'll share in this video.
Before you plan to move here, you must watch this video till the end.
So without wasting much time let's start the video.
I believe this city (Calgary) is sitting on the top of the hilly region.
Because when you are in core Downtown you don't actually realize it.
But when you drive out of the Downtown towards suburbs area or north-east, the north-west part of Calgary where Indians mostly live,
there are hills just like our Himachal Pradesh.
It's a little bit like that and most Indians live there.
So the landscape of this city is like hilly region.
And other than that in Downtown you'll get vibes like Toronto Downtown but obviously, it is nothing as compared to Toronto Downtown.
Toronto Downtown is like a concrete jungle.
There are buildings here but not like Toronto Downtown where you can actually get lost.
There are a lot of buildings in Toronto Downtown and all of them look similar.
But it's not the case here.
And other than that if we talk about the city's population, I'm here for 2 weeks, I've gone out for a walk and for a drive also but what I've noticed is that there's not much population here.
I mean obviously, Calgary has a lot of population but if we compare it with Toronto then it is not densely populated.
Because when I went out I didn't observe much crowd like there in Toronto.
It's like fair in Toronto but it's not the same here.
And if we talk about traffic, there is traffic but not as bad as in Toronto.
Because I remember when I used to drive in Toronto Downtown almost every day in my life when I was in Toronto, rush hour in Toronto was 24/7 but it's not the case here.
And even during rush hour, it'll take only 2-3 minutes to cover 1 km.
But if you are in Toronto it'll take 10-15 minutes to cover 1 km during rush hour.
Traffic lights will get changed from red to green twice or thrice but you'll be there in the same intersection for a long time because Toronto is so much packed.
But here due to less population, traffic is not an issue.
If we talk about surroundings then there are a lot of parks because of a lot of land and space.
Along with parks, there are open parking lots which aren't common in Toronto Downtown because there's no place to step.
If we talk about malls then I don't think we can compare malls in Calgary with malls in Toronto.
Because till now I've visited only one mall here which was looking like a Brookfield place, it has only 4 floors.
I think they tried their best but there were not many brands available plus it wasn't that big like Square One, York Dell, Eaten center where you can get lost.
But here the mall was looking more like a Brookfield place of Toronto.
Moreover, it wasn't crowded.
I went on a Saturday afternoon but it was looking like a Monday morning.
So there's not much crowd here but yes Calgary has Patios like Toronto Downtown but not that much.
If you go to Toronto Downtown you can see a lot of vendors on moving vehicles selling Hot Dog etc.
But here in Calgary Downtown, according to so far what I got to know there's the 17 street along with 2-3 more streets where you can find Patios, other than that it's not like Toronto full of Patios and much more.
So this city is a little bit less happening according to what I've seen till now.
And So far the weather has been nice.
I landed here on March 1.
So far the weather is sunny and the sky is clear, it is the same as the weather that we see in Toronto.
I think the temperature drops down in December-January.
But other than that, I came here in March and it is going good so far.
I don't have any complaints regarding the weather.
One person asked me about the homeless people, like the safety and all in the comment section.
Like if we consider Toronto Downtown, then you'll see a lot of people whom you don't want to get bumped into because of the safety concern.
That kind of people do exist here also, but they are very less in number. So far I've seen only 1 or 2 homeless guys on the streets or around the malls.
Toronto has a lot more homeless people, which again we can relate to our safety because we know there are a lot of drug addicts out there.
These things commonly come along with big cities. I'm not trying to defame, it is just the part of the city.
I mean Toronto is Toronto, we can't compare it.
But I am using it as a reference because I've moved from Toronto to Calgary.
Rest according to my experience, Calgary is not a 24/7 city.
Here most of the stores, restaurants, and service centers get closed by 9-10 pm. Unlike Toronto, there are very few stores or restaurants which provide services 24/7.
If you are in Toronto everything is accessible 24/7.
Anything you need you can get it 24/7, you'll not face any problem.
But here most of the stores get closed at night. This is the thing you should keep in your mind.
and other than that is transportation. Here you will not see many buses as compared to Toronto.
I haven't seen many buses here. But if you are here in Calgary Downtown then you should be good
Because you will get to see many bus stops here. So I think if you are here then you should be fine but if you are not living in the downtown area
but in the suburbs area, what I have seen so far is a lot of people say that you should have a car if you are living in Calgary
Calgary is a driving city and you can't rely much on transportation
In Calgary downtown, you will often find bus stops, so you shouldn't worry about that.
but our Indian community lives in North-East which is a little far from Calgary Downtown
So if it's winter season and you have to travel daily then I think you definitely need a vehicle for that.
I would like to add on one more thing which is very important in summer times, and that is beaches
In Toronto, you will find many beaches and one of the most popular is woodbine beach
and Scarborough bluffers park is also very good and my personal favorite is Grand Bend Beach.
which is a 2 hours drive from Toronto but the best beach I ever visited in Canada.
But here in Calgary, I did not see a single beach. Even if you go on google maps and search for beaches
then the types of beaches that come up in searches, I don't think I would like to call them a beach.
they are not beaches but ya this is something which comes with a city and there are not any beaches which I should let you know.
Well I wasn't able to find peace in Calgary but you do see mountains from here and if you drive an hour from Calgary towards North-West
then you will be definitely surrounded by a lot of mountains.
Other than that the one thing which a person should consider while moving to another province is Job Opportunities.
So far as per my experience, job opportunities are quite less as compared to Toronto
I mean if I am in Toronto, I cannot stay unemployed for more than 24 hours because there are a lot of job opportunities.
For every person, there is a job of every type of almost every Industry be it part-time, full time or seasonal
Like job opportunities here in Toronto are in abundance. Like you will not see unemployment but this is not the scenario here in Calgary.
Here job opportunities are limited especially if you are from an IT background.
There aren't many IT companies here. Like I can count the number of IT companies on my fingers from where I got a job opportunity.
So if you think you have a mastery in a specific field and you are having a package of around 1 lakh dollars.
and if you aren't in an entry-level position like you can easily get another job, you don't wanna switch your career then you should definitely look for a job opportunity before moving to Calgary.
So this was my quick review about the city itself
and so far I am loving Calgary because it's cheap and I think everything will soon be established here just like Toronto, Brampton, and Mississauga.
So people who will shift here will have many benefits later on as you will grow with the growth in your city.
So if you liked this video, then Like, Share, and Subscribe and I will see you in the next one.