My first few weeks in Vancouver

I decided it might be helpful for myself and others if I write about my experience of living in Vancouver. I am not a writer, just a girl from Ireland who decided to try living and working in Vancouver for a year. I moved here in late October with my boyfriend. We knew no one when we arrived so it was just the two of us at the start.

We had to stay at a hostel for a few nights until we found suitable accommodation, this seems to be what most people do. The Samesun on Granville Street was our home for four nights and for me that was long enough. I thought it would be a great place to meet other people in similar situations as us, both most people were heading out to the ski resorts for work. 

Our aim at the start was to find suitable accommodation, this was a lot harder than I thought, places were either way too far out or dirty or in once case had a guy living in the living room separated off with a shower curtain.

We had hoped to find somewhere to live by the 1st of November as places start renting from the 1st of the month here. 

Eventually we found a place, not exactly where we had wanted to live but it would do for a few months. 

OK, place found to live, job would be next. My boyfriend found a job straight away, just a few days working for a warehouse sale for a large clothing store, and as soon as that one finished, he landed a retail job in a store not too far from where we were living. At least one of us was earning. 

I signed up for a few recruitment agencies and luckily I landed myself an interview, first thing they made me do was testing (brush up on your computer skills if you intend looking for work this way). They ensured me they would help find me some work, in the meantime I applied for loads of jobs I saw on the internet or in the swap office (if you come with USIT you can use the services of the Swap Office). 

The process of looking for work was a lot harder than I had anticipated. Luckily I received a call about a two week temping contract with a company only 5 minutes from home, it was a start. The people in the company were lovely and I was just glad to be earning some money finally. 

After the two weeks were finished I presumed the agency would have something else lined up for me but nothing so I was back looking for work again. I had more interviews and finally I received another 2 week contract. 

The tough thing about temping is its hard to really make any friends, you are only there for a short amount of time so people don't really make too much of an effort. A tip is to make note of email addresses for the boss and someone you get along with at the company and try stay in contact, there may be a job within that company in the future and this is how you will find out. 

Vancouver is really into networking, so its who you know that helps you get work here, ask your new friends if the places they are working are recruiting. 

Most of my friends here are from Ireland and we seem to always go to the Irish bars, no matter how often we try and change that we keep going back to the same places. 

Be careful with your money as its not cheap in Vancouver, B.C stands for bring cash not British Columbia. 

Register for a BC medical card as soon as you arrive, you have to be resident here for 3 months before its issued but it can take a while. It means you wont have to pay ridiculous amounts of money to see a doctor or if you are admitted to hospital. I have been to admitted to A&E and it cost $760. I was not too happy parting with that amount of cash. 

Not sure of what else to say at the moment, I am back at work tomorrow, another 2 week contract better than nothing. 

I will get together a list of recruitment agencies and post them soon, any questions just ask. 

Tracey

PS: Check  http://www.moving2vancouver.ca/ for loads of info on accommodation, jobs, where to shop and loads of other useful info. You can also post on this website if you are looking for accommodation. They have a great facebook page also.