A few thoughts on: Toronto after 9 months

Today marks nine months since we officially got keys to our apartment here in Toronto. It really doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but numbers don’t lie.

For the first six months, there was a lot for us to do. We were getting adjusted to new jobs, trying out new restaurants, meeting up with old school friends, and getting settled in our place. Some of our favourite things include taking Oscar to the dog park on the waterfront, and trying out Mom and Pop restaurants that are new to us. That last one’s become a little bit hard since the onset of quarantine, but thankfully, we have UberEats.

The last three months have been… strange. It’s like everyone in our neighbourhood either became a runner or a biker, and we now know way too much about our neighbours (thanks to the paper thin walls). Trips to the grocery store are the biggest event, and our work space and living space are amalgamated. This makes it hard to strike a balance and “turn off” from work come 5 p.m.

The main things I’ve realized is that living downtown is not suited to our lifestyle.

Earlier in our twenties, living in downtown Toronto seemed like the ultimate sign of success. Lots of office buildings, hip restaurants, and expensive condos are as far as the eye can see. Although the convenience of being able to walk to work had its perks, we quickly realized that downtown is lacking a lot of character, particularly in the King West area.

No matter the weather, we were walking down to Queen West looking for good record stores and coffee shops, and we found them. However, in our neck of the woods (CityPlace), we haven’t found anywhere cute that we fill like we can hang out in for an hour and relax.

Clearly these things are important to us, so we’ll have to make sure we have them in our next place. We’re currently eyeing up Midtown or even further East.

Although the novelty has worn off a bit (due to our location and not being able to escape our neighbours), I’m still really happy that we decided to come here. I had a great run at my full-time role, and have made great connections in regards to my freelancing opportunities. Looking forward to the next phase!