O Canada! Why I’m Going to the Great White North

Toronto skyline at night

For those of you who don’t know, I’m heading to Canada in two days. This is my first time visiting the American neighbor to the north, and I’m excited to finally get a taste of winter (although in my defense, it gets cold at night in Guatemala).

I had originally debated going back to the States for six weeks, but I just saw myself falling into old routines and having to spend a lot of money on car rentals and flights. Instead, I’m going to Quebec to learn French. I studied for two years in high school and for a semester in college, but I never got to the point where I can have a conversation. Since I’m not staying in hostels and because I have a background in the language, I’m confident that I can get more of a solid foundation with French than Spanish. I’ll also be doing another language hacking series. Watch for those videos later.

My other reason for going to Canada is to finish my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). There’s a class in Toronto that aligns more with my schedule, and it’s another place that I’ve never been.

I guess what I realized is that although I had originally planned to just be gone for six months traveling in Central America, I didn’t want to arrive in Panama City without money and being forced to go back to Kansas, Arizona, Kentucky or wherever in the States to work. I lived that life for five years after college, and I was absolutely miserable. Travel has given me a wealth of new experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything. I have some interesting stories from some close calls on the ocean to being robbed in Xela, but I’ve also had a lot of positive experiences meeting wonderful people and seeing some beautiful places in Central America. To me, that’s worth more than any amount of money a job can throw at me.