Corkonians Abroad: Toronto’s a great place but winter is a challenge!

When and how did you end up moving to Canada?

I moved to Toronto in September, 2015. I’ve always had a travel bug, and had periodically spent a lot of time living out of Cork (I broke tradition within my family and spent four years living in Waterford for college, studying at WIT, rather than going to UCC, which both of my parents and my sister are graduates of), but I had never really thought about emigrating.

However, I visited Toronto on a spur-of-the-moment trip in 2013 to stay with some friends who were living here at the time, and immediately got a good feeling about the city, and really felt it was somewhere I could see myself living.

I was starting a master’s degree in Dublin soon after that, however, so it was nearly two years later until I was able to make the move over here. Initially, it was going to just be for a year or two, but within a few weeks of being here, I met my now husband, Mark, a native Torontonian, and we’ve been together here now for nine years. Sometimes it’s all up to fate!

What is life like in your new home?

Toronto really is a great place to live. The city itself is huge, with a population of nearly three million, but doesn’t feel as fast-paced as somewhere like New York or London.

It’s colloquially called the ‘City of Neighbourhoods’, given the distinct characteristics of the various diverse parts of the city.

Given the huge melting pot of ethnicities and backgrounds of people here, there is something for everyone. The food scene here is excellent, as is the music and arts scene.

If you want to go to the beach, we have beaches along Lake Ontario. If you want to go skiing, there are ski hills in the winter less than an hour away. There is always something to do!

There is a significant Irish population in Toronto, so if you need to, you can still get your fix of Tayto and Barry’s tea. There’s even a GAA club scene here. The Guinness here is hit-and-miss, but sometimes you can find a great one, and I’ve even found a decent pint of Murphy’s here and there.

What has been the biggest challenge?

Well, the Canadian winters certainly can be a challenge. Winter comes on hard and fast here by mid-October and usually lasts until early May, and temperatures can drop down to the -30s, which doesn’t make walking the dog in the winter mornings a fun activity.

If I’d have any advice for anyone moving here, it would be to invest in a quality, warm coat, you won’t regret it.

I’m very lucky in that there’s a direct Aer Lingus flight from Toronto to Dublin, which only takes about six hours (which sounds long, but compared to the flights from Australia it’s nothing at all!), so I can get back easily and regularly enough. But there are times you can definitely feel the massive distance between Canada and Ireland, both literally and figuratively. I’m not necessarily one to pine for home, but it does get to you from time to time.

Covid was really tough, in that due to travel restrictions I wasn’t able to get back to Ireland for the best part of two years, which really took its toll. Being away from family and friends, missing weddings, missing births, missing holidays – not something I would want to happen again.

Luckily, it’s so easy now to keep in contact with people via Zoom and Facetime and so on, so I’m able to keep abreast of the major milestones happening in my family and friends’ lives, but sometimes you need to have the chats in the flesh rather than over a camera!

How might you spend your weekends?

Mark and I were fortunate enough to buy our first house about two years ago, which is very much a ‘fixer-upper’, so we spend a lot of time doing various DIY projects.

We also enjoy taking our dog, Peanut, for walks in the various parks and ravines throughout the city, or up at my in-law’s country cottage about two hours north of the city.

We both love to cook, so we like to spend time on the weekends making good food and new recipes.

One discovery that was new to me on moving here was Canada’s wine scene, which is little-known outside of the country, but which is really excellent. Both the Niagara wine region and the Prince Edward County wine region are within a 90-minute drive of Toronto, so doing a winery tour and tasting is a great way to spend a weekend!

I also try to see as much of Canada as possible, which isn’t an easy feat, given the sheer size of the country, but we like to take trips to new places as much as possible. Most recent was to Newfoundland, the easternmost part of Canada, along the rugged Atlantic coast, which was amazing!

Tell us about your career?

I was lucky enough to move over here with a job already lined up, thanks to a contact from secondary school (Presentation Brothers College on the Mardyke), but I now work for Hudson’s Bay Company, which is the oldest company in North America, and is a major retail business group. I work as a senior designer and lead architectural graphics creator with the real estate team, which is based in New York City, so I’m able to work remotely from my home office.

I got my degree in Architecture from WIT, and a Master’s degree in Interior Architecture from Griffith College, Dublin, with a focus on retail spaces, so my current role as part of the team involved in the development of commercial retail spaces around Canada and the eastern U.S was a perfect fit.

What has been your most memorable moment in your new location so far?

There have been many momentous moments since I moved here (marriage, buying our first house, etc), but I think one that stands out (just for how ludicrous the situation was) is when I was sworn in as a Canadian citizen.

I’d come here first on a work permit, then became a permanent resident, and then, after living here for the required number of years, after having to take a written test on Canadian history and laws, and being submitted to a series of interviews and security checks, I was eligible for citizenship.

Usually, the citizenship ceremony is a lively occasion with dozens of new Canadians being sworn in together by a judge in an official ceremony in a government building, with maple-leaf flags and Mounties, and occasionally a video-link appearance from the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.

However, my swearing-in happened in July of 2020, when the country was in lockdown due to Covid, so the whole thing happened in front of a screen in my own living room, with just me, a judge, and an officiant on a zoom call!

Needless to say, it was way more subdued than expected, and taking all of these solemn oaths from my couch was a surreal experience, but Mark and I managed to make a celebration of it as best we could, and he made sure to be waving a Canadian flag as it all became official. Plus, I now have dual citizenship between Ireland and Canada!

Any special mentions to friends or family back in Cork?

I’m fortunate to have a huge family and circle of friends still in Cork, half of which I never get to see because I’m always so rushed off my feet whenever I go back, and as we all get older it’s so difficult to make plans, but I’m always thinking about everyone, and we’ll catch up over a pint soon!

If you were back in Cork for one day, what would be the ideal day for you?

Actually, because I get so little time in Cork city whenever I’m back, I do have my ideal day down pat – in to town early to get breakfast at the Farmgate café in the English Market (invariably a spiced beef sandwich and a pot of Barry’s tea), a long browse in Waterstones, into Le Chateau for a hot whiskey, lunch at Market Lane (always the bacon collar, followed by bread and butter pudding, without fail), a stroll about the Crawford, and then into Mutton Lane for a pint of Murphy’s or two. Absolute perfection.

Is there anything that you especially miss about Cork?

It’s probably an answer that people are sick of hearing, but genuinely it’s the people I miss the most. Canadians are very stereotypically friendly and polite, which is absolutely a good thing, but sometimes I find myself longing to just be sitting around having the chats with my friends about anything and everything, with the dry, wicked humour that every Corkonian has embedded in them! It’s an old adage, but you really can’t beat the craic from home.