Move = Complete. Apartment = Amazing.

I've been back in Toronto for about 2 weeks now, and after a stressful move I'm pretty much settled into the new apartment. It wasn't an easy journey, but we made it!

When Heather and I began our apartment hunt back in the summer, we both knew we wanted to live downtown, as neither of us is from Toronto and wanted to have that "downtown" experience. It took time, as these things usually do, but Heather came across a gem that we couldn't pass up.

The location of our new home is so amazing, it really couldn't be better. And not only is the location great, the house itself is absolutely gorgeous. Beautifully restored, the townhouse is much nicer than we expected!

The move itself was stressful, as there were lots of delays and mix-ups with the moving company, but a few days later, I finally had most of my things in my new home. As I'd never really moved before, when packing up my things from residence back in May, I didn't realize how difficult and time-consuming it actually is. I've always heard from friends or family who have moved around in the past that it can be draining, frustrating and annoying, but I didn't really realize HOW draining, frustrating and annoying it really is. After this move back to Toronto, I don't really want to move for a while!

Now that I'm settled in and slowly working into a new routine, the next thing on the "To Do" List? Find a job.

Wish me luck!

I'm huntin' me an apartment...wish me luck!

For the past few months, I've been frequenting websites like craigslist, kijiji and viewit.ca in search of an apartment for myself and my friend Heather. (Heather's not been lazy, she's been looking too!) Coming from St. John's, and having lived at home my whole life, (except for a term in England) I never had to deal with renting an apartment. To be completely honest, I really don't know much about it; I barely knew where to begin looking!

So, I did what I always do when I want to know something: I Googled it. (What we did before Google, I just don't know.) I found a number of different websites that would let me search for apartments, including those listed above. I thought this was a great first step, but I soon learned that my search would be more difficult than expected.

For example: it's very convenient that the websites list the nearest intersection that an apartment is located, but for someone new to the city (aka: Me) those intersections mean squat. A lot of the streets I have never heard of, so everything was checked out on Google maps.

Another factor to consider when trying to find a place to live in a city you know so little about is the neighbourhood. I know so little about where a good area to live in Toronto is, so I'm always looking on my trusty Google Maps to see where places like "The Annex" or "Yorkville" are. While in Toronto a few weeks ago, Heather and I, along with our future roommate Brittany, checked out an apartment just east of Yonge and Dundas, but it wasn't for us. Thankfully, the apartment wasn't for us, as apparently the area is not so nice, as I later found out.

Our needs for an apartment are not that unreasonable (I think): It has to be close to the subway line, we'd prefer a building, and we want to live downtown. For me, personally, I've always wanted to live downtown in a big city, and as I'm not sure how long I'll be living in Toronto, I want to really get the experience of living downtown.

As I'm in Newfoundland for the summer, I've been doing my hunting on craigslist and then emailing my finds to Heather so she can potentially visit them in person. We're still looking, so wish us luck, and if you know of any great locations where I should be looking, or you know of an apartment, please, don't hesitate to tell me! I'm welcome to anything at this point!

Have a happy week!

-Elizabeth