Toronto: A City of First Impressions

Hello all! 

To start, I’d like to welcome you to my blog! So, hi there!! My name is Claire! I am a junior studying International Relations and Political Economy at the James Madison College at Michigan State University. This summer I will be interning in Toronto, Ontario for an organization specializing in homelessness prevention. As someone who has faced housing insecurity, I am really looking forward to helping others in need. For me, this summer holds a lot of exciting potentials. Despite being from the Metro Detroit area and only twenty minutes from the border, I have never been to Canada (shameful I know) and the entirety of this country is new to me!

Upon leaving for this trip I had a head full of expectations for what I would see, what I would do, and what I would become in Toronto. I expected to live in a teeny-tiny apartment in a big giant skyscraper. I pictured myself sipping on iced coffee in the subway on my way into work every morning. I thought I’d rush to leave work and meet my friends for happy hour at a trendy club downtown, and that we would spend every weekend grabbing brunch and shopping. I thought that Toronto, and the people in it, would be fast-paced, harsh, and much cooler than I’d ever be. I thought that if I didn’t adapt to keep up, things would get to be too much too fast. Thankfully, I can report that after just one week, my expectations have been totally shattered in the best of ways!

Toronto is a kind, welcoming, and incredibly interesting city. There are countless parks and green spaces. Old cathedrals and Victorian style homes mix in the streets alongside skyscrapers, making for beautifully unique neighborhoods. I live in a beautiful, spacious apartment in a little building near a very inviting college campus. After exploring my quaint neighborhood, harsh is probably the last word I would ever use to describe the city now! And the people here are fantastic! As an intern, there are many times that you feel like the pack mule of the office. You’re often stuck making coffee, organizing files, and taking out the trash - doing the work no one wants to. When that’s all you’re stuck doing, it makes work a dreadful and boring place.  I am extremely grateful to have been placed in a kind and caring workplace, where I feel genuinely valued and supported. I even have my own space at the collaborative desk! It’s incredibly refreshing to feel like a member of a team, and like my work is important (even if I am still grabbing coffee sometimes) I cannot wait to see what kind of professional growth this job will bring me!

As for my fellow interns, I feel like I’ve won the friendship lottery! You absolutely need a support system to survive when you’re thrown into a brand new and daunting environment, and it’s certainly a great support system that I’ve found! No one has a "too-cool-for-you" attitude. We all walk to work with one another, grab lunch together, and even help each other carry groceries when our plastic bags break six blocks away from home (I am happy to report that the pasta sauce made it back ok!) Most of our nights admittedly have been pretty late (sorry mom!) However, rather than spending them out at clubs, we’ve sat up in the living room gushing about all of the cute city dogs we saw during our work days. One of my friends’ office looks across the street at a dog park. I’ve never been so envious in my life. I am thankful that I am getting to know such wonderful individuals!

What I thought would be an overwhelmingly intimidating experience has thankfully turned out to be an overwhelmingly joyous one, and I am excited to see what the summer will bring!