In 2022, after obtaining my bachelor’s degree I decided to take a gap year in Canada, I asked for a working holiday visa and in October I flew to Montreal alone, with no plans but 7 nights in a hostel. That was the start of my 11-month adventure.
My goals for my gap year
Improve my level of English
When I decided to take a gap year I had goals. The first was to improve my level of English. It is extremely important for me to know how to speak fluent english. Indeed, I plan to have an international career and I want to be able to exchange with people from other cultures.
Discover a new culture
As I am very curious, I love discovering new cultures. Living in another country is extremely interesting to better understand of how the world works and to gain perspective on our own situation.
Find my professional desires
After my Bachelor’s degree I had to choose a Master’s degree, I wanted to specialize in the sustainability of the environment but being a very broad subject and not knowing exactly what interested me most I had to give myself more time. A gap year was exactly what I needed to think about what would make me happy in my work.
Have new professional experiences
I wanted to have more meaningful experiences related to sustainable development, but also to discover work and workplaces that I’d never experienced before.
How it went?
It went to be one of the best year of my life. I lived so many different experiences, I met so many different people. It allows me to develop some important skills; autonomy, self-confidence, adaptation, social skills…
| Date | Where I was |
| October to January | Montréal, Québec |
| January to April | Banff, Alberta |
| April to June | Tofino, British Columbia |
| July to August | Around Canada |
Montreal
First of all, I asked for my working holidays visa in July, I had the chance to obtain it and be ready to leave the 1st of October 2022. It was only with a backpack of 70L and 7 nights booked in a hostel that I flew to Montreal in Canada. There, I found two part-time jobs, one remote in a CSR consulting company and another one in the National Bank of Canada as transactional advisor. I also found an apartment shared with a quebecoise, perfect way to discover in the culture. I met different people with whom I discovered the Québec.
Banff
Montreal was great, but I couldn’t improve my English there. That’s why I joined the English part of the country by going to the Canadian Rockies. Not wanting to fly, I drove across Canada to Banff.
There, I found two jobs, one in a hostel and another as line cook in a restaurant. I improved my english and dicover jobs I had never done before. I met a lot of nice people from different nationalities, the discovering of new culture was amazing and so interesting. Living in the middle of the nature it makes me realized how strong my will to protect it is.
Tofino
After 24h hours of train I arrived in Vancouver to ended up in Tofino in Vancouver Island. This village on the pacific coast was another wonderful discovery. If someone told me before that I would surf and see orcas in Canada I coudn’t believe it! But here we go, meeting other people, discovering other places, working in a hostel.
My thoughts about my gap year
Taking this gap year was a very good decision. I completed all my goals as well as achieved some of my dreams. I learnt a lot about myself and found answer to the question I had. Every time I moved to a new place was a new begging, a new opportunity to get out of my my comfort zone and learn. Sometimes, I think it is crazy to remember that months ago I had nothing else than 7 nights booked in a hostel, my backpack, my dreams and my goals. I ended up living in three completely different places, far apart from each other, and between each of them I traveled sometimes alone, sometimes with friends I met along the way. This year makes me grow a lot, I would recommand everyone to do once in their life.