Overall, coming to Canada was pretty easy and painless, albeit a bit
boring. Like most other UC students here, my folks and I drove up through
Michigan (the other option is through Buffalo, NY). After a few hours on the
road, Ohio’s trademark cornfields are replaced by Michigan’s modernly
dilapidated highways. Crossing the border on Ambassador bridge is when the
excitement starts.
While you get a nice view of the Detroit River, the bridge has only a
few lanes populated with semi-trucks with tight schedules. There’s a lot of
road rage and near-hits, but if you survive, it’s the most intense part of the
trip. After the bridge, Canadian border officers direct you to a building where
you can get your visa.
Canada, being as bureaucratic as it
is, has a rather convoluted method for getting travellers their work permits.
In sum, what you do is apply online for an application to work. Once you’ve
been accepted to apply, you fill out a document online which you then take with
you to show the visa officers. Other documents you should bring with are a
passport (duh) and a letter from your employer that explains what your job will
be and for how long you will work in Canada. Sitting in the office waiting for
the officer to fill out your forms and give you your visa took us about 45
minutes, so it didn’t delay us by too much.
After that, the drive was mostly
smooth sailing. If you like lots of flat land and wind turbines, you’ll be sure
to enjoy the drive quite a lot.
For everybody else, the best part is
looking toward the horizon and finally seeing that jewel in the desert.
Toronto, here I come!
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