The Canadian visa application work went quite smoothly for me and a lot of credit goes to my father for being much organized with official documents. I did not have the skills back then to get papers from the bank or get a notary seal or get any official errands done by myself. It’s very common in my culture for children to depend on their male parent for finances and external tasks while the mothers or female counterparts take care of the meals and laundry at home. Therefore, I was no exception. I accompanied my father to places where he did most of the talking about my visa application. We came back home to freshly cooked food by my mother while she was getting sadder every day because I might be leaving soon. I, on the other hand, was not very emotional about having to leave my parents home because it felt like a natural, next step for me. Now that I look back, I feel like I was in my own bubble of excitement that kept me far from all the other emotions that I should have been feeling.
Once the visa arrived in my mail, it was time to start packing. I had to bring most of my books, so I put them in my luggage before anything else. I got cutleries for one person, a first-aid kit, some stationaries (which comprised of a red, pocket-sized stapler that I still adore), essential toiletries, shoes, etc. The bewilderment started when it was my turn to pack clothes. Marie Kondo was not famous enough in 2015 for me to use her ‘spark joy’ strategy and if you are leaving home (pretty much forever), I’m not sure about joy but everything sparks nostalgia. So clearly, I wanted to pack everything which easily exceeded the airline’s baggage limit and the whole thing was very stressful, to say the least. Not to mention my mother trying to hide her tears amidst all the chaos which she still believes I never noticed (even though I did).
After days of collective effort and hard work, it finally came down to these: 2 large, 1 medium and 1 small luggage, 1 backpackers’ backpack, and another carry-on backpack for my laptop and other essentials I would need while flying. I made sure to carry extra copies of my passport, visa, and offer letter with me as a backup. Also, in my defense for that excessive luggage amount, Canadian winter sounds like death from the tropical parts of India so there were no compromises made when it was time to pack warm clothes. Do I regret it? Yes, because they were only enough for the fall and I had to buy winter clothes in Toronto anyway. But it’s okay because none of us had lived in Canada before to know any better.
While I write this, I also want to mention an extremely special item that I unknowingly brought here with me. It’s a very ordinary-looking, small, thin, yellow knife. To my surprise, that knife seemed to have a lot more potential than expected and it’s still as sharp as new. In the last 5 years, I have bought knives from multiple places, but nothing could match the quality of this yellow knife. My partner can attest to this because he initially underestimated it too but doesn’t like using anything else other than that now.
So that was my story of packing my life to move to another continent. Below is a list that I thought would be useful to someone looking to move VERY far from home.
What to bring
· Extra copies of essential documents (including passport-sized photographs)
· Stationaries (to last you for a semester)
· Light cutleries (preferably 2 of each)
**the above 2 are just to last you till you discover a blessing named Dollarama
· A pair of running shoes and formal shoes
· At least 1 set of formal wear & party wear
· Sanitary items/toiletries (to last few months)
** more on this in my next post
· 1 bedsheet and a pillow cover (depending on your living arrangements)
· Basic first-aid items
· Extra spectacles, hearing aid, or any such items that you need on a daily basis
· International adapter – extra charging cables for your devices
· Lots of socks and undergarments
· Small sentimental items or gifts from friends/family
What not to bring:
· Winter jacket
· Winter boots
· Musical instruments (unless you absolutely can’t do without it)
· ALL your books (they can be heavy)
· Food items
· New laptop – if you want or need a new laptop for university, then buy it from Canada instead of your home country
· High school textbook/notes – Trust me on this one. Unless you have some emotional attachments, you will never open your high school notes for academic purposes
· Valuables or expensive jewelry – again, no need to carry them unless its one ring or necklace that has emotional value
· Makeup/styling equipment – no hairdryers, straighteners, clothes steamers. You can get everything at Walmart within a week of getting here.
