I’m a B.C. girl; born, bred and raised and don’t see that ever changing. Growing up on the border of Alaska with sunsets at midnight and northern lights in the backyard, I never realized how much I would miss it until I left. I spent all my time concocting a new life in a city far away, rather that appreciating the ocean at my disposal and bears taking a stroll through the neighbourhood. I have to say it’s only in the past handful of years where I have come to terms how lucky I was to grow up in a postcard setting and how lucky I am to still call B.C. home.
Throughout my youth I had health problems which have since been remedied or are controlled, but they all ended up taking me to one specific place. Vancouver. Every trip, every needle and IV, every hospital meal on a plastic tray was worth it just to bring me to the city of lights by the ocean. With wide eyes I couldn’t understand a city that was so big its hospital was bigger than my town. It still cracks me up now. With each year I grew a little more aware of everything Vancouver had to offer. First, in my youth there was the wonders of Science World and street vendors. Even taxi cabs and skytrains were magical forms of transportation in relation to the small, sometimes unpaved roads from the 400 person town I grew up in, with the closest move theatre five hours away.
As I grew older the glamour and appeal and my awe of this city just grew larger. I looked at Vancouver with the romantic notion of life, in the same thread that some go to Paris for love or New York for success.The shopping and the bellhops, the statues and fountains, the charm of Gastown and the multiculturalism of Chinatown. Even as I started to notice the things my youth had shielded me from; the dark alleys, the drug problems, the gang activity, it was still but a small scar on the city I love. Everything in my life became focused on getting me to the city. Living in the city would mean I’ve made it; no longer a small town girl. If I could make it in Vancouver, I would be successful. If I could make it is Vancouver, I would be as glamourous as a city surrounded by ocean, mountains and light.
Life didn’t turn out that way as I approach thirty and I find myself comfortable in my smaller city, three hours away. I gave up telling people I was moving to Vancouver years ago when I realized that the city with opportunity also came with a lot of expense.I had a small stint there and came back here with my tail between my legs. Perhaps when you place a city on a pedestal it’s hard for it to live up to your expectations. Maybe it turned out that the city was just as sophisticated and worldly and educated as thought, and I’m not driven to live up to that ideal every day. And maybe I just realized that living in Vancouver would provide me with more opportunities than than one here, but it lacked the sense of comfort I was so sorely craving at the time. The shoe didn’t fit, but I didn’t really try to make it work either.
Truth be told, every time I go to Vancouver I still get the same feelings of butterflies in my stomach. I want to do it all, soak it all in, and embrace the city with passion. I try to dress the part and wonder if people mistake me for a real city woman, or if the small town girl staring up at the skyscrapers will give me away or if its my penchance for staring at the fountains outside of skytrain stations rather than bustling by.
With the Olympics being held in the city I love for the past week its made my heart ache with the longing usually reserved for ex boyfriends who have made me cry myself to sleep. I have looked at photos, I have watched the commercials and the tv, I have proudly annoyed twitter for the last week about “I know that place! That’s three hours from me!”. I have been telling myself for the last while that I will not take a trip there when the Olympics came. It’s too loud, too bustling, too crazy and unpredictable. Large mob crowds and anxiety disorder don’t really go together hand in hand. But sometimes in life you have to take that risk, and the undercurrent telling me that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to go and cheer for the country I call home, in the city that I love, in a crowd filled with passion.
And so yes this weekend I shall be at the Olympics in Vancouver. Look forward to the all the annoying tweets to come. And look for photos on my blog next week. And like any small town girl, of course I’m going to take a shot of the buildings that are tall as the sky.
P.S. I also blame Hillary and all her gorgeous photos of Vancouver throughout the month for my need to go back.
{ 19 comments }
Really not a fan of the winter Olympics, but Vancouver looks stunning. I can see why you’d fall in love with the place.
I fell in love with Sydney watching the summer ones.
I always wanted to go, specifically because of Toronto’s chinatown.
I’m betting Vancouvers Chinatown has even MORE things to eat that I don’t know what they are or what darkest part of the ocean they came from but I eat them anyways even though they’ve been sitting in the sun for a day or two.
Awesome!
You’re gross.
Please make out with a hot snowboarder for me.
I wanted to make out with a hot dude on the skytrain, does that count?
I’ve actually applied to UBC for a Masters, though I hope not to take it up – as my preferred PhD is here in the UK. But Vancouver was a major draw, and I’d still like to do research there someday.
Do it!
I’m so jealous. Have a blast for me okay? Win/steal a gold too while you’re at it.
I didn’t win or steal any gold medals but I did bite a bronze medal on some guys crotch. I hope he didn’t get into ay trouble for it…
You’re going to have SO MUCH FUN! And I’m so jealous!! I *might* be going down next weekend IF I can find a place to stay so if you have so much fun you want to return let me know
It was a blast, we’ll have to meet up this week so I can tell you stories!
have fun! take lots of photos
how long will you be down for?
I was just down for the weekend but I’m going to be in Van a lot more for business. We should meet up for drinks soon. I promise I’m not creepy.
I can’t wait to hear all about it!! I’m super jealous right now. Not only because of the Olympics, but because you get to live in Canada- and I’ve never even been!!!
Come visit me then!
Maybe when you win the lottery you can move to Vancouver. The place where you grew up sounds pretty cool though.
Have fun at the winter olympics!
When I win the lottery I’ll do lots of things. And I’ll visit you. Or fly you to Vancouver to show you around.
I absolutely love Vancouver, too. I think it is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the entire world. It has SO much to offer. I’ve spent most of my life in Seattle, but my mum’s side of the family is Canadian and most of them live in the Vancouver area. I always thought it was so cool when we went to visit them when I was a kid, and then as a 19 year old who could cross the border to drink legally, and now as an almost 30 year old who gets those same butterflies every time I drive into the city. It is definitely a magical place
Have a BLAST at the Olympics!
Hmmmm, sounds like we need to meet up for drinks in Van one day
That sounds so exciting! If the Olympics were ever close to me, I’d really try to make it to at least something just to experience it! Once in a lifetime, most definitely. I can’t wait to hear more about it/see pictures! Have fun!
Definately, I’ll take pics on your behalf
I can’t even BEGIN to tell you how jealous I am, really. Vancouver looks like a gorgeous city and have you seen all those hottie athletes?
Oh I’m a looking…and I’m a liking!
This is so cool! Somehow (because I’m lame) I never caught that you were originally from Vancouver!
I’ve heard that while the crowds are crazy, the atmosphere is amazing right now. Two of my best friends (and Hillary, who I would like to kidnap so we can become best friends) live there and have been saying that pick up hockey games between Canada and the US are breaking out in the streets, everyone is so happy and excited- I really wish I was there!
Road trip? You could pick me up on the way…
I’m originally from Stewart B.C. (next to Alaska) and only spent a short time in Van when 21, now I’m in Kamloops. And I think you should come to Van and then you and Hillary can roadtrip the 3 hrs to come see me and Amber (Girl with the Red Hair). Just a thought
Make that I could pick YOU up on the way! I always think you’re in Eastern Canada for no reason I can discern lol
Nope, west coaster born, bred and raised!
Good for you!! Can’t wait to see and ‘hear’ all about it!!
Now that I’m back I can’t wait to tell you all about it!
Two things, your post, in part, inspired me to go to Vancouver this weekend. I don’t know why it never occured to me before, but why not?! I am now very excited for the weekend…even more so than normally on a Monday morning.
Second, being a west coast girl myself, I though I would google Stewart…sometimes I feel like such a bad British Columbian not knowing so much about this magnificent province I call home…so I looked up your hometown…wow, only 3 hours of daylight in January…does that refer to per day? or for the MONTH? don’t laugh at my Stewart-ignorance…
http://www.stewart-hyder.com/stewart.html
Do It! Go, you’ll have a blast. And yep, the info is faily accurate (but I remember it being more like 4-5 hrs of sunlight during the day). And don’t worry about the ignorance, a lot of BC folk don’t realize it exists. Or that anywhere north of PG does…
DUDETTE.
We should totally start a band called “BCDC”!!!!
We need to make this happen.
Having lived there once, I will redily agree, nothing beats the Pacific Northwest. Someday, I will move back there…..I miss it so much.
Where in the Pacific Northwest did you live?
hmmm your Sex in the City obsession is makin soooo much sense now
Yes. Well that and my love of shoes.
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