I Almost Emigrated to Canada but Destiny Brought Me to Europe

Here’s how it turned out to be so far

When we (my husband and I) lived in the USA, we almost contemplated relocating to Canada because the procedure to get a green card in the USA is extremely difficult and long, especially if you were born in India or China.

Getting a green card is like meeting God.

My husband thought of emigrating to Canada because getting a PR for Canada was quite easy at that time.

But I didn’t want to. I can't really explain why but I felt my life in the USA was like a bird in a cage. It’s weird because I had all the freedom in the world when I lived in the USA compared to my life in India. And yet I felt stuck.

Although I have never been to Canada, I kind of related the lifestyle in Canada to something similar to that of the USA.

So I begged him to not consider that.

It was when my daughter was born in 2010, that I finally felt good about moving to Canada. Because I know from my personal experience how unsafe India is for a girl and I didn’t want my daughter to go through all the bitter experiences that I went through.

I wanted to give her a safe life.

So we agreed. My husband still had to take the IELTS exam. It’s quite idiotic though that someone who has grown up in an English-speaking community and went to an all-English school where all the subjects were taught in English, still had to go for a test like IELTS.

The day my husband took his IELTS test, that very day we got the news that the Canadian government had changed its immigration policy and now the doors for high-skilled labor for IT (Information Technology) have been closed.

We felt devastated.

Fortunately, my husband got a project in Germany for a year from his company.

We thought this was an opportunity of a lifetime to visit Europe, so we took that project and moved to Germany for a year. In this one year, we decided to travel as much as possible.

This was also an opportunity for me to speak German because I have put a lot of effort into learning the language both in India and in Boston.

That one year in Germany finally converted to 4 beautiful years. After that, we moved to the Netherlands and it’s been 12 years now in Europe.

After living here for over a decade, I really thank God that we didn’t get to move to Canada, instead, we moved to Europe.

Here’s why:

Europe is a great place to travel

Canada felt so far away and isolated. Here, where I live now, I can be in Paris or in Berlin for long weekends. A few months ago I was in Italy and before that, I was in France and Spain. I keep going to Belgium and Germany for weekends. I have been to Germany or Belgium even for day trips.

Before the pandemic and the Ukraine war, air travel was much cheaper. I remember I went to Romania from the Netherlands and my flight ticket on Ryan Air cost only 4.99 Euros one way each.

There were lots of flights on Ryan Air from Dusseldorf Weeze to Milan Malpensa worth only 12.00 Euros one way for each person.

Life in the suburbs is not for me

Although I have never been to Canada, I heard from my friends living in different parts of Canada how the suburbs are kind of similar to the US suburbia.

And I hate living in suburbia with a passion.

To me, living in the suburbs is equivalent to living in big mansions with no sign of life, no community feel that I was so accustomed to in India.

This is one thing that has been a major source of depression for me in the USA. Despite all the comfort and the luxuries, life felt lifeless.

When we moved to Germany and then to the Netherlands, both times we chose smaller cities as our home, but these smaller cities have more or less all the amenities of a big city — just slightly less busy.

I hate living in rural areas because I can’t drive. I need all the amenities within walking distance, or at least accessible by public transport.

Here, where I live most places are walkable. There are two grocery stores within 150 meters of my house. I have a baker, butcher, pet store, hair stylist, florist, pharmacy, and all the basic amenities stores within 5 minutes of walking distance.

There are loads of mom-pop stores near my house. The ice cream store that also sells snacks and burgers is a go-to place during the summer months where people hang out and chill down under fancy umbrellas.

Living in apartments is not bad

In the USA, I have seen that mostly the poor people and older people live in apartments. The rest of the population, unless they live in very big cities such as New York or LA, like to live in huge mansions.

People love houses with two-car garages and when they go to grocery stores they buy loads of crap that they keep in their huge basements.

Here in Europe, people don’t think badly about living in apartments. It’s a choice and not a status symbol.

Besides, even the houses are quite small. There are not many detached houses. Most of these houses are row houses that share a wall with the neighbors.

The row house that I live in is only 1100 sq feet but it seems perfect for the three of us. The apartment that we rented in Germany was only around 750 sq feet but it seemed enough. I still have loving memories of that apartment raising my toddler.

When you have less space, you have less stuff and you are mindful about what you bring home.

Instead of having an obsession with buying stuff compulsively, your possessions are more cherished.

The community feeling here is great

When I lived in the USA, I didn’t really know my neighbors except for the World War II veteran who lived beneath my apartment, alone with his cat Pecky.

The other thing that really puzzled me was how strangers would ask — “Hey, how are doing?” and would go away without even waiting for an answer.

I always thought of that as weird and fake. If you don’t care about me, why ask?

When I landed in Germany, I met some amazing neighbors who in the next few years became my lifeline. I wrote about them in this article.

I still remember the day I was moving away from that little apartment in Germany to The Netherlands, my elderly neighbor hugged me tightly and cried and made me promise to come back to them whenever possible.

That still gives me goosebumps. In a foreign land, they became my daughter’s Oma and Opa. I still have their picture in my living room.

When I go to my weekly farmer’s market, my baker stops for a while to chat with me about my recent travel plans, the hair stylist talks about her life and the challenges she faces, and my florist adds some extra flowers for me with a big smile because I always go back to him.

Life is all about communities and sharing a smile with your loved ones. There’s no way I can let go of this community for the rest of my life.

Thank you for reading my story.

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