NEW GIRL IN THE CITY

Like thousands of people before me, I moved to Calgary with two suitcases and a heart full of dreams and aspirations. The biggest one was to nurture my so-called ‘writing-talent’ and make a career out of it. When I joined SAIT, I felt like I’d moved one step closer towards the fulfillment of that dream.

Although, soon after that happened, I began to lose my writer’s voice.  When all you’re expected to do for every assignment, every story, is just ‘state the facts’ and never, ever mix in even the slightest amount of your opinions and feelings, your brain gets accustomed to that routine. So, even though I followed the rules, and ended up getting a good grade on almost every paper I submitted, everything I wrote seemed incomplete; like I just wasn’t doing enough justice to it; like there was something lacking in every piece I created. This is part of the reason behind why it cost me precisely two months and fourteen days, an entire notebook (with not a single blank or tidy page left in it) and a whole lot of sleepless nights to complete this article.

What could I possibly say about this city that hadn’t been said before? In just five months, I’ve begun to feel this strange love for Calgary, as if it were my own; as if I belonged to it from the very beginning. What has this city given me that made me love her so?

Was it my exciting, new, super-busy schedule? My newly found independence? Or was it just the fact that I woke up each morning with that beautiful new feeling of wanting to put in every ounce of effort within me towards building the future I had so assiduously planned for myself?

Then again, there were also a couple of things that could’ve very well made my love fly out the window. Maybe the biting cold weather that made me want to curl up into a tiny ball and hide away in some closet. Or, all that sinfully delicious food that tempted me every hour of every day, making me crave for maybe ‘just one bite’, and then painfully turning my head away because I know that I would never be able to afford all those calories… 

So, what stops me from turning around and walking back to where I came from? What lay at the core of all that love I felt for this city?

Actually, the answer had been in front of me all along. I just didn’t recognize it…

After about two weeks of beginning my classes at SAIT, I met two wonderful people. Classmates, friends, perhaps even best friends – it doesn’t matter. What matters is that they are the only ones I found myself opening up to, out of all the people I’d come across in Calgary. When I look back, I wonder if the joy of starting over in a new country would’ve been the same without their help. I look upon a long, tiring day made less monotonous by some ridiculously hilarious conversation, over the most silliest of topics ever known.

When I first came here, I had my goals straight. I knew what I had to accomplish, and I was willing to do anything and everything within my power to achieve them. But, now I know, that the joy of achieving these goals is meaningful only when shared with someone else.

Only now do I see that my strange admiration for this city is all due the admiration I have for these two crazy people. They‘re the ones who taught me to laugh in the face of adversity, and make each moment count.

Calgary is as tough as it is beautiful. Sometimes, while chasing after our goals we lose sight of the things that really matter – love, friendship, family. So close your eyes for a second, look for the special people in your life, and view this city through their eyes. You’ll find it a gazillion times more beautiful than you ever imagined. And who knows, someday, you might find two crazily incredible best friends, who don’t even have to make an effort to bring a smile to your face every day, but just do with their mere presence …… like me!