Anyone from Alberta? Specifically Calgary.

I've lived in the same area of ontario my whole life. It's a pretty large area..500k people in the "tri-cities", but there isn't a whole lot of opportunity here. I have been wanting to get an apprenticeship in a trade (plumbing, HVAC gas fitting or welding) for some time, but none of the employers in this area seem to take on first year apprentices which is why I have been stuck working warehouse jobs for the past year. I did a search on a couple job boards for apprentice jobs in Calgary and found tons and the starting pay is around $18/hr (in Ontario you are lucky to find 3 and starting pay would be $12-14).

I am seriously considering relocating to Calgary. If not permanently, then at least for 2-3 years to get my apprenticeship started. I face a dilemma though; my parents have purchased a new house and already moved and they want to rent me the old house. If I move to Calgary then they will have to sell this house as i doubt they want to rent it to randoms. I hate to lose this house because my parents bought it for $35 000 in shit condition and my father has put years of renovations into bringing the value up to $300 000 at an appraisal last year (which is high for this area of town).

So my choices are to keep working shitty warehouse jobs, holding onto this house and keeping my small group of close friends and just scraping by. OR I can take a chance and move to Calgary where I will know nobody, work a job that actually has a future and career potential and be able to snowboard in the winter (its just not worth the time/money in ON). I really have nothing to lose other than my friendships and this house...other then that what I am doing right now isnt getting me anywhere.

So I'm just wondering if there is anyone here that is from Calgary, has been to Calgary or knows anything about this city. Is it a good place for a single 22 year old man? What's the nightlife like? Drugs as easy to get there as they are here (weed, blow and oxies)? Are there lots of babes or is it all dudes doing the same thing I am thinking of doing? Does the cost of living scale with the high wages? etc..any ifno anyone can provide will be much appreciated.

 

I've lived here in Calgary for all 19 years of my life. It's a good place in general for guys (lots of hot woman), but I'm not sure about being that age obviously.

The nightlife is meh too be honest. It's a fairly big town and it's rapidly expanding so It really will come down to where your future house will be... You'd probably want a place close to downtown or 17th Ave since most of the bars and night clubs are in those areas...

Most people here smoke the herb, or at least tolerate/have smoked it, so it's real easy to come across. I don't buy blow, but I've heard from people that it's easy to get and that It's one of the most used drugs in the city. MDMA and E are really popular too. Psychedelics seem really rare, but it all comes down to who you know and where you look.

The price of living here is very varied depending on the location of the place, there's only GST, no second taxes like BC has.

Generally gas prices are good since a lot of the oil comes from the province, and Calgary transit is expanding itself and getting better. So for transportation you wouldn't have a problem.

If you have any more questions, ask awayyyyy

 

Oh come on man you make it sound like I'm old lol. I've only got 3 years on you!

Thanks for the reply. The psychedelic situation sounds about the same as here....we get a period every year or two where there is an abundance of acid and then we don't see it for a while (was about a year ago from now the last big spike hit and it was around until feb/march). I assumed weed would be easily accessible being next to BC and whatnot and the blow doesn't surprise me either being a big city with lots of money. The nightlife here sounds about the same..clubs/bars but nothing too exciting, but that's cool I don't really do bars that much anyways. I like chilling at a pub having a beer and some wings but I hate bars with shitty dance music so loud that I can't have a conversation with the person next to me.

I think I am going to follow through with this but I'm going to post up here until spring and then make the drive once I have a job/place lined up. I'm also going to try and get a couple buddies to come with me as that would make the move alot easier for me. I forgot that AB only has GST too, that's awesome...fuck Ontario and it's HST. Only thing I don't look forward to is the cold ass winters! It get's cold as fuck here obviously but every time I see the weather it's always like -27 in alberta when its -20 here. With that said though, at least there are mountains worth snowboarding in the winter in AB..here there is shit all to do once it gets cold.

 

I heard on the news calgary has the lowest homicide rate in canada thats gotta be good. I also heard theres a lot of cowboys. I've only been through a couple of times though. I actually like the QST you get like 35 bucks a month.

 

Yeah one of the reasons I didn't really consider going there an option was because I heard it was full of hardline right wingers that only care about their money and oil, but really it can't be any worse than where I live now. I've only been to Calgary once and it was a stopover flight from Kelowna BC on the way back home. I remember the airport had a pretty epic view of the rockies...wouldn't mind living near the mountains at all. I'm definitely making the move once I can confirm a job. I don't want to stay in this area any longer, it is just holding me back.

 

Yeah, that's for sure if you move here you'll have to get used to the cold! haha -30 to -40 isn't that rare at all in the middle of winter.. But atleast we get Chinooks which bring in warm air, whereas Deadmonton continues to freeze over.. lol