False Alarm

I was walking back after meeting friends when I saw a fire truck parked outside the building. My first thought was oh no - something's happened! I couldn't see any smoke - but you never know.

I walked into the building and saw a lot of people hanging about. So I decided to ask one of them about the incident.

There was a false alarm on the 2nd floor, so the fire department was called in automatically. Now, after the situation had been assessed, the alarm needed to be re-set. Untill that was done, the elevators wouldn't work.

So I waited for a few minutes. Then some more people came in. Then concierge then mentioned to them that he had no idea how long it would take to get the alarm re-set. He suggested we all take the stairs.

26 floors - maybe a few short of. Say around 22-23 floors. That's how much I was about to walk up. As I was walking up, I wondered - the place I've taken is 21 floors up - if this happens there, what then?

All because of a False Alarm (honestly, I am extremely glad it was a False Alarm).

Canada...

So I've been preparing to move to Canada for the last 2 months (or maybe more)... although I must admit, I don't yet feel like I am. The excitement of it happening seems to be over-shadowing the 'anxiety' of it happening! There are mixed emotions - the thought of leaving life as you know it and starting out in a place where you haven't even been a tourist, is scary, exciting and a little weird!

In my previous post, I mentioned that I would write a bit about the process in my next post - which as it seems is this one. I am not going to go into the details of the process (honestly, that's available on every second blog and video). I am simply going to go through the emotional journey.

I had started the process last year, in October. I must admit, I had signed up with an agency. Although to be honest, in hind-sight I think that was a bad decision - not because the agency was bad - simply because I underestimated myself. I assumed I may have scored fewer points (CRS Score) and therefore I would need to apply through PNP (provincial nominations). But that wasn't the case. I sailed through with the score I got.

The excitement of starting the process soon turned into frustration due to the time taken at each step. I should add, frustration, excitement, and various other emotions were all fighting for the top spot! I got my ECA on 23rd March, and then it was one thing after another - creating my profile, submitting it, getting the ITA and then collecting all the required documents and actually submitting my application for Permanent Residency - everything was done by 6th April!

Come to think of it, that was an extremely stressful time - and I don't mean just for me. I'll bet it was just as stressful for my friends and family who were literally being driven mad by me during the process. After submitting my application, it was an agonizing waiting game!

By June end, I was under the impression that probably my application was being rejected. But that thought was soon put out by some amazing friends! On 26th July, I got my PPR (request to submit my passport to get the One-time entry Visa stamped)! I was excited and of course super happy!

The thought that I am leaving a life behind and literally starting afresh didn't seem to come to mind till my farewell parties started. Leaving Bombay was difficult, to say the least, but then again, I knew many of them were on their way to move to the other side of the Globe as well.

Moving continents turned out to be tougher than I thought!

Getting ready for something big!

I've been wanting to move overseas for a while now! Bitten by the 'NRI' bug! What's made it stronger is the fact that mom and dad are living overseas as well. The trip to London this year gave me the extra push!

For the last 2 years I have been thinking about how to move abroad. First I tried the more sensible route - look for a job overseas and move. But then again, that was more difficult especially given my own fuss about where I wanted to move. There were just 3 countries in the running - U.K., Canada and Australia.

U.K. was always the front-runner! Moving to the U.K., however proved to be more difficult given the whole 'Must be eligible to work in the E.U.' condition. Therefore, despite studying in the country, many of us couldn't stay back and work in the country. That didn't dampen my spirits (okay, it did a little!).

After realizing that siting in one country and finding jobs in another wasn't exactly as easy as I thought, I decided to use the 'easier option' - get a P.R. and then find a job in my new home country!

I decided to apply for P.R. to Canada - simply because I had heard the the country is the right mix between the U.S. and U.K. There were several other reasons to select the migrating to the country (in case you are interested, you can check some videos on YouTube.

The P.R. process to move to Canada is easy, especially if you enroll through the Express Entry Program - but more about that in my next post!