What surprised you most about settling into Canada as a first-year student?

The loneliness surprised me more than the weather. If you do not intentionally build routine and community early, the first semester can feel much longer than it actually is.

Housing stress and budgeting hit at the same time for most people. If you can sort those in the first two weeks, everything else gets easier to manage.

Also take winter seriously before it arrives. The people who struggle most are usually the ones who wait too long to understand how much weather changes daily life.

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If housing is part of the question, ask people who moved recently and compare North York with Scarborough. The tradeoffs around commute, safety, and cost become clearer when somebody explains what daily life actually feels like.

The first month is usually heavier emotionally than people expect. In my case, the real turning point was not paperwork, it was finding one stable routine and one dependable community anchor through church communities.