Karen K. Lee

This isn’t the first time I’ve left Vancouver. The last time was in 2004—my family and I moved to Hong Kong. It wasn’t till 2009 that I moved back to Vancouver to finish up high school, and then eventually, university.

On September 8th, 2017, I moved to Montreal.

This is my first move away from my family. I’m literally leaving all my family and friends behind. It’s terrifying and exhilarating.

My boyfriend made the move with me, and I’ll forever be grateful for that! He’s making both the physical move and the emotional one so much easier just by being here.

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So what am I doing here in Montreal? I got hired at Gameloft! Super excited to start work there, and I know it’ll be an eye-opener working at a large gaming studio.

I’ve also always wanted to move out, but I guess when I imagined it, never have I ever seen myself in Montreal. I kind of expected to maybe move to Richmond or Burnaby! Not across the country. But you know what? I’ve found that the internet really makes the distance seem less far. I’ve been able to video chat with my family daily (thank God the apartment I’m renting provides wi-fi so I didn’t have to deal with setting all that up), and also keep them up to date via Facebook messages where I send them pictures as well.

Honestly, I didn’t get much time to prep for my move over. I found out on the 25th of August that I got the job, and was told I would start on September 11th. Since I couldn’t fly in the day I start, I decided to fly to Montreal on the 8th so I’d have the weekend to prepare. That essentially gave me 2 weeks to say goodbye to everyone and pack, but I also had tickets for PAX from September 2nd to the 4th.

I posted the days I had free and I was super grateful to everyone who wanted to meet up before I moved! It was painful seeing all the faces that I knew I won’t be able to see for a while, but at the same time, it was comforting to see the support network I knew I’d always have. Friends and family in Vancouver—I love you guys so much!