Marie
Having lived in Banff for just shy of a year now, it's hard for me to think about my life from a journalistic perspective. When you're so far away from your family and friends at home, the people around you are all the more important because you value them in a totally different way.
At home the ones closest to you are either family or they're school friends, university friends, work colleagues etc. You build relationships because you have common interests, or because of time and the things you've gone through together. I have been so, so blessed to have as many incredible, loving and beautiful people in my life as I do back home, and after a year apart I cannot wait to be reunited with them. You all know who you are and how much I love and cherish you, not just because you're blood or I've known you for years, but because you're amazing people each in your own way, even if I don't tell you as often as I should.
The friends you make when you've moved half way across the world however; to a different culture, climate, living situation, work place, they are just as precious because they become so important so quickly. They are your family not because they share the same blood as you, but instead they share the same outlook on life, as well as an amazing experience, its truly something else.
I could not be more grateful to have serendipitously fallen in with the people I have over the last year; the whole of my winter house, my Roots family and everyone else I've met through people around town. Banff is such an amazing place because it brings together people from every corner of the world who all share an adventurous and open mindset towards life, we each admire and inspire one another.
Therefore, it's hard for me to think of the friends I have made as potential interviewees when they are such a part of my life; I know them so well, I cherish them so much and depend on them just as they do me. I admire them and think they are some of the most beautiful people I have ever met, and its because of this that I want to record their stories and share their successes with the world.
This post therefore is all about my darling friend Marie. We met at Roots where Marie started full time in February, in this time she has become one of my favourite people in Banff. She is one of my closest confidents, most understanding friends and most hilarious partners in crime. I also think she has one of the most lovely stories of her travels in Canada and what drove her to come out to the Rockies. This is where it becomes hard for me to discern between my affection towards my friends and my journalistic curiosity; is it the admiration I have for my friend that makes me love her history so much or is it the part of me that wants to discover something compelling and honest? At this stage, I don't really care. For whatever reason it may be, I think Marie has a beautiful story and I want to share it with you.
One Friday evening in early August, Marie and I left Roots together after an eight hour day for me and a ten hour day for Marie, in need of good food and good beer. We headed to Banff Brew Co, (the location for seemingly every interview I conduct for this blog, I promise I am not sponsored by them!), where we knew we could find a cosy corner and share a reflective conversation on our travels. I love writing these posts because I get to fill in any gaps in my knowledge of my friends' stories. When you meet you go through the usual questions; where are you from? where have you been? how long are you staying for? but generally you get the simplified version, this way I get the editors cut.
As Marie is a few years older than me, I asked what she was doing back home in France before she decided to come to Canada, "It was pretty quiet actually; I had a job, nothing crazy. I'd travelled a little bit a few years ago, and two years before I came to Canada I came back home, found a job and I wanted to start my career. It's pretty hard to find a job in France, so I was working in a temporary job agency, I really liked this job. It was nothing crazy."
Having spent a few years in this job I asked what made her decide to move time zones away, "I felt a bit stuck in my job, I didn't want to change it, but I wanted to have an international career. I knew for that I needed to speak English, so that's one of the reasons, and I wanted an international experience on my resume. In the beginning that was my wish, so I was like 'Canada: I can go to Montreal, they speak French and they speak English so that's good for me'."
I'm very grateful that Marie has made Banff her home and not Montreal, but I wondered why she had deterred from her original plan of settling herself in Canada's French speaking province. Marie told me "I flew from France to Montreal, and I planned to stay for four months at the beginning in Montreal and then go back to France. But when I got to Montreal, it wasn't what I was expecting, I was kind of disappointed with Montreal. It was nice, nothing really bad but I wasn't really excited you know? I met a lot of French people from France, I don't know, I didn't get a good feeling about the town."
Marie continued her story and begun the chapter that I found truly compelling, "I had an opportunity to spend the summer in Calgary to work on a farm, it wasn't anything official, it was an opportunity through my family. It's a little complicated; so I have a cousin in Montreal, and her husband is from Canada, and his cousin lives north of Calgary in Bowden. Her husband is a dog trainer and they have two horses and animals. So when Stefan, that's my cousin's husband, told her I wanted to come to the west of Canada, in the Rockies, she said "Well we want someone for the summer to help with the house and lots of different things, so she can come here." So we had this kind of arrangement and I went there. I took a bus from Montreal to Calgary, it took three days, I was like a zombie at the end! Three days without sleeping!" I laughed and asked how on earth she survived what I can only imagine to be a horrible journey, on next to no sleep, to which she replied: "On a bus with 50 people around you? you can't sleep! *laughs* You sleep ten minutes and you wake up! You sleep a little bit but it's noisy and you have to stop a lot to change buses etc...When she offered me to come, it wasn't for a predetermined time period, she said "You can stay as long as you want." I think they were the most lovey people I've ever met, they've been amazing to me. I did so many things with them. They have two kids and the kids clothes [I bought today at Roots] are for them. They are just amazing people, I've been very lucky."
I was beaming at this point, nothing makes me happier than hearing my friends tell me how happy they have been or listening to them talk about something they are passionate about. Hearing how her friends made Marie feel so welcome and give her a summer she'll never forget just made me so happy for her. I wanted to make sure I was hearing her story correctly, these weren't blood relations, but they are without a doubt part of her family now. I asked if she'd met them at all before moving across Canada to live with them, "Never no. That's my story, its a bit crazy. I stayed two months with them, and I still wanted to go back to Montreal because I still had in my mind this professional goal, that was really important to me. In the summer, we came two times to Banff, in the mountains, and I was like 'that's just so beautiful, I love it' but I was like 'I need to go to Montreal to work and blah blah blah'. So I booked a ticket from Vancouver to Montreal for the end of October, and I thought I'd go to Vancouver for two or three weeks. I took the bus from Calgary to Vancouver, so I can say that I crossed Canada from Montreal to Vancouver by bus! *laughs* So I travelled a little bit round Vancouver, Seattle, the island, it was a pretty cool trip. I was supposed to take a flight from Vancouver to Montreal and the day before I changed my mind and went to Calgary and I booked a ticket to go to Banff *laughs*". This story was just one curveball after another! Having acted totally on impulse, I inquired why the sudden, drastic change of plans, "In the end I thought I don't want to go, I'm not excited to go, and I'm really sad to leave this place and the mountains. Not really Banff, because when we went in the summer it was really crazy because it was Canada's 150. So not especially Banff, but the mountains and the big lakes, for sure I want to stay. So yeah, *laughs*, I got a ticket to come back."
I knew some parts of Marie's story before this interview, but this was not what I was expecting, nor what Marie was expecting it seemed! Sometimes however, you have to follow your instincts and not your original plan to find happiness, and that's completely what Marie has done. I commend her for her bravery and faith. I've known Marie for a while and I know how happy she has been here; she was drawn to the mountains and has made a life for herself here and I am so proud of her. I asked what she had enjoyed the most about living in Banff, "I like the lifestyle here, I like the mentality, that's really different from France. Just going out, you can do so many things, you're never bored. Every time I'm off or I have time I can do something, even just going for a coffee and walking by the river. Simple things but [good]."
I've interviewed a fair few different people now for this blog, from all over the world, but Marie was the first continental European I had interviewed. I wanted to know if she recognised any cultural differences between Canada and France, "Oh yeah, a lot. I feel like, especially where I'm from in the south of France, the mentality is so different. That's one of the things I like here; you can meet people so easily, in a restaurant or a bar, there are people next to you and you start to talk and that's easy. Everybody's got an open mind, so that's something that I like." I questioned it was not like this at home, to which she responded: "Oh no, not at all. At home if you don't know people from school and you don't know people from work, you don't meet anyone. Here, every week you meet new people. It's something I don't like [about home]." I had to agree that there is a similar atmosphere in the UK, if someone I didn't know started talking to me back home I would question why they were doing so. I said this to Marie and she agreed, at home usually we would assume they were hitting on you. Whereas in Canada, we don't mind it one bit. Perhaps its something to do with the preconception that Canadians are all really friendly, (and generally they are), that us travellers also assume this open persona, or maybe its because in Banff we're all miles from home and looking to make new friends. We're not naive, we know it's most likely the latter and that Banff is an exception, but its a quality we will both miss when we return to our home countries.
I'm lucky enough to say that I've now seen a whole year pass in Banff and have watched the seasons paint the mountains white, wash them clean, illuminate them in gold and now dust them in snow again. The seasons are so extreme in their contrast, and town changes just as much as the landscape. Now that we're into fall and summer is seemingly very much over, everyone is so excited for the winter. Marie has also been resident in Banff long enough to see these changes, so I asked her which season she prefers, (spring and fall not really counting because they literally last about three weeks!), "That's a good question, I think I prefer the winter. Summer is beautiful, there are a lot of places [to visit] and things to do, but this is too busy for me, there are too many people. Especially in Banff, it's totally crazy in the summer. I would say winter always, since I was a kid I would always prefer the cold than the hot. I'm a happier person when it's minus 40 degrees *laughs* and I love skiing and boarding so."
My final question, naturally, was how long Marie planned to stay in Banff and what were her ambitions for when her visa expires. She told me she has a year left, and intends to stay in Banff so she can work towards applying for her PR, "I think I'm pretty happy to stay in Banff actually. For now, I'm really excited to have another winter in Banff. Things can change but maybe next summer I'll go to another place. There are still so many things I want to do in the Rockies, so I think Banff is a good place to stay. But even this winter I want to go to Yellowknife to see the Northern Lights, I still want to go on my trip to Alaska, the Yukon maybe next spring. So my next project here is to buy a car, maybe I'll go back to Vancouver Island to do the north of the Island. When I think about Canada, it's a huge country." It sounds as if Marie is in no way done with Canada, with so much on her bucket list, it seems this story has far many more chapters write.
Marie has two jobs and because our hours are always conflicting, its not too often we get the chance to hang out. Luckily last week our days off aligned and were able to hike the Sunshine Meadows trail together, one we both wanted to tick off our wish lists before the summer was over and the snow returned.
There has been so smoke across the whole of BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan this August because of the wild fires in BC, that hiking hasn't been very worthwhile or healthy because sky has been clouded by a horrible, grey smoke. Towards the end of last week it was starting to clear, but the smoke was still very much limiting visibility. With the summer being almost over we had to make the most of a not ideal situation, otherwise we would miss our chance. So out we headed, and although the valley was covered in smoke, I still think it was rather beautiful. It was such a nice day and so lovely to have a whole day to hang out, first hiking a gorgeous loop around three quaint lakes and then rounding off the afternoon with a couple of beers and a poutine.
I hope you all enjoyed reading Marie's story, it wasn't quite my usual questioning but I liked that this turned into a story where I did more listening than asking. It reminded me of a quote used timelessly by many from one of Robert Burns' poems, "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men /Gang aft agley,", but Marie has made the absolute most of the situations presented to her; she has taken every opportunity by the horns, rather than wallowing about what could have been. I commend her for it and wish her every happiness for the rest of her visa, I'm going to miss her so much when I leave town this month.
Thank you all again for reading and your continued support, it means the world to me. Thank you of course to Marie for being a darling and agreeing to my interrogation, I had a lot of fun working on it. The next few weeks hold a little uncertainty of me as I'll be leaving Banff at the end of the month to go traveling before I head home to the UK. I'll try to keep you all updated, but I'm not sure how frequently I'll be able to post on here. I promise I'll be recording lots of interviews though, and I'll continue to publish them once I'm home.
Follow Marie:
Instagram
Follow A Small Allowance:
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest
I was beaming at this point, nothing makes me happier than hearing my friends tell me how happy they have been or listening to them talk about something they are passionate about. Hearing how her friends made Marie feel so welcome and give her a summer she'll never forget just made me so happy for her. I wanted to make sure I was hearing her story correctly, these weren't blood relations, but they are without a doubt part of her family now. I asked if she'd met them at all before moving across Canada to live with them, "Never no. That's my story, its a bit crazy. I stayed two months with them, and I still wanted to go back to Montreal because I still had in my mind this professional goal, that was really important to me. In the summer, we came two times to Banff, in the mountains, and I was like 'that's just so beautiful, I love it' but I was like 'I need to go to Montreal to work and blah blah blah'. So I booked a ticket from Vancouver to Montreal for the end of October, and I thought I'd go to Vancouver for two or three weeks. I took the bus from Calgary to Vancouver, so I can say that I crossed Canada from Montreal to Vancouver by bus! *laughs* So I travelled a little bit round Vancouver, Seattle, the island, it was a pretty cool trip. I was supposed to take a flight from Vancouver to Montreal and the day before I changed my mind and went to Calgary and I booked a ticket to go to Banff *laughs*". This story was just one curveball after another! Having acted totally on impulse, I inquired why the sudden, drastic change of plans, "In the end I thought I don't want to go, I'm not excited to go, and I'm really sad to leave this place and the mountains. Not really Banff, because when we went in the summer it was really crazy because it was Canada's 150. So not especially Banff, but the mountains and the big lakes, for sure I want to stay. So yeah, *laughs*, I got a ticket to come back."
I knew some parts of Marie's story before this interview, but this was not what I was expecting, nor what Marie was expecting it seemed! Sometimes however, you have to follow your instincts and not your original plan to find happiness, and that's completely what Marie has done. I commend her for her bravery and faith. I've known Marie for a while and I know how happy she has been here; she was drawn to the mountains and has made a life for herself here and I am so proud of her. I asked what she had enjoyed the most about living in Banff, "I like the lifestyle here, I like the mentality, that's really different from France. Just going out, you can do so many things, you're never bored. Every time I'm off or I have time I can do something, even just going for a coffee and walking by the river. Simple things but [good]."
I've interviewed a fair few different people now for this blog, from all over the world, but Marie was the first continental European I had interviewed. I wanted to know if she recognised any cultural differences between Canada and France, "Oh yeah, a lot. I feel like, especially where I'm from in the south of France, the mentality is so different. That's one of the things I like here; you can meet people so easily, in a restaurant or a bar, there are people next to you and you start to talk and that's easy. Everybody's got an open mind, so that's something that I like." I questioned it was not like this at home, to which she responded: "Oh no, not at all. At home if you don't know people from school and you don't know people from work, you don't meet anyone. Here, every week you meet new people. It's something I don't like [about home]." I had to agree that there is a similar atmosphere in the UK, if someone I didn't know started talking to me back home I would question why they were doing so. I said this to Marie and she agreed, at home usually we would assume they were hitting on you. Whereas in Canada, we don't mind it one bit. Perhaps its something to do with the preconception that Canadians are all really friendly, (and generally they are), that us travellers also assume this open persona, or maybe its because in Banff we're all miles from home and looking to make new friends. We're not naive, we know it's most likely the latter and that Banff is an exception, but its a quality we will both miss when we return to our home countries.
I'm lucky enough to say that I've now seen a whole year pass in Banff and have watched the seasons paint the mountains white, wash them clean, illuminate them in gold and now dust them in snow again. The seasons are so extreme in their contrast, and town changes just as much as the landscape. Now that we're into fall and summer is seemingly very much over, everyone is so excited for the winter. Marie has also been resident in Banff long enough to see these changes, so I asked her which season she prefers, (spring and fall not really counting because they literally last about three weeks!), "That's a good question, I think I prefer the winter. Summer is beautiful, there are a lot of places [to visit] and things to do, but this is too busy for me, there are too many people. Especially in Banff, it's totally crazy in the summer. I would say winter always, since I was a kid I would always prefer the cold than the hot. I'm a happier person when it's minus 40 degrees *laughs* and I love skiing and boarding so."
My final question, naturally, was how long Marie planned to stay in Banff and what were her ambitions for when her visa expires. She told me she has a year left, and intends to stay in Banff so she can work towards applying for her PR, "I think I'm pretty happy to stay in Banff actually. For now, I'm really excited to have another winter in Banff. Things can change but maybe next summer I'll go to another place. There are still so many things I want to do in the Rockies, so I think Banff is a good place to stay. But even this winter I want to go to Yellowknife to see the Northern Lights, I still want to go on my trip to Alaska, the Yukon maybe next spring. So my next project here is to buy a car, maybe I'll go back to Vancouver Island to do the north of the Island. When I think about Canada, it's a huge country." It sounds as if Marie is in no way done with Canada, with so much on her bucket list, it seems this story has far many more chapters write.
Marie has two jobs and because our hours are always conflicting, its not too often we get the chance to hang out. Luckily last week our days off aligned and were able to hike the Sunshine Meadows trail together, one we both wanted to tick off our wish lists before the summer was over and the snow returned.
There has been so smoke across the whole of BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan this August because of the wild fires in BC, that hiking hasn't been very worthwhile or healthy because sky has been clouded by a horrible, grey smoke. Towards the end of last week it was starting to clear, but the smoke was still very much limiting visibility. With the summer being almost over we had to make the most of a not ideal situation, otherwise we would miss our chance. So out we headed, and although the valley was covered in smoke, I still think it was rather beautiful. It was such a nice day and so lovely to have a whole day to hang out, first hiking a gorgeous loop around three quaint lakes and then rounding off the afternoon with a couple of beers and a poutine.
I hope you all enjoyed reading Marie's story, it wasn't quite my usual questioning but I liked that this turned into a story where I did more listening than asking. It reminded me of a quote used timelessly by many from one of Robert Burns' poems, "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men /Gang aft agley,", but Marie has made the absolute most of the situations presented to her; she has taken every opportunity by the horns, rather than wallowing about what could have been. I commend her for it and wish her every happiness for the rest of her visa, I'm going to miss her so much when I leave town this month.
Thank you all again for reading and your continued support, it means the world to me. Thank you of course to Marie for being a darling and agreeing to my interrogation, I had a lot of fun working on it. The next few weeks hold a little uncertainty of me as I'll be leaving Banff at the end of the month to go traveling before I head home to the UK. I'll try to keep you all updated, but I'm not sure how frequently I'll be able to post on here. I promise I'll be recording lots of interviews though, and I'll continue to publish them once I'm home.
Follow Marie:
Follow A Small Allowance:
Comments
Post a Comment