Hello, I’m having a tough decision ahead of me.

I want to go study abroad because there are other countries I like more than where I am now.
Which is a country that is at war a lot of the time, and it’s over-developed in my opinion without many open spaces.
Those are the two main reasons I want to try living in another country for a couple of years.
I also find the lifestyle here is different than what I would like. I want a lifestyle of exercising, meditating, enjoying the outdoors, while he lifestyle here is more about drinking, smoking and partying all day.

I have family here that I love, which is the big advantage of where I am but not too many friends as most of them went to study far from where I live now.

My choices are going to either Canada or Australia, which I both like because they are big with a lot of nature and open spaces. And also they’re English speaking and it’s possible for students to stay there after university.
A lot of my hobbies are outdoors things like hiking, biking etc. which is why these countries are good for me.
I also visited both of them in the best and luckily because I have good grades I managed to get accepted to universities in both of them, and pretty good ones too and not too expensive for me.
Now I need to decide if to go to Australia or Canada and maybe stay after studies if it will be possible.
In terms of the universities they are both good, and the cost of living is also similar (relative to what you are paid).

I like Australia much more, mainly because the weather is much better.
In Canada the weather is very cold and dark most of the year and I’m afraid it can be a bit depressing,
There are only 2-3 cities in Canada where I can actually picture myself living because the weather there doesn’t get below -10.
Where I am from is in the middle east so I’m used to very hot weather an sunny I actually like this weather and I don’t know if I’mm be able to handle -20 cold or cloudy skies all winter.
In most cities in Canada it could get below -20 Celsius in winter and to tell the truth I don’t think I could handle that.
And I don’t like to be locked in at home all winter.
It means if I go to Canada there are about 2-3 cities in the West Coast where I can actually picture myself living because the weather isn’t crazy cold in winter.
So I’ll be quite limited in terms of where to live, in case I want to move from those 2-3 cities.
For example if I can’t find work where I am in my profession or just get a bit bored of that particular city.
So that is the disadvantage for Canada.

On the other hand, Australia has tougher immigration rules.
My estimation is that to stay in Canada after studies it’s about 85%-90% that I succeed
While in Australia it’s about 45% in my opinion that I can stay there after.
That’s because Australia changes it’s immigration rules all the time so it’s hard to know if it will still be possible to stay by the time I finish my studies.
I do like Australia a lot though it has everything I want.

So the dilemma is between living somewhere with cold weather and/or limited choices of where to live.
Or go where I really like everything but have about half chance that I can’t stay after.

If I can’t stay I need to go back to my home country which isn’t all bad, I have my family here which is a great thing,
but it’s far from being my dream place except for that.
I would probably prefer living in Canada than here but it kind of depends how I’ll feel about the weather thing.

I would definitely prefer Australia then here but I don’t know if I’ll actually be able to stay after studies.

• This topic was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by cookieman.
• This topic was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by cookieman.
• This topic was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by cookieman.