Got on the train at 7:30am in Seattle and by lunchtime I was through customs with my feet on Canadian soil in Vancouver. Easy peasy.

Spent the first 4 days staying in a Downtown hostel so I could explore the city and then relocated to shared accommodation on the University of British Columbia campus to use as my base for job and flat hunting purposes.

First impressions of Vancouver: it's pretty, really pretty. Surrounded by water everywhere and lots of greenery and trees. The climate is milder than I had expected. It's the middle of summer now and the average temperature is 20 degrees which is nice and summery in direct sun but a bit crisp in the shade.

Have spotted a few reminders of home around the place. A Michael Hill Jewelers store in one of the malls, a Muffin Break and a chain called Cob's Bread which is just a re-branding of Baker's Delight.

The UBC accommodation is working out well for jobhunting although it's a reasonably long crowded bus ride to get into town. They have a great aquatic centre with indoor and outdoor 50m pools. The job hunt has been unsuccessful so far. Have started out be focussing on half-way decent paying jobs but may have to move into applying for whatever I can get quite soon.

Overall my impression so far is that Canada is less OTT and less deep-fried than the States but I haven't really got it much more figured out than that.