Calgary

I am curious what opinion you all have of the city and the University of Calgary. I was thinking about applying to the school this year. I know very little and am not sure if the information I have isn't littered with "buy from us" propaganda.

Do you think the fact that I'm from the US would effect me becoming a student/resident?

What is the city like? I can see it is fairly large, almost twice the size of Denver, is it similar to big American cities?

How is the college? Stuck up-spoiled rich kids?
I'm already fed up with that.

Well, I don't go to the U of C, but I live in Calgary and I love it. I doubt being American would really mean anything, unless you're an ass. And I'm sure you're not!

I'll just list the good and bad points, shall I? That way you'll get the straight facts and hopefully I'll be as unbiased as possible. :wink:

Good Stuff
-Most people are nice. We (Calgarians) have a bit of a reputation as snobs, but I think anyone who thinks this just encountered the wrong people. Sure, some people are rude, but it's definately not everyone.
-We have tons to see. There's the Glenbow Museum, which is interesting even for people who think they detest museums. When you walk in and see the giant, four-or-so story crystal chandelier, you'll see why. There's the Calgary Tower, of course. There's the Calgary Zoo, which is a pretty nice zoo--the exhibits are big and comfortable and seem very alike the animal's natural habitats. There's Stampede Park during Stampede, which has rides, games, shows (tons of free concerts, with admission), and rodeos.
-Stampede! If you don't know, it's a yearly week-long festival with a parade, fireworks, Stampede Park, and lots of citywide...unity, as silly as it sounds. It started out as a rodeo when Calgary was still young, and is known as the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. People come from all over the world.
-The city is clean in most places, and we have lots of natural scenery, like forest and rivers. Our Bow River flows right through Kensington, a downtown neighbourhood.
-We're close to a lot of places outside the city, too--Calaway Park, an amusement park, is only about a half an hour away; Drumheller, Banff, Edmonton, and a ton of other places.

Bad Stuff
-A few parts of downtown seem popular with druggies and lowlifes. The patch of street sometimes referred to as "Cocaine Corner", at least by people I know, comes to mind. It's only shifty at nighttime, though.
-The suburbs. This might be more of a personal problem, but I hate the Calgary suburbs. The city is constantly expanding with homes and thus along the outskirts of the city are hundreds of houses. Just houses. I live in a suburb, and I HATE IT. I want to move back to Kensington...
-According to people who haven't lived here all their lives, stores are more expensive in Calgary than other parts of Canada. I've never noticed it. Coming from a whole different country, though, you probably won't even notice.
-Forest Lawn. No offense to anybody who lives there, but Forest Lawn is known as the "bad" neighbourhood. Crime and drugs are more common there than the rest of Calgary.

Hmm. That's all I can think of now. If anything else comes to mind, I'll tell you. I know the good outweighs the bad, but I've lived here all my life so I'm a bit biased. I hope I helped you a bit, at least, and I hope you come to check out the city for yourself.

Go to Edmonton, better city, better people. Uof A is better also.

Yeah, Edmonton is an awesome city also. I still prefer Calgary but hey, too bad, I was born here, after all.

I'd definately choose the U of A over the U of C any day, though.

Alot of Calgary Edmonton bashing between cities so dont ask a biased opinion of people who live either in Calgary or Edmonton. Ive been to both and I must say Edmonton gives a more friendly nature than Calgary. Calgary just seems like a blah city with grim people.

Yah, I went to Heritage park, very vast and nice.However, you can relate the same things in the heritage park to the rest of Western Canada....vast flat areas of grain settlements.

It isn't snobbiness. It's the transient nature of Calgary I think.

When I first moved out to Calgary I found it to be a pretty lonely city actually. People were nice but no one seemed to hang out after work, etc. I chalked part of this up to the fact that maybe because I had left school friends behind that this is why I felt lonely. But I realized it was because of Calgary's transient nature that this happens.

Economic opportunity is better in Calgary than Edmonton. Edmonton is too bureaucratic while Calgary is more free enterprise. This is partly due to the fact that the provincial gov't resides in Edmonton.

The mountains are the #1 reason I would have a hard time moving to Edmonton. There isn't much to see for view there.... and they don't spend any money cleaning up their garbage on the streets. Looks pretty bad if you ask me folks... why aren't you bitching at your alderman??

err might want to retract your statment buddy, Ive been to Edmonton several times and its damn more cleaner than Calgary. I realise your from Calgary and not matter what I say will change anything but I think Edmonton is better, more friendly people, and more activity. Calgary is just a bunch of drones doing nothing.

Were you there last week?? I was and it was pretty bad. Calgary has bad litter too... just not as bad.

I bitch to my alderman when necessary. I don't hold anyone politician less accountable than the other - no matter what level it is.

Just because I posted my opinion doesn't mean it was wrong - does it? That sounds an awful lot like dictatorship to me.

I know lot's of drones too. There are a few radicals like me that live here so all is not lost. ... lol.

I don't knock Edmonton. I have family that lives up there and many friends as well. I mainly go into the NE end of town, which I was told was a "rougher" part of town, but one I find actually quite nice.

I have been around many parts of Edmonton. I bitch about the garbage because I think it's unacceptable. This stuff started happening about 5 years ago or so. A budget cutback I would imagine is what initiated it. But I think it makes an otherwise nice city look "trashy". No different for Calgary. I bitch at my alderman too when the garbage gets bad. There is no reason for it. I tell him to take the guys from the remand centre and give them a nice day out on the town... picking up garbage! lol

Well to each his own. [cheer]

Feel weird since I lived in Lethbridge most of my life, just below the gloomy nature of Calgary.