Hey guys right now I live in Guelph Ontario, I'm 21, Only finished grade 11,and I work part time at Galaxy Cinema. Right now I hate my life and I'm considering to move to Calgary in search of something different. So at the end of this month I'm heading to Calgary with only 500 bucks in my pocket.

I'm not afraid to live in a homeless shelter for a few weeks until I get back on my feet and I was wondering if there is any positive advice you guys can give me.

   

Going for the 'geographical cure' for what ails you, eh? Well, not for me to try to talk you out of it. Sounds like you are ready for some 'experience'. 'Experience' is what we learn by doing things the wrong way!

On a very serious note, as soon as you get off the bus, go and deposit ALL but 5 bucks, or you likely won't have to worry about someone 'stealing your money' for long. Good luck!

   

Work hard and don't be a burden.

   

Don't make friends till you have a place to live. Friends are surprisingly expensive when your homeless.

   

Don't sleep on the bus!

   

Bring chapstick.

Being a London native myself, I can tell you that you are going to begin cracking as soon as you get here, so you might as well get an early start on it!

The city is still having some growth pains. If you are driving, be cautious about our merge lanes, they tend to disappear quickly.

Things out here are expensive. We're a boom province -- you get paid more but you also pay more, except in taxes -- compared to whatever you paid back in Guelph, which I doubt was any if you are out of grade 11, then taxes are generally better here. We don't have PST, for example. =D

The population is pretty young, a lot of people come here to make money and leave. There aren't many retirees, and most of us Calgarians are from other cities like you -- only about a fifth are Calgarians since the early nineties.

There is a rivalry with Edmonton. Don't take it too seriously. I happen to live there too, most people don't know it exists. =D Also, support the Flames, Calgarians are surprisingly ardent about that.

Chief of all, best of luck in Calgary! The job market is pretty good even with the slow down, especially if you are looking for a long term position.

   

Why have you choosed only Calgary and not other big city that is closer to you for example Ottawa, Toronto Montreal?

P.S. As we say here, No fluff or feathers bird. Good Luck .

   

Khar is right, bring chapstick, it's alot drier here than Ontario.

Careful, most of the shelters are operating at capacity and theres alot of Crack and booze floating around

Being 21 with a grade 11 education and a part time job may not be the best time to move, theres allot of unemployed people here that didn't finish highschool and the trades aren't as vibrant as they were. I sugest finishing school before moving to increase your chancesof finding work.

   

In what age you end school there and how many classes it has?

   

We go to Grade 12 and most people are done by around 18 years of age.

TO THE OP: Choban said it all. Get your diploma or equivalent before you think about moving. "Starting over" is hard enough WITH an education, and moving across country without at least a high school diploma is going to be very hard and to be bluntly honest, not the brightest idea I've heard.
You may hate Guelph(don't blame ya really lol) but in Calgary, you'll have NO contacts in the work world, unless you wanna work at Galaxy Cinemas the rest of your life.

Finishing high school will be the BIGGEST favour you do for yourself up to this point in your life.

   

We end in 17, and in 21 most of all have the "proffession diploma". And in addiction during his studying year he can save more money, which is important.

   

In Ontario, we used to have a Grade 13, which was the equivalent of everyone else's first year university and was generally only attended by those that planned on going to university after.

And, depending on when one started school, you could graduate high school at 17 here as well.

   

Well it is the same thing, there are "Technikums" where child can came after 9-th level and the first year education is from the School programmes. The education that they can give is "not full proffesion' to have full you need to go to the collage on the 3-d level. But some employers don't need "full" the "not full" is enought for this kind of job. And of cource to have a job you should give a bribe.