Your chosen College or University has sent you an offer letter, now the next thing on your list is to find out where you'll live.
The most common choice for locals when they are incoming freshmen (first year) in University or College is to look for on-campus accommodation. For us international students, this option may not always be available. If they are available, it's not the most feasible since we have to pay a semester to a year's rent in advance instead of paying the rent on a month-on-month basis. I asked my classmates what they did to find accommodation in Canada before they arrived and here are the two most common:
Ask family and friends
Book for temporary accommodation online
01. Ask family and friends
Majority of international students, including myself, had family or friends who helped us find accommodation in Canada. Either they let us stay in their home for a few weeks or months, or they helped us look for rentals. Our relatives living in Canada can become our "guarantor" before we arrive. A guarantor backs up our identity and agrees to pay for the rent if we can't or are unable to pay.
I'm Asian, and culturally most of us have a long list of relatives: uncles, aunties, and cousins. We even call our neighbour who is not related to us as uncle or aunties! Ask everyone you know, or scroll through your Facebook or Instagram account and check if anyone in your friend's list has lived or visited Canada in the past. Even if you don't directly know anyone who can help you, ask anyway. Chances are, someone from your friends might know someone who can help you.
One of the benefits of staying with friends and family, or what I call the "host family", is that they can help you get accustomed to living in Canada. Since they have probably lived in Canada for years, they can teach you how the public transportation system works, how to get your social insurance number, where to get the best deals, and even where to buy food or delicacies from your country. Depending on your arrangement and how close you are, they will also let you stay in their home for "free".
Tips when you plan to live with friends or family:
Set expectations before you arrive. Unless you're staying with direct relatives (like your parents or siblings), you need to set expectations with your host family like how long you're planning to stay, and what are you willing to pay or provide in return for your stay. Even if they don't ask for a payment, it's always good to offer something in return. Helping with some of the household chores, contributing to pay for the groceries, babysit their kids, or walking the dogs, can "pay" for your free rent.
Be ready to give up "some" of your personal space. Living with family and friends can sometimes feel like living with your parents. If your host family's culture is just like mine, expect to encounter awkward conversations about studies, marriage, relationships, choice of friends, attire, hygiene, and the list goes on. Regardless of how elusive you are, it will be difficult to avoid these conversations when you're living with someone for weeks or even months. Be ready and open to share. However, if it gets uncomfortable, be polite and let them know how you feel about it.
Expect some disagreements. Let's face it; when you get to spend 24 hours a day with someone for long periods, you tend to get to know them like you haven't before. Ideas, habits, and beliefs may clash; even the way you squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube can be a cause of dispute. Since you're living in their home, unless they're wrong, the best way to get along is to follow and obey their rules.
Don't get complacent. Although your host family is willing to help you, you can't rely on them to be able to accommodate you over some time. The worst that can happen when you become complacent is that you overstay your welcome, and your host family gets tired of helping you. When they do, they may start calling your direct relatives back in your country to complain about you. Some international students have also gotten into fights with their host family because the responsibilities or finances imposed on them to stay with their host family keeps getting bigger and bigger the longer they stayed.
02. Book for temporary accommodation online
If you can't find any relatives or friends that can help you, another option that some international students did is to look for temporary accommodations online. Depending on your budget, you can either find a hotel, motel, hostel, or book accommodation through a home-sharing or home-staying app. Renting for the short-term might be more expensive than staying with family or friends but depending on what type of accommodation you choose, you will have more privacy than the former.
Tips when booking accommodation online :
I won't go over the details of all the types of temporary accommodation you can find online, but here are some tips when booking one from your country:
Make sure that the place you're booking in is a legitimate site or a valid post. If you don't know any local websites in your country where you can book accommodations in Canada, I strongly advise that you book it through well-known sites like Booking.com, Tripadvisor, Trivago, Airbnb, Homestay.com, or directly in the hotel, motel, or hostels website.
Check the reviews of your target accommodation. If there are pictures from guests who have previously stayed there, go through them so you'll have an idea of what the place looks like. Browse through the reviews and see if there are any red flags that you should wary of like bed bugs, cockroaches, lousy customer service, and the like. If there are no reviews, look elsewhere. They may be legitimate hosts, but at this point you don't want take unnecessary risks when you're too far away from home.
Ask questions. If you're thinking about booking a hostel, bed-and-breakfast, home-sharing or homestay, contact the host in advance and ask questions like:
Do they offer pick-up from the airport?
Does the accommodation include free Wi-Fi?
Can you cook or can you cook specific dishes in their home?
Do they have a laundry machine, or do you need to go to a laundromat?
Are there groceries nearby?
Is there air-conditioning?
Do they offer cleaning services or shovelling?
Is there a curfew?
Can you invite friends over?
How accessible is the house from a bus stop or a train station?
These questions are likely in their site or post, but if not, don't be shy to ask them, or any other questions you might have. These hosts are running a business and will be willing to answer any questions you have. Also, chances are, they have encountered clients with situations similar to yours, so go ahead and ask. If they don't respond or if you don't like the arrangement, find another one where you'll feel safe and comfortable. Remember that you're likely to stay there for weeks, so safety and comfort should be your top priority.
Keep track of the amount of time you booked your stay. These types of accommodations are typically booked in advance, and your host might not be able to accommodate you if you need to extend. If you can't find another place to rent, let your host know at least a week in advance so they can block their home's calendar or help you make other arrangements if their place is not available.
Remember that you're not in Canada for a vacation. You're here to study and eventually establish yourself and build your career. That's why the sooner you can get yourself settled in and become truly independent, the better it is for you in the long run. If it gets intimidating, remind yourself how brave you are for deciding to go to Canada by yourself, leaving what you know and love behind. That decision alone already makes you special, and taking positive action puts you one step closer to your goals and being more accountable for your life.
If you're an international student and you have information on how to find accommodation before arriving in Canada. Or if you have something you want to share, please feel free get in touch so we can share it with our fellow international students. Contact instudease@gmail.com.
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