Guelph ~ The Royal City

Last year I lived in student housing in Waterloo which was only a few minutes walk from Wilfrid Laurier. It was convenient; however, it was a horrible set-up. It was shared with 9 other people. Granted, there were two livingrooms and two kitchens with five bathrooms. However, the people were messy and loud. I paid $425.oo/month with utilities included.

Now Rob is moving to Ontario with me for September for a year. I am looking to get out of the K-W area as it is busy and loud and very run-down with students. Drunken rowdy 1st year's traveling up and down King Street is cool when you're in first year but when you're a grad student it's not desirable. I went to Guelph for the first time with my BFF Stefanie and I loved it. It was beautiful and agricultur-y (yes, that's my word, ha!) and reminds me a lot of Abbotsford, population-wise (it's actually a bit smaller at 90,000 but nowhere near the 400,000 combined total of Kitchener-Waterloo region). The downtown has a lot of charm. Kitchener's downtown charm matches east-end Vancouver, but we won't go there. There's a reason it's called Downtown Kitchener and Uptown Waterloo. Guelph is affectionately known as The Royal City. It has one of Canada's only two nationally recognized School of Veterinary Medicine and a lot of agricultural research goes on here. It has quite the 'hippie' feel--very eco-friendly residents for the most part, especially the students. There is a nice music scene as well. Check out JJ Ipsen as an example.

I found a place a week ago online for rent in Guelph's south end in a newer subdivision known as Westminster Woods. I'm not typically a suburban girl, but I like the greenery, the fact that it has people with money and therefore will be quiet--quiet enough that I won't be distracted when trying to pump out my thesis like a mad academic ape. It's close enough to the grocery store and other little stores that are needed such as a Shoppers Drug Mart. Rob and I both have cars so we can get to where we need to be quick enough. In particular I will be able to drive to Waterloo when needed in about 20-25 minutes depending on traffic.

So the place we found is a little 1brm basement suite in a 4-year old home that is quite large itself. It has spots for 2 cars (perfect for us!) off to the side. It is $725/month inclusive of utilities. Now, I know that many of my west coast friends have mentioned that it seems pricey for what we're getting. However, BC residents of the lower mainland do not use half as much energy as we do in cold-snowy-wet central Canada. Typically if one were to pay $600 on average in southern Ontario it would not be inclusive of utilities unless it's pretty run down. If not included you're looking at 1/3 the energy bills and in winter those could run as high as $100+/month. So if you take the $725 and subtract $100 even, it's really only $625. In addition, it's a clean suite, with only three student residents above. We get our own laundry as well! I find this to be a plus. And in the end, we really are only there for a year. We can deal! Here are a few photos for your perusal.

The Outside with our parking stall to the right.

Across the street a children's playground.

Self-explanitory!

Basic three-piece bathroom. It's a full bathroom though.

Livingroom--looks a little dark but it's just the camera. The white walls reflect all the sunlight and the landlord swears it's pretty light for a basement suite. Bryce told me it's good because it has 8ft ceilings for the bedroom and bathroom and the kitchen and livingroom have 9ft ceilings. No bumping your head Rob!!!

My precious and generous friend Bryce who took the time to view the suite for us while we are not in person to view it ourselves. Nice shorts, Bryce man! He's a fellow Guelph-ian.

The bedroom--if you can call it that--is the downside of this place. However, with a glass half-full I will say that we can live with this. It will be turned into an office and we can sleep in the living room. I can deal with sleeping in a living room. I cannot deal with not having a quiet space to study and write while Rob tempts me with Hell's Kitchen and How I Met Your Mother in HD!

Well that's it for now. What do you think of the potential new digs? I think I approve! Grade A!