From a very young age, I wanted to explore the world. My plan was to move to Vancouver by myself after graduating. But towards the middle of my final year at Dublin City University, I met a wonderful American girl named Miranda in the college pub, who was studying in Dublin for a year. After three incredible months of dating her, my heart was set on following her back to Boston.
I got a 12 month J-1 visa and arrived in the US in September 2011, luckily landing a marketing job at a start-up located just off the MIT campus. After this internship ended, I was back on the job market with a nearly expired visa. I was determined to find a new job, and even created job application videos that got thousands of views. But the cost of sponsoring an Irish citizen was just too expensive for most companies, especially when I was still at entry level.
We considered all English-speaking countries and eventually decided upon Toronto in Canada, because it was closer to both our families. I also had a few college mates living there.
Inspired by Kent Frost's Just A Second video, I decided to do something similar to capture my new life in Toronto. For the past year, I've captured one second of video a day documenting my life in Toronto. I don't get the chance to go home as often as I should, so it was a way to show family and friends in Ireland what it is like here.
I never expected to experience so many amazing things in just one year, from getting engaged to my beautiful girlfriend, to venturing around Canada and the US. Toronto so far has given us so much. We’ve made exceptional friends here, grown our marketing careers, and our relationship has become stronger than ever.
