My name is Faith (like the George Michael song) and I’m the social media gal at Battistella. I recently moved to Calgary, with my partner, from Portsmouth, a small seaside city in the UK. We moved because we felt stuck.

We were constantly working and not spending any time together. We were trapped in a life that wasn’t making us happy, and we needed a change. Moving across the globe is quite a drastic decision, but for us, it felt like the right thing to do.

I’ll shamefully admit we knew very little about Calgary when we arrived (sorry). But as we got to know the place better, we found ourselves gravitating towards Downtown. Don’t get me wrong, Portsmouth is lovely, and of course, we miss our family and friends; however, Downtown YYC is an absolute dream.

To me, Downtown Calgary has a similar vibe to London (minus the gazillions of people and ridiculous prices), and it’s bloody cool. The art, the culture, the quirky cocktail bars, and coffee shops. The city has so much character and something is happening ALL the time.

Like, seriously, I’m not sure people appreciate how cool it is. The other night I was walking down 17th Ave, and there was a secret underground rave going on! There are so many incredible local breweries, the coffee scene is brilliant (I’m a bit of a coffee snob), there’s every cuisine you can think of, and it’s all pretty damn tasty. There’s a gig every night, it’s always happy hour somewhere, and I’ve never seen so many cultural and community events going on.

There’s a real camaraderie in YYC that gives it a warm small-town feeling. Local businesses working together, the sheer amount of Instagram accounts showcasing the best the city has to offer. The support for the Flames. I have never seen such dedication to the colour red and men with sticks on ice. It’s hard to execute that feeling in a city, but somehow Calgary does it.

And that’s why I LOVE living Downtown. Although, feel free to check back in when the temperatures hit -35 (burrrrr).