Kingston, ON

[canadiana]

Can anyone tell me more about Kingston, Ontario and Queen's University? It's supposedly small and quiet, but not very ethnically diverse. What else do people know about the city and university? Thanks in advance.

[xnormajeanx]

My friends who go there/went there for undergrad all disliked Kingston and complained about it constantly. Apparently there is little to do there, and Kingston is a pure university town... no nightlife to escape to. Not sure how it is for grad students though!

[psychgirl77]

Anyone have any more info about Kingston? I'm seriously considering an offer at Queen's University. Thanks!

[Izimbra_]

Anyone have any more info about Kingston? I'm seriously considering an offer at Queen's University. Thanks!

Kingston could be really nice or really crappy for you depending on what you look for in location. Are you a big city person? If yes, then Kingston might not be the place for you. Kingston life basically revolves around three things: Queen's University, the Royal Military College and the Kingston Penitentiary (don't worry, the convicts are safely locked away!). So it's a college town with a population of 150,000, pretty homogenous and not a whole lot of action.

However, if you're a college town type person, Queen's might be up your alley. Most people coming to Queen's are going to be migrating there from other places and will be living pretty close to campus. The upside to this is that you will have a strong sense of community and a downtown strip oriented towards student life with lots of cool pubs, coffee shops and restaurants. The downside is that, well... if you want a break from that community, there are not very many places to escape to in the city. Although you will be within close driving distance of Montreal and Toronto (3 hours) and Ottawa (1.5 hours), which might help ameliorate any small-town isolation when the opportunity presents itself.

For what it's worth the Queen's campus, I think, is one of the nicest in Canada with a lot of really neat and tasteful limestone architecture. Kingston also used to be Canada's capital back in the early 19th century and so also carries a little bit of history and interesting architecture with it in its own right.

You should also know that Kingston is notoriously bad for housing. Most of the undergraduates also come from out of town and therefore scoop up most of the housing around campus -- the so-called infamous "Queen's student ghetto". Queen's undergrad also has something of a party reputation, so you may be forced to live further from campus if you want to get away from the ruckus. The demand for housing also seems to outstrip demand because of the university, and thus you get quite a few run-down/overpriced places and some jerk-off landlords. Now, I do know people going there for grad or law school and they've all been able to scoop up some pretty sweet places that are quiet and nice, but just be prepared to do some serious looking and research before/if you go there.

[psychgirl77]

Thanks.

[Xnient]

@Izimbra_:

Thanks for the post. I would hate for Kingston to be classified solely on the previous posts.

I agree with just about everything that was said but I would also like to add that Kingston has a very diverse collection of ethnic (and local!) restaurants. Downtown is spotted with restaurants with roots from all over the world and can often be found in just about any budget range.

If you are a fan of Japanese, you are in luck: Kingston is home to no less than 10 sushi-style restaurants (and counting...). That may not sound like many, but for a town of only 150,000, it is very significant.

Asian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian etc. are all widely available

Indian and other middle eastern foods can also be found but tend to be a little pricier.

For the classic food lovers, there is also no shortage of British, Irish, or Scottish type pub-fair.

And, of course, the usual fast food chains can be found all over (even on campus).

I hope that you enjoy your time in Kingston and if you have any question, just let me know.

Cheers,

[thepoorstockinger]

Asian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian etc. are all widely available

Indian and other middle eastern foods can also be found but tend to be a little pricier.

For the classic food lovers, there is also no shortage of British, Irish, or Scottish type pub-fair.

I know this may be nitpicking and totally off topic but:

Asia is not a country or even a type of cuisine. It's a continent that the three countries you list are a part of.

India is not in the middle east.

Food from the UK is not "classic food" or the default natural or normal food that regular people eat. It's a type of food like any other.

The way people talk about "ethnic food" just totally weirds me out.

All that said, Kingston is a nice enough town. In terms of university towns it has a tiny bit more of a big city feel when it comes to things like shopping and food since it draws so much of its student population from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. (Whereas some of Ontario's university towns are mostly relying on students from rural Ontario). It is definitely a bit of a pricey town to find housing in, but I think it's par for the course in university towns. It is also a very, very white town and Queens is a very white university.

[Phalène]

I'm currently a TA at Queen's, and this year every one of my students had a Blackberry! It was a little weird, lol. 80% of them went to private schools, and 95% of them were white. Pretty homogenous group.

[Xnient]

I know this may be nitpicking and totally off topic but:

Asia is not a country or even a type of cuisine. It's a continent that the three countries you list are a part of.

India is not in the middle east.

Food from the UK is not "classic food" or the default natural or normal food that regular people eat. It's a type of food like any other.

...

I am sorry that I "weirded" you out. I was merely trying to be informative. If I knew that every choice of word was going to be over-analyzed and scrutinized, I would not have written anything.

To clarify your "nitpickyness":

I used Asian as a type of restaurant simply because there are many self-titled Asian restaurant in Kingston. They cater foods from several, if not many, different cultures, regions, and countries.

You are correct, India is not in the middle east - I learn something new every day. None-the-less, my point is still valid.

When I say classic I do not imply this is what normal people eat - you misunderstand the definition of classic. In my context, I simply meant that British-type pub fair is what many people (not all people, just to clarify) would associate as the traditional Canadian food. That is not to say that all Canadians enjoy such food nor am I implying that Canada is not a multicultural and diverse country. I am simply saying that Canada's roots are highly intertwined with that of the United Kingdom and, as such, we enjoy many of the foods that their culture has developed.

I am quite surprised that you jumped at the classic British food and not at the usual fast food. I would hate to associate Canada with fast-food.

I hope that you find my clarifications satisfying and that all of your concerns are addressed. Next time you have an issue that is completely unrelated to the topic, please PM me and I will either remove the post or edit it to you liking.

Regards,

[eucalyptus]

I'm currently a TA at Queen's, and this year every one of my students had a Blackberry! It was a little weird, lol. 80% of them went to private schools, and 95% of them were white. Pretty homogenous group.

I did my undergrad at Queen's (graduated in '07) and I have to agree on the overwhelming whiteness, although only in specific fields. I took half my classes in psych (probably 90% white) and the other half in computing (closer to 60-70%). I'm not white, but I did go to a private school; however, I'm the only one in my large circle of Queen's friends who did. Did you by any chance TA a Commerce class??

[Obie17]

A lot has been said about the potential desire for more urban excitement and nightlife, but the flip side has its positives as well. Just outside of Kingston are all manner of lakes and canals, with hiking, canoeing, and fishing galore in the unfrozen months. Even if you're not an outdoorsy person, there is a lot of natural beauty that's easily accessible and worth exploring if you get the itch to leave campus.

[quaintrelle]

How is Kingston Ontario to live in? fun? boring? etc... also, where do grad students typically live...like what area?

Edited April 9, 2011 by quaintrelle

[javi7830]

I know you posted this awhile ago, but I figured I'd respond since no one else has:

I lived in Kingston for awhile, and was advised not to live in the "student ghetto". Basically, most of the houses surrounding the university are inhabited by undergrads, so if you're not interested in living in a party house, I would advise you to get an apartment a little further away. The cost for rent isn't bad (about $500-$600/month), but if you opt to live "downtown" (on Princess Street), rent can be a lot more. There are some nice apartments located above restaurants, yoga studios, clothing stores, etc. in Kingston.

Student life is buzzing all year round, even in the summer. I would consider it a "party school", as I was awoken by rowdy undergrads on a regular basis (which is why I'd suggest not living too close to campus if that's not your scene).

Queen's is walking distance to downtown Kingston, and it's really close to the water. There are TONS of restaurants in Kingston, which I really enjoyed. There are also little shops on Princess Street. Overall, it's a great place to live, despite it being super far from other major cities.

[ah233]

applying to Queen's University this Fall (2012) for Ph.D ..... from javi7830's post it seems that it is a really good place to live in ........

[Andsowego]

applying to Queen's University this Fall (2012) for Ph.D ..... from javi7830's post it seems that it is a really good place to live in ........

Hi quaintrelle and ah233,

Kingston is a decent city, and it's CLOSE to other major cities! (not sure why javi7830 claims it's "super far" from other major cities since it's only a 3-hour train/bus/car ride from Toronto, and a 2-hour train/bus/car ride from Ottawa, and only slightly further to Montreal or Quebec City). It's one of the best-located Canadian cities in my opinion! If you get sick of the small-town feel of Kingston, you can easily escape for a day or two to Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, or Quebec City, no problem! (and if you want to visit the USA, New York City, just fyi, is only a 5-6 hour drive too!).

Edited January 2, 2012 by Andsowego

[Cosmos]

I went to Queen's during my undergrad but transfered to UVic in my second year. It's definitely a cute city, and close (like andsowego says) to some major cities, skihills etc. There are some excellent little cafes, shops, and restaurants in the DT. The campus is quite compact (15 min walk across) and is surrounded on one side by Lake Ontario, and on the other by the student ghetto, which consists of cute little streets with little old houses packed with students. The campus is very close to the DT (10 min walk, like 5 blocks).

Kingston is beautiful year round, albeit quite cold in the winter. It gets very snowy which makes the old buildings on campus look perfectly lovely. That was one of my favourite aspects of Queen's. It really is a beautiful place.

Also, Queen's is a party school.

A few cons... Kingston has like 8 penitentiaries in the city. There is one literally directly across from one of the res buildings. Most of the Kingston locals are families of prisoners, so the locals don't mix that well with Queen's students. Queen's kids usually joke that they live in a bubble.. they stay mostly on campus, except to wine/dine/shop on Princess St DT or hit Ale House to party and see shows.

Also, in terms of undergrads, the majority are private school kids from Ontario. There is a bit of lack of diversity, tolerance etc there but I am sure it is completely different for graduate students.

[booksnlooks]

Does anyone know how easy/difficult it is to find a lease that starts in September?

[nyfain]

Would anyone be able to comment on what the queer/trans community is like here? And/or what it's like in this city for LBGTQ folks in general?

[TakeruK]

Would anyone be able to comment on what the queer/trans community is like here? And/or what it's like in this city for LBGTQ folks in general?

 

For a small homogeneous town in the middle of nowhere Canada, Kingston is somewhat surprisingly LBGTQ friendly. I think this website may be a useful resource in measuring what kind of support the LBGTQ community has: http://www.kingstonpride.ca/ especially the "History" page. It shows that people in the mayor's office has supported the community for many decades. But, it wasn't all smooth sailing though, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Cooper_(Canadian_politician) (Local Councillor section). 

 

Also, recently, there was this issue: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/07/22/gay-letters-kingston-lesbians_n_3636524.html This happened after I had left Kingston but from talking to people that still live there, this incident is definitely the work of a very minority group. I also wrote to the MP, Mayor, and City Councillors about this incident, and the majority of them wrote back. All of the responses I received affirmed their support for the people's lifestyle choices and condemned these threats. Being a college town, the student community in Kingston is very liberal and Kingston is one of the few regions in Ontario that did not vote Conservative in the last federal election (where the Conservative Party won most normally-liberal seats in Ontario). 

 

Finally, I am not sure where you are asking from but I think it's definitely true that in Canada, communities are generally fairly supportive of LBGTQ causes.

[ereissoup]

I am pondering queens, but what you've said about housing seems like it could be a problem. Just how bad is the rental market? In terms of looking for a nice, quiet place, I wouldn't mind living far away from campus and paying more than usual, but I'm also worried that there might not be any leases like that available...

[TakeruK]

I am pondering queens, but what you've said about housing seems like it could be a problem. Just how bad is the rental market? In terms of looking for a nice, quiet place, I wouldn't mind living far away from campus and paying more than usual, but I'm also worried that there might not be any leases like that available...

 

I don't know where you are currently living so it's hard to compare! Also, note that a lot of the posts in this thread are 3-4 years old, or more!! I wrote about Kingston housing in the "Queen's University" thread, I think. I'll write another version here anyways.

 

I lived in Kingston from 2010 to 2012, and my wife and I found a very nice 1 bedroom place that was away from the campus and very quiet and well maintained. I can even recommend an excellent landlord company that has many buildings in Kingston (varying quality and prices): http://www.homestead.ca/search/kingston-apartments-for-rent/ We lived in one of the buildings near the Kingston Centre shopping area (and bus loop). Our building was very new (built in 2004) and it was a 5 minute drive to Queen's (however, my wife took the car to work so the bus takes about 20-30 minutes because of the crappy bus system and the strange routes). Our rent was just under $900/month for a 1 bedroom place (about 650 sq ft) and includes the $50/month fee for 1 underground parking spot (very recommended).

 

Here are some things to know about the Kingston housing market, assuming that you have no experience renting in Ontario at all:

 

1. Things that are true all across Ontario: (if you are from Ontario, you probably know this already!)

The Ontario Tenant Act is very strict and very pro-renter. Here are some things you should know about renting in Ontario that are interesting to students:

 

1.1) The notice to vacate is 60 days. You must give your landlord 60 days notice to terminate the lease. For major landlord companies (like the one I linked above), they fill up vacancies within a few days of being listed. When we gave notice to our landlord, we had people interested in seeing the units right away and the landlord told us someone signed a lease shortly afterwards (which was nice, there was no parade of people going in to see the units). Therefore, if you want to move in a nice place for Sept 1, you should be signing a lease around the beginning of July. Showing up a few weeks before school starts will make you get stuck with a crappy and/or overpriced apartment.

 

1.2) Landlords cannot have "no pets" clauses. They cannot charge additional rent or any fees for pets. They can still charge for damages due to pets though.

 

1.3) The only person that can terminate a lease is the renter. The landlord can only terminate a lease if you break the rules of the lease (failure to pay rent, cause disturbance, cause damage etc.) or under very specific circumstances allowed by law (the landlord's family wishes to move into your unit). So, the default is that you sign a 1 year lease and then it automatically converts to a month-to-month lease until you decide to move out. Even though it's "month-to-month", you still need 60 days notice to move out though.

 

1.4) Rent increases are controlled by law. There are no rules about the initial rent but after you sign a lease, the landlord can only raise rent once every 12 months (with 90 days notice) and the amount of rent raised is limited by the rate of inflation set by the Ontario government. In our first year, this rate was something like 0.9% and the second year was 2.5% or so. Because of these limits though, you are almost guaranteed to see a rent increase every year, but it's a pretty small amount.

 

1.5) Landlords are not allowed to collect any sort of application fee, credit check fee, or security deposit. All fees are the responsibility of the landlord. However, the landlord is allowed to collect payment for "last month's rent" up front. Usually, you write a cheque for this amount when your application to rent is accepted. The landlord will cash the cheque right away. By law, the landlord must pay you a fair interest rate on this "up front payment". The fair interest rate is generally the rate of inflation, so what happens is that when it's time to move out, you will not have to pay for last month's rent because the increased rent and the "interest" cancels out, basically. When you move in, you are also expected to pay for the first month's rent, obviously. However, this means there are fewer startup costs, because you would pay 1 month's rent 60 days before move in and then the first month's rent as normal. There are no security deposits allowed, they will charge you for damages if you leave the apartment in poor condition.

 

2. Things that are specific to the Kingston rental market:

 

2.1) I think Kingston is actually a pretty cheap place to live. Our $900/month apartment would easily be over $1400/month where we currently live and in our hometown (Vancouver). It's been a couple of years since we moved now, but I would say the rent in the central and north parts of Kingston (where the actual town residents live) are very nice and affordable. Generally you want to stay south and west of Princess Street but there are nice pockets north of princess street too. (Princess Street is a main street that runs diagonally [NW to SE] across Kingston). If you live near Queen's, for $800/month, you will have an old and very poorly maintained place. Nice places near Queen's and on the waterfront will cost about $1200/month. You can also go across to the Eastern side (where the military base is) for even nicer places at $1000/month and up. If you like an affordable, quiet and comfortable place to live, I recommend living in central or north-west Kingston. The sacrifice you make is distance from school (and the bus schedules really suck compared to a big city). 

 

2.2) If you want a quiet, affordable, nice/modern place, I strongly strongly recommend contacting landlord companies like Homestead ahead of time (early June) and ask about what they think will be available. Then, I strongly recommend actually flying out there and seeing the places. It might cost the equivalent of one month's rent to do so, but if you are living here for 5 years, 1 month's rent is worth 60 months of comfort, in my opinion. You can also use this trip to start meeting with your profs early and saying hi etc. When my wife and I moved out, we spent 3-4 days looking at a lot of places just around the 60-day notice mark and this gave us the most options. Our friends that we met in Kingston (another married couple) arrived a week before school started and the only way they could get a decent place was to pay $1300/month and they were stuck there for a year. So, in the end, we might have spent $1000 or so to fly out and look for places, but not doing that could have cost us an extra $400*12=$4800 in rent in that first year.

 

2.3) There are two apartment buildings owned by Queen's, one at West Campus and one at Kingston Centre that are pretty cheap and subsidized by Queen's. They are for graduate students only (priority goes to family though) and they are a good alternative option as well. Some people move into here first and then move to a different place later in the year or in the summer. 

 

2.4) If you have a car, definitely pay for underground parking when possible. For us, underground parking was $50/month while surface parking was $30/month. $20/month is well worth the time you save scraping ice off your windshield/car and the potential damage!

 

2.5) A lot of people say the landlords in Kingston are crappy because they can take advantage of the transient student population. And also, (undergrad) students tend to care less about quality of housing and they might also be more prone to causing damage. This is especially true in the "Queen's Ghetto" neighbourhood, which is the area north of campus and south of Princess Street where many undergraduate students rent houses. During certain nights of the year, there are a ton of parties and drinking in the street etc. which understandably upset the town residents. I would highly recommend avoiding that area because this is where the crappy landlords tend to be. In general, I would say to avoid renting from individual landlords and go for the large landlord companies. In my opinion/experience, when a landlord only owns a handful of units, they need every unit to be very profitable and they don't have money reserves to fix things up etc. But large companies that own thousands of units in Kingston won't have time to squabble with you over small things and if they have to fix something and not make a profit on your unit that month, it's no big deal as your rent is less than 0.1% of their revenue!

 

Hope that gives you a lot of useful information! You can contact me via private message if you want more details about the places we lived and I can discuss some neighbourhoods/companies more too if you want. 

[ereissoup]

Thank you so much for that detailed reply! It really was quite thoughtful--not to mention helpful! I'm from Vancouver as well, so a lot of the differences you mentioned definitely resonate with me. Although if I do go to Queen's, I think I would enjoy the small/college town atmosphere.

 

Also, is it fairly easy to get by without a car in Kingston? I've lived in cities with well developed rapid transit all my life, but I also figure that the smaller size of kingston would perhaps make travel by bus or bike a bit easier...

[TakeruK]

Thank you so much for that detailed reply! It really was quite thoughtful--not to mention helpful! I'm from Vancouver as well, so a lot of the differences you mentioned definitely resonate with me. Although if I do go to Queen's, I think I would enjoy the small/college town atmosphere.

 

Also, is it fairly easy to get by without a car in Kingston? I've lived in cities with well developed rapid transit all my life, but I also figure that the smaller size of kingston would perhaps make travel by bus or bike a bit easier...

 

I would say it is possible to get by without a car in Kingston, but it would be much easier to have a car. Kingston Transit has about a dozen routes total (*so few that bus drivers chat with each other on the radio, discuss what books they read last night etc, which is pretty fun but it gives you an idea of how few buses are running at a time) and at peak hours, the buses come every 30 minutes. For the busy streets, there are more than one route that serves it so there may be a bus that goes in the right direction every 15 minutes. For commuting to work on a regular schedule, transit is not bad. I had a printout of my options to go home in my office so I know what times I have to leave in order to not waste 30 minutes at a bus stop. It's a little bit inconvenient to have less freedom, but it was still a lot better than my 1-1.5 hour bus commute to UBC during undergrad.

 

The problem with transit is that once "evening" hits (around 5pm), about half the routes stop running and the ones that continue go to one bus every hour. Once in awhile, a bus would unexpectedly not show up. This makes it very difficult to get home after an evening event (or working late). In particular, I would generally have much better luck walking home (45-50 minute walk) after e.g. celebratory dinner with colleagues (someone passed quals, submitted a paper whatever) than waiting for a bus (up to a 60 minute wait, usually in the cold). Also, Sunday buses operate with a reduced schedule as well.

 

I commuted via bus during the weekdays and used the car for groceries and errands on weekends. I can't imagine an effective way of getting around town via bus on weekend, unless you are going directly to one store, getting your stuff, and then bussing home. But you would have to make sure you finish your errands within the time between buses! My preference was to get certain things at certain stores so having to take the bus would have taken a lot of precious weekend down time.

 

Biking is possible but doesn't happen in Kingston for 5-7 months each year due to snow and ice coverage. I suppose some people do manage to bike year round, but I'm not skilled enough to bike on ice/snow! Also, Kingston is a very car-city (many people commute to Kingston from its many rural suburbs) so there aren't a lot of bike lanes or roads that are particularly bike-friendly. 

 

Finally, Kingston is small in population, but it's actually pretty spread out. I would say the town has the mall at one end of Princess Street (NW) and Princess Street leads right to downtown and the harbour. Here is the route map: http://www.cityofkingston.ca/documents/10180/1596803/MAP_AllRoutes.pdf/dc1defa3-0680-4dcb-be22-fb3f4475cdca

 

The text in capital pink writing denotes the main transfer points and the time on the bus between any two transfer point is usually either 15 minutes or 30 minutes, depending if you see the route be direct or wind through the residential areas. I see that they have renumbered and change some of the routes since 2012 though, so things may be a little different. I would recommend living near one of the transfer points, especially one that has a bus that goes by Queen's if you plan to live without a car. In 2012, the routes that go past Queen's are #2, #3, #6 and #18. Maybe the new express routes go by Queen's too. The buses are sparse so I think without a car, I would feel pretty isolated and I would feel that a lot of the town would be out of reach due to the amount of time/hassle it would take to get there. 

 

But, plenty of students at Queen's have cars though. I would often pick up some of my classmates and we would go to the big box shopping stores together (e.g. Costco, Walmart, the mall etc.). In general, having a car opens up a lot of the town to you and will give you more options on where you can live!

[poliscilady]

Thank you so much for that detailed reply! It really was quite thoughtful--not to mention helpful! I'm from Vancouver as well, so a lot of the differences you mentioned definitely resonate with me. Although if I do go to Queen's, I think I would enjoy the small/college town atmosphere.

 

Also, is it fairly easy to get by without a car in Kingston? I've lived in cities with well developed rapid transit all my life, but I also figure that the smaller size of kingston would perhaps make travel by bus or bike a bit easier...

Hey! Just wanted to chime in on this post - I'm from the Lower Mainland, but currently doing my MA at Queen's, so I've been here about 7 months now. I totally agree with the above comments/advice. I am currently in a 2 bedroom west of campus (about a 10 minute walk), which myself and my partner rent from an individual landlord. Our rent is fairly cheap ($1000/month) considering we are close to campus, in a spacious unit (it's a bit older, but has been nicely fixed up), and have close access to anything we need (Loblaws, gas, even Cataraqui/Target is only an 8 min drive). 

 

The downfall of renting from a private landlord like we are, is we sometimes have trouble getting things attended to if there are problems, due to the fact that our landlord owns a few properties, but their main occupation is working/travelling in the military. So I totally agree that renting from one of the larger land holdings companies is the way to go!

 

Also, in regards to transit/needing a car - I brought (aka drove) my car from BC and it is quite handy to have - especially if you would like the freedom to go whenever you'd like without being dependent on the bus. Also, very nice to have to make weekend trips to Ottawa or Montreal. Be careful if you bring a bike here! There is definitely a problem with bikes getting stolen, even if locked up properly (within two weeks my partner's bike and his officemate's bikes were stolen on campus). So if you do go the transit/bike route, invest in a U-lock.

 

Also, while Kingston is definitely a smaller city than Vancouver, it has a lot going on. Lots of live music, interesting/yummy/high quality restaurants, festivals, the market etc. Coming from a smaller than vancouver city in BC (which is comparable in size to Kingston) the night-life/downtown core is just really exceptional (in my opinion) and much better than what I am used to.

 

If you have any other questions - let me know! I'm super happy with choosing to do my MA here - no complaints

[TakeruK]

Hey! Just wanted to chime in on this post - I'm from the Lower Mainland, but currently doing my MA at Queen's, so I've been here about 7 months now. I totally agree with the above comments/advice. I am currently in a 2 bedroom west of campus (about a 10 minute walk), which myself and my partner rent from an individual landlord. Our rent is fairly cheap ($1000/month) considering we are close to campus, in a spacious unit (it's a bit older, but has been nicely fixed up), and have close access to anything we need (Loblaws, gas, even Cataraqui/Target is only an 8 min drive). 

 

The downfall of renting from a private landlord like we are, is we sometimes have trouble getting things attended to if there are problems, due to the fact that our landlord owns a few properties, but their main occupation is working/travelling in the military. So I totally agree that renting from one of the larger land holdings companies is the way to go!

 

Also, in regards to transit/needing a car - I brought (aka drove) my car from BC and it is quite handy to have - especially if you would like the freedom to go whenever you'd like without being dependent on the bus. Also, very nice to have to make weekend trips to Ottawa or Montreal. Be careful if you bring a bike here! There is definitely a problem with bikes getting stolen, even if locked up properly (within two weeks my partner's bike and his officemate's bikes were stolen on campus). So if you do go the transit/bike route, invest in a U-lock.

 

Also, while Kingston is definitely a smaller city than Vancouver, it has a lot going on. Lots of live music, interesting/yummy/high quality restaurants, festivals, the market etc. Coming from a smaller than vancouver city in BC (which is comparable in size to Kingston) the night-life/downtown core is just really exceptional (in my opinion) and much better than what I am used to.

 

If you have any other questions - let me know! I'm super happy with choosing to do my MA here - no complaints

 

So many people from Vancouver area in Kingston We drove our car from Vancouver (Richmond) too. Also, I agree that bike theft is a problem and most of my friends with bikes actually choose to store their bikes inside their apartment for extra safety.