New Montrealers: Moroccan journalist says Montreal was her 1st choice

Rahmouna Ouardigh's dream of coming to Canada came from her mother. Six months ago, Ouardigh fulfilled that dream when she stepped off a plane in Montreal.

"My first impression was being lost in an urban jungle,"she said. "I've never been in North America before."

The 29-year-old lived her whole life in Casablanca, Morocco, where she worked as as journalist. She left that life behind to move to Canada, a country she says is welcoming and peaceful.

It didn't take long for Ouardigh to feel welcome.

"When I first came, I was struggling with my luggage I was completely lost," she said. "I found people who wanted to help me, who helped me to find the shuttle, find the metro, buy the ticket it was all new for me That really amazed me."

Ouardigh hopes to improve her English while in Montreal. She says her husband will join her here.

Here are excerpts from the interview,which has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Why did you chose to make Montreal your home?

Montreal is the most known city. It's a metropolis, a cosmopolitan city, and because of course the language choice. I'm most fluent in French so I wanted to start by Montreal, practice a little bit my English and learn about Canada. That's why Montreal was my first choice.

First of all to have the Canadian experience and to improve my English. I'm waiting for my husband to come and join me.

What's the biggest challenge you've faced moving to Montreal?

To find decent work. Compared to my country, life here is really expensive. That was a shock actually. Everything is really expensive compared to my country, like with taxes. I remember when I went to the bank here and they explained to me that I have two cards. I had no clue about this.

What can't you wait to do in 2018?

I want to go to university. I would love to apply for a flight attendant position in Air Canada. I just started working for Air Canada as a customer agent.

And maybe next year I want to go to the Universit de Montral to pursue my studies in communications, and after that maybe apply to a flight attendant position that allows me to go often to Casablanca and visit my family. And, of course, improve my English.