After graduating from law school, former Torontonian Sarah Lesniewski moved to Switzerland.

“It seemed like a better idea to be unemployed and job hunting in Geneva, eating cheese and chocolate, than sitting on my parents’ couch being miserable,” she says. “So I took all my savings and gambled that I would be able to find a job somewhere in the world before the money ran out.” Lesniewski spent four months job hunting and having fun. “I was really lucky because right away I met and moved in with a fun couple who loved to party and go on adventures. We’d hop in their car and drive to the Swiss countryside, or go to Milan for a few days. It was an amazing time.”

Now she does PR, communications and public affairs for a think tank in London, England (and is, with a friend, in the development stage of “an organization that will focus on strategies for social change”). Lesniewski says that she wanted a career abroad because “we live in a global era, and I want to see as much of the world as I can… Traveling is the best education. I believe in the idea of a ‘common humanity’ and I have no doubt that the future’s social challenges will need to be approached from an internationalist perspective, and I wanted to start building bridges and making connections.”

“And, frankly, Toronto already has enough lawyers.”

Why did you move?

Several different things came together and fell apart at the same time. I had just finished my degree and so I was unemployed, and the relationship I was in was dissolving… It was all becoming a bit depressing. Panic was starting to set in when a friend in Switzerland called me one morning and said, “Why don’t you move to Switzerland?”

Are you happy you moved?

Yes. It was the best decision I ever made. People thought I was crazy at the time, but I believe you have to take risks.

Does anything about London remind you of Toronto?

Canary Wharf, one of London’s big financial districts, looks just like downtown Toronto. Apparently it was modeled after Toronto, with office towers connected by an underground “path” of shops and restaurants. It even contains names like “Canada Square.” If I squint, I can pretend I’m back in Toronto.

What has surprised you about moving there from Toronto?

The frantic energy here never lets up: everything is happening everywhere, all the time. The pulse here is so intense, Toronto looks positively sleepy in comparison. Every club, every bar, every pub is packed. I love it, but I feel a strange guilt for ever staying home, because I know I am missing about 100 amazing things. Also, the drinking culture, though not surprising, took some getting used to. And from a nerdy legal perspective, the lack of rights here surprised me. I will never take the Charter for granted ever again.

What is your social life like in London?

London is a mutant. Take the wildest Toronto party you’ve ever been to, and you’ll still be nowhere near the madness of London. I know it’s an obnoxious thing to say, but it’s true. It’s absolutely relentless here. Although one of my favourite nights in London is “Gutterslut,” a filthy gay dance party, and it’s reminiscent of that Toronto night “Vazaleen” that used to be at Lee’s Palace.

Brits are serious drinkers. You can buy booze everywhere, all the time, and so everyone is always drinking, and people get hideously drunk. Until recently you could drink on London Transport, the underground and buses, but you can still drink on trains. And there are no rules about complimentary alcohol, so even events as straight as a Parliamentary report launch will have a reception with wine; it would be rude not to. If you move in the right industries, you can drink for free every night of the week. Pubs tend to close at 11 p.m., but clubs will have “late licenses” and some even have 24-hour licenses: no last call! And Brits drink in rounds, where you take turns buying drinks for the whole group of friends you’re out with, so someone is always buying you a drink. It’s hard to keep up. My liver hurts just thinking about it.

What do you miss most about Toronto?

The food! I desperately miss all the delicious cheap eats of Toronto! Chinatown, affordable sushi, pizza shops on every corner, and roti! And Toronto brunch, oh how I miss brunch! The British don’t really do brunch, it’s either a greasy fry-up or a Sunday pub roast, although a few more places in London have started to get it together. I also miss the way you can just roll up to restaurants without a reservation, and the staff are so lovely and happy to see you. Despite the fact that there must be a zillion restaurants in London, every one that you want to go to is always full. An evening out here takes careful planning and strategy. Everything is so much easier in Toronto.

What don’t you miss at all about Toronto?

The chip on its shoulder. Toronto always seems to be obsessed with what it isn’t, rather than what it is. I wish it would just get over itself, relax, and have a good time.

Would you ever go back?

It’s looking very likely. Although I will be sad to leave London, I’ve seen what regressive laws and policies can do to a country, and I don’t want that to happen to Canada. I have a candidate that I want to run in Toronto for the NDP in the next federal election. Nothing is certain as of yet, but if she secures the nomination for the riding I will move back to manage her campaign. It’s been a wild ride here in London, but I feel like my country needs me.

The idea: This February, a radical, three-years-in-the-making facelift was unveiled on London’s Exhibition Road.

Most of the curbs, guardrails, lights, and lane markings were removed from the tourist-thronged, four-block thoroughfare. The speed limit was reduced to 20 km/h. Then coloured paving stones were installed along diagonal “desire lines.” Now, pedestrians go where they please, and cyclists wobble and weave willy-nilly, forcing cars to drive more cautiously. Without explicit markings, road users pay more attention to sharing the space. It’s “psychological traffic calming,” says British transport consultant Adam Davies.

The idea has academic cred: Experiments at German and English universities show that people prefer to walk in their own “desire lines”—paths that offer the most visibility, preferably in the middle of the road, if possible. There are no stats on whether the redesign has reduced accidents.

Would it work here?: “It’s a great and important idea, and it’s appearing all over the world,” says Toronto-based architect and urban designer Ken Greenberg. Toronto has several pedestrian-focused streets, including an as-yet-unfinished road in the redesigned Regent Park.

But the most obvious place for a radical redesign, says Greenberg, is Yonge Street. This August, a pilot program called “Celebrate Yonge” will reduce Toronto’s main throughfare from four lanes to two, between Gerrard and Richmond. Pedestrians will have more space to roam, but it won’t be exactly like Exhibition Road, since vehicles and pedestrians will still be strictly divided (by 225 tree and flower planters). If it’s considered a success, it could become an annual event. A permanent and more extreme street reconstruction, however, is still the stuff of fantasy.

Che DuBois is a musician, performer, DJ and producer from Toronto who has been living in London (U.K., not Ontario; also known as “The Good London”) since last July. “I’ve been releasing party tunes since 2007, as well as DJing sets of all my own tunes. Before that, I did live PAs, doing techno then moving to breaks and so on.” DuBois also had an act called Duotone, where he sang live to spun instrumentals. Now in England, DuBois has been moving into pop-music production, and is putting together a new live techno act. “I’m going back to my roots,” he says.

Why did you move to London?

I have been writing tunes and performing in [Toronto] with a lot of great artists and for a lot of great promoters for many years, and have found that you end up playing all the same places and for the same people. After a while, I felt I was going in circles. As an artist, my goal is to progress and not stand still, so this led me to the idea of expanding my world. I chose London for a few reasons. One is that I spent a month there a few years back and loved it, but the other is that as an English-speaking country, it’s a little easier to start all over again, not to mention it’s a great place to be located when you want to travel and explore Europe. I love Toronto and the people in it but, as a person in need of change, I felt this was the way to go.

Are you happy you moved to London?

Yes, I am extremely happy about my move. With all the new opportunities and great people I am meeting, it has shown itself to be a great decision. Plus, I’ve got to say, I love the architecture, with all its history, and the crazy winding roads and rolling hills. Every day out is a new experience.

Does anything about London remind you of Toronto?

To be honest, no. Between the landscape the people and the pace of things in London, it really is a whole different world. I have seen the “twins” of a few of my friends, which can be interesting.

What do you tell your friends in Toronto about London?

I tell them how amazing it is there, and how if you want to open up your world and seek new opportunities, then the UK is the perfect place to go. That’s not to mention it’s the perfect launching pad to all of Europe.

What has surprised you about moving from Toronto to London?

Where do I begin? Everything has been surprising, from the way things are done there, to the way people interact with one another, not to mention the fact that everything is backwards there. Doors open inwards into shops, the light switches are pushed down to turn on lights the list goes on… but it all makes for a great adventure.

What do you miss most about Toronto?

Quite simply, my great friends and my loving family.

What don’t you miss at all about Toronto?

The extreme weather. Plus-40 to minus-40—that’s what I don’t miss at all.

Would you ever move back?

I was born in Toronto and love my hometown and would like to have a place there, but I feel my time there is done. The way of the UK has captured me, and I can’t see moving back permanently.

Are you a former Torontonian doing something cool abroad? Email Kate@TheGridTO.com.