This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hayet Yasmine Chebbi, a 26-year-old content creator and podcaster based in Montreal. It's been edited for length and clarity. I lived in New York City for the first 24 years of my life. It was all I'd ever known, and as a kid, I thought I'd never leave. When the pandemic hit, my college went remote, I got laid off from my contract fashion job at Chanel, and I felt like the US's response to the pandemic was inconsistent. People dream of