Mehreen Shahid – First Impressions

As an immigrant from Pakistan, what were your first impressions of Orillia?

As an immigrant from Pakistan, I’d actually been to the U.S., several states in the U.S., and I was living in Mississauga before I visited Orillia, so it wasn’t that much of a culture shock. But it was very different from the Toronto area, the Mississauga area. That it seemed a little more of a – I don’t want to say this – but it seemed a little more of a redneck town.

My first impression was there are lots of trucks around me and people were driving a little too aggressively, but that’s completely flipped now, when I go back to Mississauga I feel that way about Mississauga. Now I can see that Orillia is a calmer, quieter, more peaceful community and the people are extremely nice.

What was the most interesting story, or an interesting story that you covered for the Packet and Times?

For me, everything was interesting. I think the most interesting would be covering the Fall Fair. I had never been to a demolition derby before in my life. I was completely smitten by it because who doesn’t like smashing cars? Debris flying around, mud splashing and everything, and that was fascinating for me.

One of the first stories that I covered, I had to drive out to Big Chute and there’s a marine railway up there, and again I was fascinated by that. I’d never seen something like that in my life so, almost everything has been of interest to me. I think those two things would most likely be some things that I’d never done.