New kids on the blog

Are y’all excited for summer?? Seems like it’s literally around the corner, since it’s gonna be sunshine and 25°C by the end of this week!! ☀️ Coincidentally, I also have some new ‘kids’ on the blog that I wanna introduce to you, so let’s jump right in!

First up is Frederik! He is 23 years old and from Germany and he’s here to do an internship for 5 months!
Back home, he’s currently studying business and in his free time he likes to cook and go on walks. Sports are also a big passion of his. Frederik’s first impression of Vancouver is that downtown Vancouver is a lot greener than he thought! I absolutely agree, it’s literally one of the first things I noticed here! There’s sooo many parks, which make Vancouver not feel like a huge city… even though it definitely is lol! He decided to come to Canada because he mainly wants to improve his English Skills. That’s why he wanted to come to North America, and Canada seemed more preferable to him than the US. He’s also looking to gain some awesome new experiences and additionally, his girlfriend lives here as well.
Once Frederik is finished with his internship, he would like to go explore the eastern part of Canada and maybe do a little roundtrip there! A lot of people actually do that towards the end of their stay here and they’ve all been very impressed so far, so if you have the time, I definitely recommend doing it! 😄 While he’s here in Vancouver though, Frederik definitely wants to see some orcas and bears! Well, luckily whale watching season has started again and there’s actually quite a few opportunities to see bears around Vancouver – I mean we literally just saw one a few weeks ago in Whistler! Fun fact: Frederik can down a pint in under 5 seconds!! Seems to me like we’re gonna have to test that during one of our next Pub Nights, eh? 😉

Next up is Eloane from France! She is 19 years old and she’s also here for an internship that she’ll be doing for 4 months.
She is also currently in business school at home. Eloane’s hobbies include skiing, hiking and hanging out with friends! Well, seems like you chose a good time to come to Vancouver because the weather is getting better and better, so we’re definitely gonna go for more hikes now! There’s so many awesome spots in and around Vancouver that I can’t wait to explore with y’all! Eloane wanted to come to Canada because she knows someone at the company that she’s interning with and she wants to work and travel abroad! She also has family in Montreal that has lived in Vancouver before. They told her many awesome things about Vancouver, so she decided to check it out herself. Like Frederik, her first impression of Vancouver is also that it’s very green and she loves the fact that the city is so connected to nature!
Once she’s finished with her internship, she’s gonna go back home to continue her studies. But while she’s here she definitely also wants to see a bear and she’s very excited to go hiking! Let me tell you: hiking in Vancouver is insanely beautiful, just you wait! 😄

Last but not least is Lennard! He’s 20 years old and from Wolfsburg, Germany. He’s here to do a volunteer project at an animal shelter for 6 weeks.
Before leaving home, he finished school last summer and worked for 7 months to earn some money. The main thing he loves to do in his free time is anything that has to do with football (or “soccer”) – whether it’s watching games or playing himself. He also likes spending time with his friends and just hanging out! Lennard decided to come to Vancouver because he’s been in the eastern part of Canada before and he now wants to explore the western side as well! The first thing he noticed about Vancouver is that there’s a lot of Asian people here, which is quite different from home and from eastern Canada as well. He also thinks the city is very clean and very green, since there’s a lot of nature surrounding it.
Once Lennard is finished with his volunteer project he’s gonna do a grizzly tour to the Rockies and then he’s gonna go back home to start studying geoscience. While he’s here though, he definitely wants to see a soccer game – and he actually did already cause we went to the Whitecaps game this past Saturday.

To all of you: I hope you have an amazing time here in Vancouver and I can’t wait to make some awesome memories with you!

Take care!

-Talea :))

New ‘kids’ on the blog

April has been pretty busy, eh? Well, are you ready to get to know our new ‘kids’ on the blog? Let’s go! 😄

First up is Flavian! He’s 20 years old and from France and he’s here to do an internship at Fashion Week for 4 months total.
He also likes watching movies and TV shows in his free time and back home he’s studying at business school. This internship is actually part of those studies! He came to Canada mainly to work on and improve his English skills. He also wants to discover the culture and he’s aware that there are many different cultures and lots of diversity in Vancouver. That’s one of the first things he noticed here: a very large percentage of the population is Asian.
Once he’s finished he’s gonna go back home to France and he’ll finish his studies next year! But while he’s here, he definitely wants to explore the city and he’d also love to visit Seattle! Honestly, a lot of people go to Seattle for the weekend because it’s really not that far from here!

Next up is Julie, who is 19 years old and also from France. Like Flavian, she’s here to do an internship at Vancouver Fashion Week – wow, must’ve been a busy first week lol!
Before she left back home, she did an internship already and she’s currently studying international trade. In her free time Julie likes to watch movies and TV shows, relaxing and hanging out with friends.
She decided to come to Canada because she wants to improve her English skills, while discovering a new country. Her first impression is that Vancouver is is a lot bigger than the cities in France. She also loves the fact that the city is so connect to nature, especially the mountains. Same! Its honestly one of my favourite things about Vancouver and it makes it feel like the city is not as big – even though it definitely is!
Once Julie is finished with her internship she’s gonna go back to France and continue her studies. She’d also love to do more traveling. She doesn’t really have anything specific on her Vancouver Bucket List, so she’s just gonna wait and see what events and trips come up!

Another new ‘kid’ on the blog is Arthur! He’s 22 years old and also from France. Him and Flavian are actually in the same class, so he’s also studying business. That’s why he’s also doing the Fashion Week internship for 4 months.
Arthur’s hobbies include playing football (yes, the real football lol) and he also enjoys video games. Other than that, he’s also a bog fan of sports and likes running himself.
Arthur decided to come to Canada for his internship, because he’s always wanted to go to North America and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
His first impression of Vancouver is that the roads are very large and he also loves that the mountains are so close to the city! The thing about the roads is actually very true and I’ve never really thought about that lol! It’s definitely very different from Europe!
Once he’s done with his internship, he’s gonna continue his studies and finish school next year. He’s also thinking about doing some more traveling then! I highly recommend it lol, I feel like it’s so much fun to see all the new cultures and countries!

Last but not least is Victoria (she/her)! She is 18 years old and from Cologne, Germany. She’s here to do an internship for 3 months.
Before she left back home she finished school last summer and worked for a bit. She also did some travelling to South Africa and Thailand – wow that sounds awesome! One of Victoria’s biggest passions is singing! She used to sing in a choir for a long time, but then quit last year.
Now she decided to come to Canada because she has never been to North America! She came across Vancouver and thought the city seemed really interesting, so she decided to come and check it out! 😀 Her first impression of Vancouver is that it’s a lot bigger and more expensive than she thought lol! It is honestly really hard to imagine the dimensions in Vancouver and Canada in general, especially for Europeans! I still have a hard time grasping how far away Banff actually is lol! Other than that Vancouver is pretty similar to what Victoria imagined.
Once she’s finished with her internship she’s gonna go on a trip with her parent, but they’re not sure where they wanna go yet. After that she’s gonna go back to Germany and start studying political science. But while she’s here in Vancouver, she really wants to go on a Rockies trip and do whale watching – perfect! Those two trips are actually coming up very soon! 😀 Lucky for Victoria our whale watching this past weekend got cancelled, so now she can join us! This month’s trip is also a Rockies trip, so this should work out perfectly! Besides that, she’d also love to go kayaking or canoeing! Fun fact: Victoria actually has a friend from school that’s gonna go to Vancouver Island this week! They only found out a few days ago that they’re both gonna be in Vancouver at the same time, so they’ll definitely meet up here!

To all of you: I hope you all have a great time here in Vancouver and I can’t wait to go on some awesome trips with you!

Take care!

-Talea :))

New ‘kid’ on the blog

I hope everyone’s been enjoying the nice weather! It’s sooo nice that spring is finally here!! 🤩 On that note, I have some other great news: there’s a new ‘kid’ on the blog that I wanna introduce to you!

This is Paul (he/him)! He is 22 years old and from near Dortmund, Germany. He’s here to do an internship at the Vancouver International Film Festival for 4 months.
Before he left back home he got his degree in economic computer sciences last December and worked for Telekom. Originally, he wanted to go abroad immediately after finishing High School, but then he started his dual studies. That’s why he’s decided to come here now! 😄 In his free time, Paul loves to play tabletop RPGs, listening to music and coding. He actually has a coding project right now about a YouTube mixer… I hope I understood that correctly cause I have no clue about coding lol! If you wanna know more abut that project you should ask Paul (definitely not me lol)! He also enjoys traveling and his favourite place that he’s been to is probably Cyprus.
Paul decided to come to Canada mainly because of its beautiful nature. Let me tell you: you’ve come to the right place to explore some beautiful spots! He chose Vancouver because he thinks it’s a very progressive city and it has a lot to offer! He’s absolutely right, Vancouver has a lot of different cultures and sooo many awesome spots – you can literally drive for 20-30 minutes and be completely surrounded by nature, which is one of the main reasons why I love this city! 😄 Paul’s first impression of Vancouver is that it’s a very safe city and the public transit is very nice! He’s also noticed two other things: 1) Vancouver city itself is actually not that big, but the suburbs are. And 2) You absolutely cannot rely on the weather forecast here! Yep, that’s Vancouver for ya lol, you never know what you’re gonna get – sunshine, rain, clouds… could be anything.
Once Paul is finished with his internship. his parents are gonna come to visit him here. They’re gonna do a trip to the Rockies, through Calgary all the way to Banff, visiting a bunch of lakes on the way! They’re also gonna go to New York at the end! After that he’s gonna go back home and get his master’s degree and start job after that, but he’s not entirely sure what he wants to do yet. He has been tutoring since January though, so he might pick that back up again. But while he’s here, he really wants to get to know new people and build a social network in Vancouver! Fun fact: Paul visited Washington D.C. before coming to Vancouver and he visited a friend in Fredericksburg. To get there, he purchased a ticket for $51 and right after that his friend told him that he could get a ticket for the exact same trip for $11… so he had to go through the whole process of trying to cancel the more expensive ticket, but luckily he did get the cheaper one in the end! He decided to take and Uber back though lol!

Paul, I hope you have an amazing time Vancouver and I’m sure you’ll get to meet lots of awesome new people here! I look forward to creating some incredible memories with you and I’ll see you next Pub Night! 😄

Take care!

-Talea :))

New ‘kids’ on the blog

I hope everyone’s been enjoying this week! Are you ready for a fresh dose of our new ‘kids’ on the blog? I know I am, so let’s go!! 😄

First up is Janine (she/her). She’s 23 years old and from Dortmund, Germany. She’s here to do some volunteering at a school until August, so for 4 months total. This project is actually part of her studies for university because she’s currently studying to become a teacher for English and social studies.
In her free time Janine loves to read books as well as baking. Before deciding to come to Canada she actually looked at a few different places like New Zealand and Australia but Canada was her first thought. In the end, the flight length and the trip planning are what convinced her to come here. Also, she didn’t wanna go to the UK or Ireland because she feels like you could just go there for vacation, but now she has the opportunity to live somewhere for a longer amount of time and she wants to do it further away from home. Her first impression of Vancouver is that there’s a lot of really tall buildings. She’s also amazed by the fact that the city has so much variety – you can literally drive less than 20mins from downtown and be completely surrounded by nature! I totally agree, it’s such a cool and unique thing about Vancouver! 😄
Once Janine is finished with her project here, she’s gonna go back to Germany to start her bachelor’s thesis after writing a report about her time here. While she’s here though, she definitely wants to go to Whistler and do a Rockies trip! That sounds awesome and I’m pretty sure we have something coming up for both of those destinations very soon.. 👀 Fun fact: Janine is tutoring 3 kids back home and for some reason they all think she’s gonna get attacked by a bear while she’s here in Canada lol! One of Janine’s tasks for them was to write a text with certain words and one of them actually wrote a newspaper article about a girl being attacked by a bear… while she’s visiting Canada… well, let’s hope that doesn’t actually happen lol (knock on wood)!

Next up is Lena (she/her) who is also 23 years old and she’s from Munich, Germany. She’s here to do a practicum for about 3 months, so until June. Before she left back home she worked part time at a supermarket and she’s currently studying international culture and business studies at university.
Lena also likes to read, bake and cook in her free time. Besides that she loves spending time with her pets and hanging out with friends. Similar to Janine, Lena was torn between New Zealand, Australia and Canada for her practicum. However, the location of the Vancouver practicum and the length of the flight were the deciding factor for her. Lina’s first impression of Vancouver is that (especially in the suburbs) most houses look very similar, which is very different from Germany.
After her practicum Lena hopes to finish her bachelor’s thesis about indigenous peoples and she’s actually looking forward to learning more about that subject while she’s here. She doesn’t really have anything on her Vancouver Bucket List because she wanted to be surprised and just make spontaneous decisions whenever something cool is happening! Well look out for our events and trips because there’s gonna be a lot of really awesome stuff happening, especially now that the weather is getting nicer! 😄 Fun fact: Lena’s really into true crime and the first time that she encountered Vancouver was actually during a case that was portrayed on the show Criminal Minds!

Another new ‘kid’ on the blog is Eric (he/him)! He’s 18 years old and he’s here to do an arts practicum until May. Before he left back home, Eric was part of an arts course and now he’s doing a gap year and decided to spend part of that here in Vancouver!!
As you might’ve guessed, he’s really into arts and he also enjoys reading, baking, and going to museums. Like Janine and Lena he also wanted to spend some time a little further away from home, so he decided to come to Vancouver!
He thinks the city is very beautiful, especially with all the modern looking buildings and he lives in Yaletown, so he really likes the harbour. Once he’s finished here, he plans to go back home to study architecture. During his time here though, Eric is excited to go on many hikes and see some suspension bridges – I recommend Lynn Canyon for that! 😉 He’d also love to go to Whistler (I guess we’re gonna have to do another trip there, eh?) Fun fact: Eric is half Swedish, half Luxembourgish and born in Switzerland.

Last but not least is Alex! He is 18 years old and from Saarland, Germany. He’s here to do some volunteering for 2 months, but he’s been here for a while. Before he left back home, he finished school last summer and decided to do a gap year now! He was in South Africa for 2 months last year, where he volunteered at a nature park and did some data research on the animals. He basically did 1 or 2 safaris a day – honestly that sounds like so much fun! 😀
One of his biggest interests is soccer! He loves to watch and has also been playing himself for quite some time. He also loves animals, which is why he did his project in South Africa and also why he was on a husky farm for a few weeks before coming to Vancouver. He decided to come to Canada because he wants to do more traveling and see the world. Also he’s been to Vancouver before with his family. His original first impression of the city when he first came here was that the landscape is really beautiful and the people are nice. He also noticed that the city is very clean and he still thinks this is the case. He has noticed that there is a lot more diversity than he remembered, because there’s so many different people and cultures in Vancouver.
Once Alex is finished with his project, he plans to go back home first and then he’s probably gonna do more travelling as well. He’d love to go back to Africa and do some more safaris. While he’s here though, he really wants to go whale watching and he’d especially like to see killer whales! Honestly me too, I hope we’re gonna see some on our whale watching trip this month! Fun fact: Alex loves geography and knows all the flags of every single country!

To all of you: I hope you have an amazing time here in Vancouver and I look forward to making a bunch of awesome memories with you! Enjoy your adventure in Canada! 😊

Take care!

-Talea :))

What to do on the weekend?

Are y’all excited for the long weekend? This one is actually gonna be suuuuper long lol since Friday and Monday are both holidays! So if you’re still not sure on what to do, don’t worry I got you covered! Here are some awesome ideas!

First up, it’s Easter weekend, so you could join INTERNeX for a visit to the bunny café! 😀 They actually work together with Rabbitats and the bunnies are adoptable. I feel like Easter is the perfect time to visit these adorable Easter bunnies! 🙂 There’s different options for how long you can cuddle the bunnies and what kinds of snacks you can give them. They’re also an actual ‘café’ so you can also grab some drinks and snacks while you’re there!

Another thing that’s happening this weekend is the Cherry Blossom Festival at David Lam Park. INTERNeX is gonna go there on Saturday as well! This weekend is actually the start of it and it goes until the end of April. At the park, there’s a bunch of cherry trees that are blooming right now and let me tell you: this spot makes for some awesome pictures! Additionally, they also have “Cherry Blossoms After Dark” this weekend, so you can stay a little longer and admire all the beautiful trees after sunset!

The rest of the weekend until Monday is supposed to be really good weather, so I suggest going for a walk or hike! My favourites are Stanley Park, Lynn Canyon or Lighthouse Park (the best spot for sunsets)! All of these are not quite as difficult and perfect if you don’t have much time. If you’re looking for a bit more of a challenge though, I suggest Grouse Mountain, Deep Cove or Burnaby Mountain. They all have some pretty challenging hiking trails, but Deep Cove and Burnaby Mountain have some easier ones as well. They all have insanely beautiful views though!! Grouse Mountain and Burnaby Mountain both look at downtown but from opposite directions! From Grouse Mountain you see the coast, Stanley Park and the western part of Downtown Vancouver and from Burnaby Mountain you see the Vancouver Skyline, Stanley Park, and both the Lions Gate Bridge and the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge. Deep Cove has a really nice viewpoint called “Quarry Rock” as well, from which you can see the Simon Fraser University, the Burnaby Skyline and all of Deep Cove.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you have fun and are able to enjoy the nice weather! Hopefully I’ll see you at one of our events and I can’t wait to hear about your weekend next Pub Night!

Toodles!

-Talea :))