What to do on the weekend? – When it rains and you’re broke

It’s a typical Raincouver weekend according to the weather forecast, so it’s not much fun spending time outside. And if you are like me on a budget because you spent too much over the Holidays, or because Vancouver is simply expensive, then it seems like staying home would be the best alternative. But you’re not here to spend time alone in your room, so I want to give you a few suggestions that are not too pricey and get you out of the house this weekend!

Number 1: Come join us for a round of bowling or a game of pool on Friday night at the Commodore Lanes on Granville Street. We’ll have a little competition and the winner gets a free drink. šŸ˜‰ For 1 hour of bowling we only pay $12 per person, plus $4.75 for the shoe rental. If you prefer playing pool, it costs you $19 per hour and you can of course share the cost with the other players. šŸ™‚ You are even allowed to bring your own food inside with you, that way you don’t have to spend anything on expensive restaurants, plus it’ll be loads of fun! Have you been bowling before? Are you a beginner like me, or a pro?


Number 2: If you haven’t tried it yet, I recommend you go ice skating at Robson Square! It’s free and the skate rental only costs $5, plus it’s covered by a roof, so it’s rain proof. You can stay as long as you want, the music and some colourful lights make it feel like a disco on ice. A few of us went last week and we had a blast! None of us was really experienced which made it a lot of fun. šŸ˜€ One tip though, choose the time you go at wisely as it can get pretty busy on the ice! Another idea would be combining it with a nice snack from one of the food trucks at Robson Square after – I personally like the one that sells Shawarma and Falafel – or just wander along Granville Street, maybe go window shopping?


Number 3: If you like reading check out the Vancouver Public Library on West Georgia Street. Grab a coffee, pick a book and relax in one of their comfortable chairs. (I love to go to the highest floor it’s really pretty up there). They have a vast selection of books and genres, the atmosphere is quiet, but not like you could hear a pin drop, you can probably even hear the rain drops crashing against the glass. There’s some really nice coffee shops around and to be honest, what is cozier on a rainy day than sitting inside, reading a book, drinking a hot beverage and watching the rain fall down on the city?


No matter if action or relaxation, I hope you find the motivation to go out and explore a little bit this weekend, thus all the rain!

Have a lovely weekend and I’ll see you soon.

Cheers,

Laura šŸ™‚

Fun Fact Friday

Are you ready for another round of Fun Fact Friday? Great! Because it’s time to learn something newĀ about the city.

1. Vancouver is rated among the best cities for coffee lovers.

Good news for the coffee lovers out there: Diverse bloggers rated Vancouver to be one of the best cities for coffee drinkers. This means, Vancouver has a lot more to offer than just Starbucks, Tim Hortons and Blenz Coffee. Yes, there’s more. So go ahead, take advantage of one of the best cities for coffee lovers and try something different. (And if you still want to go to the coffee shops you’re used to, read our Smart Saver from Wednesday).

2. Vancouver, NYC and London are comparable in Housing prices.

You might have figured out that living here is not really the cheapest, but did you know that real estateĀ in Vancouver has the highest price among all Canadian cities? And there’s more to that: Rents andĀ lettings are comparable to a living in NYC or London – and living there is quite posh, right? Very expensive as well. But I think we shouldn’t complain about that… I guess that’s just the price we pay forĀ the amazing things Vancouver has to offer.

3. Our mayor is good looking, but cheeky as well.

I read a blogpost that stated Vancouver has the most handsome mayor.. well, he’s definitely not my age,Ā but I don’t blame those saying he’s looking good. But there’s more to the story than just a handsome guy.

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Well, I checked this morning, the letters are still up. But nice try Mr. Robertson!

Did youĀ hear about the Trump Tower & Hotel here in Downtown? So, in December 2015 theĀ handsome Gregor Robertson wrote a letter to the manager of the hotel, kindly asking them toĀ remove the letters ā€œTRUMPā€ from the building. He claimed, ā€œTrump’s name and brand have no moreĀ place on Vancouver’s skyline than his ignorant ideas have in the modern world.ā€ Great man, this Robertson! He backed up his letter with a petition signed by more than 50,000 residents and even Christy Clark theĀ premier of B.C. said that ā€œDonald Trump doesn’t represent our city.ā€ That’s a statement, I’d say.

Use this wisdom to impress your friends or your date or just a random stranger on the street. – But just ifĀ you started a conversation already… don’t just shoot it at him out of nowhere. Might be a littleĀ awkward, you know.

See you guys soon – latest at PuB NiGHT in Mahony & Sons on Wednesday!

– Elisabeth

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 6N9-
Web:http://www.internexcanada.com
Email:pr@internexcanada.com

 

Smart Saver Vancouver

Hands up, who starts the day with a freshly brewed coffee? If you are a coffee lover, then Vancouver is certainly a paradise for you! Coffee places are literally at every corner. Even if you wouldn’t mention coffee as your favourite drink, a coffee place is an awesome place to meet people, clear your mind or even take your laptop and get some work done. The downside of all those visits is of course the costs. So here are some tips to lower your coffee place expenses!

34628291_1746856278740728_6024587850580754432_nFirst of all, you can save some money if you order a regular coffee instead of a fancy latte. Just pimp the simple coffee yourself with as much milk, sugar, cinnamon or cacao as you want. All these extras are usually available for free here, so just be your own barista!

Starbucks is one of the most famous coffee brands in the world and they are just everywhere in Vancouver. At Starbucks, you can already receive a small discount if you bring your own mug. It does not only help the environment, but you also have to pay ten cents less for your drink. Doesn’t seem like a lot, I know, but if you do that ten times you already saved a loonie for your next coffee. šŸ˜‰

You can easily join the Starbucks Rewards program. All you need to do is register a physical Starbucks Card, Teavana Card, Evolution Fresh Card or Starbucks Card eGift online and create an account. Once you have registered, you collect stars for every dollar you spent, which you can redeem for free food and drinks. Also, you can profit from monthly special offers. Last month for example, we enjoyed cheap, delicious Frappuccino’s at the office. Next to that, you get a reward for your birthday and free in-store refills. You can check it out here.

There are also plenty of delicious non-coffee drinks available at coffee places. Blenz is currently offering a special to celebrate the start of the summer season. Bring your friends and enjoy one of their Iced Tea Lemonades. The flavours sound delicious: mango ginger, strawberry cucumber and melon berry. You pay one and get the second lemonade for free! This offer is valid from June 5 to June 18 between 2 – 5pm at all Blenz Coffee locations.

I hope you enjoy some good coffees and lemonades, guys!

See you tonight at The Relish!

– Kerstin

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 6N9-
Web:Ā http://www.internexcanada.com
Email:Ā pr@internexcanada.com

How was your weekend?

Friday 9 pm. We were sitting in the park. Waiting for the party to begin. Only ten minutes left. Our tickets work, we are in. The party can start. That was the moment my weekend could finally begin.

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This Friday we went to DubVision, a party in the Harbour Event Centre. DubVision is a DJ duo from the Netherlands. We went in with our free tickets we received. When we walked in around 11:30 pm, the club was still not that crowded. We bought a drink and the club was becoming more crowded. There were two DJs playing nice music, but we still don’t know if that were guys or girls. There was another DJ playing music before DubVision was on stage. After a couple hours we went home.

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Rise and shine, next day has arrived. After all the stuff I needed to do, we went to the sushi bar to eat sushi together. Afterwards we took the skytrain to Granville street where the pub crawl began. We first went to the Cinema Public House, where we began the night with a drink. After 45 minutes it was time to go to the Morrissey, where we sat on the couch singing German songs. So now we had the Oktoberfest part from the pub crawl.Ā We went to DonnellansĀ where we had our own space with tables and bar. We closed the night in the club Belmont Bar. After we danced our asses of, it was time to say goodbye.

Sunday was a lazy day. We went to a jazz thing in a church. After 30 minutes we saw it all, so we decided to go for a coffee at Take Five. Tip: the coffee with Caramel and Sea salt is actually salty. We sat and talked till it was time to go home for dinner. Hope your weekend was great as well.

See you at PuB NiGHT!

– Bart

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 6N9-
Web:Ā http://www.internexcanada.com
Email:Ā pr@internexcanada.com

Smart Saver Vancouver

 

As this weekend was quite expensive for some of us, it might be a good idea to save some money again. Especially now that there are a lot of events and trips coming up.

An app that will help you save money is Checkout 51. Through Checkout 51, you can save money on certain brands. This is how it works: sign up via the internet or download the app through the App Store or Google Play. After this you make a photo of your bill and upload it at this app. If the amount of $20 has been reached, the company will send you the money. Our PR member, Danielle has been using the app in the Netherlands as well and confirms that it really works. The app has different offers every week, which will be changed every Thursday. You can see these offers at the app or at the website. One of the current offers, for example, is buy 3 Pringles and get $2 back. There is one catch though, for some of the offers, the items have to be on the same receipt.

You might have passed it already while going to our office in the International Village Mall. This is of course about the one and only Yoko Yaya! Yoko Yaya is a Chinese store where you can get almost everything you need. From beauty products to kitchen wear, you can find it there. A lot of their products is only $2, so if you just moved in, this is the place to be!16650234_10208214332296985_405893829_n

As most of us cannot survive the morning without a coffee, this offer cannot be forgotten. If you buy a cup of coffee at Tim Hortons, you can win several prices such as a television, a car or a coffee. Most people only win a coffee. However, me and Danielle had the bad luck to not win anything at all. This is mostly a chance to save money for people who buy coffee anyway and therefore have the chance to save money. Furthermore, the coffeesĀ at Tim Hortons are not even that expensive, so it might be an idea to check it out anyway.

Try to save as much money as you can, so you can spend it on our Kelowna trip!

– Iris

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 6N9-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com