A weekend in the nature – Weekend get-away

For some of us it was this weekend – get away from the urban jungle, loud noise and our beloved Vancouver… let’s go to Whistler, explore the incredible nature Canada has to offer.
We met really early in the morning at Waterfront station to start our journey. With two cars, that we rented in advance, it was easy to get to Whistler and honestly, even the car ride was, because of the incredible nature, a highlight.
Our first stop was the sea to sky gondola and Shannon Falls. Some of our professional hikers conquered the Sea-to-sky summit hike, while the other half of the group took the gondola up the mountain and hiked over there. We all had an amazing experience and a lot of fun. After taking about a thousand pictures on the summit under clear blue sky it slowly started to snow. Time for a hot chocolate and to enjoy the view from inside the restaurant. We stayed there for a while before continuing our way to Whistler.

It was already 5pm so headed straight to the HI-Hostel where we spent the night. The evening was filled with a walk through Whistler Village, dinner at one of the cheapest restaurants – by the way a small tip on a side: The El Furniture Warehouse offers food for only $7!, which is really really cheap especially since nothing in Whistler is cheap.- and a few rounds of pool.
We were all very exhausted, but happy, from the day and no one made it too late and went to bed early.
After a wholesome breakfast at the hostel the next morning, it was time for some of us to prepare for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure – bungee jumping. After we booked the tickets they had only 2 hours left to prepare mentally for the big jump!!
Of course, even though only a few took the jump the whole group was there to give emotional support and take pictures. The bungee jump was amazing – in Kato’s words: “It left me flabbergasted. The most incredible feeling ever and definitely totally worth the step into the deep (literally and figuratively) ;)”.

But that wasn’t enough adrenaline for the day. We headed directly to the next adventure – snow tubing in a real winterwonderland at the tubing park whistler Blackcomb.
Completely frozen, happy and grateful for this great weekend, we set off our way back to Vancouver.

Thanks everybody for the amazing time! 🙂

Cheers,

Tatjana

INTERNeX International Exchange
2005-689 Abbott St., Vancouver, BC, V6B 0J2
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

How was your Weekend?

Welcome back to the last weekend of January. Can you believe that it’s only 11 more months till Christmas?! Time is flying…
However, before we could possibly think of Christmas again (even though I always do), there was another big event to celebrate first.

Therefore the INTERNeX gang made their way all the way to Chinatown to see the famous Chinese New Years parade. And it was overwhelming and beautiful to see all these people in their costumes, presenting Chinese culture. Over 90 minutes we saw so many dancing dragons, beautiful women in stunning dresses doing different traditional dances, as well as people presenting martial arts. In fact, it also felt a little bit like Christmas, as we got so many gifts and traditional Chinese New Years cards from people taking part in the parade. Apparently those gift cards say ‘good luck’ (my Chinese is a bit rusty, so they could have told me anything ;-)) and the chocolate money is supposed to be symbolizing a successful year.
Therefore thank you very much, with all these gift cards and chocolate dollars, I guess I’ll have the best year ever.
Afterwards we made our way to the Chinese Garden. However, we ended our visit after only a few minutes – lunch needed to come first!
Because, whoever knows me, can tell how important food is to me haha. And I am incredibly happy, that you guys share that passion.
Eventually, we were ready to take in more cultural input and went back to the Chinese Garden. Personally, I am a very big fan go the decoration, joined with vibe of the gardens itself, it was simply beautiful. And just in case you ever come close enough to one of those red lampions, do yourself a favour and touch the threads on the bottom, I swear that is what clouds would feel like. Forget about ASMR-Videos, this should be a thing!
Furthermore, we also got a slight insight of the Chinese language, as we got to write our own good-luck-cards in Chinese symbols. And I’ll have to say, it is a lot harder than it looks like and I am not sure if a native speaker would actually be able to read what we ‘created’. After having some freshly brewed tea, we stopped by a little bakery. Some of us decided to stay there for a cup of hot chocolate, but most of us just got something to eat (obviously).
From there we had some time to talk about life and the stuff that happens in-between, especially since a few new faces joined the group, it was so nice to get to know everybody a little bit better. We found a lovely spot at the waterfront, talking and watching the sky turning into the calming dark and lights of the buildings glowing up like little stars.

I had a beautiful Sunday and I am very happy that some many people joined in.
The weekend is over now, but the good thing is, it’s only two more days till Pub-Night.

And I think I mentioned it a couple of times by now, but THIS WEDNESDAY WE ARE GOING TO THE CAMBIE. It’s not only a pretty cool bar with nice drinks and good food, but also the place to be for a good beerpong-tournament.
No pressure, but I personally really REALLY want to see the (symbolic) cup in the hands of INTERNeX. And by really wanting to, I kinda mean – guys we need to win this. This is about pride, dignity and beautiful Cambie-Shirts :-D.

I honestly can’t wait to see you guys there. Please don’t forget to sign up on Facebook, as it will make my life a little bit easier.

Have a fantastic week.

Cheers,
— Nadja xx

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

 

 

What to do on the Weekend?

Thanks for asking ;).  

As the snow and the freezing weather has finally reached Vancouver, you might just think about cuddling up on the couch with a hot chocolate in your hand a overly dramatic romance on Netflix accompanying you. But there is way too much happening this weekend, so I guess you’ll have to ditch Netflix for now. 

Starting off with the battle of the year happening this very Sunday. And yes once again, I might take it way too serious, but I simply love winning, so don’t expect any mercy from my sides, when you see yourself going down on the battlefield of lasers! 

Therefore, I am honestly looking forward to the Lasertag event this Sunday.
But besides that, there are some other great things to keep you busy in this very cold winter days.
North Vancouver just opened a new giant Ice-rink, just 5 minutes walk from Lonsdale-Quay. It’s outside, it’s covered and it’s for free. You want to be outside and enjoy the B.C.-Winter – then here you go ;-). 

Another world famous thing is the Capilano Suspension Bridge, and currently they still got the beautiful lights up. So besides getting to see one the most well know bridges, you also feel like you are in a fairy wonderland, far away from any problems and sorrows! You might want to check out the ticket prices, before you decide how badly you need to escape from reality, but one thing is for sure – it is definitely worth it! If you are more the tuff and sporty kind of person, you might want to get yourself a ticket to the UBC Tunderbirds Women’s Hockey Game on Saturday. And these ladies will show you how it’s done!
To escape the cold, grey weather a good hour or two of laughing also helps you to get over the winder blues. As the House of Comedy is presenting Derek Gaines this weekend, get yourself a ticket and work out those stomach-muscles! Derek Gaines is well known for is sarcastic and (obviously) funny perspective of a African American living in the Suburbs.
As you might have noticed, there are many celebrations going on at the moment, to be specific the Chinese New Years is just around the corner. And in celebration of the year of the rat, the CNY Vancouver Carnival is happening on Saturday and Sunday from 11am-7pm. Taking place at the Aberdeen Square you get to see some outstanding cultural performances as well as authentic food to fill your belly. Besides that, the admission is free, therefore you’ve got nothing to loose here :D. If you are looking for a wild night out, the Vancouver Glow Party is happening tonight at the Republic. Described as an event with high energetic music, back lighting, laser lights and a combination of perfect balanced sound systems mixed with spectacular light shows, this seems like the place to spent your night in. 

Have a fantastic weekend and don’t let the winter blues catch you! 

Cheers, 

— Nadja xx 

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

The Rockies Review – Part 2

We are back in Vancouver from our awesome weekend in the Rockies. The long weekend, which in my opinion was too short, was filled with many sights along the way. Since it was wonderful weather, we got to experience them in their full glory.

By Sunday we’ve already seen quite a bit of the Rockies, and that morning was probably the hardest for everybody to get out of bed, due to our long Saturday night. It was a sunny day in Banff, and no matter what everybody’s plans were, we had the best conditions. We had the opportunity to ride the gondola, which some of you did, and I heard it was amazing. Most of you, however, went to the hot springs and enjoyed the view. I explored downtown Banff, walked around and looked at what the stores had to offer.

 

By 1:30 we left Banff and drove to Lake Louise. The lake was completely frozen, allowing us to walk on it. Since there was still snow, it seemed like a winter wonderland.

 

 

In the evening, we arrived at the Mountain View cabins in Golden, BC. It was in the middle of nowhere and we stayed in white little cabins. As the name suggests, we had an amazing view of the mountains. The evening began with a BBQ with burgers and hot dogs. Later that night, we all gathered around the campfire, made S’mores, and our guide, Nicole, sang songs for us, while playing the guitar. The later it got, the more people went to their cabins, as it got quite cold. The next morning our hosts prepared an amazing breakfast and afterwards we headed back to Vancouver.

Overall, it was an incredible weekend with a lot of fun. I was able to get to know you guys better, which I’m happy about. I hope you enjoyed this trip as much as I did.

See you tonight at the pub night at the Beaver.

– Megan

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

The Rockies Review – Part 1

As I am writing this blog post I am having some mixed feelings. I am sad because our trip to the Rockies is behind us. I am relieved that everything went well. I am happy because I have some time to rest now. I am also thankful for all the great memories we made during this trip. This weekend was something I am never going to forget.

I still can’t quite process how much sightseeing we managed to do during these past few days. I am not even trying to list all the places we saw since that would require a lot of space and I don’t think it would be that interesting to read. For a change I am going to tell you more about few things that were the highlights of the trip for me.

On our way to Banff we stopped at Glacier Discovery Centre. It was time to have a nice walk on a glacier. We hopped on to this vehicle called “the Ice Explorer”, which is especially designed for driving on a glacier. The weather was spoiling us as it was a sunny day and you didn’t really even need a jacket outside. We spent some time walking around the glacier, taking pics (ofcourse) and enjoying the amazing view. There was supposed to be an opportunity to get some super pure water straight from the glacier but it had been snowing so much the previous day that we didn’t find any running water. Instead we ended up collecting some snow from the glacier to our water bottles. I mean it kinda does the job, doesn’t it?

Half way through our trip we spent a night in Banff. A stunning little town surrounded by breathtaking mountains. The night in Banff was a party night for us and we sure partied like there was no tomorrow. The next day it was time to explore the town itself a bit more. Checkout from the hotel was early and our party group was feeling pretty tired after having only few hours of sleep. We made a great plan and decided to visit Banff Upper Hot Springs which was located only a 10-minute-drive away. There we spent a relaxed sunny morning in steaming hot water. The views from the pool to the Rocky Mountains were absolutely gorgeous. What else can you wish for?

As mentioned, this weekend was super eventful, and this was only a sneak peak of the whole trip. If I were to tell you every single thing about the trip, I would have to write a book. What can I say; this trip is something you really have to experience yourself. Thanks to everyone who participated. I had such a great time with you all and without you guys it wouldn’t have been this amazing!

-Jasmin xx

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