What to Do in Vancouver on a rainy day

Why is our beautiful Vancouver also called Raincouver?
Of course it is because there are many rainy days during the rainy season (most rainy between October to March). However, that doesn’t mean there’s not much to do on these days. I’ve compiled some inspirations of fun things to do in Vancouver on a rainy day.

First start with a trip to Gastown on a rainy day. Isn’t it cosy choosing one of the cute little cafes to have a great chat with friends while drinking hot chocolate and watching the rain running down the windows. As I mentioned in one of the previous blogposts; I can highly recommend trying the nutella latte 😉 In the evening it’s also a nice place to drink and eat your way through the many restaurants and bars. Maybe it would be cool to go bowling, play pool, or sing your favourite songs at a karaoke bar afterwards?
Yaletown about 20 minutes walk south of Gastown also has a lot of nice cafes and restaurants and even a billiards room.

Shopping. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when thinking of a great indoor activity? For me it’s definitely shopping 😉 Besides the many stores on Robson street the malls such as Pacific centre or Hudson Mall are also worth a visit. If you want to head to Vancouver’s shopping HQ you may want to think about taking a Skytrain to Metropolis at Metrotown (it’s in Burnaby about 20 mins from downtown). Maybe you can spot a great offer and brighten your rainy day 😉

A rainy day is definitely a day for all our museum and culture lovers. Learn about human ancestors at the Museum of Anthropology or have a look at interesting work from famous painters at Vancouver Art Gallery. Of course there are many more places to explore like the Vancouver Maritime Museum or the Police Museum.
Also our sports enthusiasts will find their proper place with a visit at BC Sports Hall of Fame.
I’m curious about your experiences after you’ve visited one of these places.

Skiing. In the first moment this might sound a bit weird because nobody wants to be on a ski slope in the rain, i guess. But maybe it’s a good way to escape the rain. While going on top of the mountain you will also go above the clouds which means no rain anymore; there’s still the possibility having a snowy day but I think that’s ideal for skiing.

Watch hockey. Since the hockey season as well as the rainy season starts in October this is definitely a good coincidence to go watch a hockey match on a rainy day. For more tips about how hockey works and further information for the upcoming season you have to be patient.
As a hint i can say; have a look at the blogposts next week.

If you still want to stay outdoors you can just buy a cute umbrella and rubber boots and go for a walk. It certainly won’t be as crowded as usual.

Have great Weekend 🙂

– Tatjana

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

What to Do in Vancouver?

Welcome back again – our “What to Do on the weekend” series continues with the “What to Do in Vancouver” edition – as always things are a little bit different 🙂
To give you a first impression of what to expect in beautiful Canada I have compiled a collection of the “must do’s” in and around Vancouver.
For now we’ll have a closer look at the typical and highly recommended tourist attractions in Downtown Vancouver.

Gastown: a historic and beautiful place to enjoy your day and eat nice food. My recommendation is Peckinpah as they have nice burgers, and this location is a really cool place in the middle of Gastown. If you like to have a coffee with friends in one of the many cute cafés try the Nutella latte, it’s so delicious. Also really famous is the Old Spaghetti Factory – you can try one (or even two 😉 ) of the famous pastas.
Additionally, there are a lot of pubs where under normal circumstances the INTERNeX pubnights take place. Every pub has their own specials such as a bingo night where you can win prices like alcohol for free 🙂 You also have lots of possibilities for window shopping and of course to buy souvenirs for friends and family.
Have a look at the steam clock, a famous landmark. Every hour this clock plays a sound and shoots steam. It’s also a nice place for taking typical tourist pictures.

Vancouver Lookout: This attraction is just a few minutes walk away from Gastown. It’s an observation tower where you have an amazing view over Vancouver, the ocean and the mountains in North Vancouver. I highly recommend going on top of the tower by night to see all the lights of the city.

Next to the tower make a stop at famous Canada Place. A huge building resembling a ship. Sometimes there’s an open air cinema taking place. It is an awesome and of course romantic experience watching a movie outdoors in front of the skyline and the mountains.

Fly over Canada: Do you want to save some money but don’t give up the experience seeing Vancouver (or even other hilarious places on earth) from above? Then this might be a perfect attraction for you. Its an 4D cinema located in the Canada Place. There are huge signs in front of it, I’m sure you’ll find it easily.

Shopping: Additionally, Vancouver downtown has plenty of great places for a shopping trip to offer. Most of the shops are located on Robson street. My personal tip is to visit the shopping mall Pacific Centre, where you might find great special offers and sale articles in a city that, to be honest, is very expensive.

Science World: You may have already spotted the huge globe shown in so many pictures of Vancouver. This is Science World, a science museum with interactive permanent and changing attractions located at the east end of False Creek. It presents plenty of cool science-learning opportunities especially for families, however, people of all ages are welcome.

Vancouver Art Gallery: Since this city has so much to offer and is really open-minded to everyone of course there is something for our art lovers as well. The Vancouver Art Gallery is the largest public art museum in Western Canada presents the work of artists from all over the world.

Watching Hockey at Rogers Arena:
Go Canucks Go! For all the sports freaks 🙂 as you may know Canada is really popular for professional ice hockey. If you get the chance to see a Vancouver Canucks game at Rogers Arena (a huge stadium right in the downtown area), make sure you use it. The feeling of being in the middle of enthusiastic Canadians – especially during the national anthem- is completely overwhelming and so much fun.

Have a nice day 🙂

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?

I really hope all of you had a good weekend, despite all the news around COVID-19 and the insecurity that we are all facing at the moment…I know it’s just crazy and as you will see a little further below, this will also affect our events and activities in the near future. At the moment our top priority is to ensure that everyone is safe and healthy.

For me also, it’s really sad since I just started to get know all of you and I was looking so forward to our next Pub Night. But let’s make the best out of it! And as soon as it is possible again, we will meet again for sure! 🙂

In this spirit let’s talk about our Pub Crawl on Saturday which we were still able to do. We met at Waterfront station and from there we made our way to Gastown which is known as a good spot for bars and restaurants.

Our first stop was “The Lamplighter”. I think it’s a great pub and we started our evening with some drinks and shots.
After about 2 hours we moved on without having another destination in mind. We just wanted to walk around and see which pub attracts us the most. So the “Local” it was.
We continued where we stopped at the Lamplighter – we ordered more drinks (but what else to do at a pub, right ?! :D)

All in all it was a really fun evening and we had a lot to laugh about, even in these gloomy times.
On Saturday we also made spontaneous plans for the next day:
We planned on going to Squamish and hike up the mountain and then take the Sea-to-Sky Gondola back down. We even booked our shuttle to Squamish at the pub. But unfortunately we got disappointed the next morning because the gondola was closed due to high winds. At least we could reschedule our shuttle and we will do it on another time, when it is possible again to mingle with others safely.

Since we were prepared for a longer hike a new plan had to come up. So we went to Lions Bay and did a hike there, where we had some great views. 

We also want to give you some important further information:

Due to the developing situation concerning COVID-19 and our first and foremost goal of prioritizing the safety of our candidates and staff, we will temporarily cancel all of our planned events for the coming weeks. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep you updated as the situation changes continuously. 

Additionally we would encourage you to avoid going to any large events or venues with 50+ attendees. In general it is better to stay home, avoid transit or gathering places and if possible see if you can undertake your placement activities from home.

Please keep informing yourself about the current news in Canada and the world: https://www.cbc.ca/, but also on symptoms and measures against the virus on the following government page: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/symptoms.html

We also encourage you to reach out to your insurance organization to ensure you are covered if you choose to remain in Canada and contract the virus. We also ask those whose original departure dates are within the next month to consider contacting your travel agent/airline to check the possibility of departing sooner.

We will stay connected with you online while we go through this challenging time, stay safe and remember: We are always here to help! J

Hope to see you soon again, take care and be safe!

Cheers

-Alina & The INTERNeX Team

 
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

 

PuB-Night Review

Thank you guys! This was such a fun night!

Last night we went to The Cambie Bar & Grill, to check out this well known location ourselves. Even though I haven’t been to Vancouver for that long, I’ve heard many stories about it. And to be honest, as I heard they host a beer pong tournament on Wednesdays, I knew we would have to go there. 

Drinks went down well and the food was delicious. Especially the free nachos were appreciated :-D. Thanks again to the neighbour table, who clearly underestimated the “monster” nachos! As we all had some time to talk about how life has been treating us so far, the real serious stuff came up – what teams to make for the beer pong tournament. After long discussions, INTERNeX sent 3 teams into the race.
As this was all about fun, we realized pretty early, that some other teams take this way more serious than others … ;-).  So the INTERNeX crew had to stand together in this tournament after all. It ended up in a European (which was us) against not-European battle. We even made it to the final!
Only then we got told, that the winning team will get free “Cambie Shirts” …. motivation was on!

Unfortunately we lost that one very fast and kinda obvious. I’ll have to admit, we didn’t stand a chance against the CRAZY team we had to face. Congratulation guys, well played.  

Even though INTERNeX couldn’t bring home this cup, we still enjoyed it very much. And I still made a winning experience, I had my first fireball, what an experience! To be honest – I definitely expected worse, I even liked it. 

So thank you very much guys! This has been a great night. Can’t wait to see you all again at next weeks PuB-Night at the Portside Pub. 

Cheers, 

—Nadja  

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

PuB NiGHT review: 131 Water

Last night we had a pub night right next to the famous steam clock in Gastown (and yes we stopped to take some touristy pics with it). 131 Water was a really comfy bar and we were lucky to have the whole second floor to ourselves.

The bar had plenty of board games that you can play but we were too busy chatting with each other so no games this time. It was my second pub night here in Vancouver so I met a lot of new faces. For some of us it even was the first one but thankfully the INTERNeX gang is very welcoming. It was great to see how the new faces blended in the group so well.

In case you haven’t experienced any pub nights yet now is the time to start! It’s never too late to join but let me tell you that you are missing out every time you decide not to come. The big group of us had so many discussions last night and I think everyone made some new friends.

I was sad to hear that so many of you are leaving soon and won’t be able to take part in our amazing trip to the Rocky Mountains (yes there is a trip coming, yes it’s happening soon, yes I will tell more information later). Let me just say that this trip is something you definitely do not want to miss.

Thank you everyone who participated last night! The ones of you who are coming to Seattle I’ll see you on Sunday!

-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