How was the weekend?

I don’t know about your weekend, but mine was a blast!

On Friday we celebrated St. Patricks Day from early afternoon till late at night! Our first stop was an Irish bar on Granville Street where most of the action happened. We dressed up in green with lots of accessories like tattoos, stickers, head bands, hats and shiny necklaces, just like it’s supposed to be. 🙂 We enjoyed some drinks like a classic Guinness, Irish music and good pub food before we were eager to swing our legs. With every sip deeper into the cup, we wanted to dance more. What better place to let out that St. Patrick’s Day energy than at a club? With a mix of DJ and Live Music we celebrated till late at night, made new friends and some lost their voices over singing too loud. Overall I think it was a success. 🙂 Did you celebrate St. Patricks Day? What else did you do?

Saturday was definitely a day to recover for me since I’m not used to going out that much anymore. 😀 Sunday though we went on a little hike at Deep Cove which is in North Vancouver. I still felt the consequences of Friday night, so we took it slow and only went on an easy to moderate trail that led up to a nice viewpoint over the inlet and some lush areas around. The exercise was definitely worth it and we rewarded ourselves with some doughnuts after. They were still nice and warm when we ate them, and I gotta say it was one of the best doughnuts I’ve ever had (wanting one while I’m typing this). I highly recommend checking out the area with its cute local cafes and shops, and don’t worry you won’t miss the doughnut place, it’s the one with a long queue in front of it. 😀 In summer Deep Cove is also a great place to go kayaking or stand up paddling, can’t wait! 🙂

Sorry if you’re craving doughnuts now, but that’s another reason to go out and explore this week. 🙂 I hope you had an amazing weekend!

Let me know all about it next Pub Night!

See you then,

Laura 🙂

What to do on the weekend?

No question, you should celebrate St. Patricks Day! But before you immerse yourself into this experience, let me give you a little bit of background knowledge.

Saint Patrick lived during the fifth century and is the patron saint of Ireland. His death is believed to have been on March 17, 461 which is the day of the celebrations. The probably best-known legend of St. Patrick his explanation of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) by using the three leaves of a native Irish clover, the shamrock.

Fun Fact: The first St. Patrick’s Day parade didn’t take place in Ireland but in America in 1601.

1772 homesick Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched in New York City to honour the Irish patron saint. From then on the enthusiasm for St. Patrick’s Day parades grew. Today, people of all backgrounds celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, especially throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. Popular dishes include Irish soda bread, corned beef and cabbage and champ. In some places you find green beer, green rivers and of course people dressed in green black and gold.

If you’re really interested in the history, meaning and background there’s more stuff on the internet like articles, videos etc. 🙂

INTERNeX is obviously going to an Irish Pub here in Vancouver to get the full experience. 😉 Are you coming? Or do you have other plans to celebrate?

A good idea is to buy tickets on pre-sale or come early since it’s going to be super busy and it might be more expensive to get tickets at the door. But nevertheless there’s lots of things going on around the pubs as well. I recommend checking out the place in front of the art gallery or just wander across Granville street to take a peak of what St. Patricks Day might be like, but be aware there might be some intoxicated people along the way.

You don’t like partying? I’ve got another idea for you this weekend that involves cultural program. I heard a lot of you like dancing, so how about checking out the Vancouver International Dance Festival? There are performances this weekend in different locations and the tickets range from $20-35. If you want to find out more check out their website: https://www.vidf.ca/

Another good thing to do if you like to be more active outside and are into winter sports is spending the day at a local mountain like Seymour or Grouse for example. Enjoy the last days of the season before spring arrives and the slopes won’t be as good to ski or snowboard anymore! Right now mountains are easy accessible through a shuttle or public transit. A lot of gear can be rented on the mountain as well, so really there’s no excuse for you not to go. If you are lucky you even get an amazing view over Vancouver when you’re up there!

As always, I can’t wait to hear about your weekend at our next Pub Night!

See you then!

Cheers,

Laura 🙂

What to do on the weekend?

This weekend, we are all wearing green! It is St. Patrick’s Day and even if Ireland is a few kilometres away, this is a huge happening in Vancouver. Here are some ideas where to celebrate, but also how to avoid the green craziness.

St. Paddy’s Day, as the Irish call it themselves, will be celebrated in several places in the city. It doesn’t matter if you’re Irish or not, it is definitely going to be fun. The INTERNeX crew is going to drink some green beers with Vancouver’s students at the UBC. This party is nearly sold out, so be fast if you still want to join us.

Next to that, every Irish pub in Vancouver is hosting a green party. There will be a huge one at Blarney Stone, where we celebrated the kick-off of the festival past Saturday (some of you might remember that awesome night). You can spend your entire day there, from brunch in the morning to live music at night.

Another famous location for Saturday is ‘Doolin’s Irish Pub’ at Nelson Street. You can get breakfast from 10 o’ clock on and dance to live music throughout the day and night. So, get your green clothes out of your closet or buy some cheap accessories (Dollarama or Dollartree) and celebrate like the Irish.

Or does all this seem a bit too crazy and you are not in party mood this weekend? Then I have another idea for you: take a walk and take some beautiful photos. The Cherry Blossom Festival is starting right now. You can find many Whitcomb cherries that are blooming already. To find the best spots, you can take a look at this map. Just grab your camera and put on your walking shoes, there you go!

My outfit is ready and I am really looking forward to seeing you at the UBC party tomorrow! For the rest of you, have fun celebrating St. Paddy’s or enjoying the sun outside this weekend!

– Kerstin

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

Candidate Exposé – Blanca Alanis

I am Blanca, 22 years old, from Monterrey in Mexico and I am studying International Marketing at UDEM. This is my last summer as a student, so I decided to come and do my internship and have an international experience. Internex has an alliance with my school and I was looking for an internship program in Canada, and so my teacher of international experiences gave me this option.

I chose an internship because you have the chance to work in another country where the culture is so different than your home. So besides working in the things you like and what you want to do, maybe the rest of your life, you can also learn here how the work-environment is in a different part of the world. Besides that you will be able to bring your culture here as well, and take good things from the place you worked at to your country.

At my placement you have to be a person who enjoys to work, being proactive will help you to gain their confidence so they will trust you to do tasks that they don’t give to an intern normally. If you have creative skills and know how to work under pressure you will make it in this job. I have to say that being an outgoing person will help you to make friends at work and it makes an easier going environment. And the last thing that has helped me a lot is being efficient. They love it when you do your tasks well and fast and when you keep asking for more tasks.

My first impression when I arrived, I remembered I said “It’s super green here”. Every time you are walking or sit in the bus, wherever you turn your head, there are trees and gardens everywhere. At first, I was scared of being by myself at night but you get used to it and you realize that Vancouver is a safe place.

I attend quite some activities and pub nights, and I really like that they organise these things. It helps you in making friendships and to go out. They are such good persons, if you have a question you can ask them and they will help you, they make you feel part of the group from the beginning. I have been to the pub nights, the different museums, beaches, grouse mountain, garibaldi lake, victoria, Lynn Canyon, etc.

What I like most about Vancouver is that the people are kind, the city is super clean and green, the recycling system, how the economy here is thanks to small business and that the city is made for public transportation and bikes, not only for cars.

I didn’t really had difficulties, at first it was just getting used to use the public transportation and feel comfortable knowing that they are safe and always on time.

The most memorable thing I did so far I have to say that being on the top of the garibaldi lake made me feel great, I was tired of waking up so early and I was just about to not going, because I just wanted to sleep but I knew I had to go. It’s a long hike and takes you the whole day, so if you are patience you will enjoy the great and beautiful view. That’s how life works, patience is a virtue and if you learn to wait and being perseverant, at the end everything will be worth it.

This experience inspired me to travel more. Now I know that I want to work in different places, because I like to understand and live the different cultures. I don’t have a specific place, life takes you where you need to be, and so if the opportunity comes to me I’ll go anywhere.

Internex was helpful for me because they help you in the process of finding an internship in what you really want to do. They have different events that give you the opportunity to meet friends and they help you also during your stay to make you feel comfortable and answer all your questions.

The first thing I will do when I get back home is see my family, friends and my dog!!, they are the one who I miss the most, also my food of course, ill see them while we eat some tacos.

– Blanca

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

St. Patricks Day Review

That was one insane night…

We met in front of Joseph Richards on Granville street at 9pm to go into the club. After a short queuing line we hang our jackets and went for our free green beer, which by the way taste like normal beer. The club was already busy and we joined the others on the dance floor. Even that it was St. Patricks Day the DJ did not play any Irish music, good for us and our dance moves.

Of course we had our regular dance battles in the INTERNeX circle, which is so much fun. If you do not know what I mean, I mean the times we are standing/dancing around in a circle and someone is dancing in the middle of the circle.

If you want to see more pictures of the ‘Green Party’, click here  and if you have some pictures you want to share, upload them on Facebook or send us a mail and we will upload them for you.

We hope you all had a great evening and we will see you on Friday for the Mexican Dinner

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 9N9-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com