Get ready for the Rocky Mountains

Over the past few weeks, there seemed nothing but one topic: The big trip to the Rocky Mountains. And now it is time to pack your bags, because the trip is approaching fast. On Saturday, 28 of us will already be sitting on the bus, filled with excitement and joy. It’s gonna be a great trip. Take me at the word!

Now follows some important information for you:
We meet on Saturday, the 4th of August, at 6.45am in front of Waterfront Station. I am aware that the first Skytrains might not bring you there on time, if that’s the case please let us know. At Waterfront station we’ll board the West Trek coach, which will take us to the Rockies, through the Rockies and back to Vancity.

Once aboard, we will make our way to Hope and later Kamloops, where we will have time for lunch. Further down the road we will stop in Revelstoke to buy some snacks for the hungry ones of you. Then, we will finally arrive at the Mountain View Cabins, where we spend the night. Here we’ll enjoy a campfire including a BBQ and s’mores. Time to enjoy nature to its fullest and get to know the entire group better.

Sunday morning, we will depart from the cabins at 8.30am. Of course, after a good breakfast that will give us strength for another long day. In Golden we will have a stopover for those who did not book the lunch buffet & Gondola at Lake Louise and need to buy lunch. We’ll drive on to Emerald Lake where you might get the chance to rent a canoe. Shortly afterwards, we are driving to Lake Louise where we will have some hours to spend. In the afternoon, we’ll pay a visit to Moraine Lake and head to Banff where we’re going to spend the night. In the evening we’ll go out to a pub – good news for the minors: We’re in Alberta, so you are also an adult now. 😉

On Monday, we’re going to see Lake Minnewanka and the Two Jack Lake (which are kind of one big lake altogether). For the bravest among us, we will make a stop at Bow Lake, where you get the chance to have a Polar Bear swim. It’s freezing cold – don’t tell me I did not warn you! It’s also time for lunch. Lunch with a view, I promise. On the way to our hotel in Valemount, we will have some more stops at Peyto Lake, the glacier, Athabasca Falls, Jasper and Mt. Robson. A lot to take in – but I bet you’ll enjoy it. In Valemount we will have dinner together and then enjoy an easy evening around a campfire.

On Tuesday, we’ll already be heading back home. We will depart early in the morning, have a stopover at Spahats Falls and Kamloops and will then be back in the Vancouver at approximately 6.15pm.

So, big plans for just four days, right? But what to bring? Here is a list of what you should NOT forget:

• Money for 3 lunches and 1 dinner, snacks and a night out in Banff
• Mosquito repellant
• Sunscreen
• ID (2 pieces)
• Towel and bathing clothes
• Hiking shoes or similar
• A good mood that lasts the entire trip

I look forward to seeing you latest Saturday at 6.45am, or for PuB NiGHT on Wednesday at the Lennox Pub!

– 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

PuB NiGHT Review: Library Square

Another Wednesday, another PuB NiGHT! This time, we thought we’d spice it up and go to a pub we had never been to before: Library Square. Home to Vancouver Arsenal, this is the place to be to watch their matches live every time they play. There was no match yesterday, but that didn’t make our night any less fun.

We walked inside and saw a big tv screen in front of us, there was a baseball game going on! But seats filled up quite quickly, so no one really paid attention to the game. The night consisted of lots of interesting conversations. From discussing summer plans to talking about the process of making chocolate. From marriage to babies. You know, just casual chitchat.

Usually, we leave the pub around 11pm. This time, however, we were still deep into our conversations at midnight! So, I guess you could say we had a good time. When we finished our last beers, some people went home and others continued the fun by going to the Met, our slightly infamous karaoke bar. At 2am, it was time to go home and get some sleep.

I had a great evening with you and loved seeing some new faces! See you all this Sunday for Laser Tag!

– Angy

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: Beaver Bar

Three tables should be enough. Ok, let’s take a fourth one. Still not enough. At the end of the night, the INTERNeX gang needed seven tables in total to fit everyone who stepped by at our PuB NiGHT. A new record of this year, pretty cool!

The night started off with some drinks. Our waitress just kept running with pitchers of beers and cocktails for all new people arriving. Soon everybody made themselves feel at home and waited more or less patiently (Germans like to follow the official time schedule 😉 ) for the start of the activity of the night: Bingo! Meanwhile, the well-known Bingo host recognized our group and we got our papers and daubers. One round of normal bingo and we already had a winner in our group! Congrats, Anna!

Special at the Beaver Bar is the famous music bingo. A song is played and you have to mark the singer and song title on your paper. Quite tough sometimes, but since team work is dream work, we managed. Also here we were lucky: Toni was the second winner of our group! Two rounds of music bingo later, it was time to head home. I really enjoyed this busy night and I hope you did too.

See you on Saturday early in the morning for our great trip to Squamish. In the meantime, go out and enjoy the sun!

– 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

PuB NiGHT Review: Portside Pub

Wednesday nights are our favourite one’s! Why? Because it is PuB NiGHT of course! Every week, we are meeting at another place in Vancouver to enjoy a fun evening together.

Yesterday, we were welcomed at the Portside Pub in Gastown. As the name might tell you already, this pub gives you the feeling of sitting in a cozy boat while drinking a beer and sailing on the big, wild sea. The chairs around our table were taken quickly, so it was time to share the newest stories about placements, work, future travel plans, the annoying roommate or the lovely host mom. It is always fascinating how much we actually have in common, even though we are all coming from different parts of the world.

After a while of chatting, the serious part of the night started: karaoke. The lyrics were projected on a big screen, so everyone could sing along with the brave person behind the microphone at the front of the pub. (So it was actually not that serious.) The star of the night: Julian who surprised the crowd with the song “To love somebody”. Wow, that was amazing!

The rest of the night passed by quickly with singing and dancing along to great performances. And one, maybe even two freshly tapped beers. However, at the end of the night we found ourselves not back on sea, but in beautiful Gastown. Luckily!

Keep your chins up, soon it will be weekend again! I hope to see you on Sunday for a tour behind the scenes at the Rogers Arena.

– 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

How was your weekend?

Living in a house on an island in the middle of nowhere with an awesome group of people. Far away from the big city life, any Starbucks, McDonalds and Skytrain stations. But close to trees, birds and the sea. Sounds crazy? It was!

Everyone found the way to the ferry terminal of Tsawwassen on Friday afternoon, ready to start this adventure. The award for the biggest luggage goes to… Bart (who carried our food)! Two hours on the water passed by quickly with fun stories until we arrived on Salt Spring Island. Let’s get back to nature! That is exactly the feeling I had when we drove to our house. Hidden between the trees, we found our accommodation for the weekend. A huge wooden house with everything you could wish for: a big kitchen, a cozy living room, bedrooms with a view, luxurious bathrooms and all this surrounded by a terrace with a hot tub. Perfect! Once everyone explored the house, we settled in and prepared delicious spaghetti. With full bellies, the evening could start off with games and drinks. After a few exhausting games, it was time to relax. What could be a better spot to rest than a hot tub? Well, it was quite ‘cozy’ with 12 people in one hot tub and definitely fun! What a great night!

Rise and shine, the next day started. The sunshine outside promised a lovely day. For some, it was harder to get out of the bed than for others, but we all managed. After we strengthened ourselves with breakfast, we explored the island with a small hike. We walked through a park where we spotted some fairytale doors in the trees and had a nice view over the forests of Salt Spring Island. We ended up having lunch in a park next to the city center of Ganges, a cute place with lovely stores.

The next activity was a tasting of Salt Spring’s famous Wild Cider. Surrounded by nature, we learned more about ciders and we tried ten different kinds, from dry to sweet ones. The sun was shining, so we could even take off our jackets. Back at the house, it was already time for dinner. The burgers were quickly prepared and even quicker eaten. The night continued with driving a bus, destroying the circle of death or trying to get plastic balls into cups.

What a lovely view I had when waking up on Sunday: trees and sun! The view inside of the house was not that promising, as the last night left its traces. But as teamwork makes the dream work, the living room was soon shining again. So, Sunday started off easy with some fresh pancakes and fun stories of last night. Lucky as we were, we could get two of the three taxis that are available on the island. This time, the sun deck on the ferry earned its name and we could enjoy beautiful views on the way back to Vancouver.

I really had a good time with you and I am already looking forward to our next trip to the Rockies. See you on Wednesday to share all the fun stories of the weekend during our PuB NiGHT.

– 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