All good things must come to an end they say, and that also means my wonderful journey here in Vancouver must come to an end… And that end is here.
My life changing journey started 7 months ago at the airport in Amsterdam. It was going to be the first time for me flying alone and living on my own and boy I was scared. I remember crying and being really sad to leave my friends and family even telling them that I was not sure if I could do this. I’m really happy and proud that I can tell the Mandy of 7 months ago that she had nothing to worry about and that a beautiful journey was waiting for her.
I call it a journey and not a destination or simply a stay since I have been through so much. I have learned a lot about myself and who I am all with the help of INTERNeX and without them I would not be the person I am today. 
It all started 2 days after I arrived here in Vancouver with the amazing Rocky Mountains trip. It was so amazing to see the beautiful nature that Canada has to offer and the beautiful blue lakes. Not only the nature was amazing but all the people that I met were wonderful.
But that was not it, as a PR-Coordinator for INTERNeX I had the opportunity to travel to Whistler, Victoria, Salt Spring Island and my biggest dream Seattle. I even had the opportunity to take a trip to Los Angeles, a city I have always dreamed of visiting. We also went to amazing events like Halloween, New Year’s Eve, the Canucks games and of course all the nice and fun PuB NiGHTS. I even celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time in my life and went Black Friday Shopping in Seattle.
But for me it does not matter how many places I visited or how many things I did, the most important thing for me is that I was able to do that with all of you! Without any of you, my journey here in Canada would not have been the same and I want to thank you for that from the bottom of my heart.
Now that it is only days away from saying goodbye I am having mixed feelings about leaving. I am really looking forward to seeing my friends and family again and to hug my sweet Labrador dog. I am looking forward to tasting my favorite Dutch dishes again but I know that my life back home will never be the same again since a piece of my heart will always stay here in Vancouver and another piece will stay with the people I have met here.
Again I wanted to thank every single one of you that have been there for me and have made my stay here unforgettable. I would also like to thank Tim and Simon for even giving me this opportunity since without them I would not have been able to experience all of these things.
For anyone reading this who is doubting whether to go away from home for such a long time I can only give you one advice…. Just do it! Trust me it will only make your life much more richer with all the life lessons you take with you when being on your own.
This is not a goodbye but a see you later! I am looking forward to seeing some of you in Sweden later this year and for the rest, we will meet each other again somewhere in the world!
~ Mandy
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
Me myself made friends for life here as well, friends who made my time a blast here! I can’t believe what activities and weird stuff I all did with you. Like the time Nicola and me thought it was a great idea to go snowboarding while being hungover. I laughed so much that day and in the end I was going down the hill circling around, which was pretty cool since I’ve never done that before. I also think we went on like 3 goodbye dinners, since we were not that good in leaving each other! I’m sure I will see this girl very soon again.
I had the honour to catch al our candidates stories and experiences through my project: the Candidate Exposé, which you might already have seen popping up on this blog. I am thankful that I was able to build this project and to execute it, and to always read your kind words about the work Internex is doing. Our stories together are captured in a few yearbooks, which you can find on the tables at Internex. I hope the book and the blogs make people decide to come to Canada for an experience similar like ours, since I am convinced it will be really good for everybody to have an international experience.
It’s time to say goodbye. This makes me always sad therefore I prefer to say “See ya again” one day.
I’ve never enjoyed my life as much as I did here.
This post is going to be a little different -we’re going to discuss about some of the ways that can help you cope with culture shock! Many of you already know what culture shock means. Basically, it means when people move to a new country or experience a new culture, a way of life, they feel very disoriented and uneasy. Many of you might feel this during the first few days of your visit here! So here are some tips:
Nesters Market!! Oh I should probably first explain what it is. Back home in Germany, Stollen is a loaf of sweet fruit bread covered with a thick layer of icing sugar. I used to hate it as a kid as I contains weird stuff like dried raisins and candied orange and lemon peel but a couple of years ago, I actually started to appreciate the distinct taste you only get in the advent season. The best Stollen in the world is the one my grandma makes from scratch of course! She would add tons of butter and make it extra juicy and yummy…this is probably one of the things I miss most over here; real and honest and non-processed food with healthy and home-grown ingredients. Might be a reason why Monday night was so special for me. My roomie and I had four girlfriends over at our apartment and we cooked traditionally Dutch food with mashed potatoes, veggies and sausages. It was not only delicious but our whole apartment smelled just like home (German and Dutch food are very similar, so it really did!! 🙂 ) And then one of the girls made cake that tasted exactly like my nana’s Zimtschnecken (cinnamon buns)! I was in heaven and this certainly made up for many pasta-with-tomato-sauce-dinners in Canada! 
INTERNeX Canada 