Candidate Exposé – Anni Volder

My name is Anni Volder, I’m 27 years old, from Denmark and study to be a kindergarden teacher.

I decided to go to Canada, because I like nature and have family there. My first impression was the people, who were very kind, helpful and polite. The things I liked about Vancouver were the opportunities to get around, I felt safe in the city and around people. I am very satisfied with my stay, thank you.

I was volunteering at a preschool for my studies in Denmark. It was very useful and instructive as I am doing a Bachelor project. I worked at a Developmental Disabilities Association. I had many options for how I wanted and needed to work related to my project. For this job it is important to be responsibly, patient and open minded. As volunteer in practicum it was very useful for my subject. The staff and children were very kind to me when I arrived. When I was asking questions they responded to their knowledge and helped if I needed it.

The trips that were organized were very good and I enjoyed them. For longer trips, I suggest better communication between those who arrange the trips. I went to Whistler and one or two pub nights. The trip to Seattle, I think could have been arranged cheaper.

I will remember the experience how to live there and to go to work. The nature and kind people. When I come home I will try to get over my jetlag and get my arms down from the experience. In the future I want to travel more, don’t know where yet, other than to come back.

I felt safe knowing I could contact INTERNeX anytime if I needed it. We met up with people all the time and had the opportunities to meet other people doing the same as you; being a stranger in another country.

– Anni Volder

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 – Tess Mallens

I am Tess Mallens, 20 years old and I am from the Netherlands. I study International Event Management at NHTV Breda. I am in my third year now were we need to complete a 7 month during internship to finish the year.

I decided to come to Canada because I had to do an internship for my study programme and I wanted to do this abroad. When I was 17 years old I moved out to live in the city of my university. That was already a big step for me back then, but now I already survived that for three years now, so I guess it was time for a new challenge. I wanted to have a good placement, so I didn’t pick a country, but just an internship that suited my needs and that happened to be in Canada. Besides that my uncle also studied in Canada and I heard many great stories from him, so that also made the decision easier. So now I am interning at Internex itself as a PR-coordinator and I found it through the database of my university.

As a PR-coordinator I am responsible together with the other interns to make sure our candidates have a great time here in Canada. We organise pub nights, weekly events and monthly trips. We are there for the people when they need to get something from their chest, and just to create a great group of friends, who become kind of your family while you are here. I really like my work since I’ve met so many great people and learned a lot about their cultures. It is a fantastic and dynamic group and great to hang out with. I also really like my colleagues in the office and I am really into my projects. I develop the monthly videos and I built the new Candidate Exposé, so what you are reading now, is my project 🙂

For this internship I think you really need to be open-minded, a planner, have communication skills and you need to be adaptable. You are working with people from different cultures, so they also communicate different. I think you have to be open-minded about their cultures and also adapt yourself to every person to make everybody comfortable. I know Dutch people, me included, are very direct so I needed to be careful with that. I guess I found my way through it though, and I learned a lot from it.

 

I live in a shared house in the Kitsilano / West Point Grey area, which are great neighbourhoods. I found it on Roomster, which is a platform to find rooms and apartments to rent. I am close to the beach and it takes me about half an hour to get downtown and work so I am very satisfied. I also get along really well with my housemates and I really can do my own thing there.

I remember it like it was yesterday when I arrived in Vancouver. I took a cab to my airbnb and after settling in a bit me and Danielle decided to walk into the city seeking for dinner. We didn’t know anything about the neighbourhoods yet so we walked on east hastings, a place you may rather avoid in the evening. I saw quite some homeless people, large buildings and it was dark. The only thing I thought was “What did I do, why did I come here”. Luckily the next day the sun was shining and we understood the neighbourhoods better. Once I walked in the financial district and around Canada Place, I already felt way better!

Because I organise the pub nights and activities myself, I attend most of them. I think they’re throughly great, since they give you the opportunity to meet other interns and young professionals really fast. Those people became my family during my time here. I think it is great Internex created this, since it would be really hard to get a group of friends when you’re just working in a company and only socialize with your colleagues. We get to explore fantastic places and create beautiful memories together.

I visited many places around here. I did many hikes and I am still planning to do a few more. My favourite trips were the Rockies trip, traveling with my parents around BC, experience Canada day in Victoria, snowboarding in Whistler and my trip to Tofino.

What I like most about Vancouver is the diversity of the city and its people. I am just never bored here and everywhere I go, somebody is in for a chat with you. People are really polite here, sometimes maybe a bit to polite in my opinion, and very understanding and accepting. I feel very welcome here and I just love the variety in Nature. I am really going to miss the mountains and the sea with its amazing beaches.

Some difficulties I had while living here was the beginning of my stay, when I didn’t feel comfortable yet and I really had to adjust to the culture. Keeping up with my bank account was a difficulty as well, because you really run out of money fast in this city. Besides that I sometimes had to deal with home sickness, but that went quite fine. My friends made an amazing booklet for me where each of them wrote a story about me, accompanied with ridiculous pictures. They always get a smile on my face again with that, even though they are not here in person.

The most memorable things I did here are snowboarding in Whistler with my colleague Becky, the Rockies trip and a surf trip to Tofino with my friends. Whistler mountain is amazing, and I felt throughly grateful for being there. It is a dream that came through, and with good company it only makes the experience better. I also surfed two times in Tofino and I really have no words for that feeling. Especially the second time was amazing since the conditions were just great and I experienced a great weekend with friends, beautiful sunsets and breathtaking nature.

This trip definitely inspired me to travel more, and also to travel more by myself. I lived all by myself for seven months, miles apart from my familiar and save life. I can do anything now and I will explore the world. Next stop: I hope to see London really soon, I can’t believe I haven’t been there yet, South America is definitely on my list as well and I am thinking about southern Asia.

The first thing I will do when I get back home is say hi to all my family in the airport and then run to the first restaurant / cafetaria I see to order a “frikandel” and “patatje oorlog” (A frikandel is kind of a fried sausage but then ten times better than the thing you are imagining now, and patatje oorlog is fries with satay sauce, mayonaise and onions). Then during the week I hope to get spoiled by my mums’ dishes, a croissant with melted cheese, cheese in general and cheese onion chips. I guess I like cheese.

– Tess

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 – Janel de Boer

I am Janel de Boer, 21 years old and I am from the Netherlands. Currently I am studying International Leisure Management in Breda, the Netherlands. I had to do an internship abroad for my university and I wanted to do that outside of Europe. I couldn’t go to South Africa or Asia, so I chose to go to Canada.

I found Internex through my university since they have a partnership, so the company was mentioned between all the internship partners. So now I am doing the practicum program here and I really like it!

I am placed at Internex itself as a PR-coordinator. I organise the pub nights, weekly events and monthly events. I really like it here as I get t make friends with the candidates and create an amazing time for them here in Vancouver. I think you need to be open-minded and have some organizational-, planning-, and marketing skills for this internship. I think this internship is really useful for my career goals. I learned to be a team leader and I learned how to organize and market events and a lot more!

In Vancouver I live in an apartment downtown. I really like it as it is close to everything and I live with a good friend of my, which is also really nice. In the beginning I was really overwhelmed as I arrived in the evening on Granville Street. In the evening it is really busy here with a lot of lights. The next day it was raining, like usual, but I really liked the big city feeling and the feeling of being in Canada. Now at the moment I think it is too big for me. I can live here for the several months I planned to, but I would never want to actually live in such a big city.

During my stay I have been to the Rockies, Tofino, Victoria, Whistler, Kelowna, Seattle, Squamish and Wisconsin. I also went skiing a lot and hiking in the beautiful parks around Vancouver.

What I like most is that everybody is really polite in Canada, you would never see that in the Netherlands. I also really like all the parks in Canada, the nature here is so beautiful.

Being in a different country is always really difficult. It is hard to be away from your family and friends for such a long time. Also the culture is different from the Netherlands and it is not always easy to adjust to it.

The most memorable thing of my stay here is the Rockies trip. It was an amazing weekend with great friends, parties, places and nature. This experience didn’t’ t really inspire me to travel more since I already wanted to travel more before I came here. I would really love to see a lot of the world and get to see all the different cultures. Asia and Africa are definitely parts of the world I want to see.

I worked for Internex and I would definitely recommend it to others. If you are doing your internship in another country it is always hard to find friends outside your company, but with Internex you get to know a lot of people and make a lot of friends.

When I get back home I will see my family at the airport and have a really amazing Dutch dinner with them. After that the weekend starts and I will see my friends again.

– Janel

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 – Nicola Beilhack

I am Nicola Beilhack from Germany/ Bavaria. I am 18 years old at the moment and finished school last year. I am taking something like a gap year at the moment, but I start with my study in October. It is going to be a dual study for sports, health and rehabilitation.

I decided to go to Canada for its unique landscape and the spirit of people there. I also wanted to improve my English, so it had to be an English speaking country. In that case Canada was just the most interesting for me. I planned my trip with a German organization and they mediated me to INTERNeX.

At the moment I am doing an internship here in Vancouver, to gain experience on how companies work in other countries and to expand my general knowledge. I really like it, since the people are so kind and really try to include me in their work. I am placed at a sports club. They organise competitions and big events for the club. It is really interesting to see how a big sports club is working. I really like it here because everybody is super friendly and made me feel welcome since day one.

To work and to be successful here you should be very open-minded and able to speak to unknown people. Luckily this is not really a problem for me. Furthermore communication is very important in the company. You also need good computer skills like word, excel and power point, because we make scoring sheets and other stuff like that. Besides that you should also be a creative thinker since you have to solve unexpected problems. This practicum is not part of my study, but I think it is very helpful, especially for me, to see the other side of sports. For example I now see more the organisation and administration part and not only the medical part of it, and that is where I will be focusing on in my upcoming study.

For the first four weeks I lived at a homestay family, organised by INTERNeX. They were very friendly and we always had lots of food at home, but unfortunately it was a bit expensive for me. I decided to look for an accommodation on my own and found a house with six other roommates, so it is always fun and I never feel alone here. I actually met these people on the buss when I started chatting with them about my big search for a house. They told me they were looking for a new roommate and from that point everything went quite fast and I moved in. So yeah you could say I found my house in the buss, but that is not really common haha.

My first impression of Vancouver was that it is really rainy, but luckily that already changed a bit! I also experienced that the people are really kind and friendly and always try to help you. I think Vancouver and the surrounding landscape is beautiful!

The PR-team of INTERNeX organises activities and trips and I am really trying to attend every event since it is really cool to meet people who are doing the same thing like you. It also feels like it is my home here, because you can make friends really quick and do a lot of activities with them. So far I joined the big Rockies trip in April. I also went to Lighthouse Park, the museum of Vancouver and a Frisbee game of the Vancouver Riptides. I visited Deep Cove and Burnaby Mountain Park on my own and of course I attend almost every pub night on Wednesdays.

 

What I like most about Vancouver and Canada is the spirit people have here and theopportunity to live in a big city surrounded by a gorgeous landscape. This combination is unique and really cool because you can spend your whole day in the middle of nowhere and in the evening you can go out with friends to have a great party night! The most memorable thing was my trip to the Rockies and Deep Cove. It was also amazing to be able to go skiing at the end of April on Grouse Mountain.

This trip really inspired me to travel more. I really want to come back to see more of Canada, but there are so many beautiful destinations around the world that I can’ t really decide right now. I would prefer a country where the sun is shining all the time and not to cold, because summer all year is just great.

The first thing I will do when I get back home is spending time with my family and buy really good bread, buns and pretzels at my domestic bakery, since bread is just not really good here…

– Nicola

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