How was the weekend?

Did you stay warm this past weekend, or did the snow get you?
For me it was little bit of both. INTERNeX went to Whistler on Saturday for a fun day trip. When we arrived the streets of the little village were mostly snow free. A bunch of us went straight up the mountain for some skiing and snowshoeing while others went to grab a coffee and explore the area.

As the caffeine kicked in our group was excited to slide down the small snow hill nearby the Olympic Rings, but soon we longed for bigger, better, faster, so we decided to go Tubing! A quick free ride with the gondola led us to the tubing lanes. Luckily, it wasn’t busy so we got right into it! There were single and double tubes to choose from and a ‘magic carpet’ carried us up the hill. It was actually my first time tubing and let me tell you, I wasn’t disappointed! The staff gives you a nice spin and down the hill you go! I was screaming of joy and felt like I was on a roller coaster. If only we had some goggles though! Snow blowing into our faces as we crashed down the hill made it hard to look around, but honestly the feeling itself was already worth the experience.

After we let out our inner child we went back into the village for a round of ice skating. I heard someone kissed the ice quite a few times. 😀 We rewarded ourselves at a Happy Hour with food and drinks, recharging the energy we’ve just spent out in the snow. A few adventure junkies still haven’t had enough though and therefore went on a snowmobile tour, how cool, is that? I heard it was totally worth it, you explore the nature while going up to 45km/h on the snowmobile which apparently is harder to drive then it first seems. Hungry from all the action we had our early dinner due to the snow storm that was rolling in.

By 4.30pm the first empty streets were filled with snow and it kept on snowing causing many small accidents on the Highway leading to major delays and a little bit of concern which is why we had to leave Whistler as early as possible in order to get everyone back home safe and sound. Thankfully our driver was very experienced and we were back in Vancouver early enough to avoid any snow craziness. Apart from that I believe we had a really great trip! I’m already looking forward to the next one. 🙂

Allover I’d say we stayed warm through all the activities, but the snow got us in the end by forcing us to rush home earlier than we wanted.

How about you? What was your weekend like?

Can’t wait to hear about it. 🙂

Cheers,

Laura

What to do on the weekend? – Snowy Ideas

This weekend will be breezy with a good chance of snow in Vancouver! So, what’s there to do?

One thing that’s always a good idea is a trip to Whistler. Come with us on our day trip to guarantee a snowy weekend in the mountains of BC. Whether you want to ski, snowboard, ride a snowmobile, go dogsledding, tubing, snow shoeing, ice skating, zip lining, or maybe explore the village with less action loaded activities like the peak 2 peak gondola, a day at the Scandinavian Spa, a visit at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, or other indoor activities like Ax Throwing, or an Escape Room adventure. Whistler offers so much, I’m sure there’s something to do for every preference and budget. Sometimes I like to just sit at one of the many great cafes, drink a hot beverage and warm up from strolling along the snow covered village paths, really can’t go wrong with that! Saying that, make sure you dress warm enough, the air is always a little colder up North than it is down here in Vancouver! I recommend multiple layers of warm functional wear. Also don’t forget to pack according to the activities you’ve planned, e.g. want to go to the spa? – Bring a Bikini. I sure am excited for our Canadian Winter adventure. 🙂

If you choose to stay here, there are multiple other things you could do. How about you visit one of the local mountains, like Grouse? There you also have the chance to go ski, snowboard, snowshoe, or just sightsee what the mountain has to offer e.g. the Light walk which I would recommend after dark and imagine there’s actually snow falling while you walk through this magical winter wonderland! You can easily get there by public transit. There’s also a cafe at the top where you can warm yourself up with a hot beverage and some food. 🙂 On your way you could also stop at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park which lights up your gloomy winter days with many colourful installations along the trails! Perfect for some nice Instagram shots, or to get a little happiness boost during this dark and cold season. 😉 If there’s actually going to be snow, then I imagine it to be extra pretty!

If you’d rather escape the cold temperatures this weekend why don’t you go to the movies? My recommendation is to check out some of the movies VIFF (Vancouver International Film Festival) is showing. I assure you it’s different from watching the same old Hollywood Blockbusters. VIFF shows extraordinary films that can be entertaining, educational, empowering, encouraging and much more. You’ll find local artists, artists of colour and you’ll probably walk away thinking about what you’ve watched for a little while after your visit. ‘VIFF encourages understanding of the world’s cultures through the art of cinema.’ Since they are a not-for-profit organization you’d also support what they do by going to one of their movies. Why not try something new and different? Maybe you’ll like it. 🙂 And did I mention their delicious popcorn? I usually get it buttered and I feel like I can smell it right as I’m writing this. 😀

Let me know what you’ve been up to at our next Pub Night! Can’t wait. 🙂

See ya,

Laura 🙂

New ‘Kids’ on the Blog!

“New ‘kids’ on the blog” is back! I hope you have some time because today I would like to introduce you to our 5 (!) newcomers this week. Welcome to our INTERNeX-family! 🙂

Let’s start with Franca. First of all, she’s staying on Vancouver Island. So it’s even more exciting!

After graduating from High School she decided to see a little bit of the world. She has already travelled a lot in the last time and has been to London, Stonehenge and Scotland. Besides that she gained some work experience as a teaching assistant in Spain. This time it brought her to Canada for volunteering at a wildlife station. Reason for that is her interest in our beautiful country’s nature and she missed having animals around her at her previous job. I guess now it won’t be an issue anymore. 🙂
Franca chose Canada because she’s not so attracted by the US (good for us!).
Since she’s staying on Vancouver Island she wants to discover that (maybe with a friend she knows, staying in Victoria), but she doesn’t have any certain destinations on her travel bucket list, yet.

Next to our Homestay roomies, who are both part of our practicum program:

Our second newcomer is David. He’s 19 years old and from Germany. Before coming to Vancouver he has already been to Toronto for 9 days because he has family there.
Back home he’s really into outdoor activities like hiking and kayaking which also made him choose Canada as a destination.
One thing on his bucket list, is going to Yukon, a territory in the northwest of Canada. And he will have plenty of time to do that, because he already planned 4 weeks of travelling in the end of his stay.

Now let me introduce you to William. He’s 20 years old and from Denmark, where he’s living near Copenhagen.
William is really looking forward to get the experience to work here and furthermore to travel a lot, too.
Same as David he has some travel time after his practicum and Victoria Island is one place he already knows he wants to see, but he’s spontaneous so let’s see where his travels will lead him to. Another thing he already has in mind is doing a skiing trip in the next few months, since he knows a skiing instructor here in Canada – how practical!
His arrival is perfect timing because William is an Ice Hockey fan and he is excited to join our Hockey event at the end of March. Go Canucks! 😀

Our last two participants are work and travellers. These 2 boys came together from Germany and planned on working for a little bit in Vancouver and then buy a car for their 2 months travelling. Buying a car or van gives them the opportunity to start their road trip to Montreal from where they’re flying back home.

The boy on the left is Lukas. He just likes the idea of work and travel and trusted his gut feeling and decided on doing it in Canada. So far there’s a skiing trip on his travel bucket list for his time here in North America.

Last but not least, I would like to present you Oliver. Just like Lukas he trusted on his guts with his decision on going to Canada. But one thing he knew for sure was that he doesn’t want to go to New Zealand or Asia like most of his friends did and as a conclusion he chose Canada since it’s more rare. 

I guess these two might plan a skiing trip together because Oliver wants to go skiing as well – maybe in the Rockies! 😀

I wish you guys a really great time here! I promise you it’s gonna be unforgettable! 🙂

Hope to see you for Pub Night at the Yale tonight!

See ya! xx

Cheers,

– Alina

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

What to Do on the Weekend?

How fast the week has passed by and we are again facing a wonderful weekend ahead of us. And what great things are there to do this weekend – have a read below!

Vancouver as a very outdoorsy and sportive city of course celebrates its 10 Year Anniversary of the 2010 Winter Olympics. So for all sports enthusiasts, on Saturday,
February 22, from 11am to 6pm, a free fan festival will be held at Jack Poole Plaza, which is part of the Vancouver Convention Centre, which was the International Broadcast Centre during the Games. The festival offers athlete meet and greets, stage performances, sport demonstrations, lots of food and drinks, the relighting of the Olympic Cauldron, and other fun activities.

For those of you who would like to learn more about the local indigenous tribes and their traditional performances, you should consider attending the Talking Stick Festival. It is running from Friday, February 21 to Sunday, February 23 in various locations. This indigenous performing arts festival features artists and scholars, who come together to celebrate indigenous performing arts with the help of theatre, storytelling, writing, music, spoken word, dance, film and visual arts. Its 2020 theme is Chén̓chenstway, “upholding each other, lifting each other up”.

Being concerned with the indigenous culture, Stanley Park Ecology Society hosts a walk & workshop on indigenous plant use this weekend on Saturday. By walking through the park’s forest with an indigenous guide of Coast Salish descent, you will learn about edible, medicinal, and survival uses of plants, as well as the traditional and present-day indigenous use of and relationships with local plant and wildlife. You can register for this event online.

For everyone motivated in spending a part or even the whole weekend skiing or
snowboarding, Grouse Mountain is opening its doors for 24 consecutive hours of winter
fun! From February 22 until February 23, including sundown to sunrise, you can dance, ride or skate the night away under the night sky as DJs play cool tracks. Ski down Grouse’s beautiful slopes as long as you want to or simply dance the night away on Vancouver’s mountain roof top. Complimentary shuttles will run to make it easier to access this great event.

And then, not to forget, there is the movie night at Anniina’s place!! Her apartment building offers a really cool movie theatre that you guys should check out this weekend. Find more info and the link to an extra group in our Whatsapp group.

I hope this blog post gives you some inspiration for your weekend, enjoy every moment of it!! See you very soon! 😀

– Felicitas

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

Newest member of the INTERNeX PR-Team: Franzi

My name is Franzi and for the next few weeks I will be part of the PR-Team at INTERNeX. I’m really looking forward to planning trips and joining those with you.

Despite of all the new things here, I should not forget to introduce myself. I’m 20 years old and together with my family I live near Regensburg, which is a beautiful city in the heart of Bavaria (Germany). I’m studying Labour Market Management in Mannheim. In the summer semester this year we have the opportunity to do a practicum abroad – so I used the chance to gain experience in a new country and applied for a placement here at INTERNeX and – as you can see – luckily it worked and I’m joining the team for the next 6 weeks. At home I really like doing sports like swimming, tennis or biking – I may not be the best in it, but I still enjoy doing it. Although I like summer a lot more than winter, I could not live without skiing. I also shouldn’t forget to tell you that I’m in love with pugs and my favourite things to do are snacking and napping. Except that – sorry for fulfilling the typical cliché- I like travelling and experience new non-touristic spots.

Because of it’s amazing landscape I’m really excited to get to know Canada with all of you. Beach, mountains, sea and skyskrapers – I guess you can’t complain about anything of that.

I hope to see you at the Pub Night at the Yale tonight and get to know everyone!

– Franzi

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