How was your weekend?

Unfortunately, it is time to say goodbye to another great weekend in Vancouver. This means I only have one weekend left in this beautiful city. But hey, let’s not get into that right now. Instead, let me tell you about the fun I’ve had the past few days.

On Saturday, it was time for our INTERNeX event: Outdoor Game Day. Six fun activities were on the schedule. But first things first: Team division. Who forms ‘team pink’ and who is part of ‘team blue’? After we determined that, we spilled the secret that there’d be a prize for the winning team. We had to get you guys motivated. Time to play the first game: ‘Card Relay Race’. Let’s find out how competitive you guys are. In this game, both teams had to collect all cards of a specific symbol. But, it wasn’t that simple. The cards lay, face down, on the other side of the field. Team members had to run back and forth, flipping a card at a time, until their stack was complete. It took quite some time before there was a winner, but in the end, it was 1-0 for team blue.

A round of memory, Kubb and water bottle bowling later, it was 3-1 for team blue. Next up: Pictionary. This was a challenging game in which everyone could show off their drawing skills. Well, or lack of drawing skills. This game surely created a lot of laughs. The last game involved water, sponges and buckets. The goal: bringing as much water to the other side as possible. Though it might seem impossible, both teams had the exact same amount of water in their buckets. So, both teams got a point. The end score: 5-2 for team blue. Congrats guys! I hope you liked your prize!

After multiple hours of being active, it was snack time (schnacks!). A couple of us went to the Warehouse in Gastown for lunch. When we finished our meals, I went home to freshen up. Not long after that, I went to Surrey to meet up with friends. We spent the evening watching my favorite movie: Safe Haven (If you haven’t watched it yet, get on it!) and Pitch Perfect 2.

On Sunday, I spent most of my day relaxing. In the evening, however, I went to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Two YouTubers I watch, Dan Howell and Phil Lester, are on tour right now and on this day, they were in Vancouver. Their show is called Interactive Introverts and its aim is “giving the people what they want”, as Dan likes to say. I laughed a lot and couldn’t have spent my Sunday night any better.

I hope you all had a great weekend as well. See you tomorrow for our Outdoor Movie event in Stanley Park!

– 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: The Bottleneck

‘How many Oscars won the film The Shape of Water?’ No clue? Neither did we. With this and more difficult questions, we had to deal yesterday night during our pub night at The Bottleneck. So today, we are a bit smarter than yesterday.

The Bottleneck is a small bar in the middle of the entertainment street Granville. It is quite hidden, so you have to watch out to find the entrance. Suddenly, the pub was quickly filled with motivated players for the ‘Get Smarty Trivia’, which is hosted every Wednesday at the Bottleneck. Even though we tried to figure out the answers in teamwork, it was really hard! Many of them were American focused, but at least we could proudly name the neighbour countries of Luxembourg. All in all, the trivia was a fun mix of film, music, history and cultural questions.

After all the questions were asked, we handed our creative answers to our neighbours and we got to know the solutions. And we won a prize! For being the second last, but a prize is a prize, so we were happy about it. Until we tried our free winner drinks … We all had never seen a drink like this before. A Canadian speciality called ‘Bloody Caesar’ includes vodka, clamato juice, Worcestershire and Tabasco. And because this combination is not weird enough, you get pickled asparagus, celery, chirozo, prawn and beet on top! We had quite a hard time to finish those drinks. Respect, Canadians!

Oh and by the way, The Shape of Water won 4 Oscars 😉

See you on Sunday for a relaxed stroll on Granville Island!

– 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 – Alyn Engelhardt

My name is Alyn Engelhardt, I am 22 years old and lived my whole life in Viersen, Germany. It is a small town next to Düsseldorf and Cologne. I just graduated from university with a Bachelor of Science in Business Chemistry.

Before continuing with the Master in Business Chemistry I wanted to do a break from university to get some practical experiences by doing an internship. I chose Canada because I was always interested in the nature of this big country and the mentality of the citizens. In addition, I heard that the companies in Canada are really small, that it is not even unusual to know its entire staff. This means, it is more familiar and you might get the chance to get a better overview and learn more than in a big company.

In Germany I worked with an agency, I sent them all required documents and they sent it to Internex who got in contact with me. I was convinced that it is easier to find an internship with an agency that already knows different companies and has experience in working with them.

I was part of two different programs. I stayed for 12 weeks in Vancouver. The first two weeks I went to a language school to do a language course (Business English). Right after that, I started my internship for ten weeks. I chose this program to get some practical knowledge. Right after high school I went to university, which means, I never got the chance to see how a company works.

I am doing my internship at a (non-profit) community engagement organization.

“It is a signature initiative designed to spark, nurture and restore community connections. More than a single place or program, it assembles the hearts, minds, and talents of diverse communities to promote inclusive, intelligent, and inspiring dialogue.”

I am the first international intern they have, but they already had a lot of experience with work students and volunteers. It was an amazing time. They organise different events for people who are interested in community issues.

Communication and teamwork are the most important characteristics you need at this internship. Everybody needs to know what the other is working on and what is still missing; otherwise the events might not become successful. You should be good in organizing, and be flexible in general. Plans might change right before the event. You should also be creative; SFU Public Square loves new ideas.

This internship is not part of my education. Actually, event management does not have that much to do with the education I had, but still I can say I learned a lot. I learned to be more flexible and what good teamwork can look like. Also, I learned a lot on personal level during my internship.

I lived with a host family in Vancouver, organised by the language school. I shared the basement with another student. We had our own living room, kitchen and a bathroom. A host family is a great opportunity for people who are not used to live alone.

When I arrived, my first impression of Vancouver was: Now, I know why they call it Raincouver. The weather was really bad. It rained a lot in March and April. But I refused to buy an umbrella. In May the weather got so much better, so we were finally able to enjoy some outdoor activities.

I attend nearly all pub nights organised by Internex. It is a nice opportunity to meet new friends and to plan weekend activities. We always had a lot of fun and saw different corners of Vancouver Downtown. Besides the pub nights I attend other events like visiting the Lighthouse Park or Fly over Canada. Other places I traveled to are the Rockies, Vancouver Island with a friend I met on pub night, Bowen Island, Seattle, Whistler and soon I will travel down the westcoast of the USA with some friends I met at the pub nights. Furthermore I did a lot of activities like watching an ice hockey game, celebrated St. Patrick’ s Day, went to a boat party and I did lots of hikes.

What I like most about Vancouver is the mentality. There are so many different opportunities here. On one side Vancouver is a city, but it is also surrounded by beautiful nature. One thing I had to deal with was the bad traffic. I think it is not working for so many people. It really feels like you live in a big city with millions of inhabitants. Busses are passing by because they are already to full and in the rush hour everybody is stressed out.

I have three big highlights of my stay here. The first is th event I helped organize during my internship. As second a beautiful hike I did to a crushed airplane in Tofino. And last but not least a stay at the first nations hotel in Chase during our Rockies trip with Internex and Discover Canada Tours. My stay here and the entire experience didn’t really inspire me to travel more, since I already did that, but I might want to see the East of Canada as well now.

I would highly recommend the services of Internex. This agency has great contacts with different companies. In addition if your organise everything through Internex, you will get to know new friends because of the events and pub nights they organise.

When I get back home I will buy some good German bread.

– Alyn