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
and Lighthouse Park, I have been on tours to the Rockies, Seattle and Whistler. What I like most about Vancouver and Canada are the great outdoors, and the possibility to hike in the summer and ski/snowboard in the winter. The most memorable thing I’ve done here is probably playing ice hockey on Lake Louise. There were also some challenges during my stay in Canada, like understanding the prices and especially finding good food for a good price.
24th of June, 6 AM: I was standing at the bus stop with only three hours of sleep and a little hungover from my barbecue party the night before. Once I saw the girls and our tour bus from Discover Canada Tours, I felt kind of alive again and I was good to go. According to our fantastic tour guide we had a full day of planning on our way to Tofino. So we took the ferry to Nanaimo, drove to Tofino and made a few stops in between. We saw some big trees and a beautiful spot along the river.
work. Sweaty kids in the back of the bus, but still laughing our asses of from all the stupid jokes that came from our overheated brains. Besides that I must say our tour guide did a great job with keeping us entertained by covering Lady gaga, Adele and even Queen. Along with great dance moves we were very amused.
Our tour guide picked us up and brought us to the hotel. We took a quick shower since we were melting away in the bus the entire day, and made ourselves ready for the campfire on the beach. I still can’t really believe this since there were quite some guys on the trip, but I lit the campfire (yay me). Here we finally got the chance to meet the others from the bus and we had some really nice conversations. We enjoyed the amazing sunset and the fire went on for hours. This really is one of my favourite nights in Canada because Tofino kind of became my happy place. We had good company and a stunning sunset, what do you want more?
the lesson and in my opinion they did an amazing job. First they explained a lot about the ocean and how it works with surfing and then, after some practise on the beach, we took our boards into the water. I could really feel my previous lesson helped me since standing up became easier. In the end I even did a 180!
imagined. Though, once I saw the long path I still needed to take to the beach while carrying my board, I was already kind off exhausted before I even got to surf. But we managed eventually and we were ready to surf! It was not that simple and after the instructions on how to stand up, we first needed to do these steps with our boards on the beach, which felt really awkward and funny. So I was paddling and paddling… through the sand and managed to get up at the first time! Just joking, that is easy with that surface of course.
cold, but once I was in I was actually sweating in the water if that is even possible. I really got to experience how high and strong those waves are and it really made me speechless how strong nature is. I was ready to roll with it with my board. So I was paddling and paddling… and got up at the first time! No joke! It was so amazing to just get along with the wave while you get to see beautiful nature surrounding it. After that I got up a few times more, which was just amazing. After that I kind of got too excited and tired, so I started making mistakes and I couldn’t stand up anymore. It came to an end and I thanked my teacher for the great lesson, while already feeling sore in my entire body. You don’t really feel it while surfing because you are just in a rush, but it is such a workout and I had sore muscles for at least three days!
you just love something and you may be able to do it, just go for it. So I just got out of the Discover Canada Tours office to book my next trip to Tofino with Iris. I am really happy I am going to improve my skills on those waves and to make new memories while surfing!
First of all, Tofino is known for its whale watching tours. During March and April there are lots of gray whales migrating from Mexico to the north. In May till November there are over 200 gray whales that stay in the waters next to Vancouver Island. Between June and September they have the highest sightings of Humpback whales. So there is a lot of chance that you will see whales if you go on a whale watching tour during our trip!
Meares Island is an island close to Tofino and Vargas Island. There are two hikes on the island. The first hike is the Big Trees Trail. This trail will lead you through world’s largest Western Red Cedar Trees on a boardwalk. The second hike is for more experienced hikers. This hike will get you up the Lone Cone Mountain. It takes around 4-6 hours to go up the mountain and back.
INTERNeX Canada 