How was the weekend? – On Sasquatch Mountain

I’m not sure if it was more relaxing, or more exciting!

The weekend started with our bumpy ride up the mountain, with probably 20 minutes on ‘the milkshake road’ how one of my friends calls it. 😀 Once at our cabin we realized how there was not much around us, just a few other cabins, the lifts, a mountain lodge and a whole lot of snow! Good thing we brought plenty of food with us, since there was no option for us to get anything up there! I loved how quiet and peaceful it was, until we started drinking of course. 😀 That’s when it got exciting. We explored our beautiful cabin with its fireplace and the highlight: the hot tub right outside the door in the basement with views over the snowy landscape. We made good use of it! Other than that we had a great time playing games, and taking Salsa lessons by our personal dance teacher Tim. We all left as better dancers for sure. 😉

The second day was all about food, we had a great breakfast – a little later in the day, so our bodies could rest from the night before – went for a walk to explore the mountain and ended up at the lodge where the big wooden Sasquatch is located. The restaurants’ and cafes’ systems were down, so they gave out free hot chocolate and coffee which we couldn’t say no to! While slurping our beverages and warming up we got mentally ready for our next point on the program: A build a snowman contest! We all gave points to each other and in the end we were not really contentious with our decision of who actually won. 😀 They were all great in my opinion, decide for yourself and let me know which one you like most:

After the day in the snow we went back to our cabin, warming up in the hot tub (of course) and treating ourselves to a chocolate fondue that Stelle brought with her for us! She also made a cheese dip inside a loaf of bread, it was AMAZING! We all needed some down time and later on had pasta for dinner. Some discovered the Wii the place was equipped with and it was a pretty chill night compared to the first one. Everyone went to bed a little earlier to be fit for our way back into the city with one last stop along the road: Cascade Falls. It’s a very short walk that leads to a Suspension Bridge next to a powerful waterfall with its beautiful clear turquoise colour, surrounded by big trees and green moss. Breathing in the fresh air, listening to the water clash on the rocks and seeing the different shades of green was really calming and a great way to end our Canadian nature adventure. 🙂

Allover we enjoyed our time in the snowy mountains with a great mix of relaxation and activities.

How about you? What did you do on your weekend? Did you enjoy the city, or escaped into nature as well?

Let me know at next Pub Night! 🙂

See you then,

Laura

Meanwhile in Vegas…

You might wonder why it was so quiet on the Blog this week. The answer is, INTERNeX went to Las Vegas for the 4th of July celebrations and I obviously couldn’t miss out on that. Still tired, I feel the last couple of days in my bones while sitting back at my desk in Vancouver. It was my very first time in the city that never sleeps and I understand now, why people say that. Here’s a little POV from our trip.

We’re on the plane early in the morning, excited to arrive at the shiniest place on earth. The city is so big you can see the flickering ads on the buildings from up in the sky. After refreshing ourselves at the hotel we decide to take the Monorail (kind of like a skytrain that runs parallel to the Las Vegas Strip) and go down to the famous ‘Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas’ sign to take a nice group photo. The last station of the Monorail however, is a bit further away, which means we have to walk quite a bit to get to the sign.

At first that seems totally fine, but it is 42 degrees pure sun shining on us, so it gets harder with every minute of walking. I really feel that I’m in the middle of a desert. In the distance we see something… is that a Fata Morgana? A yellow ‘M’ appears on the horizon and it whispers ‘Air Condition’ and ‘food’. Thankfully we are right, it’s a McDonalds that was going to save us. It feels really good to cool down, eat and drink an iced beverage before continuing our journey.

Surprisingly we all made it to the sign, just to find out that there’s a long queue of people waiting in the heat to take a photo. We find a way to sneak to the side and skip the line by taking a photo there instead of right underneath the sign. If you are ever planning on going, keep that in mind! Another thing we’ve come to realize, it’s cheaper to take an Uber or Lyft when you are travelling with a group than it is taking a bus, plus it’s more convenient as well.

After spending some free time we all meet again at a nice Mexican restaurant to have dinner and drinks together. The tacos are amazing! The first day has been successful, but tiring. Matt plays a round of Black Jack at the Casino but gives up pretty fast, I guess it’s time for bed. We decide to keep it chill and save our energy for the next day.

A few of us are going to a pool party, the perfect place to be on a hot sunny day, and indeed it is so much fun! I’d recommend buying tickets in advance as well as eating and drinking lots before going because prices are insane; $57 for a cocktail… Everything else is totally worth it though, we’re having a blast! Another group of us is taking the day to explore the city some more.

In the evening everyone is out to see the Independence Day fireworks! My favourite view is from the Bellagio Fountains. There’s a fountain show with light, music and the fireworks in the background. Even at night it’s nice and warm in the city. I actually prefer the night over the day in Vegas! Everything is sparkling in bright lights, and the sun doesn’t burn you. 😀

There’s definitely always something to do and the time of our departure came too fast. After two days it’s time to say Goodbye to Vegas. We all agree it’s a very unique place. It doesn’t seem like a regular city, it’s its own little world. I still feel like I need to process the past days, so much happened in such little time, and with barely any sleep. But I guess that’s how it is when you visit Las Vegas. 😉

Have you ever been to Vegas? Would you go? What do you think of it?

I’d love to chat more about it at tonight’s pub night, 7pm at The Blarney Stone! See you there!

Cheers,

Laura 🙂

How was the weekend?

A new week has begun and I can feel it’s going to be good one.

My weekend recap is rather boring, since I tried to cure my cold. I was resting a lot and couldn’t take part in any cool events, but I know some of you did! Since I haven’t done much, I will tell you about Marcel’s weekend instead. 😉

Guess where he went – Yes, he went to Ottawa. The flights were super cheap, so he decided to check out Canadas capital. From what he’s told me it’s a cool place!

Fun Fact: Ontario just lifted their mask mandate last weekend.

One thing he noticed is that it’s more bilingual than here in Vancouver. Everybody first starts speaking English AND French, and then chooses how to continue depending on your preferred language. For example, they’d say “Hello, Bonjour”, and see in which language you reply to proceed with the conversation. We think it might be because it’s so close to Quebec, the province in which French is the official language.

Compared to Vancouver, summer already arrived in Ottawa and Marcel took the opportunity to cruise around the rather small city, he says. His favourite thing was the view over Parliament Hill with its historic buildings and when I see this picture, I know why. 🙂

More things to do in Ottawa are a free tour through the Parliament building and a visit in one of the numerous museums the city has to offer. He thinks, there’s something for everyone. Since it is a smaller city, you can see all the main attractions within 2-3 days, so it’s a perfect destination for a weekend trip.
Pro tip: Go in summer, rather than in winter. Ottawa is very lush during the warmer months, whereas it can get very cold and grey in winter.

Another personal highlight for Marcel was the fast food chain Harvey’s. It’s Canadas second largest fast food chain, after Tim Hortons, and mainly present on the East Coast. He explained that it’s kind of like Subway, but with Burgers. And now I’m hungry. You might wonder why that’s a highlight, but he told me that he’s doing some sort of challenge, where he’s trying many different fast food chains, that are not existing in Germany, to compare which one’s the best. I already asked him to make a list based on his experience, so I could share it with you guys. 😉

What about you? How was your weekend? Would you go to check out Ottawa? Any plans for next weekend yet?

INTERNeX is going to do the Grouse Grind on Sunday, June 19! Are you up for the challenge?

Let me know if you want to join this workout with rewarding views at Pub Night this Wednesday, 7pm at Mahoney’s at the Convention Centre.

See you there!

Cheers,

Laura 🙂

How was your Weekend?

I hope all of you had a good weekend – I for sure had (thanks for asking ;-)) On Saturday the INTERNeX-family went to Granville island and we were actually quite lucky with the weather as we had sunshine most of the time.

We met at Yaletown-Roundhouse Station, from where we walked to the aquabus dock. I already guessed before we even started our trip that our ride with the aquabus is going to be exciting and now I can confirm my statement. We had such a good view on the skyline and Granville Island. We got picked up at the dock by a little colourful boat and it took us only approximately 7 minutes to get to the island. So this was a really good start for our trip.

Once we got there we walked straight into the public market, where lots of food was waiting for us. It was overwhelming. There was one stand next to the other and they had such a variety of food – cheese, fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, ice-cream,… One thing for sure, no one has to starve in there and will find something to eat or drink.

But we actually weren’t too hungry so there was just one thing we tried out. I already got the hint from Tim in advance that we HAVE to try out “salmon candy”. It’s a smoked salmon lacquered with maple syrup. You might be thinking, that it sounds really really weird and well, all of us thought exactly the same 😀 But we could bring ourselves to try it out and to be fair, it wasn’t too bad. It just tasted like salmon and while chewing you get this kinda sweet taste. So we’re glad we tried it!

Besides all that food there were so many more shops to look at. We wandered through some souvenir shops and a chocolate one (which I wanted to check out mostly because I was hoping for some free samples to try but I got disappointed. At least it smelled yummy!).

Afterwards we walked along the waterfront and made an enforced stop under a roof since it started raining/snowing (can’t tell what exactly it was) all of a sudden. So we sat down at a table and had a really nice chat. 

All in all we had a fun day with loads of food and great views! Thanks for coming!

Hope to see you for Pub Night at the Yale Saloon on Wednesday!

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

How was your weekend?

The weekend is over, and it was a really special one for me and 14 other participants.

It was the weekend where we left for Vargas Island and went Camping. An island where you are all by yourself, no running water and where you are surrounded by the ocean, forest and yep…there are some wolfs too. But other than that, you are able to have the most beautiful time with friends in a really calm and just breathtaking atmosphere.

 

We started our trip on Friday (12 July 2019) at 10am and before we were able to head to the ferry, we had to pack all our stuff into the cars. 3 cars with 5 people each and then all the camping gear, you can imagine how packed the cars were. We actually had to play Tetris with all the stuff we had to take with us. At around 11am we were finally able to hit the road. It took us a while to get to Vargas Island, but after two car rides, a ferry ride and a trip with a water taxi we finally managed to get to the Island. The sun started to set, and we had to hurry a little bit to build the tents and to get the fire started and then it was time for our first dinner on Vargas Island. We ate burgers, which were really tasty and after that we made some S’mores as you have to when you are going camping.

The next day we just relaxed, played some volleyball and discovered the island a bit more. We ate Pancakes and burritos as snacks in between and then hot dogs for dinner. By now you may have noticed we had a lot of food. Time passed and after the sun set it was time for our last night on the island. It was fantastic. Our own private little beach party was really something no one will ever forget. On Sunday we took the water taxi back to Tofino and spend the rest of the day there. Some of us went surfing, the others just ate lunch and had a look at Tofino. Sadly, every weekend has to end, and it was time for us to head back to Vancouver.

 

 

We were all super tired when we got back, but we are all back safe and sound.

It was a weekend to remember!

See you at the next PUB NiGHT at The Beaver!

-Lilly

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