Keep Portland Weird!

It’s finally time again: INTERNeX’s next monthly trip is taking place! In 2 days, we’ll all be sitting in a bus. And not only are we going away, we are going out of the country! Goodbye Canada and hello USA. Portland is our destination.

We’ll meet on Thursday, June 7th, at 6:15pm in front of the Pacific Central Station. From there, we will take the bus. A super exciting and fun 11-hours bus ride is ahead of us! The perfect time to talk to your seat neighbour, to listen to your favourite music, to read a fascinating book, to have a good night sleep, etc.

Rise and shine, it’s 6am and it’s a new day. Welcome to Portland Ladies and Gentlemen. We’ll go to the hotel directly to store our luggage (because check in is not open until 4pm). And because it’s so early and we’re all most likely starving, we’ll fill our bellies at the hotel buffet. At 10:15am, we’ll gather in front of the hotel. Time to go to downtown! A 2-hour walking tour will give us a first impression of Portland. Afterwards, you’ll have the chance to discover Portland on your own for 3 hours. At 4pm, we’ll meet up again so we all find our way back to the hotel. At last, we can check in! And now that you’re finally in your hotel room, you can rest for a while and freshen up! The next meeting time is 6pm, where we’ll gather in front of the hotel (once again). We’ll go for a delicious dinner in a restaurant. We’ll end the evening relaxed by chilling in the hotel. Games, laughs and talks included!

Good morning dear candidates! It’s for you to decide at what time you’ll enjoy breakfast. As long as you’re in front of the hotel at 10am, it’s all good. On Saturday, everyone gets to choose an activity (the choices are: the Chinese Garden, Pittock Mansion or the USS Submarine). After the activity, everyone has free time, the whole afternoon. Try to plan in some time to get snacks and drinks for the bus ride the next day. We’ll meet at 6pm at a restaurant in downtown (which will be announced at a later time). After our tasty dinner, we’ll head to another activity. It’s for you to decide whether you’d like to go roller skating or play mini golf in blacklight. After that, the 21+ people have the chance to discover Portland’s nightlife. Yay!

On Sunday, it’s time to go back to Vancouver. It’s up to you again at what time you want to eat breakfast. Check out time at the hotel is latest 11am. We will also meet at that time to go to the Greyhound station, so make sure you’re ready on time! This time, an ‘only’ 9.5-hour long bus ride is ahead of us! We arrive back at the Pacific Central Station at 10pm.

Don’t forget to bring:

• Passport (must be valid)
• $6 USD in cash to cross the border
• Your documents to re-enter Canada (work permit etc.)
• Umbrella or rain jacket (unfortunately, the weather forecast doesn’t seem great)
• Your bikini / swim shorts (there is a pool we could use)

So, Keep Portland Weird! (That’s the unofficial motto of the city, by the way) And I’ll see you tomorrow for our PuB NiGHT at The Relish or latest on Thursday at 6:15pm!

– Nadine

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?

So you are asking me how my weekend was? Well, I would love to tell you about my weekend, because I had a great one. I spent my time well in Seattle. What Seattle? Yes, this weekend was our trip to Seattle! It was great, so sit back and read all our adventures we did over there.

It all started on Saturday early in the morning. Too early to get up. But we had to, because today was the big day. We are going to Seattle! It was 7 am and we met at Canada place. The bus was waiting to get us to the United States. There we go! We crossed the border with no problems and stopped in Bellingham to go shopping in the big outlet. Now it was even cheaper with a lot of Black Friday deals going on.

When all the shoes, clothes, purses and gifts where loaded in the bus, we continued our way to Seattle. After a little sightseeing tour we arrived at our hotel, where we prepared ourselves for a diner and night out. Our tour guide recommended a nice place where we could eat. So we went there, a nice biker bar with good music and delicious food. After our meals it was time to have some beers together. There was this one place with over a hundred different beers. We tried some of them before we decided to continue our night in a club. We ended up in a small club with a DJ playing nice songs.

The alarm went of at 8 am. It was time to discover Seattle a little more. Half asleep we arrived at the breakfast. After some food and a lot of coffee we sat in the bus for another sightseeing tour through Seattle. We arrived in the city center where some girls went shopping, while we went to the underground tour. A stand-up comedian guided us underneath the streets of Seattle. It was a really interesting and fun tour. The tour ended around noon, so lunch it was. The restaurant where we ate was next to the see, so we had a beautiful view while eating our great lunch.

In Seattle is an alley where the walls are all covered in gum. It was close to the restaurant, so we decided to take a look. It was strange and beautiful at the same time. You could even smell the sweet scent of gum. We putted our gums at the wall and continued to the cupcake shop to make a plan for the rest of the day. We decided to take the monorail to a park next to the lake to see a good view. We drank some coffee in a café there, before we had to get back to the bus. On our way back we did some duty free shopping before crossing the border of Canada. At home it was time to have a good sleep.

For everybody who joined this trip, thank you! You made this trip a lot of fun! Want to hear more stories of Seattle? Come to PuB NiGHT this Wednesday and I will tell you more while playing the Bourbon Bingo.

– Bart

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?

Here we go again! Unbelievable time flies so fast. Not only that the next weekend is right around the corner but also Christmas is approaching very fast and I’m done with my practicum in three weeks already . . . Anyways, any plans for the weekend?
Christmas Market season already starts this weekend!!
For sure you shouldn’t miss the Vancouver Christmas Market where you can have typical German “Glühwein” and “Bratwurst’’. That one is located at Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza, West Georgia Street and Hamilton and transforms the heart of downtown into a festive wonderland for the holiday season.

Not every Christmas market in town is for free, so the Vancouver Christmas Market (admission: ~ $8) but the one in Yaletown is definitely for free! The Yaletown holiday festival, called CandyTown, is just once a year. This year, on November 21, a lot of street vendors will again sell their candies, waffles, Christmas presents and much more.
Additionally dressed up characters will participate in Christmas parades. Downtown Yaletown will be transformed into a winter/Christmas wonderland. If you’re not yet in the Christmas mood you’ll definitely have the chance to get into the mood at this market. The outdoor Christmas festival opens from 12pm to 7pm, local artisans and street performers will secure that you don’t getting bored.

On Sunday it’s time for us to go to Seattle just for a day. We are going with WestTrek, which means a lot of fun is guaranteed. Besides having fun we will do some sightseeing and of course you will also have some time to do some shopping. Possibly even buying some Christmas presents already since shopping in the States is much cheaper than in Vancouver. But it’s not all about shopping quite the contrary we are going to downtown Seattle and along the way we will stop at the Space Needle, which was designed as a futuristic spaceship in 1962. We will also go to the Pike Place Market! It’s one of the most visited places in Seattle because the seafood there is supposed to be amazing. This is also where the first Starbucks was built in 1971 and still exists!

To check our Seattle itinerary, please click here.

DEPARTURE is at 8:00am so make sure you are in front of the Waterfront Station 15 minutes prior (7:45am).

Have a nice weekend and see you on Sunday!

 

 

J-1 Visa an option for Canadians wanting internships in USA

INTERNeX can now assist Canadian post-secondary students with the J-1 Visa application if you have found an internship or co-op placement with a company in the USA. Once you have secured a placement offer from a U.S. employer, we will assist you and your prospective host employer in navigating the whole J-1 visa process.

We can also help you with resources on finding an appropriate internship based on your specific area of study and university requirements as well as accommodation options and a social program in many of the cities in the US where we have regional representatives. We make sure everything meets the standards set forth from the State Department concerning your placement and that you will have all the support necessary to be successful during your stay in the US including…  an opportunity to engage local culture.

The program includes:

• Determining your eligibility for a J-1 Visa
• Determining your prospective host companies eligibility to host you
• Ensuring prospective hosts that they have created a proper training plan
• Supplying you with the necessary paperwork for the visa
• Processing your program application
• Providing you the required accident and sickness insurance that exceeds State Department requirements
• Ongoing support and assistance throughout your program as necessary

Requirements:

• You must be a student currently enrolled in a degree or professional certificate program in a college, university, or other post-secondary academic institution in Canada (note you do not need to be Canadian citizen, you just need to be enrolled at a Canadian institution)
• Or; you must have graduated from one of these institutions within 12 months of the planned internship start date
• You must be between the ages of 18 and 38.
• Internships must be directly related to the your academic field of study
• Interns must be at least halfway through their degree programs before their program start

Check out all the program information here

INTERNeX Canada: Thanksgiving special

 “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October”. (January 31, 1957, Parliament of Canada)

Canadian Thanksgiving, one of the most famous holidays and not to be confused with the U.S. American version is celebrated at the second Monday in October. It is similar to the English and European Harvest festival, symbolizing people’s gratitude for everything given by nature or God that sustains them.

While the actual Thanksgiving holiday is on a Monday, Canadians may gather for their Thanksgiving feast on any day during the long weekend. Thanksgiving in Canada is also often a time for weekend getaways.

The traditional dish for the Thanksgiving dinner is roasted turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Watching football on TV is also a part of the modern tradition for many Canadians.

Becoming a statutory (public) holiday in 1957, Thanksgiving goes back much further than that. Besides being linked to the before mentioned European traditions, it is also a way to remember the English explorer Martin Frobisher and his search for the Northwest Passage in 1578. As it was common in those times, his journey was a difficult one; made hard and exhausting by severe weather and ice. So when Frobisher and his crew arrived in Frobisher’s Bay, they celebrated the first ceremonial Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving being a public holiday means that all government institutions are closed and also most liquor stores. Most other stores are open, though. And if you want to visit some of Vancouver’s attractions, you can check out here, which of them will be open today.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Annika

 

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 9N9-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com