My name is Anna, I am 21 years old and I am from the UK. I am studying Geography in England and am about to enter my fourth and final year.
I decided to come to Canada, because Vancouver sounded right up my street and very similar to Scotland (where my parents live), but on a larger scale. I found INTERNeX via an Australian travel agency. They put me in contact with INTERNeX, who then put me in contact with the tour company I ended up doing my placement at.
I absolved my placement at the tour company. I loved it! I met amazing people, friends for life from all over the world and learnt a lot about sales in general and British Columbia. This practicum was a part of my university program. Even though it was not that useful for my career goals, I still thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.
When I first arrived in Canada, it looked very dull and grey since it was raining, typical Raincouver. So, it looked like it lacked character. However, I knew of the beauty surrounding Vancouver, so I didn’t let this cloud my judgment. At the start of my placement, I felt very lonely, especially in my work place, but this improved quickly. I lived in a shared house in Vancouver. It was a good base to commute and participate in my daily activities in downtown. I didn’t want to leave Vancouver anymore, when I had to leave.
I attended some of the events that INTERNeX organized. They were good! I went to a handful of the pub nights, for example. Other than that, I did a lot of activities in Canada – hiking, skiing, cycling and surfing. I mainly went with my placement company. I also traveled to Whistler and the Rockies. It was nice to do something every weekend. Work hard and play harder! It is very hard to pick a most memorable thing I did in Canada, but I will definitely remember cycling round Stanley Park and the Rockies.
I like the cultural diversity in Canada. I found it very hard to meet any Canadians, which I thought was nice and made me feel less like a foreigner. Plus it made me more culturally aware and I learnt more about places like Korea, that I didn’t know much about before. This trip to Vancouver inspired me to live abroad as I have traveled a fair bit, but Vancouver was the first place I had lived in for longer than a month, besides my home. I would love to travel to Australia, since I met a lot of Australians in Whistler.
The first thing I will do when I come home, is eating a big plate of the classic English dish: beans on toast.
– Anna
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
areas is bursting with colors and beauty.
permanent, in the ideas of living.” By Miriam Beard
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain, author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer really had a lot of inspirational things to say about travel.
So, what is there to know about Australia? There are 6 different climate zones from equatorial to desert to temperate. Combined with the extreme changes in weather and the isolation of the continent for so many ages explains the great number of unique plants and animals that live there. Remember the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Toons? Yea he really exists! The real ones don’t look quite as crazy though.
INTERNeX Canada 