What to do on the weekend? – Snowy Ideas

This weekend will be breezy with a good chance of snow in Vancouver! So, what’s there to do?

One thing that’s always a good idea is a trip to Whistler. Come with us on our day trip to guarantee a snowy weekend in the mountains of BC. Whether you want to ski, snowboard, ride a snowmobile, go dogsledding, tubing, snow shoeing, ice skating, zip lining, or maybe explore the village with less action loaded activities like the peak 2 peak gondola, a day at the Scandinavian Spa, a visit at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, or other indoor activities like Ax Throwing, or an Escape Room adventure. Whistler offers so much, I’m sure there’s something to do for every preference and budget. Sometimes I like to just sit at one of the many great cafes, drink a hot beverage and warm up from strolling along the snow covered village paths, really can’t go wrong with that! Saying that, make sure you dress warm enough, the air is always a little colder up North than it is down here in Vancouver! I recommend multiple layers of warm functional wear. Also don’t forget to pack according to the activities you’ve planned, e.g. want to go to the spa? – Bring a Bikini. I sure am excited for our Canadian Winter adventure. 🙂

If you choose to stay here, there are multiple other things you could do. How about you visit one of the local mountains, like Grouse? There you also have the chance to go ski, snowboard, snowshoe, or just sightsee what the mountain has to offer e.g. the Light walk which I would recommend after dark and imagine there’s actually snow falling while you walk through this magical winter wonderland! You can easily get there by public transit. There’s also a cafe at the top where you can warm yourself up with a hot beverage and some food. 🙂 On your way you could also stop at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park which lights up your gloomy winter days with many colourful installations along the trails! Perfect for some nice Instagram shots, or to get a little happiness boost during this dark and cold season. 😉 If there’s actually going to be snow, then I imagine it to be extra pretty!

If you’d rather escape the cold temperatures this weekend why don’t you go to the movies? My recommendation is to check out some of the movies VIFF (Vancouver International Film Festival) is showing. I assure you it’s different from watching the same old Hollywood Blockbusters. VIFF shows extraordinary films that can be entertaining, educational, empowering, encouraging and much more. You’ll find local artists, artists of colour and you’ll probably walk away thinking about what you’ve watched for a little while after your visit. ‘VIFF encourages understanding of the world’s cultures through the art of cinema.’ Since they are a not-for-profit organization you’d also support what they do by going to one of their movies. Why not try something new and different? Maybe you’ll like it. 🙂 And did I mention their delicious popcorn? I usually get it buttered and I feel like I can smell it right as I’m writing this. 😀

Let me know what you’ve been up to at our next Pub Night! Can’t wait. 🙂

See ya,

Laura 🙂

How was the weekend?

What a packed weekend! We did lots of things from Thursday until Sunday!

Let’s start with Thursday. I went to a Hockey game with some friends of mine, which was so great! It was the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena against the Seattle Kraken. The whole vibe and the experience there was amazing! You definitely know that this sport is a national sport for the Canadians. Some shows in the break and an exciting game with some fist fights made that event super special. There were also some representatives from the indigenous peoples showing a cultural music performance, in special regards to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the day that  honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Unfortunately the Canucks lost in the overtime against the Kraken 3-4. But overall, it was such a great experience!

On Friday, I was thinking about spending time in nature. So therefore I met with a friend of mine to go to Lynn Canyon Park with its suspension bridge. The park with its nature was so amazing! The weather was nice, so I even needed to cool myself with the fresh spring water from Lynn Canyon. In the evening, nearly 30 people from INTERNeX got together to go to the Richmond Night Market, which was also a great event. So many colourful lights and lamps illuminating the night sky, and even a live-band was playing there! We got to try so much food like flower-onions, Takoyaki (fried squid balls), grilled meat on a stick and finally the best thing for me: Beaver Tails! It’s like a long fried dough with some cinnamon and sugar, but you can also try some other flavours. I was waiting so long to try those and I got the chance on Friday. It was so yummy, you need to try it! The night market is going to be open until this Sunday, so if you don’t want to miss this special experience, go there on the weekend!

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Since you never get enough of Vancouver’s Nature, I went to the UBC Campus on Saturday to visit the Botanical Gardens with a friend. The quiet place of Nitobe Memorial Garden is a true masterpiece in the ever busy town of Vancouver. With the head full of the experiences of the Hockey game, the night market and the gardens, I met another friend group to watch the Vancouver Whitecaps this time at BC Place. This was also a special experience because I can compare the soccer situation here pretty well to the situation in my home country Germany due to the fact that I’m supporting a club there. The quality of the soccer is not comparable to the soccer in Europe, but then again you also can’t compare the hockey quality in Europe to the quality here. =) I guess both Europe and North America have their own national sports. In the end, the Whitecaps scored two goals and won 2:0. That’s what you call a successful evening!

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On Sunday we went to Whistler Village. This village is about 2 hours north of Vancouver and we went there by bus. I did find it very easy to hop on the bus and then 2 hours later you are there, voila! Whistler is known for its nature where hiking and mountain biking are the highlights during the summer season and during winter you can go skiing and snowboarding. 

We started the day in Whistler with a short coffee break and then we headed to one of the bike rentals to get some mountain bikes for our activity – biking to Lost lake and Green Lake. We were so lucky with the weather, the sun was shining as we were biking along the trail in the forest. When we reached Green Lake, we totally understood how the lake got its name. The lake is fed by glacial streams and the water was freezing cold but so refreshing. Definitely worth a swim if you are up for it on a sunny day! The location of both lakes had such a stunning view, a big recommendation when you are going to Whistler in summer!

After a great time by the lakes, we went back to the village to return the bikes as we were exploring the village in search of lunch. We bought some classic poutine, salad, a lot of water and some soft drinks to keep us hydrated in the warm weather. In the centre of the village we found a park table with a parasol so we took the chance to have our lunch there enjoying Whistler Village. 

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For the next activity we went up to the mountain with the Black Comb gondola. It took us about 25 minutes to go up with the gondola, and hey; what a view! We stopped at the first mountaintop taking in the beautiful view before we went to the next gondola, the Peak 2 Peak with a 360 degrees experience which provided a perspective of British Columbia’s rooftop with views of Whistler Village, volcano peaks, coastal rainforests and glaciers. The Peak 2 Peak gondola is 4,4km long which is the world’s longest unsupported span for a lift of this kind at 3.025km height. It’s the world’s highest lift at 436m above the valley floor. So cool!! When we reached the other top we saw the Olympic Games statue shining in the background so we were totally in for another group photo in front of that statue. On the mountain they had a lodge serving coffee, food and other beverages. They even had a game in the centre of that patio which was a lot of fun for us and other visitors. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go up to the face of the mountain where they had a suspension bridge because of preparations for the upcoming winter season, so let’s go to Whistler as soon as the winter season starts!

After a few hours our visit on the mountain reached an end and we decided to go back to the Village with the two gondolas to meet the rest of the group and do some shopping before going back home to Vancouver. I can tell that Whistler is such a beautiful village that offers a lot of sightseeing and activities, so if you are going to Whistler in the near future, I’m sure you will enjoy every second of it, like I did!

We hope you had a great weekend and we hope to see many of you on Pub Night this Wednesday 😀

Cheers

Ida & Tino =)

How was the weekend?

Happy Monday! I hope all of you had a great weekend! I sure did. INTERNeX went to Whistler with a couple of cool people. We were only seven in total, but we had a lot of fun. Let me tell you about it.

On our first day (Friday) we kept it a little more chill. Once we arrived in Whistler we needed to grab some coffee, since it’s been a busy week for everyone. Then, finally we checked in to our condo right in the centre of the village and it was amazing! We had three levels with beds, a kitchen, a living room with a little balcony, two bathrooms (one of them had two showers), a fireplace on two levels, and a private hot tub! Check out our TikTok channel to see a little house tour. 😉 

Of course we made use of that hot tub right away. The water was warm, the bubbles relaxing, exactly what we needed. After being fully soaked with water and new energy, we started our game night with a few drinks and games like “Cards Against Humanity”. It was a great way of getting to know each other better.

The next morning we decided to take a gondola for a hike up in the mountains, but the weather was a little cloudy and apparently most hikes high up are still closed due to the snow, so instead we rented some bikes and explored the lakes around Whistler. It turned out to be a great idea! The weather was perfect for biking and we got to see so much of Whistler in such a short time. We went around Lost Lake, Green Lake, all the way to Rainbow Park at Alta Lake, where we made a short ice cream break, before we headed back to the village. On our ride we had amazing views of the mountains. It felt really nice to be outside in nature. 

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As a balance, we later went out in the village to enjoy Whistler’s Night Life. We started with some Burgers and Poutine for dinner, then went on to a few clubs and danced our calories right off again. It’s needless to say everybody had a great time. 

The next morning came really fast and it was already time to check out of our weekend home. Before we had to be back at the bus stop, we took some time to go to the farmers market in the Upper Village, where a lot of local vendors set up cute booths with food, jewelry, art, etc. I don’t know about you, but I love promenading over a market, trying samples, seeing people’s ideas, supporting local businesses that have a personal touch to them, eating all the food from the food trucks… 😉

If you are with me on that, I gotta tell you that coming Saturday (June 11th) there’s the Portobello West Summer Outdoor Street Market here in Vancouver and INTERNeX is planning on going, so if you’re up for it join us! The admission is FREE. So there’s really no excuses to not check out the variety of local vendors presenting fashion, jewelry, art, home decor, skincare, etc., plus there’s going to be lots of food trucks with delicious snacks that you should try. We’ll be meeting at 1pm, at the Indigo on West Broadway.

I know it’s only Monday, but it’s always good to have an early weekend plan, so you have something to look forward to. 🙂

What did you do this weekend? Was it more relaxing, or adventurous? City, or Nature? Long enough? Mine felt really short, but time flies when you’re having fun. 

I hope you have a great start of the week!

Cheers, 

Laura 🙂

How was your weekend?

The weekend is already behind us and we are back in Vancouver from our awesome trip to Whistler. Let’s have a look at what happened this weekend. 

We started our trip Saturday morning at 8:30 am. The Bus drive to Whistler was amazing, as we did a few stops at different locations. Our first stop was at the Porteau Cove Provincial Park, where we had to introduce ourselves to the other candidates. After that we had lunch at Alice Lake. Some of us used the opportunity and went swimming there. Luckily we had good weather during the whole trip. 🙂

Once we arrived in Whistler, we had time to explore the village. There are so many tiny shops, pubs and good restaurants, so it was difficult to choose where to go first. After dinner at the hostel we decided to go to a pub with the whole crew. We played a few funny games there, for example a XXL Version of Uno. Finally we went to one of the big nightclubs of Whistler where we had a great party.

Checkout from the the hostel was early in the morning for the ones who signed up for an activity. There are a lot of different opportunities how you can spend your day in Whistler, for example zip lining, riding the peak to peak gondola or mountain biking. A big group of us decided to do zip lining and I can tell you – it’s definitely worth the money. With a maximal height of 200 meters above the ground you can reach about 100 km/h. It was amazing! I can also recommend the Peak to Peak Gondola. Guiness Records says it is the “highest cable car above ground” and “longest unsupported span between two cable car towers“. When you are on top of the mountains you have the opportunity to go hiking right next to the ski runs, which is pretty cool during the summer months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, time flew by really fast this weekend and I hope you enjoyed this trip as much as I did. Thanks to everyone who joined us!

See you Wednesday on Pub Night at the Two Parrots. 

– Karina

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

INTERNeX Canada: Spanish stereotypes part II

Hey guys!

How is your weekend going? I hope you’re doing well and you are having a lot of fun!

As you remember last week I wrote a few things about Spain, and I explained a few stereotypes. I talked about Flamenco and bullfighting, so I still have a few tings to tell you guys.

Let´s start with the “fiesta”: Well, we like to party a lot, but not everybody in Spain likes to party…And what I experienced is that Europeans in general like to party like us. So I don´t  find us totally different..Maybe the only thing is that we usually go out later and of course we come back home during the morning (For example is normal to go out around 12pm or 1am…and come back at 7am or 8am)

Another interesting thing about fiestas is that almost every city, town or village has its own fiesta at least once a year.

Dark hair and dark eyes:  It´s not the first time I read something like “Spaniards  have dark eyes, long eyelashes and wavy dark hair, therefore they are very magnetic and sexy”. Well, we have to think that not everybody looks like Antonio Banderas or Penélope Cruz. And of course, not everybody has dark eyes or hair, because there are also blonde people and so people with green or blue eyes too.

Lazy and untidy people: I think that’s the worst stereotype ever for us.  I know a lot of people in Spain who are obsessed with cleanliness.There are lazy people everywhere, but Spaniards work hard like everybody does, and in Europe Spanish workers are really welcome.

This is my particular vision, and probably maybe you don´t agree. So don´t hesitate on comment, giving your opinion or asking whatever you want to know.

Have a nice Sunday everybody.

Best,

Mercedes

INTERNeX International Exchange
Suite 200 – 211 Columbia Street
Vancouver BC -V6A 2R5-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Phone: +1 (604) 662 8149
Email: pr@internexcanada.com