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

What to do on the weekend?

Even though I’m not the biggest sports fan I’m quite excited for this event! INTERNeX is going to watch the Canada Sevens today! For all of those who don’t know, I’m talking about Rugby. It’s a major sports event but more than that it’s also a big party where people dress up and celebrate all day long. That’s really the part I’m looking forward to. 😉 Friday the tickets are much cheaper than the rest of the weekend which makes it the perfect day to go for a broke international student. If you can’t go with us on Friday, or are more interested in the big final on Sunday there’s still a chance for you to order tickets online. If you need a costume, just let us know and we’ll find something for you. 😉 Either way don’t be surprised if you see weirdly dressed people on the Skytrain or around Downtown this weekend. 😀

If you’re looking for something more cultural to do, I have the perfect event for you: The 16th Annual Coastal Dance Festival in New Westminster. Use the day to go for a walk, explore this area of Metro Vancouver and finish at the festival. Honour and learn about Indigenous stories, song, and dance from the Northwest Coast of Canada and around the World. The CDF ‘provides an opportunity for Indigenous artists to share and support one another in a celebration of song and dance, bringing recognition to their unique and diverse cultures and showcasing their artistic strength. Audiences are invited to witness these practices to see that Indigenous arts are thriving and vibrant.’ To me, this is a great way to immerse yourself into another culture. Here are some more information for you:
https://damelahamid.ca/coastal-dance-festival/

Want to travel around Canada, but have no money? No problem! Why don’t you try ‘FlyOver Canada’? With advanced technology to showcase thrilling captures and authentic footage of real locations, you’ll experience those places as they truly are. On top of that special effects like wind, mist and scents make it seem even more realistic. There’s flight motion seats, the floor will disappear underneath you, so your feet are hanging in the air and the wraparound screen gives you amazing views wherever you look. I did it once and thought it was absolutely crazy! I enjoyed it a lot despite the weird feeling it gave me for like 30 seconds because I’m very sensitive to motion sickness. 😀 The ride is relatively short but definitely a cool experience and a great way to explore Canada without actually leaving Vancouver. 😉 The cost is affordable with about $35. At the moment they also offer ‘Hawaii from above’, in case you’re sick of this rainy weather and would like to escape for just a moment. 🙂

As always I’m excited to hear about your weekend at our next Pub Night.

See you then,

Laura 🙂

How was the weekend?

Did you stay warm this past weekend, or did the snow get you?
For me it was little bit of both. INTERNeX went to Whistler on Saturday for a fun day trip. When we arrived the streets of the little village were mostly snow free. A bunch of us went straight up the mountain for some skiing and snowshoeing while others went to grab a coffee and explore the area.

As the caffeine kicked in our group was excited to slide down the small snow hill nearby the Olympic Rings, but soon we longed for bigger, better, faster, so we decided to go Tubing! A quick free ride with the gondola led us to the tubing lanes. Luckily, it wasn’t busy so we got right into it! There were single and double tubes to choose from and a ‘magic carpet’ carried us up the hill. It was actually my first time tubing and let me tell you, I wasn’t disappointed! The staff gives you a nice spin and down the hill you go! I was screaming of joy and felt like I was on a roller coaster. If only we had some goggles though! Snow blowing into our faces as we crashed down the hill made it hard to look around, but honestly the feeling itself was already worth the experience.

After we let out our inner child we went back into the village for a round of ice skating. I heard someone kissed the ice quite a few times. 😀 We rewarded ourselves at a Happy Hour with food and drinks, recharging the energy we’ve just spent out in the snow. A few adventure junkies still haven’t had enough though and therefore went on a snowmobile tour, how cool, is that? I heard it was totally worth it, you explore the nature while going up to 45km/h on the snowmobile which apparently is harder to drive then it first seems. Hungry from all the action we had our early dinner due to the snow storm that was rolling in.

By 4.30pm the first empty streets were filled with snow and it kept on snowing causing many small accidents on the Highway leading to major delays and a little bit of concern which is why we had to leave Whistler as early as possible in order to get everyone back home safe and sound. Thankfully our driver was very experienced and we were back in Vancouver early enough to avoid any snow craziness. Apart from that I believe we had a really great trip! I’m already looking forward to the next one. 🙂

Allover I’d say we stayed warm through all the activities, but the snow got us in the end by forcing us to rush home earlier than we wanted.

How about you? What was your weekend like?

Can’t wait to hear about it. 🙂

Cheers,

Laura

How was the weekend? – Artsy and wet

The long weekend is over and a short week lies ahead. How did you spend your time?

Were you with us at the art walk on Friday? Even though it was a classic Raincouver winter night with breezy temperatures and light rain I really loved what I’ve seen and learned on this guided tour, e.g. some mind blowing AR installations which you could access by scanning a QR code on your phone. My favourite was one that let you see some paintings around you and as you walked closer it seemed like you were IN the painting! I saw beautiful skies with Northern Lights even though I was just standing at Canada Place. Another one of my favourites was a mural which itself already is impressive, but if you scan the QR code next to it and point your camera you’ll be able to see the mural move! There were many more interesting facts and stunning art along the way, if you haven’t been I’d recommend you check it out! It’s by donation, so make sure you show your appreciation by at least $10 for the guide which is super inexpensive for what you get. 🙂

After the walk some of us grabbed a drink and some food at the arts hub located at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The entrance is free and there’s still lots of events going on.
To top it off we danced at the VMF After Dark x AfroQueer YVR: Black Rave which had an all woman DJ line-up with taste makers of the Vancouver Drag scene. I’ve never been in a space with so many cool people at once and I loved every second of it, you could tell the energy was nothing but positive. 🙂

Saturday was a rest day for me and Sunday I met some friends for brunch at a restaurant on Commercial Drive. If you look for good food in a cool area that’s the place to go to! Commercial Drive offers a lot of great restaurants, especially amazing Italian Pizza and Pasta, but really you’ll find almost anything there! Afterwards we went bowling and of course had some more food. 😀 In order to get rid of all those extra calories we went to go snowboarding on Grouse Mountain early Monday morning. Unfortunately it was raining a lot resulting in us being completely soaked after a couple of hours, not the most fun I must say and really cold! After a hot coffee we decided to go back home, take a hot bath and just prepare for the week ahead of us. I will try again another time with better weather. 😉

I hope you stayed nice and dry while enjoying your weekend activities! Can’t wait to hear about it at Pub Night.

Cheers,

Laura 🙂

How was your Weekend?

No #Raincouver this weekend and we definitely made the best out of it. But no matter if it’s raining or the sun is shining, Vancouver is beautiful with all it’s faces 😉 (Seems like I am getting very emotional these days). 

However the INTERNeX group definitely knows how to appreciate sunshine and therefore we packed our bags and started our Saturday morning fairly early to make the way up to Cypress Mountain. (Or at least most of us …. right Martin? And as you can see in the picture here, this is what you get for being late for the group picture :D).
As the ride itself is already stunning, we had a lot to do with simply looking outside the window and enjoying the scenery. As we reached the mountain we were beyond excited to get ourselves tied up in those snowshoes and hike as we were not to be stopped by anything or anyone.
But it turned out to be a lot harder to find the actual rental place, than expected.
With my mouth wide open and my eyes widened, I had to accept the fact that we had a 30 minute walk ahead of us, to eventually get back down the mountain. Great. But hey, walking was exactly what we were here for anyways right?!

Luckily we are in Canada and the people are just too friendly to be true. As we started to make our way down the mountain, a bus driver stopped right next to us and offered us a lift down to the nordic area – lucky us :-D.  
After getting a short introduction of how to apply those things to our feet, we were good to go. Some of us more than others.
I think after about 2 minutes, I already faced the snow .. “it’s as easy as walking” they said, “you won’t even notice them on your feed” they said … well apparently I don’t know how to walk then. 😀
For the next few hours we found ourselves wandering through the beautiful forest and breathtaking sceneries. Of course there was the one or other race in between to spice things up a bit. And as we felt more advanced on the Snowshoes we even did our favourite line dance with them – we are truly loyal to the one and only Yale Saloon :-D.
The way down the mountain turned out to be way more challenging than the way up. I don’t think there was a single one of us who didn’t sit or lay in the snow at least once. And thanks to that I’ve got like thousands of videos on my phone that will entertain me for a long time. 

Finally, we had the chance to sit together over a few snacks and talk and laugh together.
All that is left to say is – thank you vey much, it’s been such a fantastic day. I had so much fun, and I would like to quote William here: “We were all strangers to each other, now we are friends with memories.” And damn you are so right with that.
Therefore, thank you very much for being simply great!
(As I said, slightly getting emotional this week) 
Sunday was the day of the Super Bowl, but to be honest, you guys will have to tell me how that went, cause I’ve got absolutely no idea.
But I am sure you’ll tell me what I missed this Wednesday at the Yale Saloon.

Have a great week. 

Cheers, 

— Nadja xx

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