Capilano University Students Blogging Abroad

My first Eurotrip adventure was one that I will never forget. A group of my friends and I began our journey in France and made our way through Italy, and then on to Spain in just 12 days for our Easter break vacation. The cities we visited were Paris, Rome, Venice, Milan and Barcelona. All these different places were incredible and I feel truly fortunate to have been able to see all these wonderful parts of the world. Paris was beautiful. The city was busy and it’s a good thing I have 5 years of French immersion behind me because no one else in our group spoke French; I was the translator for this part of the trip. It was actually very neat to converse in another language other than English and being able to have a full on conversation in French gave me confidence and also made me feel proud to overcome this challenge in a foreign country. My favourite part of Paris was a night we all enjoyed, eating and drinking outside under a building that had a ledge covering us from the r...

Living abroad and away from home is the most difficult decision I have made and by far one of the best decision I have ever made.   Living in Europe everything seems so close, a 2 hour flight here, a train ride there, no big deal right?   Try doing 5 cities, 5 countries in 8 days! That’s exactly what my roommate and I have done. Before coming to live in Bordeaux someone told us about the low cost airlines that are often used within Europe, it’s amazing! We booked 3 high speed trains and 3 flights for approximate 250 Euros (not including accommodation).   Our trip started with a four hour train ride from Bordeaux to Paris.   We spent two nights in Paris visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, and much, much more.   I had a friend in Paris who showed us around, took us to places we wouldn’t have seen as tourists and he taught us some useful things about the Parisian way of living- the 101 on parking a car in Paris. Af...

To say the least, Budapest was amazing! We were there a total of four full days and I have to say it was my favourite stop on our Easter holiday tour. We just hung out most of the time around the city and stayed at a place called the Bazar hostel, which was overall a great hostel. We also went to the baths and became experts on the best ones in Budapest from personal experience (‘Szechenyi’ as seen above is the best one, and on a side note ‘Gellert’ is not as fun). The baths were an awesome place to sit back, relax, and enjoy the sun… amongst the tanned, old, large, Hungarian men who clearly had a annual pass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y8dyCTsPzHs I also went caving which was one of the most fun activities I’ve done thus far. I met some really cool people in the caves (not literally), and successfully survived the excursion (check out me caving in the video above). If you are ever in Budapest I highly suggest that you stay at Ba...

I’ve been to Paris three times in the past 15 months. Three times and the city never gets old. The first weekend of April, I started my Easter vacation in Paris. I was so excited to get myself back to this amazing city and for the friends I was with to see it for the first time!                    I don’t know what it is about Paris, but the feeling of being there, the history, the sights, the people; I am captivated by it all. Yes, everywhere you look, there are tourists, but beyond that, there is such elegance to everything.      I’ve seen a lot in Paris, in my last two trips, but this trip I was able to do some new things that I was really pleased about! I’ve always seen photo’s of people in Paris, standing at this view point of the Eiffel Tower and have always, always wondered “Where is that place?!”. Now, I finally know where it is. It’s called the Trocadero an...

Two and a half months have passed, about half the semester. Time has gone by so fast already. I can now say I have fully settled into my new life and am content living here. I have done so much already in these last couple of months. I have acquired so many new memories, experiences and skills. I mentioned in my last blog that I have found a new love for cooking; I have recently purchased an oven and started to learn how to bake as well. I really enjoy cooking and baking for people; last night I made all my friends brownies! Since tonight is Sunday, family dinner night, Chelsea and I plan to cook a big spaghetti and meatballs for Bryan, his roommates and some other friends living in the student housing. I also mentioned I was learning how to play some chords on the ukulele. Since then I have ordered my own online and can play 2 or 3 songs on it already! I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar so learning on a ukulele was a great opportunity to start. There are a lot ...

My name is Sammi. I am currently an exchange student at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH). I came from Capilano University (CapU) that is situated in Vancouver B.C, Canada. Vancouver is my hometown. I have been here in Hawai'i since January 02, 2012 and will be staying all the way till May 12, 2012. This blog will give an overview of how life has been so far for me in Hawai'i and some information about the culture, tourism industry and people here. It was winter time in Vancouver, cold and rainy, pretty much every day. The moment I stepped out of the airport upon my arrival to Honolulu on a Monday afternoon, I was welcomed with warm ocean breeze and gorgeous sunshine. I knew that I was in paradise already. It was about 27 degrees, not too hot, but just right. I came here with my buddy Annika, she is my classmate and good friend now, at CapU. We took the Roberts Hawai'i shuttle bus to our Hostel at Waikiki. The first day was very tiring, beca...

The train ride from Budapest to Slovenia was one of the prettiest train rides I've been on.  It was a little rainy out and misty, we were going through the mountains, and there were random abandoned castles.  It honestly reminded me a lot of Harry Potter.  Either way, the view from the train was pretty awesome. It was pouring rain when we got into Ljubljana so we were a little bummed.  The next day was Easter and it was raining again.  It didn't help that I was a little homesick, and I knew my mom was cooking a 28 lb. turkey for Easter dinner and I was probably going to have to eat McDonalds because nothing was open. After getting over my crankiness, the day ended up being pretty good.  We ventured out and saw the main square and another Easter market.  Since it was raining, we decided to go on a cave tour.  It was a one hour train ride and the tour was pretty cool.  The cave seemed so real that it was fake.  If that makes any sense....

So I cheated a little. I just read the letter that I wrote to myself before leaving for this semester abroad just to remind myself what it is I wanted to accomplish while here. I’ve been having some issues with some people back at home so I wanted to know what the “old Aina” would have done. Overall I reminded myself to not sweat the small stuff, something I try to tell myself everyday and to leave with no regrets. Everything good or “bad” I did, I obviously did it for a reason and it made me happy at the time so I shouldn’t have to apologize for it or think twice about whether I should have done it or not. This experience is for me and no one else and many people at home may not understand, but you can’t expect them too unless they’ve been through something similar. I remember I was terrified of the fact that everything is going to be different once I go back home, but I have to realize that change is inevitable and not necessarily a bad thing. Everything happens for a reason so l...

Taking advantage of the holidays is something that I have tried to do since I have been abroad. We have had a lot of school breaks here and it has given me some time to travel. Before I came here I had a mental note of the places I would like to visit and I am happy to say that I am able to cross some off my list. The first break we had Amy and me, along with three other students decided to visit Barcelona. The trip was amazing and with the help of our Spanish students who wrote a list of must see places and things to do, we got the most out of our trip. We arrived at night for the last day of carnival and we all decided to train to Sitges and stay up all night to enjoy the festivities, training back in the early morning. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget, the streets were packed with people in costumes and parades and parties were happening all night. Other highlights of the trip included Parc Guell and of course all the delicious Spanish food and drink! Abo...