Capilano University Students Blogging Abroad

Having travelled before, lived in foreign countries before and travelled quite a lot, none of this ever prepared me for what this experience would give me. Living in a student dorm that was not only MCI students but also the two other Innsbruck Universities allowed for me to meet people from other schools, other families and have a different experience from staff housing. I met the most amazing people from around the world. These people not only became my friends but they became my family. We made Sunday family dinners, went to bars together and had study days. We travelled throughout Europe and got lost in cities together. If you are thinking that you can’t do it, it is not for you. Think again. You may have to go into debt, beg your parents, apply for every scholarship, bursary and loan possible but it will never be regretted. If you have never travelled outside of Canada, or North America it is not a problem. There are opportunities to travel to English speaking countr...

After spending almost 6 months studying and travelling abroad in Europe many of my friends, family and colleagues have asked me what they think was one of the most valuable lessons or pieces of advise I took away from my trip.   This was not an easy question for me to answer, so I took some time to think long and hard about one piece of advice or lesson I could share with someone about to embark on a similar journey to my own.   But then it dawned on me one day while I was busy checking out a facebook chat with one of my girlfriends while I was at lunch with my mom, who was sitting directly across from me.   She was clearly trying to have a real conversation with me while I was rudely being distracted by a conversation with a friend of mine on my phone.   At that moment I embarrassingly knew I had allowed myself to fall back into my old routine of being overly consumed by smartphone and I realized that for my entire time abroad I did not have an my “precious belove...

Here is the most amazing experience that I had while abroad after my studies. In scuba diving, a hard drop is a technique used when a water entry demands a quick descent below the waves to a desired depth. It involves entering the water with negative buoyancy, thus plummeting a diver into the blue with haste. The requirement is often needed when strong water currents may carry you away from your desired dive area. The Komodo National Park off the coast of the island of Lombok in equatorial Indonesia was where I had a chance to perform this unique skill. Our dive site was a vertical rock wall three kilometers long, with an underwater current running parallel to the wall travelling at 2 knots: or so we thought.   The drop went well.   Everyone descended to 18 metres with no problems with equipment or equalizing pressure in his or her ears. However, immediately I noticed that the current was much more powerful than originally expected: cruising like a bird along the ...

Moving to a new country, into a new home, and settling into a new job sounds crazy, but in reality it isn't all that bad. The   real   challenge is learning how to balance work, school,   and   a social life altogether (and more often than not, the social life takes the biggest hit). For example, this week has been a 40 hour work week, which left little time on the side to do much else. And while school assignments have been easy, they require time to complete, a precious commodity we do not have much of.  As of late, I have also set a personal goal to enter a rock climbing competition (woo hoo!). But that adds another level of responsibility to my list, including making time to work out and creating a healthy and clean diet plan. Thankfully I get two days off each week...that is if I don't spend one whole afternoon at Walmart buying groceries.  With all those mashed up together, it may seem impossible to have your cake and eat it too, but with a l...