Capilano University Students Blogging Abroad

Feels like yesterday I was booking my flights to Spain for Spring Break. Now the time has come and I’m packing my bags for our flight tomorrow! In the 24 years of my life, time has never flown by so fast than during this experience.   I’m now wishing Capilano offered a whole year abroad, because there’s so much to see in this unique and charming continent.   Since being abroad I have visited The Canary Islands, Manchester, Amsterdam, Lisbon, and London many times. Four friends from Capilano and myself are headed to Barcelona tomorrow, then heading to Seville and Malaga. After Spain we will head to Morocco for a week. That isn’t where my travels end! I’m very excited to meet my mom in Italy for 6 days in May, then heading to Greece for a week. This is going to be such an incredible trip for both of us as my mother has never been to Europe. I can’t wait for her to experience what I have been for the past three months. Throughout my life, I have been known for...

One of the biggest things that I feel every single person runs into is the fact that the world is so different outside our home town. We forget that different cultures have different meanings for words, actions and even ways of going about everyday life. France has many of both sides to this situation. Many things felt just like home when experienced and many things constantly felt or sounded strange because they were so different. Now that everything is settled in some of the differences that remain are actually quite positive. Bordeaux is different in a way that I don't know if Vancouver could ever achieve. Maybe its the culture maybe its because its a university town but it has something that Cap and Vancouver don’t. The university and town are so involved, people know each other people from the same university are constantly networking and partying together. Without even having a large social area like a library INSEEC has once of the strongest student networking pre...

After spending a week in Aberdeen, I finally understood what culture shock felt like. Everything felt a little off; cars drove on the wrong side of the road, the beautiful architecture of the buildings clashed with the boring nature of the shops inside, and there are no mountains or trees! After spending two weeks in Aberdeen, I realized that I actually love being here. Aberdeen is a beautiful city, but in a different way from Vancouver. The Aberdeen beach goes on almost as far as the eye can see. If you take a short bus further up the coast you can see amazing cliffs, and if you're lucky, some wild deer or seals. The city itself took a little getting used to, since almost all of the buildings are made out of gray granite. But now that spring is on its way, the blue sky combined with the thousands of yellow flowers in Aberdeen's parks make the city look amazing. Studying abroad has been an amazing experience so far. Even if my my accommodation leaves a little t...

Thus far I am very impressed with how much there is to do and see in Vienna. Every day I stumble upon an impressive building, historical site, or district that is completely foreign from what I am used to seeing in Vancouver. Just walking around ordinary streets, visiting a café or bar can be highly entertaining. Everything that I want to see in Vienna is extremely convenient to transit to, which gives me the freedom to visit places in the city that I have constantly heard about from locals or seen in pictures.  For the months to come I am very excited to enjoy the spring and summer seasons. From what I have heard so far, these seasons are incredibly fun and beautiful in Vienna.   My Viennese friends’ excitement for the warmer months to come has provided me with a lot of excitement as I can see how much they enjoy this time of the year, by the way they talk about stories or ordinary weekends and weekdays that are routine for them. I am not only excited to start spendi...