First Week: August 30th – September 5th, 2010
When I arrived at Vancouver Airport and got out of the baggage area a group of UBC students were standing in the arrival zone and welcoming me. It felt so good after the flight to be welcomed, to chat and to get some information. I even got a free taxi ride to the youth hostel! The taxi ride was already an experience, having my own screen in the back of the car, where I could gamble, check the weather, look at maps, … ;) however, the scenery driving along the coast was much more eyecatching and exciting..
My home for the first few days was the Jericho Beach Hostel, which was wonderfully located: two minutes walking to the beach with an amazing view over English Bay, Vancouver Skyline and the Coastal Mountains in the back! At this evening the weather was still very nice and sunny, the beaches were full with people playing beach-volleyball, there are more than twenty nets; it was a great atmosphere! Good feeling finally having arrived in Vancouver, although hard to realize.
A thing I had to learn very soon was that the weather is very unstable and that it is raining a lot. And it does not stop once it has begun. Tuesday morning welcomed me with pouring rain. Together with another exchange student from Munich, we headed towards the university, got lost on campus being soaking wet until we accomplished everything. Good to hear from all the people that this is the weather how it is going to be from November on ;) Gumboots are obviously an essential pair of shoes one has to have.
But on rainy days there are still great things to do such as enjoying delicious food! In Naam, a vegetarian restaurant I was completely overwhelmed by the diversity of the menu! Besides the rain this was another typical thing which accompanies one in Vancouver throughout: great and multifaceted food!
Although there was the strong desire to explore and dive into the city I first of all had to find a place to live first of all. Although apartment hunt was not the easiest and most fun thing to do it was a great opportunity to get to know the city, talk with many people, get familiar with the streets, areas and buses. Finally I found a place to live in a shared house, currently living together with the landlord Sim and his dog, two Japanese girls, a French girl, a Canadian girl and guy, and a guy from New Zealand. During September I was sleeping in the upper living room behind the bar ;). The house is in a good location being quite close to university and livelier city parts such as Kitsilano and Kerrisdale. And there is a bus stop 50 meters away, although I have never hopped on the bus there, since I enjoy walking some bus stops, which happen to be very frequently. You can sometimes even take the bus just for crossing the street.
Anyways. The introduction days for international students at the university were quite nice, getting to know the campus, the atmosphere, and mainly getting to know people. The university atmosphere is really different to Germany, it is a lot about self-appraisal, community, excellence and participation. You feel how much money and appraisal is concentrated. University seems to be not only an education but a complete life package to explore and find out who you are. Hundreds of clubs exist, many opportunities to volunteer, to get involved and to get support. It is just too much, leaving you with the feeling of always missing most things. You would never have to leave campus if you don’t want to go/do something specific. Just everything is on campus, shops, restaurants, bank, doctor, sport facilities, cinema … I am sort of quite happy about not living on campus, although it is a great opportunity to get to meet many, many people.
My first weekend in Vancouver started with finding a place to live, went on with a free pancake breakfast at the university and ended with a great walk in Stanley Park. Stanley Park is a large forest-covered park adjacent to downtown. It is great to dive into the peace and majesty of the old forest, just few minutes away from pulsating downtown.
On Sunday we went to North Vancouver, jumping on the suspension bridge in Lynn Valley and climbing up Lynn Peak (992m) through wonderful woods. Unfortunately there was no clear view, but it was a great hike. Being still totally unorganized we went off to the woods without food and were very happy to return to Chinatown in the evening and enjoy the Chinese food at the night market. That is just what makes Vancouver so remarkable: the possibility to do and have everything at about the same time, without having to travel for thousands of kilometers. Whether it’s the closeness to nature, to the mountains, the oceans, rivers and beaches or the closeness and mix of cultures, of people, of liveliness in a pulsating city – everything can be reached easily within hours.
Second Week: 6th – 12th October, 2010
The week started with Labour Day and rain, just perfect for getting settled in my new home and to get ill However, university started on Tuesday and I went to many different courses, not having had fixed my schedule then. I ended up with three different courses from the human kinetics program. One is about active health, one about exercise physiology and the third about neuromuscular integration of movement. Having all of them three or two times a week for lectures and once for laboratories, it quite fills up the week and feels like being back to school. Unfortunately everything is much commercialized and the relevant textbooks for the courses and exams are not even available at the huge libraries, making you to buy the 100 C$ textbooks, which of course where written by the profs themselves. Learning conditions such as libraries and places to sit are great. There is a learning centre with much space for quiet or communicative "studying", with comfortable lounges, chairs, and sockets everyhwere... nice :)
On Thursday I had an amazing afternoon with another HKIN student, Amanda, who does competitive kayaking. She took me with her to go kayaking and canoeing in False Creek. It was a great, sunny day and we were out on the water for hours, paddling from Granville Island to the Science Museum and back again, looking at the skyline of Vancouver and paddling through sailing ships. So wonderful!
On Saturday we headed towards Squamish in the Coastal Mountains. Unfortunately exactly that day there was a bike race up to Whistler, so it took us ages to get there with the bus. Having arrived in Squamish we realized that the National Park wasn’t really close at all and we had to get a ride. But then this amazingly friendly Canadian in a bike shop (in case you are lost, need help, have questions – always go to a bike or surf shop!) just got his car and drove us all the way up to Garibaldi National Park. We had a wonderful hike up there, the landscape was already more alpine and although it was very cloudy the wideness was impressive. Some hikers were telling us that they just saw a bear coming up behind us and we should be careful, - how much did we seek to turn around and have a look for the bear ;). It started raining on the way back and we were so happy when we came down to the parking space, that there were two English guys who took us back to Squamish and eventually even back to North Vancouver.
P.S. Germans like queuing up? - Canadians even queue up for the bus...;)
