Festivities!

Honey glazed ham - Chef Julie!

On Sunday, October 12^th, we celebrated Thanksgiving with everyone who stayed in Residence and signed up for the pod luck. On this day you are thankful for the blessing of the harvest, but in general for everything that happened during the preceding year. Everyone had to cook something and bring it to dinner, so we could all enjoy spending some time together while stuffing ourselves with turkey, ham, lasagna, rice, pumpkin pie, ice cream, French toast salad, etc.  Thank God we had the next day off to digest the heaps of food we ate.

Daniela - My Brazilian!

During the same week it was time to celebrate my 25^th birthday, or also called my personal quarter of a century. I spend my morning in class, went to the gym afterwards, went to the liquor store to buy tequila, and then just took it easy. At night, 20 of the best people in the world assembled to have dinner with me at East Side Mario’s. Daniela, my Brazilian roommate, bought me a balloon, a nice birthday card, and some of the nicest gifts ever. Thanks again hun – you really made my day!

I really enjoyed spending some time with everyone, having a lovely dinner… and then it all went wrong when people decided to buy me some random shots. In the end, I drank about 10 tequila shots and ended up being even too drunk to go to the bar. But whatever, you can misbehave yourself on your birthday, right? :-)

Kootenay Ice vs. Regina Pats

The day after I made it to class (although I did had a slight headache) and we even decided to go to the gym. That’s what I like to call dedication! :-) A few hours later, it was time for my first hockey game in Canada ever! The Kootenay Ice were playing against the Regina Pats at the Western Financial Place here in Cranbrook. Daniela and I went on the ice to play a little game between the intermissions and we all enjoyed being far away from school.

Coming back to the residence, it was time to dress up as cowboys and cowgirls for our Wild Wild West night. Everyone enjoyed singing karaoke in the Common Room and just hanging out with each other before we left to town to celebrate Yurie’s last Saturday in Cranbrook. I have to admit that people do stare at you if you’re walking on the street with a cowboy hat on your head, but we decided not to care anyway.

My life over here isn’t all about partying and having fun, but we also had to write some midterms during the past few weeks. A lot of deadlines are coming up, so we’re all back to being good students. This means attending all classes, do your readings in advance, finish your assignments in time, and study. After working for a couple of years, I realize every single day that being a student is the best thing in life! So thanks everyone who made this possible for me!

I love you all! XoXo

My international family!

Although Cranbrook has only been my home away from home for 34 days now, I’ve created so many memories that my heart is filled with love. I love the city of Cranbrook, the country, all the Canadians I’ve met so far..but the most important thing is that I love myself again! My life is sometimes so busy that I lose track of myself, which leads to a general feeling of being unhappy.

Canadian life is so easygoing that you feel a relief every day you’re here. You can take the time to enjoy things without being stressed about deadlines and performing well. All of this made it possible for me to relax and find my natural smile again. It might sound a bit odd to everyone reading this, but I can tell that I’m a happier person over here than I am in Belgium.

Game in  Shoebox Assignment

School is actually still going great! Since I already have a Bachelor in International Management I kind of know what to expect from everything, which makes it a lot easier on my end of course. The Tourism and Recreation Management Program offered at the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook definitely gives you a thorough idea of what the industry is all about. So far we learned lots about leadership styles, time management and sport and leisure in Canada. It isn’t always easy to follow class as an International Student, because most of the information is based on Canada but we’ll get there. As long as I don’t lose sight of my aim, I’ll be fine! :-)

My international family! <3

I know that I haven’t been really active on Facebook, Skype and other Social Media channels. I’m really sorry for that, but I’m quite busy expanding my International Family. Since we’re all going through College together and are in the same boat, we tend to hang out together lots. The COTR’s International Office is trying really hard to offer us a lot of activities so we can mingle and get to know each other.

About 2 weeks ago I decided to volunteer for the International Day of Peace Celebration in the Rotary Park in Cranbrook with a lot of other students. Although we were still super tired from partying the night before, we had lots of fun and enjoyed contributing to the community. I probably don’t have to tell you that partying is a large part of the College Life, so we’re getting pretty good at it. Most of the times we start with a little party at the Residence or just at someone’s house and then we end up in Shotgun.

International Day of Peace Celebration

I love you all!

Cranbrook is nothing compared to Belgium when it comes to partying, since all the bars close at 2AM. But I guess there’s no other option than accept it and make the most of it. As of last week my Ecuadorian friend Stalin and I are going to the gym at the College to make sure that we’re not getting too fat. Although my heart is filled with a lot of memories from my new Brazilian, Ecuadorian, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Jamaican, … family I want to make clear that I love all my friends in Belgium as well. It’s not because I’m not spending some time with you guys that I completely forgot about you all!

Oh Belgium!

With love!

J.

The journey

On Sunday August 31^st, it was again time to drag myself to the airport for my next Canadian adventure. Although I was really looking forward to it, I was feeling nauseous and overtired after partying for about a week. I stuffed two big bags with clothes, shoes and a lot of things I figured I might need during my first year as a College Student living at the Residence. And still, it looked like I was travelling with nothing at all.

My first flight from Brussels to Montréal went by pretty quickly, since I again slept for about the whole flight. I didn’t even try to watch a movie, but just doze off with my own pillow and blanket until we were in Canada. Since our flight got delayed by 45 minutes, I kind of knew that there was an unpleasant surprise in store for me. Air Canada namely cancelled my 2 connecting flights, because of me being late. 

I was stuck at the Montréal Airport for about 8 hours, but I managed to receive a Food Document to compensate for the unpleasant circumstance. As of the moment the lady issued me the document, I instantly felt like Tom Hanks in the movie ‘The Terminal’. I spend most of the time talking to my family using FaceTime or Skype, sending people some awful Snapchats and eating.

Fairmont Hotel - Vancouver Airport

After flying from Montréal to Vancouver, a new problem arose. My flight to Cranbrook wasn’t leaving until the next morning, so I was basically stuck at the Vancouver Airport. Air Canada was so helpful to offer me a room in the Fairmont Hotel. At that point, I had been travelling for about 24 hours so I was only looking forward to taking a hot shower and going to bed. The next morning, I enjoyed breakfast (again with a Food Document) before hopping on the little plane with destination for Cranbrook. 

Cheryl from the International Office came round for me and instantly took me to my new home. I live together with 2 Brazilian girls, 1 Indian boy and 2 Canadians in what they call a POD. A POD can be considered as an apartment with 6 separate bedrooms, 2 complete bathrooms and 1 big kitchen with living room. I have to admit that, at first, I had to get used to sharing space with others, but it’s actually working out perfectly. Today, we organized our first Saturday Family Dinner, which will become a weekly tradition.  

 

 

Since the Residence is only a 2-minute walk from College, I can sleep late pretty much every day :-) I only have 17 hours of classes, so compared to being a student at the Karel de Grote-Hogeschool I’m kind of a lazy student right now. We do have to finish a lot of assignments, but it’s no big deal actually. I do have to admit that I have to get used to being a student again and definitely living together with a lot of young people, because Canadians really don’t know how to party. Too bad, so sad!

College of the Rockies

TRMP!

 

My Canadian dream…

It all started in 2011 at the first session about our internship as part of our Bachelor’s Degree International Management at the Karel de Grote-Hogeschool. I still picture myself sitting in the assembly hall listening to all the different options and stories. And it only took me a couple of minutes to reach an answer to the question whether I was going abroad or not. Due to my persuasiveness, my parents were easily convinced of the fact that you gain a lot more experience outside of Belgium.

 

Six months later, I found myself on an airplane with destination for Calgary. It was the first time I flew all by myself and the first time I crossed the European boundaries. I left Belgium with a big smile, ready for my first Canadian adventure, and arrived in Canada with an even bigger smile! My new supervisor and her husband picked me up and drove me all the way to the beautiful little Panorama Mountain Village (it’s approximately a 4.5 hour drive).

Tibia Plateau Fracture....

I don’t have to tell you all that I hit rock-bottom during the first week in Canada, due to my silly skiing injury. And I’m definitely not too proud to admit that I had to learn to smile through my tears, but in the end it was all worth it. During those 4 months, I fell in love with the nature, the mountains, the snowflakes and the Canadian people. I’ve never met such nice people before in my life. They did everything possible to make me feel welcome and to support me when I was sad. Although I left Canada on crutches, it was with a big smile on my face and a heart filled with love.

Snow Shoeing - Delphine Creek

After graduating I started working as Office Manager for BinckBank Belgium. It was and still is an awesome job as a starter on the labour market. My colleagues and I had a lot of fun, but I still had the feeling I was missing out on something. So I decided to take a holiday and go skiing all by myself in Canada! I stayed at my supervisor’s house in Invermere, rented a car and just had a lot of fun. We went skiing, heliskiing, snow shoeing, shopping and many more things.

 

At that point, we started talking about me coming back to Canada to work at rk heliski as a fulltime employee. A couple of weeks later, I applied for a new Work Permit (since it can take a while to get approved by the Canadian Embassy in Paris) and decided to quit my job. I left Belgium at the end of September to fulfill my Canadian dreams. During the past winter season, I lived my life to the fullest. We went heliskiing, skiing on the hill, dog sledding, did some heli sightseeing and heli fondues and just enjoyed the time close to the beautiful Purcell Mountains.

St. Alli's Day 2014

At the end of January I went on a consult with an Immigration Canada Consultant to discuss my options to remain in Canada. Since Canada is a country with a lot of rules and regulations, it isn’t easy to immigrate at all. But we found a solution :-) As of September 2014, I will become a student at the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook, British Columbia. I’ll start the 2 year program Tourism and Recreation Management in order for me to stay in Canada. I’m pretty sure a lot of people think it’s a crazy idea to go to school again, since I already have my Bachelor’s degree, but I would do about anything to continue to live my Canadian dream. I’ll be a fulltime student during the first year, including living at the Purcell House Student Residence. International Students are allowed to work 20 hours a week during their studies, so I’ll still be a proud member of the rk heliski family. During the second year, I’ll probably move to Panorama to work fulltime and study online. This will help me to pay for my studies, since studying in Canada is a bit expensive. After graduation in 2016 I’ll receive a Post-Graduate Work Permit which will allow me to work within Canada for 3 more years.

This means of course that I’ll probably remain in Canada for a long long time, but I’ll try to come “home” again on a holiday. If everything passes on smoothly, I’ll apply for the Canadian nationality within the next 5 years. I realize that this is a big step in my life, but I just have to give it a try. I’ve been in doubt for a couple of weeks now, since I feel a bit in between countries. I’ve met a lot of new people and had a lot of fun, but this might just be a temporary phase. I have to start thinking about my future and just take the plunge, because there’s always a way back.

Everyone is more than welcome to share their thoughts, opinions and advises about me doing this. I’ll be more than happy to explain to each and every one of you why I’m taking this decision. I’m only 24 years old, but being here just made me realize that my life isn’t in Belgium any more.

rk heliplex

J.