Kerstin Kuhndt at the Meeting, Events and Conference Services in Vancouver, Canada

Hi everybody,

I spent half a year in the wonderful and amazing city of Vancouver, Canada. I worked in the “Meeting, Events & Conference Services” team (MECS) of the Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Downtown Vancouver (http://www.vancouver.sfu.ca). The department is responsible for renting university spaces (classrooms etc.) to companies that want to host a meeting, reception or conference there. Normally one or two classrooms are rented, A/V (audio/video) and drinks and some snacks are provided by the University team. For the time of the Olympic Winter Games in February 2010, the Deutsche Sport-Maketing (official markting agency of the Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund) rented nearly the whole main floor in order to host the VIP hospitality area “German House” during the Games. As I have worked for Deutsche Sport-Marketing before, my boss sent me to Vancouver in order to coordinate between the University team and the German marketing agency and to help on site with the preparation of the event as the University has never hosted such a big event before. I assisted the Event Manager in various aspects related to the event including handling detailed logistics, applying for required licenses, negotiating with the caterer or answering media requests. Also, I gathered relevant information linked to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games that affected the German House in any way (rules and regulations, transportation facts, other hospitality and event locations) and ordered special items for the German House that couldn’t be or were not worth to be imported (e. g. pants, printers etc.).

My colleagues at MECS were just wonderful! I felt welcome right from the beginning on. I did not feel the hierarchical structure of the department as I have felt it in German companies before which probably also has to with the use of the word “you” for German “Sie” as well as “du”. Whenever I had a question or just looked like I had something on my mind, they all tried to help me out and to answer my questions. They invited me to lunch, to family dinners, to events or to outdoor trips. All in all, they were very outgoing and open-minded. But Canadians tend to be over-polite anyways. They say “Thank you” even though the thanks pertain to themselves and say “Sorry” even though they haven’t done anything wrong. A cashier even said “Sorry about the change!” when she handed me two 5-Dollar-bills instead of one 10-Dollar-bill…

The old license plate of British Columbia states “Best place on earth”. This sounds somewhat arrogant but I have to say, B.C. might not be the BEST place on earth, but the life quality is extremely high. Yes, it does rain a lot, especially in the winter, but the few sunny days with blue sky make up for all the rain. In Vancouver there are kilometers of sea walks where you can go running or skating, ride the bike or just go for a walk. There are three local mountains where you can hike in the summer and ski in the winter and Whistler Mountain is also just 1.5 hours away. Also, you have the sea and lots of beaches that give you so many possibilities to enjoy your free time in the summer. The Downtown skyline consists of many modern high rise buildings with glass fronts that look just amazing. I lived on the 28th floor and had a stunning view of False Creek. But I have to say, there is the high life quality on the one side, but there are also the high living expenses on the other side. I paid 780 CAD for a little room in a shared apartment (which I found on http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca).
Grocery shopping isn’t altogether so much fun either. Especially milk products tend to be very expensive (200g of cheese cost round about 11 CAD). Also, bread is not that cheap either and you can’t really find good bread anyways, so I started to bake my own sourdough bread ;-) At Safeways or Safe on Foods, you can sign up for consumer cards that give you some very good discounts (http://www.safeway.ca  club card or saveonfoods).

Travelling on the other side is quite affordable. For 1,90 CAD you can use public transportation within Vancouver for 90 minutes (well, actually it is 2,50 CAD but you can purchase a FareSafer booklet with 10 tickets for 19 CAD at any 7Eleven store etc.
http://www.translink.ca/en/Fares-and-Passes/FareSaver-Tickets.aspx). And the bus network Greyhound is a good option when travelling longer distances (a roundtrip from Vancouver to Seattle is just about 40 CAD, www.greyhound.ca). Also, the ferry to Vancouver Island only costs 13 CAD one-way which is ok for a 1,5 hour ferry ride.

Vancouver itself has lots to offer as well. But you should be aware of the fact that Canadians love to stand in line. In order to get into a nightclub, you have to

1. come early (before 9pm)
2. be patient (line-ups tend to be at least an hour long)
3. leave your beer bottle at home (no drinking in the public, so no drinking in the line-up either)
4. bring some money (alcohol is extremely expensive due to high taxes)
5. be prepared to go home at 2 am already (skytrains only run until 2 am, so people head home at round about that time).

As life expanses are high and internships abroad are often unpaid, it’s good to know that you can apply for scholarships because money issues shouldn’t be the reason for missing out on such a great experience. I applied for the “Inwent Teilstipendium” (inwent Weltweit lernen) and was lucky to be picked as one of the awardees. I am sure, Sprachen/Internationales is happy to give you some up-to-date information on scholarship possibilities.

If you do have any questions to my time in Vancouver, please do not hesitate to contact me at kkuhndt(at)rheinahrcampus.de

All the best,

Kerstin