This week we had a lot of pre-spring break tests, performances and presentations. My favorite day was Thursday when my theater class presented The Worst Breakups. We had so much fun performing in front of the other theater class! Their reactions to our jokes were truly the best. When the scene came up where two actors were getting splashed in the face, the yells from the audience made us all so proud of what we’d put together. Our teachers all wished us a happy spring break, and they hope to see us again in two weeks. With COVID-19 starting to become an issue in Canada, most teachers expected and extended spring break. I didn’t have any homework due for after spring break, so I left all my books in my locker.
I didn’t get to say a proper goodbye to all my international friends. I didn’t get so say a proper goodbye to the school. It’s sad it had to be done this way, but I’m glad we’re taking the necessary precautions and staying safe.
This week I made two spontaneous trips with my friends. I’m glad I did because these places are definitely some I won’t forget soon about Vancouver!
Wednesday
I met up with a friend, but we had no idea what we wanted to do that day. So we just hopped on the Sky train and hoped an idea would pop up, which it did. When we got off at the right station, we had a small walk and ended up in this park with a zip line. I think we were there just going down that zip line for about two hours before we finally got bored :). After that we made a small trip to Walmart to calm our hunger, and then back home because it’s a school night after all.
Sunday
That day I had so much fun! A friend and I met up at around 11.30 and we were on our way to the Vancouver Aquarium. When I go there, I was so intrigued by how colourful all the fish were. I have honestly never seen such tropical fish in European aquariums, it was so fun! We found Nemo and we saw an incredible amount of jellyfish.
Find Nemo 😉
I have tonss of pictures. We saw seals that made the weirdest burping noise ever and also some penguins who were sitting shyly at the back of their tank. I felt kind of bad for them for some reason.
We then took a bus to Gastown at around 3. We walked around and found the steam clock and I also wanted to find that public piano I’d visited once, but when we walked into the hall it wasn’t there. Instead there was this music and there were people… dancing, I guess? They were doing some special type of dance and we just laughed and watched for a bit and then kept going since we had other plans…
How could we not take a picture of the steam clock?
What were they, you may ask? Well, we booked places at a cat cafe. That’s where you can drink a cup of coffee. When we got to the Catfe I started getting really excited. You could see the cats in the windows which was so cool. We got in and ordered our drinks, and they let us into the cat room.
And I am not kidding when I say, there were cats EVERYWHERE. On the chairs, in little beds, chilling on tables, or looking out the window. It was sooo cool. There was this one fluffy one that liked us in the start, and exactly when we had to leave one of the cats sat in my lap. I absolutely fell in love with that cuddly cat. Sadly after about two minutes we really had to go but hey we had fun while it lasted.
This day I only managed to get two hours of sleep. Surprisingly I was still able to drag myself out of bed and go to school. I’m glad I did, because I had a great amount of fun in my classes. In my theater class my teacher let us watch the performance of another class. It was a wedding and we had tons of laughs and we even got some cake and coffee in the end!
Tuesday
Even though I had had a good night’s sleep, I was still exhausted from the night before. Luckily none of my classes were very intense that day. In Psychology we watched Genie’s documentary, which I thought was super interesting.
After school, I watched my host sister apply for scholarships. She’s a Grade 12 student, so she has to hand in her applications this year. I’m still amazed at how expensive college and university is here in North America compared to Belgium. I hope she wins some scholarships!
Wednesday
That evening, the Belgians and I decided to go to English bay and chill for the afternoon. Here are a couple pictures! It was funny making a tik tok on the sky train with everyone watching :)).
Thursday
I was listening to the radio in my host sister’s car that day. There was this game going on. A fan was on the phone and a sound was playing. The fan had to say stop whenever they wished and then the sound stopped playing. Later I realized that the longer you let the sound play, the more money you win! But, if you let the sound end, you go home empty-handed. The lady who was playing did very well, and earned herself a good 800 dollars!
That evening, I went to see the Beauty and The Beast musical that my school has been working on since September. The moment the curtains opened, my jaw dropped. Their set was incredible, they had an entire house and village. When the castle scene came on, the background disappeared to reveal a grand staircase behind it. It was absolutely gorgeous. They even had a rose that let it’s petals fall on command!
This is right before the performance. I had no idea what was coming!
But the best part was the cast. These actors – Belle was even a Grade 10 student! – are the most talented teenagers I have ever seen. I couldn’t believe those were my friends up there singing and dancing. They really managed to suck us into the story and just disappear from the real world for a few hours. Hats off to you, musical theater team!
Friday
After school, I watched a reality TV show with my older host sister. It was called Love is Blind. I know, I know, it’s cringey and ultimately very weird, so we put it on as a joke. Within 2 episodes we were hooked and we started gossiping about everyone in the show. Ah, the wonders of Netflix.
Later I went out with a friend and had some of the best ice cream since my trip to Italy a couple years back. We walked around chatting and in general just had a good time :).
Weekend
This is the one time I was adventurous. Saturday I went to Mount Seymour, and we hiked – or snowshoed, I guess? – our way to the First Peak. I was there with my Mexican friends, and it was funny how little Spanish I could understand.
Coffee before the climb 🙂
Now, most of you know I’m not exactly an active person. The last workout I’ve had is probably me lifting the box of chocolates to the top drawer. Needless to say that I am extremely out of shape and that climb was nottt easy. But, my stubbornness can conquer pretty much everything, so I still did it. The pictures I got to take during the entire thing were totally worth it!
Sunday I woke up with every muscle in my body aching. I didn’t even know I had anything in some places until that day :))). All I did was watch a movie with a friend, sleep, and homework.
Canada had a thing called Family Day on Monday, so we didn’t have school on this day either. We woke up after our night of camping, set everything back up and were on our way back home by lunch time. As brunch my host dad made these bacon and eggs bagels that were absolutely amazing, thanks Tony! The rest of the day was spent studying and just chilling at home.
School
After the long weekend, all my teachers had some assignments and tests planned for us. This is the week that felt the most like actual school up until now, with a test and an assignment due almost every day.
This week we also finally had some sun! Thursday and Friday were warm enough for us to take our coats off and have a picnic during lunch at school. On Friday after school the Belgian group, we went to English bay and just enjoyed our time there.
Weekend
On Saturday my host sister, her friend and I went to iHop. We had some crepes, which are thin pancakes, with hash browns and bacon. They were actually pretty good!
On Sunday my other host sister invited me to go have a campfire with her at the beach. There was so much wind that we had to act as human windshields, but eventually we got a good fire going :).
fireee
I didn’t have any homesickness this week, but it definitely seemed like my sister was missing me. My mom told me she was wearing my hoodies all the time. My cat was pretty pissed that she didn’t have anybody to pet her anymore, too. You can see both of them here being all grumpy. I love you guys, muah.
The week started off a bit iffy. On Tuesday I woke up with the worst cold I have had in a while. I went to school in the morning and then realised I’d never survive the afternoon, so I went home and napped. Luckily I already felt better on Wednesday, because our math teacher had a surprise for us. We got paired in groups and we played limits bingo. That was definitely a good way to test our knowledge on limits and make sure we were ready for the test on Thursday.
After school
Because of me being sick half the week, we didn’t do much. Monday a few friends and I had a movie night, and we watched a scary movie about a few people camping. I then hear the news that we were going camping that weekend, so that movie definitely stuck with me for a while!
Thursday evening was the Grade 12 winter formal. Since I am Grade 11, someone had to invite me to be able to go to the formal. It was a small venue, where everyone was dancing to some throwback songs.
Friday we had the day off. It was Valentine’s day, but also my dad’s birthday! We called for about 2 hours I think and I got to talk to him which felt really good. I am definitely sad to have missed his birthday, knowing I will also miss both my mom’s AND my sister’s birthday too. We’ll celebrate once I’m back in Belgium, I promise!
Weekend
On Saturday I was hoping to go skiing. But then my friend and I realised we didn’t have enough money on us and ended up not catching the last shuttle bus to Cypress Mountain. So we had to get creative. We walked around for a bit, and visited Gastown. We saw this steaming clock and also found a public piano which I had some fun with :). Even though we hadn’t gone skiing, we still ended up having some fun!
As I mentioned earlier, my host family decided to take us camping on Sunday. My host sister and I arrived later than my host parents, so we were driving on our own to Hope, the camping site we’d be staying at. We had a lot of fun doing some carpool karaoke, my voice was practically gone the next day :).
On this camping trip I had a big highlight: s’mores. They’re marshmallows over a fire which you put on a biscuit or cracker. You then take a piece of chocolate, melt it slightly in the fire, and then put it on top of your marshmallow. As my host dad put it, it’s a melted gooey goodness.
Last week started in a very… sleepy manner. I slept through my alarm and had to hurry up to get to school. The moment I was there we started with a math test. I think I did pretty well!
In drama I received my first assignment. I got grouped up with a couple of people and we had the best time making frozen scenes based on Phineas and Ferb’s title sequence song.
In the afternoon, a wave of sleepiness hit me. I almost dozed off during physics, and when I got home, I wanted to take a 30 min nap, which ended up being a 2 hour one. After eating, I read a little bit (Little Women, just started the book, but I already highly recommend it!), and got into bed early for a good and long sleep.
Tuesday
Photo credit to my friend.
On this day, Vancouver was covered with a small layer of snow in the morning. The weather forecast told us that by the end of the day, we’d have about 20 cm of snow. It was extremely exciting coming out of school and seeing only white everywhere.
Talking about school, on Tuesday I received three textbooks which each weighed a ton. I couldn’t avoid not getting myself a locker. I have one of those combination locks that you see in every North American high-school movie, and I am proud to say I understand how to operate one!
The team I went bowling with on Sunday felt like having a movie night, so we put on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and we grabbed some blankets and snacks. Movie nights with snow or rain falling outside are one of my favourite things. Most of us ended up falling asleep before the end, but we did have fun.
Wednesday
… a day full of visiting new places.
After school, some friends and I decided to go to Metro Town. It’s this place in Vancouver with a huge mall; they have pretty much everything you need there. I was very, very confused trying to find my way to different stores.
One of them was Muji. They have all these cute notebooks and interesting pens, it was fun playing around with some of them.
When I got home, my host dad invited me to come along to Costco. Even though I was exhausted from Metro Town, I agreed to come along, and wasn’t disappointed.
For all the Belgians out there, Costco can be compared to Colruyt. But here, every food article in Colruyt is suddenly twice it’s size. Put all these foods on racks that are 6m tall, and organize the shop like a Brico. That’d pretty much the only way I can describe Costco. It was IMMENSE. I felt just ever so slightly intimidated by it, which made my host dad laugh. At least I got to buy some orange juice :).
When I got home, I got hit with homesickness for the first time since I left. I was listening to sad songs so I probably also brought that fate on myself. I realised that getting busy was the only way to clear your mind. I played some songs on the piano, read from Little Women, wrote down some stuff I don’t want to forget about this exchange, and finally was sleepy enough to go to bed.
Thursday
I started the day off with having a laugh at how sometimes the advertisements on the radio modify their voice so they sound like they’re on an old radio. I’ve never heard of that technique before but it’s pretty funny.
Photo credit to my friend.
In math I didn’t understand a thing that day but in drama we had tons of fun. During psychology I took the Myers-Briggs personality test and apparently I have the character of a teacher or a champion! Some of the descriptions don’t match up to my personality, but otherwise they got it pretty right. In physics I learned that an 81% is still a B. I was slightly disappointed, but now determined to do better on my next test.
After school, a few exchange students and I went ice skating. We had all levels of skaters, from only having had skates on one other time in their life, to someone who used to take skating classes. We had lots of fun, and a few even ended up playing ice hockey.
After that, all of us were exhausted. I crashed in my bed and immediately fell asleep that night.
Friday
Ah, Friday, finally the end of the week. All I did that evening was rest, and FaceTime a few friends. The rest was spent either reading, or sleeping. Very boring day for a blog but good for the soul :).
Delicious cinnamon buns made by NWSS students
Oh, actually, at school we have a cafeteria almost completely run by students. They prepare, cook and sell the food themselves, the last part during lunch hours. I was surprised how good the food was. I got from them some really delicious cinnamon buns!
Saturday
The first thing I did in the morning was call my Belgian friends. The moment they all came online and I saw their faces, I had a flash of homesickness for them. I miss them all so much. Luckily they cheered me up immediately with stories of how horrible school was that week :)).
A little while later, a Canadian friend of mine found out I knew nothing of New Westminster, the area I live in. He decided to solve that by taking me on a little tour, to a viewpoint, and a few other different places. Only later in the evening I realised and regretted that I forgot to take pictures of that beautiful viewpoint … I will have to fix that next time. Well anyways, I now (kind of) know my way around. Let’s hope I don’t get lost next time I try finding a McDonald’s.
Sunday
On Sunday my friends spontaneously decided we should go to the trampoline park. I’m so happy I came along, it was the first time I’d ever been to one. Falling in the foam pit is definitely the weirdest feeling you can imagine. I had tons of fun doing flips into the foam pit, and making my other friends fall in when they were unwisely standing close to the ledge.
This was my first day of class, which I was very excited for. My host sister and I drove to school and I pretty easily found my first class: Calculus. I met my first Canadians (except for my host family), being a few girls from Grade 12. One of them is also Romanian!Â
I noticed immediately how different and more laid-back class is here than back at home. Depending on the teacher, you can listen to music, eat and talk in class.Â
After Calculus, I got lost trying to find my drama class. This one is so different to my other classes. We mostly sit or stand around in a circle. The teacher gives her explanation and then we go into the game or exercise. We played tons of those, and before I knew it, the lunch bell rang.Â
The other exchange students and I usually eat our lunch in the cafeteria. If you didn’t bring any food, you can buy some that the students made themselves. It’s actually pretty good!
My next class was psychology, and last of the day, physics. Since a lot of the students didn’t have these classes for more than a year, we did a lot of review. It’s very interesting to see a different way of teaching!
After school, a few exchange students and I went to Tim Hortons and then a small school basketball game. We had quite some fun! I met a couple of other Belgians that were there already for a semester.
Tuesday
Tuesday we started actual lessons. I got my first homework for both physics and maths, and we learnt some new stuff in psychology. Theatre is definitely going to be my destress class this year :).
We had a lot of changes in the people in our class. Some left, some came into our class.
Wednesday
Even during the change of students, the teachers didn’t slow down their lessons. They were all interesting in their own way, but my favourite is still the drama class.Â
That evening my bus wouldn’t arrive, so a few of us Belgians decided to go home by foot. I didn’t realise there were so many hills in New West! It took half an hour to get home, which in Belgium I’d be able to do it in half that time. At least I had fun with the people I was walking with!
That evening my host dad made spicy food. While they were calmly eating it, I was drinking glasses of water one after another. I thought I was good with spicy food! Apparently not…
Thursday
Because of the long walk in the cold the day before, I woke up that day with a slight cold.Â
That didn’t stop the day from being the best of the week!
Calculus was a confusing class, thank god I had a friend next to me helping me out. In drama we started working on character development. In psychology we talked about objects that mean something special to us. Physics was preparing for the quiz of Friday.Â
But the fun started in the evening.
I asked my host sister if she felt like going ice skating, and she said yes. She invited her boyfriend and his best friend to come with us. The moment we got talking, we couldn’t stop.Â
We got into our skates and got on the ice. I soon realised I hadn’t skated in a looong time and was a bit rusty. I only fell once in the entire evening though, which broke my record :).
In the ice skating ring, there was this activity area, which would bring new stuff every half an hour. We were lucky to have arrived when they brought the mini chairs. The boys sat down in them, and we two girls pushed them around. Of course, on ice, you have practically no control, so we always ended up in a spinning, laughing mess.Â
We built a snowman, Joey, who even had a face we didn’t mean to give to him, but was appreciated. We also found a hockey puck and ended up playing football on ice with it. All of us, except for my host sister, ended up falling way too many times to be healthy, but it was very funny.Â
After that we got some hot coco in Tim Hortons, and went back home. I found out that ice skating is pretty exhausting, and fell asleep pretty easily that night.
Best vanilla cookies ever!
Friday
Friday was a very laid-back day. I did nothing except for that physics quiz. The rest of the day after school was spent tucked into a blanket and reading. I did however, have enough energy to make some delicious and successfully not burnt vanilla sugar cookies.
Saturday
First day of the weekend was filled with homework, rehearsing some piano songs, and listening to music. In the evening my host parents got me out of the house and we went to a nearby restaurant called the Social House. We ordered spicy chicken wings (which, again, proved how low a tolerance I have to spicy food) and I got a burger with sweet potatoes fries. The food was phenomenal, but I sadly couldn’t finish my fries. It was difficult to say goodbye to them.Â
Sunday
On Sunday I woke up and decided to go for a walk. I felt like being spontaneous, so I took left and right turns whenever I felt like it.
After about half an hour, I decided I wanted to return home. That’s when my phone shut off and I had no way of knowing where I was. I ended up trying to retrace my steps and found my house back, luckily.
In the evening, my host sister and I went bowling with the same people we went ice skating with. We had lost of fun, I even hit a strike throwing backwards.
After our second round of bowling (which I won!), we didn’t feel like ending the evening yet, so we went to our place. We played a round of Clue (Cluedo for all the Europeans out there 😉 ) and Mario Kart. I fell asleep halfway through the second game, oops.
Overall my week has been the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I can’t help but miss my family just a bit. I also miss my pets, but at least I have tons of pictures of everyone with me.
To anyone and everyone back in Belgium, love you guys, can’t wait to see you when I get back! And thanks for reading my blog :).
My first day in Canada! After a night riddled with problems from jet lag, I woke up at 7 AM to go to school with my host sister and the other exchange student living with my host family.
I quickly realised that the first week at school was purely orientation. That means no classes for a week! On Monday the heads of the international students came in and talked to us, the thirty new students they’d be getting this semester. They told us all about what to do and not to do at school or at home. They also explained to us how the school works and showed us our health insurance. For some reason we received bandages and lip balm from the insurance company, which was kind of weird. They told us on what trips we could go to, what to do with our free time, and much more.
The school system here is quite different than the one at home. In Belgium, we have thirteen classes, and 32 classes in total per week. Here, they only have 16 classes in total, but they are much longer. You have 4 classes a day, and every day the same four. These classes you get to choose entirely on your own art the start of each semester. When you’ve chosen, that’s the classes you’ll be getting for the next 6 months. They also call their classes ‘blocks’, which last 1h30 each. The A and B blocks are before lunch, and the C and D after lunch.
For example, A block starts around 8.35. I have chosen Calculus (maths) as an A block. At 10 the class ends, and I make my way to Drama. After that B block is over (11.30), lunch starts. C block goes from 12.20 to 13.50 and we end school after D block at 15.05.
In the afternoon we got a little tour around New Westminster. We got to see the two malls in the city and also the youth center. That’s a place you can go to if you want to hang out with friends, or just watch TV, or maybe even work out a bit.
That evening I had some very spicy (but delicious!) food that my host sister and dad prepared. Good chefs in the house!
In that specific area, there was a man called Jack. He had a barrel of whisky, from which everyone wanted a drink. Jack told them to build him a bar in 24 hours so that he could make and sell whisky. The residents did actually do that! It was said that when someone talked a lot, you were gassy. Well, that barman could definitely talk, so her received the name Gassy Jack. Gastown was hence named after him.
Artistic picture taken by a friend
Artistic picture taken by another friend
That day on the bus, I had a small incident with my pen. I can now say that my white coat is irreparably blue… The upside of the day is that I was finally unpacked, all my little lights were mounted and all my clothes were stored far away from any other pens.
Wednesday
This day you might just be able to count as a boring day compared to the others, but it was nonetheless different and exciting in every way. Wednesday was the day where all the new exchange students got tested on their English and math skills. We got sat in front of a computer, and also had an oral exam. The tests were pretty easy, so I managed to get out by 12 o’clock.
fake polaroids everywhere :))
The rest of the day was spent walking around from shop to shop, getting stuff done. I got my Canadian phone number, along with a library and bus card. My host dad helped me with these, which I am very grateful for because I wouldn’t have figured it all out on my own :). This is also the day where I noticed all these small differences Canada has compared to Belgium. For example, the noise that the lights make for pedestrians when they should cross, is a little bird or a cuckoo clock. When the car is locked by remote, it honks its horn shortly. Tater tots actually taste like potatoes, while I thought it was bread. Overall, special day!
Thursday
This is the first night I slept from 22 to 6 without interruption! I was so glad to finally get rid of the jet lag.
At school we started in a very weird way. We all sat down and then two police officers came in. Everybody got excited or scared when they saw he was wearing a gun; we never see that in Europe, especially not in a school.
The police officers gave us a lesson on the laws here in Canada, but also precautions. Stuff like lock your doors and windows before leaving, don’t walk right next to bushes at night, go into the nearest store if you feel like someone is following you and act normal, … Some stuff was very first-instinct, but they did point out a couple of important things that we should keep an eye on. The two police officers in question also have their own offices at the school, which means that if we ever have any problem related to assault, theft, or anything in that area, we know who to talk to.
In the afternoon, a couple of volunteer exchange students came to give us a tour of the school. We were divided into small groups, and then started the tour. They showed us every possible place in the school we might need to go to. They were pretty fun people, and every student we passed seemed to know them, which was quite funny.
That evening I went out with a couple of the Belgian and Mexican students and had a hot coco at Tim Hortons, we got to talk and had a good time in general.
Friday
That day, I only had 10 minutes of school :). I woke up at 9 with the host family’s cat cuddled next to me. Apparently she’s starting to like me! After quickly getting dressed, I met a couple of friends at iHop. It’s this pretty well-known place where they sell pancakes and omelettes and such. I didn’t have enough time to order breakfast, so I just took a milkshake and already had to leave.
The moment I got out, a rainstorm hit, and I was soaked within ten seconds of being outside. Luckily the school was only a 4-5 minute walk, but when I got inside I realised that I couldn’t even sit in a chair because of how heavy my jeans had gotten from the rain…
After wiping my glasses of droplets to be able to see where I was going, I made my way to my counselor’s office. She is the person who is in charge of my school schedule, but I can also go to her with any problem I have. Every student in the school gets appointed to a counselor. We figured out my school schedule, and then me and the other Belgian kids made out way to the Capilano Bridge Suspension Park.
That park was the prettiest thing I have ever seen. It was still Christmas season, so we got to see all the lights in the trees and such. Some of the photos we were able to take turned out magical.
Friday was also the day I discovered my host family had a piano! Or at least, actually used the piano. I was there for an hour, practicing and practicing, both old and new pieces. I had forgotten how fun it was to just sit in front of the piano and play.
Weekend
My weekend was very relaxed. I mostly spent my time watching Sherlock Holmes, and getting ready for school on Monday. Oh, and I wrote this blog. It made me remember how great this week was already, and how I can’t imagine what else these 5 months are awaiting for me.
5 months of preparing, writing mails, studying hard. It was finally time. Time to leave on an adventure I’d never forget!
That day I woke up at 5 in the morning for my first flight to Montreal. The weirdest thing was that up to Sunday all I was feeling were nerves, but then I was only excited.
After eating and fitting everything in the car, we made our way to the airport. in front of the check-in, I saw the other 3 students I’d be flying with. They’re all from the French speaking part of Belgium, I’m from the Dutch speaking side, which means there was a slight language barrier. We all went to the exchange through WEP.
The plane was much bigger than I had expected… we had all sorts of movies, some that were actually very new!
After security, border control and an hour of waiting around, we finally boarded the plane. We managed to change seats with a couple of people so not all 4 of us were seated alone. After that long flight, we had to wait just as much for the next one, from Montreal to Vancouver.
First thing I bought with Canadian dollars. Pretty tasty!
In the planes, we heard a lot of french. Not our french, but Quebecois. It was the weirdest thing I had ever heard, from the parts that I actually understood. Everyone was also so kind to each other on the plane, helping put the bags up, switch seats so families could sit together, …
Right before our departure, a snow storm hit in Montreal. We had a one hour delay. which gave me time to take a picture 🙂
Around 21.00 Vancouver time, my Belgian friends and I arrived at the airport. We got lost when searching for baggage claim, but we found it eventually :). That is also where our host families welcomed us and brought us to what would soon be home.
My first day away from home was already the most exciting thing I had ever done. I can hardly wait to see what the next five months have in store for me.
Canada school exchange 