Pics online!

Watch the gallery for pictures of my trip to Vancouver Island last weekend.

One more story: on Saturday I was invited to go on a boat-trip from Nanaimo around the island, but of course couldn’t go, because of studying

Greez & blessings,
Gergi

Back from Vancouver Island

Hi folks!

Well now, another weekend has passed for which I went to Vancouver Island. The three of us – Stephanie K. from Germany, Marc from Ireland (Stephanie’s boyfriend) and I left from Kamloops on Friday afternoon. Two more girls were supposed to go with us, but skipped on Friday morning. After Stephanie had some trouble getting the rented car and finally arrived 1 1/2 hours late at Hospitality Inn we left around 5.15 p.m. from Kamloops. We went straight on to Vancouver with just 1 stop at McDonald’s in Merritt Because we left so late we were in danger to miss the last ferry on Friday evening, because we were supposed to be there 1 hour earlier as we reserved for the car.

We finally managed to get onto the ferry 20 minutes before it was leaving towards Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. We arrived at Nanaimo around 11 p.m. and started searching for our hostel (Nichol Street hostel), which Stephanie also booked in advance. As we were not able to find it we just stopped and asked some guys, who were passing by for the direction. Funnily enough one of the guys stayed there as well and he got onto the car to show us the directions.

As we got there at 11.35 p.m. no-one was there, responsible for check-in. Sijjad (the guy showing us directions) told us, that there were 2 beds left in the room he was sleeping in and so we took them for the night. After our “check-in” we went downtown with our new acquaintance consisting of Sajjid (from Kenia), Brady (he lives in Nanaimo) and Vincent (from Quebec). We quickly realized that Vancouver Island is “the Amsterdam of B.C., maybe even of all Canada”, as we were told some weeks ago – the same sweet taste in the air every couple of metres; moreover Brady was offering joints all the time – think that guy’s got a serious problem we finally dropped into Cambie’s pub where we had some beer after that strenuous day and went home around 1.30 p.m. Sajjid stayed even longer, checking out a girl he took home some time later

I got up 8 a.m. on Saturday and waited for the others to get ready while watching Spongebob Squarepants. We then went to Thrifty’s to buy some stuff for cooking and preparing sandwiches. We then decided not to stay at the same hostel for the 2nd night, as we found out that they simply forgot about us the first night. We paid them 30 C$ for Friday night and went to the HI hostel in town centre, which again was a very good choice. The whole interior seemed to be pretty new and we just paid 82 C$ for our own room that night (and all the employees there seem to be Germans). While checking in I met Steve (from Quebec) who I had already met on our trip two weeks before at the HI hostel in Banff. After having breakfast we went to our car to drive to Cathedral Grove, which is about 1 hour north of Nanaimo.

Cathedral grove is one of the oldest Canadian rain forests with some of the tallest Red cedar trees on the West Coast. After walking through the forest there we took a 15-minute ride to Little Qualicum Falls, which is a series of quite impressive waterfalls. Back at HI hostel we prepared dinner after having a short break. Dinner was composed of pasta “á la Bolognese” and salad with italian dressings (mjam). Of course we prepared too much and offered some of our salad to a French guy staying at the hostel – think it was a good balance to the raw meat he was eating :S We then discussed the next days schedule and went to bed early.

On Sunday we made a short round trip around Nanaimo and we were lucky to see some seals very close to the coast. We then went on towards B.C.’s capital Victoria (sorry to tell you folks: Vancouver is NOT the capital of British Columbia). We stopped in Chemainus, a typical tourist town, beeing an attraction because of 40 huge paintings on several buildings of the town. After buying some chocolate for 8 C$ (!!!) we went on to Victoria. We wanted to go downtown there but couldn’t because a man, who had climbed to the roof of the Custom house building, claimed to have a bomb. He already had surrendered, but police still was searching the area for a possible bomb. We just stayed there for a short time anyway because we had to catch the ferry at 6 p.m. leaving from Swartz Bay.

We had dinner on the ferry and I took some amazing shots of the sun setting over the several smaller offshore islands. We arrived in Tsawwassen south of Vancouver around 8 p.m. but it took us more than an hour to get back onto the n° 1 Transcanada highway – therefore we crossed more than 40 of Vancouvers’ avenues between 57th and 12th and finally had to bypass an accident on 12th avenue, where a car had hit the pylon of a traffic light. On the drive home to Kamloops I did some of my readings for sports events management, while Stephanie was driving and Marc did what a good co-driver would do: SLEEP. We again had a stop in Merrit (this time at Time Horton’s) to get some caffeine and a smily cookie for the driver.

Finally we arrived in Kamloops around 1.30 a.m. The trip was really great with lots of great landscape around Nanaimo and especially around Victoria – I just can recommend going on a trip to “the Island”. PICS will follow soon.

“Back to school” today I got back my first mark on last weeks Spanish quiz – 45 out of possible 50, which is quite o.k. for the first quiz I guess

So far so good – hope to hear something from you.

Greez & blessings,
Gergi

ah, yeah and PS:
what’s up with people in Austria? I see that SP and VP are no choice at all, but that huge amount of blue s*** – I don’t know – seriously.

Readings, readings, readings …

Hey there out on the blue ball!

The week went by quite fast with a lots of readings to do for each class – I’m struggling a bit with that I have to admit. We had our first quiz this week – in Spanish, which was quite easy. We also did a presentation on “skiing as an adaptive sport” in our sports events management class, where we showed a really cool video:

So don’t greet disabled people with a smile, in the way: oh, poor one – wants to try skiing as well … these guys ski better than 99 % of all skiers who are lucky to be in the best of health.

Tuesday evening I went to the climbing gym again for an introductory lesson with Keenan, who’s also in my community & culture class. We did some basics about how to put on the harness correctly and how to provide security for the one who is climbing. It was great fun and we also did a kind of “question of trust”: the one climbing just had to jump off the wall at any time he wanted, just to see that the person down on the ground was in control anyway and would secure the climber by the rope.

Yesterday I went swimming again in the morning and finished the abstract of my research paper for conference management with the topic: The impact on Schladming hosting the 2013 Alpine Ski World cup regarding infrastructure for meetings & conferences. I’ll try to compare the preparation in Schladming with those of St. Anton in 2001 and the ones going on in Whistler Mountain for the 2010 Olympics.

In the evening I went to the Residence, where we – Stephanie K. (from Germany) and some others discussed our trip to Vancouver Island this weekend. We will go there on Friday afternoon and return on Sunday – think, it’ll be great fun. After a short discussion (about 20 minutes) we went to the community area to watch the movie “The Bucket List” with Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman – GREAT one.

Today I went swimming again, after having my 1-hour class of sports events management in the morning. I swam 100 lanes (2.5 km) which took me 70 minutes!!! – quite long you might think, but I already improved for 2 minutes since I did that distance 9 days ago During my lunch break I tried to find a cheap car again, but it seems like all the cars I could afford, are already sold again (d***). In my afternoon conference management class I turned in the abstract I had written yesterday after we had done some discussion about setting up rooms for different kinds of meetings.

So, that’s it – basically everything so far, but I guess it will be more intersting after the weekend, when I’ll do the entry about Vancouver Island and post some pictures again.

Greez & blessings,
Gergi

PS: and don’t forget guys, go to the European Outdoor Film Tour (EOFT) if you can catch it somewhere … – unfortunately it seems that it’s not coming to Schladming this year – but watch the trailer here: EOFT Trailer

Quite quiet weekend :x

Hi there again all around the globe

So well the weekend went by quite without any big events. On Thursday I first had bbq with the Austrian guys (Martin, David & Matthias) and Vadim (Russia) at the Residence – probably the first REAL bbq here in Kamloops with ribs, sausages, steaks, … thereafter went to the Heroes Pub on campus to have some beer and play some 8-ball at the pool tables – I’m still quite good after some party in the Residence later on I went home around 1.30 a.m.

Friday I did some homework and went shopping – I got a nice FIREFLY winter jacket for 112 bucks and a BURTON hoodie for some 62 C$ (did I mention that I love BURTON stuff?). In the evening I watched the movie “Into the wild” which I borrowed from Steph. The movie was taken based upon the real story of Chris McCandless: he finishes college and then gets rid of all his belongings just to get “into the wild” with Alaska as his ultimate goal ahead. It tells about people he gets to know on his trip and the search for happiness in life – could be my story … great movie!

On Saturday I again did some homework and then went to the climbing gym to book my introductory lesson on Tuesday. I also did some bouldering, but after 1 hour I realized that it means quite an effort for me to learn climbing – but I’ll take the challenge. In the evening I prepared my meal with pork and rice and watched another movie – “the pursuit of happyness” with Will Smith & his son Jaden Smith acting in the biographical story of Chris Gardner.

Today: homework again – believe it or not – I got a lot of readings to do. In the afternoon I went to Steph’s place and we worked out a powerpoint for our sports events management class on Tuesday.

Well, that’s it – not really interesting, isn’t it?

greez anyways & be blessed,
Gergi

Special entry: Election 2008

Hi there!

This message is especially for all AUSTRIANS reading my blog!
We have elections next week on Sunday – again I know – but please go there and give your vote. It is time to change something about the way politics is made in Austria – so go there and make a difference.

For me my choice is clear: I’m going to vote for the “Bürgerforum Österreich – Liste Fritz Dinkhauser” – because it’s time that people all over our beautiful country get involved again.

Ausnahmsweise diesmal auch auf Deutsch:
Nächsten Sonntag sind Wahlen in Österreich – ich weiß: schon wieder – aber geh’ auf jeden Fall hin und gib deine Stimme ab. Es ist Zeit, dass sich etwas daran ändert, wie in Österreich Politik gemacht wird – darum geh wählen und mach den Unterschied!

Meine Wahl ist bereits gefallen: ich werde dem Bürgerforum Österreich – Liste Fritz Dinkhauser meine Stimme geben – weil es Zeit wird, das die Leute in unserem schönen Land wieder miteinbezogen werden.

Greez & blessings,
Gergi

Back 2 school

Hi again!

Well, … after our trip to Banff at the weekend we went back 2 school again on Monday, which was really screwed-up, because with thoughts we still were in Banff Classes went past us without really getting some knowledge into our minds, especially in Spanish. In the evening Stephanie, Bernadette & I went swimming to clear our minds.

Tuesday was not spectacular at all. I just went swimming again – 100 lanes this time, which took me around 72 minutes (pooh!). In the evening I sat together with the girls ath the Residence to draw the line below our expenditure in Banff and split it on the 5 of us (Rabin unfortunately could not come, because he had to learn for a quiz on Wednesday). We had some beer & wine and a lot of fun, while listening to “Ö3 Mikromann” via the web. One additional thing to tell you: everytime you visit somebody living at the Residence they have to come down from their room to sign you in at the front desk (a really dull policy somehow, but they got their reasons because of too many drinking parties going on there).

Today Stephanie and I had lunch together and did some homework before we got an invitation for dinner at the Dittrich’s home, which is a local family we got to know sitting at the Riverside Park in our first week here in Kamloops. Their son Paul was on exchange semester at our home university in Salzburg 1 1/2 years ago. Paul and his dad (John) picked us up at Stephanie’s place. We had a nice evening there with lots of food and some Stiegl beer. The Dittrich’s already got around the globe a bit and we had some nice talks concerning whalewatching, bears and local tradition. They also kind of invited us to come along to the salmon migration with them.

That’s it so far – hope to hear something about home …

Greez & blessings,
Gergi

Banff National Park

Hi there again with another blog entry!

As I already told ya, we (Stephanie, Bernadette, Natascha & Rabin) went to Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies this weekend. Robin, our Swedish friend got the car already on Thursday evening so we could leave from Kamloops on Friday early in the morning. Rabin picked us up one after the other and we finally left the city around 5 a.m. We had our first break on the road at a Tim Hortons for “the transporter” (as we called Robin during our trip) to get some coffee. The weather unfortunately was a bit rainy that day, but we got forward quite fast and arrived in Banff around 11 a.m. after a 500 km drive (you actually lose 1 hour because it’s a different time zone already (GMT -7).

We checked in at our hostel (HI hostel Alpine Lodge in Banff) which is really the kind of hostel you think about when talking about Canada, made up by a lot of wood. We had breakfast there (really huge with ham & eggs, french toast, bacon, coffee, …) and then Rabin went for a nap, while Stephanie, Berni, Natascha and I were playing cards (UNO) in the lobby. In the afternoon we then just went down to Banff to have a look at the souvenir shops, because the weather was quite bad all the afternoon.

In the evening we prepared some burgers for dinner and had some of the beer we brought along from Kamloops. We then went to the lobby for playing cards again, where we got to know some Irish guys (Darragh & Fergal) and a quite strange guy from Quebec (Steve), who joined us. After some time, you can imagine, drinking games started Later on we went down to the pub in the basement of the hostel, where a karaoke night was held and the Australians (who are also studying at TRU and went there for the weekend) almost made a “one-nation show”. We went to bed quite late (can’t remember exactly) and had some nice hours of sleep.

Saturday I got up around 8 a.m. while the others still were sleeping and had some toast with jam for breakfast. I waited for the others to get up and we sang happy birthday to Robin who celebrated his 32rd that day. As we were ready we left to Johnston Canyon (about 25 km north of Banff) for a short hiking trip. We parked the car there, which costs 20 C$ a day (actually the ticket is valid until the next day 4 p.m. in the whole national park). The trail – which was recommended by an employee of the Banff visitors centre – leads up through the canyon along the waterfalls and is asphalted (!!!!) It takes about 1 hour to get to the upper falls from where we hiked on to the “ink pots”. Stephanie & I were walking a bit faster, while Natascha and Berni accompanied Rabin on his first hiking tour ever.

The “ink pots” are mineral springs, like little ponds, in the valley up from the canyon. The water bubbles out from below the pots and fills them without any creek flowing into them. They also got that amazing blue-green colour, just like the water in all the lakes and rivers in Banff National Park. Of course we took dozens of pictures and had lunch up there. After some nice sandwiches, apples, bananas & granola bars we went back down again and got back towards Banff where we had a short stop at lake Minnewanka. We then went back to the hostel for having dinner. The girls prepared a huge amount of Spaghetti Bolognese which would have been enough for 2 days

In the evening we went played cards again – this time without drinking games we went to the pub again and played some matches of table soccer, where Berni beat all of us guys – congratulations! There were quite view people at the pub this day and so I also had a chance to perform a song (The Unforgiven by Metallica). Berni & I played some games of 8-ball at the pool table and then we went to bed.

The next day I again got up at 8 and had a coffee in the morning. I waited for the others and we had breakfast together. After checking out we first went downtown Banff for getting some souvenirs. Then we went on to Lake Moraine in the Valley of the Ten Peaks near Lake Louise, which is probably the most beautiful site I’ve seen so far. We took dozens of pictures again and paddled across the lake by canoe (30 C$ per hour for a canoe). We then went on to Lake Louise to the Fairmont Chateau at the lake, where we met the Irish guys again and had a coffee.

We left there at 4 p.m. towards Kamloops and had some good discussions on the way back home concerning general issues of interest, but also good talks about what’s our attitude to life. We had a snack at a McDonald’s drive thru and finally arrived back in Kamloops around 8.30 p.m. (GMT -8 again).

It was a great trip and I definitly want to go there again (we already have plans to go there for the alpine ski world cup end of November). I hope you enjoy the pics in the gallery and leave some comments as well.

Greez & blessings,
Gergi

Short notice

Hi again,

the past 2 days passed by quite unspectacular. I went swimming both days to keep fit and bought two books again (one for 90 $ and a used one for 50 $, which I bought together with Stephanie).
Today we went shopping for our trip to Banff National Park & bought some wine, cider & beer which cost us 88 $ (!) – alcoholic drinks are really expensive up here. So far so good …

Tomorrow morning we are going to Banff & Lake Louise then. I have to get up very early, at around 4 a.m., but it’s o.k. as I don’t have to drive myself. I’m really looking forward to hiking!

You’ll get some pics and a trip report after the weekend!

Greez & blessings,
Gergi

Some days have passed …

Hi there again …

So, now some time has passed and we have had our first days of classes, starting last Wednesday, where we dropped into our 3rd semester with 4 courses (!!!) on the first day. We started off with Marketing at 8.30 a.m., where I still was on the waitlist to get into the course. That was followed by “Community & Cultural Issues” with 1 hour of class, which seems to be quite interesting, but also a little weird for that course Stephanie still was on the waitlist. The next course to follow was the introduction to statistics, which we both hoped to skip (we just chose it, because we at first were told at the FH that we had to cover the subjects from the semester at home in Salzburg). That was basically the most prosy class I’ve ever taken :S – after the first 50 minutes we started to play Hangman and started to fill our TRU organizer.

Before we took our first spanish classes in the evening we went to the Acquatic Centre again, for 40 lanes to swim. Refreshed we got back to the University for our Spanish class, where we did almost do nothing that day, but got Job’s news that Stephanie would also have to buy the Spanish book (which costs 172 Canadian $).

On Thursday we started the day with 1 hour of sports management, where our teacher is also Anne Terwiel, which we have in marketing too (she is quite experienced and working a lot with the ski resort of Sun Peaks north of Kamloops). Because our next classes where scheduled for the afternoon our decision again was to go to the Acquatic centre. In the afternoon I took my class in conference management (the only class I’m in, where there is a male teacher! – quite different to Austria) and Stephanie took hers in Hotel Operations.

On Thursday evening we went to the Campus Activity Centre (CAC), which held a movie night, showing “Old School” and “300″. After watching the first film we tried to get into the Heroes Pub at the CAC, but they have quite strange rules there and so just 50 people were allowed inside although there was space for around 200. After waiting for around 40 minutes in front of the pub we did not feel like going out anymore and went home for sleep.

Friday was the day of the big “Welcome back barbecue” of Thompson Rivers University. It was arranged almost like a fair with numerious different organizations and service providers presenting themselves, so we got a lot of free goodies (mmmh macaroni) and also tickets for the evenings ice-hockey exhibition of the Kamloops Blazers, which played at 7 p.m. It was just an exhibition game against the Chiliwack Bruins, therefore only a few spectators were there, bur nevertheless the match was quite fun because of some really intense fighting scenes. Afterwards we went out to the Maxx were we got a drink for free (also because of the BBQ before). Later on we went to the CJ’s (Cactus Jack’s) – quite a nice place for shaking

On Saturday I went swimming in the afternoon and in the evening we again went to the CAC where a Indie rockband from Toronto was playing a concert “Rock against tuition”. I also watched the 2nd half-time of Austria’s victory over France in the soccer game!!! (live streams on internet are great) On Sunday we had an international barbecue – you realize: we have BBQ almost every day – at Hospitality Inn (where I live) with our friends from Sweden, Ireland, Germany, etc … in the evening we started our first preparations for classes when we printed some documents in the Campus’ computer labs (printing is for free – you just have to bring your own paper) and did some Spanish reading.

Barbecue with some of the international studs @ Hospitality Inn again

Today we finally could skip our hated statistics course, when we got the signatures from the teachers in our waitlisted courses. In the morning’s marketing session we also had to introduce ourselves in a “memorable way” – we’ll soon put the video of this online somewhere. Thereafter, guess what … we went swimming – we’re now doing already between 50 (me) and 60 (Steph) lanes. For lunch I prepared some macaroni with cheese and tomato sauce which was quite fine. In the evening session we had Spanish, which was a bit disappointing (at least for Stephanie, who knows Spanish quite a good deal) because of the general low level.

Now we’re already looking forward to the weekend when we will go to Banff National Park for some hiking with the 2 other Austrian girls, Bernadette & Natascha and our Swedish friend Rabin.

Stephanie has also posted some (german) news on her blog. Check out!

That’s it so far!
Greez,
Gergi

Tomorrow the hard life begins …

Hi again!

Today was the last day of orientations, which we almost skipped except for the meals
In the morning we registered at the gym for whatever reason and then went to the Acquatic centre for swimming (Stephanie is a good swimmer – she left me behind for around 10 lanes!). On the way we met Hannah & Sofie (the girls from Sweden), who had to leave their rooms because of bedbugs (!!!). We then went for a coffee and for lunch at around 12.30 a.m. The afternoon we used for relaxing and I was doing my laundry.

Around 4.30 p.m. I picked up Stephanie at her room and we went to the BBQ, where we had some burgers and drinks and talked with Robin (a Swedish guy we met already last week – he’s pretty cool), the 2 Austrian girls (Berni & Natascha) and some others including Colan (from Toronto). During the BBQ there was a quiz on movies and geography with CD’s as prizes, but we didn’t manage to answer a question as the first ones. At the end of the BBQ we hoarded some some cans of coke and some bread for at home.

So then, the lazy days are over. Tomorrow reality is catching up again and we will have to sit in our first classes – it’s altogether 4 of them tomorrow. We will start already at 8.30 p.m. with “marketing & customer service”, followed by “cultural issues in tourism” where Stephi is hoping to get from the waiting list into the course. Then we go to the Statistics course to sign in, although we want to get rid of it – but we have to do so for not losing it before we are in the other courses, where we are on waiting list.

We tried to get the missing books today as well, but they are not in store, becaue Bookies (that’s the name of the bookstore – how ingenious) missed to order them on time. It could happen that we will not get the books for that 2 courses, which would have the positive effect of saving a lot of money

So then, that’s it for the moment … ah, wait … some new pics are online in the gallery.

Feel hugged & be blessed
Yours,
Gergi