1st week @t Pearson College!!

Pearson College, Pearson College.. Those are the words that swirled around in my head during the whole summer actually. The anxious feeling tingling inside me even got more intense after I had left for the Interrail trip, knowing that when I come back it would be only very few days until I finally fly to Canada.
I spent most of the day (before my flight) packing. I actually was worried, since I had like way too many T’s and other clothes with me (according to the other Austrian scholarship holders I had asked for advice), but in the end (after a – in my eyes- very generous reduction of clothes) it turned out to be that there were people at the Pearson College who had twice as much as I did!
Anyways, I arrived well in Vancouver (after a 13 hour flight from Vienna (stopover in Amsterdam)) and was pretty jet lagged…
José from Mexico met up with me after I had arrived at the airport. We found out that we were both arriving at about the same time and both a day too early (we were supposed to be arriving on the 3rd but instead our flight was booked for the 2nd of September), so we decided to meet each other via chat. Worked out all well.. so far. We tried to look for a place to stay in Vancouver. The information booth only had about 3 places left to stay and they were way too far from the Ferry bay and waaay too expensive so we decided to stay overnight at the Vancouver airport at that point.
We went for a walk outside the airport to have a look at Vancouver city, but had to discover that without any buses it was nearly impossible to do so, as the airport itself was separated on an isolated island. So we walked back to the airport *sigh*.
After a couple of hours we were luckily picked up by Liz, an alumni of the Pearson College, and we were allowed to stay at her house which was situated in Vancouver.
On the following day we travelled to Victoria via Ferry Bay and were picked up at the Swartz Bay Ferry terminal and brought to the Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific.
Very ironically I discovered that José is in fact one of my roommates. Each room has 2 1st years and 2 2nd years. My 2 2nd years are Sitraka from Madagascar and Mohammed from Palestine. I couldn’t have been more happy with my roommates I suppose; they’re all really nice (there are 5 houses by the way, and I’m in East house. *Yay, go East house! :)*).
Anyways, I got to know all of the other 1st and 2nd years. In total we’re 200 scholarship holders from 89 different countries.
During the first week, we hiked on the Juan de Fuca Trail which is about 10 km long and camped at the Bear Beach for 2 days. It was really nice to see; lots of greenery, the ocean, the mountains on the other side of the ocean (belonging to the USA) and.. lots of fun with us UWC people!!! =) Check out the pics for a glimpse of our hiking trip (who would have thought I would one day love hiking that much??)

The first week was totally amazing with even more amazing people!! Lots of administrational stuff though, I must admit.
Well, this was about it for my reportage on my first week. Next up: Metchosin day! ;)
Byes, Chris.

Interrail Trip 2006

Hi everyone! I know, it’s been a while since last I updated my blog. Anyways, I’m in Canada already at the Pearson College.
About the Interrail trip; it was loads of fun! I actually got to see more of my abroad-living friends and relatives rather than actual sightseeing, but nevertheless it was a very interesting trip with a lot of new things to see. I started of with Marly to Frankfurt, Germany. There we split up and I went on to Cologne. It was Kermis time, which is an annual festival in Germany. Rides, festival tents and fun-races are made there (as can be seen on the pics). It was really nice to experience.
Then I went went to the Netherlands. I got to visit my sister and my 2 nephews who live in Amsterdam. I stayed there for a few days and got to see the cities Harlem and Amsterdam. Shopping is really fun there.. haha. Loved the boat trip through the canals of Amsterdam too.
Then I travelled back to Germany, to Bochum. Bochum is a neat city in the northwest of Germany. I stayed there for the weekend and toured around the city. There was a wonderful park of which I was so fascinated, that I ended up making so many pictures of it.. :) I also visited an online friend who happened to be in the hospital at that time, but it was a minor thing, so no worries there.
After that I travelled back to Austria to unload a few things and I spent the night there (it actually took me a whole day from Germany to Austria via train!). And then I went to Switzerland, Zürich to be exact. I toured around and unluckily the weather wasn’t too sunny, but fortunately not really rainy either. I met up with old school friends of mine from my days back in the UAE. It was really loads of fun and they showed me around. Finally, I travelled back from Zürich back to Austria which also took me a whole day. I left out Denmark since it was too costly in any case, but that wasn’t such a bad idea in my opinion..
And as short as this column may have been, those were 16 days of Interrail! :) I got to make a couple of pics (just click on the Pictures-link).
But anyways, now a post on my flight to Canada will commence which followed just a couple of days after I had arrived from my Interrail vacation.
Cheers, Chris.