Trip to Hopewell Rocks for international students

International mentorship program provides opportunities for students to explore the region

Hopewell Rocks is just an hour’s drive from Mt. A! Hamish Hallet/Submitted

The sea air had filled the lungs of international and Canadian students. The first trip for the mentorship program started off with flying colours. This program is about pairing up first-year international students with upper-year international students to do fun activities together across the academic semester or year. Muddy and sandy ocean floors covered the soles of trainers and boots, while the sea crashed onto the seaweed-covered rocks. While this was happening, the flourishing New Brunswick forest filled the landscape at the back of the beach.

This was Hopewell Rocks on Sept 22, 2019.

I, for one, enjoyed this trip within New Brunswick to the seaside. A great escape away from the lecture theatres, midterms, assignments, Jennings and all you could think of about Sackville or Mount Allison. Not everything here is terrible. As an exchange student from the University of Kent in Canterbury, I will take every opportunity to explore what the East Coast of Canada has to offer.

Hopewell Rocks delivered in its expectations, despite the swampy mud attacking my white Converses. A mistake on my part. A few other students and I explored the whole beach, and it was unquestionably well worth the trip. Even though there was one stage where the tide could have stranded us, as we did not know where the stairs were, we luckily found them. After we escaped the potential waves, we had enjoyed a graceful walk through the forest and towards the cafe. The food was also fantastic.

I was not the only one to enjoy the trip to Hopewell Rocks; a few mentors and a few mentees did as well. Let us take the enthusiastic and marvellous Linnea Bidder: she is doing her first year as a upper-year mentor, and she is in second year studying psychology and sociology. Linnea unconditionally loved the trip to Hopewell Rocks and was ecstatic to meet new people in the fantastic weather we had over that weekend. She felt the same way that I did, in terms of getting away from academics and learning about New Brunswick.

One of the people Linnea met on this trip was her wondrous mentee, Antonia Neumann. She is an exchange student from Germany and is here just for the semester. Antonia treasured her time in getting to know her mentor Linnea, while at the same time almost getting lost between the rocks. Linnea and Antonia will hopefully meet on more amazing occasions across the  academic semester!

Another individual who adored the trip to the rocks was Anish NK, a first-year student from Tokyo. One of the things he enjoyed was the big cove and how he was fascinated by the Mi’kmaq legends and their history. Again, he thought the trip was astounding. He hopes to go on more trips soon!

Calling out to all international students: If you are considering going on these trips, go for it. You will have a phenomenal time!

More trips are to come for the internationals, and I hope to cover them all!

Stay tuned for more from the British exchange student.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles