It’s a very exciting time in the NYQUEST Office! Whilst most of us are plugging away in Toronto, two of our comrades are in the UK (and Ireland, in a few days!) running info sessions, alumni socials and generally spreading the word about how great a summer with NYQUEST Camp Canada is!
So, here’s the first update from Travis and Lauren’s adventures across the pond:
Travis (Senior Marketing Coordinator)
We’ve done it—our first of our information session series is complete. Goodbye for now, London! It’s been a blast. As we write this, we are on a train through the English countryside heading towards Manchester for the first time. Which means it’s a perfect time to reflect on our UK & Ireland journey thus far!
It goes without saying, London is an amazing city. Even though we’ve met with colleagues, students, universities, and prospective staff before, London never loses its charm. It definitely helps to have Big Ben, the London Eye or Tower Bridge in our periphery as we move through the city! Maybe a bit touristy, but we don’t mind.
To start, we visited Imperial College. We’ve worked with the University in the past, but it’s always so great to be back on campus. We first met with Gareth and Todd from the Imperial College Outdoor Society. They told us about the types of events they run at the University, and the types of members who are part of their society. Seriously, these folks are a talent bunch. They explained how members recently trekked across Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. We’d love to see the group in action in Canada—obviously in their element within the boundless wilderness we have!
From our meeting with the Society, we met with Robert, a long-standing colleague at the Imperial College Career Centre. We spoke about the University in general, opportunities for the summer, and our upcoming job fairs. We can’t wait to meet with Robert again next year!
From Imperial College, we moved to London Southbank University. Just being on campus, you can sense the creativity. It’s a shame that we only had the day in London, because we would love to hear more from the students and staff. All the more reason to come back!
Lauren (Placement Director)
After an exciting full day of engaging with university students, we ended the evening with a great Info Session and Social Event at The Warwick in Soho. Thank you so much to everyone who came out! We had people come out from over two hours away to learn more about our summer camp placement process.
It was really amazing to meet you all face-to-face and to answer your questions in-person. We enjoyed some delicious food and definitely had some great laughs. Travis and I had prepared a bit of a Canadian trivia quiz, and we were quite impressed with how much everyone knew about Canada already! We also learned a thing or two ourselves – including how to properly pronounce Edinburgh, and that we must watch an episode of the British show Beaver Falls about summer camp.
As a Placement Director at NYQUEST, it’s extremely helpful for me to get a good feel for our participants’ personalities and preferences, so that I can find you each a camp placement that is the perfect match for you! Can’t wait to meet more future participants this week
We’re off to Manchester! You can read the next UK & Ireland Travel Log entry here!