#ExperienceInterNations — The Best Activities

Moving abroad, and making that new start, can be scary at first but with the right company this new experience is definitely worth it. Because of our dedicated Consuls who are tirelessly organizing activities, expats and global minds around the world find amazing people they can turn to, pursue their passions, and experience their life abroad in the best ways.

With the “Experience Life Abroad” campaign, we shone a light on the unique official events and activities taking place around the world.

Our Consuls had the chance to compete for the best activity in different categories, including Stand-Out Networking Hub, Unique Dining Experience, Best View, Adventure Here We Come, Move Your Body, Splash Around, State of the Art, Cultural Melting Pot, and Let’s Change the World.

Here, we introduce you to the winners of each category who took their group members on the best adventures. They tell us about their winning activity, what they love about their community, and how organizing these activities has changed their lives.

Thank you for your hard work and for making life abroad a great experience for our members around the world.

 

If you would like to become a Consul yourself, let us know! As an Albatross Member, you can also host one-off activities.

Stand Out Networking Hub

As the Consul of the Putting Fun Back into Business Group in Bucharest, Andreea Elefteriadis was responsible for organizing the Social and Business Networking Event in May. Although the get-together itself was by no means out of the ordinary, the venue was impressive!

Tell us about this specific activity! What made it special?

When taking over the group as Consul, my approach was to find interesting locations that have a story and a vision and add discussion topics to each event so that we can have a central discussion point. This event was true to my original vision as it was hosted in the beautiful Vila Oromolu which now houses a creative space called Qreator. We also discussed work-life balance from the perspective of the members present. I think the central location and the mix of old architectural details with the new revolutionary details attracted so many people. We enjoyed a nice dinner in a nearby location after the formal meeting.

What do you love about the group/community? Tell us about the best experience you’ve had with them!

I enjoy the diversity in our group and the fact that you meet new people every time very much, and you discover their life story and their expat story in particular. I learned a lot by interacting with such bright and vibrant people. I cannot select just one experience to call the best as every event has its own flavor and dynamic.

How has organizing activities changed your life abroad?

It confirmed that I really like putting people together and “building bridges”. I like facilitating experience, sharing in an environment that showcases local culture and specificity. I appreciate all the people I have met during the events and I have grown personally due to these experiences.

Unique Dining Experience

The Grenoble Professional Networking Group is perfect for everyone who wants to learn more about business opportunities and expand their network. In May, Purity Hassan invited her group to a trading bar, where the drink prices are subject to change, similar to the stock market. Guests could act as apprentice traders at this networking night.

Tell us about this specific activity! What made it special?

Organizing these events is a thrill for me and a challenge at the same time because I always want to make sure everyone has the most fun and connects with each other organically. So, when I thought of this particular event, I wanted to fuse a professional lifestyle with something relaxing and fun. I found this new bar and thought it definitely must be an amazing place for acting out our New York Stock Exchange dreams! What made it special was that Julien had his birthday the same day, mine had been two days before and two other members had their birthdays within the same period. So, it turned out to be a birthday celebration. We had pre-drinks at the bar testing out the prices after each countdown. Taz, the DinnerNations Consul suggested having dinner afterwards, so we picked a random Japanese restaurant down the street. Walking in the rain, we headed out to dinner and then ended up at LocoMosquito, a Latino dance bar. It was absolutely fun! We ended up dancing the whole night to salsa, bachata, and lots more. At the end of the day, the spirit of the community makes the best memories!

What do you love about the group/community? Tell us about the best experience you’ve had with them!

The Professionals Networking Group has been a great experience. First, I met two amazing women, Cathy and Sabina, who are just phenomenal. At the first event I hosted, we had a fun and amazing night meeting top people in the tech industry. Some events after, I also met my now good friend, Julia, who just moved from Japan to France a couple of months ago, and her boyfriend. And there’s Frederic, Denise, Pascale, and Francoise who are experts in the industry and always generous about sharing their experiences. Every time we meet up, we have the best experience and I believe this is driven by a sense of family, mutual benefit, and fun. These experiences go beyond InterNations, from recommending a new banking platform to attending each other’s birthday party. We easily became friends. Everyone is open-minded, welcoming, and supportive.

How has organizing activities changed your life abroad?

Grenoble is a unique city. Embarking on the Professional Group is a bit daunting than other groups because there isn’t a lot of options that appeal to the professional person besides everyone wants to have a great time after work. So I make them the subject of the events. I find out what they would love to do before I host another one. I also have to find ways to be creative and ensure I create a safe space where everyone feels welcome. I have come to learn about exciting topics and industries from technology to production and learn about different cultures. It’s impressive the amount of experience and growth you gain from each event. One of the exciting memories I have was from the Networking Night, where we talked about Artificial Intelligence and the threat to our everyday lives. Was it a myth or not! The conversation that enthused is one I will never forget! My goal is to keep looking for creative ways to keep the conversation going and ensuring we all have a good time after a long day at work!

Best View

The Brussels La Dolce Vita Group enjoyed the impressive view at their May activity. From Kwint, a popular outdoor venue, well-loved by the group, they overlooked the center of the town of Brussels. As the Consul of this wonderful group, Marwan Chab aims to provide high-quality and exclusive events for them to enjoy their life to the fullest.

Tell us about this specific activity! What made it special?

Every summer, we organize a series of outdoor networking activities. It is the time of the year when our members enjoy the weather with great conversions. In this particular location at Monts Art, Brussels, we could get a whole glimpse of the city while we fetched drinks from the local bar nearby, and we also brought musicians to provide great background music. This particular event was in fact a double venue: we started outdoors to kick-off the evening and celebrate summer, and later on in the evening, we went to the garden of a nearby Italian restaurant where we listened to live music with a saxophonist. It was great fun!

What do you love about the group/community? Tell us about the best experience you’ve had with them!

The members of the group are all beautiful souls! They like to join in great numbers, and despite the large size of the group, they almost all know each other. The best experience I had with them was when I decided to re-locate to the UK. I got a lot of messages thanking me for those events that I organized, and I even got thank-you messages from some couples who had met at my events. It was nice to hear that I had really introduced them to each other!

How has organizing activities changed your life abroad?

This indeed made a big difference to my social life. For every place I really enjoyed visiting, I organized an event with the group. It was great to always be surrounded by colleagues and friends.

In my case, I have also studied part-time to be a sommelier and I also run the Wine Group to share my knowledge of wine. Without InterNations, I would not have been able to share my knowledge as a sommelier and organize great wine tasting activities with the group.

Adventure, Here We Come

The Hanoi Outdoor & Adventure Group made the very best of harvest season by visiting the villages around Hanoi, enjoying tea under big trees and sharing a traditional lunch. Exploring this beautiful city is a passion for the Consuls Iris Tram Dinh and Long Dinh, as is sharing their adventures with people from around the world.

Tell us about this specific activity! What made it special?

We were such a special, diverse, international group, and on the trip, we were joined by our family members from France, Korea, England, Germany, and Vietnam. We visited the Vietnamese traditional handicraft and ancient villages and met the villagers, including a Catholic family and their traditional antique wooden house, an ancient church with the bell made from France, one of the oldest Buddhist temples of Vietnam. We had traditional village cuisine cooked by the villagers and we even learned making traditional Vietnamese candy at the antique near-500-years-old wooden house. We listened to the families’ stories of villagers, of mystery, fairytale, and the history of the ancient villages…

What do you love about the group/community? Tell us about the best experience you’ve had with them!

We love that the members are from various countries sharing multiple diverse cultures and stories and hang out together as open minded friends. It is amazing to learn that as kids from all over the world, we played many similar traditional games.

How has organizing activities changed your life abroad?

Organizing activities has changed our lives in a great way. We organize outdoor and adventurous activities, sharing our time with international friends and learning about the country again after living abroad for about a decade.

Move Your Body

A 7.5K Night Run was the goal of the Mexico City Running Group. Activity host Dul Garcia has a pretty busy life and loves to fit exercise into her day this way. As part of a larger Quiero Run event, the group explored the Mexico City’s touristic streets with their running shoes.

Tell us about this specific activity! What made it special?

This was a special activity because more people attended and were interested in it. I think that the way I worded the post contributed to the success of the activity. I wrote an “emphatic” post saying, “As you might have noticed I enjoy posting night runs. Why not get the body moving at night before going to bed?”

Living in Mexico City is an amazing daily journey. People need to learn to develop leadership skills such as balancing personal life and work time, in addition to traffic jams. Long working and commuting hours are a great excuse to take us away from a healthy lifestyle. The challenge is to learn how to deal with all the variables we have in Mexico City while also making some personal time to take care of our bodies. The night run is a great opportunity to do this before going back home. As I said in another post, there are no excuses for not doing any physical activity.

Additionally, this activity was special because we ran to a new attraction within the city, Monumento a la Revolución. At the monument, we met people from InterNations as well as other Mexico City locals.

What do you love about the group/community? Tell us about the best experience you’ve had with them!

As an interculturalist, I appreciate the diversity and meeting people from a wide range of cultures. I have also developed greater cultural awareness in order to understand and include people, not only in the activities but also in Mexican culture.

The most rewarding experience with the running group was feedback from a Mexico City Running Group member after a couple of months of the training activity with Benjamin Paredes on January 2019. The member wrote, “Dulce, I was really uncommitted about running and usually just used it as an occasional outlet to stay in shape. Thanks to that training and the introduction to some running techniques and ideas, I became quite excited about running and my overall physical fitness. Thank you, Dulce, for a wonderful job of inclusion with the group and your efforts to make sure that everyone was involved that day were tremendously appreciated.”

How has organizing activities changed your life abroad?

The activities have helped me to continue developing my leadership skills in an intercultural and an athletic setting. Organizing each activity takes me out of my comfort zone and even when I am sometimes very tired, I bring energy and enthusiasm to the activity. The reward I receive after each activity is the thank-yous for organizing it and seeing big smiles on people’s faces. The running group is one of the few groups where English is obviously the second language. Organizing activities for the Mexico City Running Group has forced me to practice my translation skills, Spanish to English and vice versa. This group has been a great benefit in helping expats enjoy their Mexico City experience.

Splash Around

Activity Host Shalini Jaggi invited the members of the New Delhi Luxury Experience Group to a Beat the Heat Pool Party. The group gathered at the LaLiT Hotel to escape the heat wave and take a plunge into the cool water.

Tell us about this specific activity! What made it special?

Taking the group to a 90% expat party made it special, as well as the fact that members who love to swim enjoyed the massive pool and the games in the pool.

What do you love about the group/community? Tell us about the best experience you’ve had with them!

The best experience was last year’s pool parties. They were a good mix and I enjoyed organizing them as much as the members enjoyed attending them.

I have varied interests which I want to share with other like-minded members. I would love to go more pool parties if only they were happening at more places but one more is certainly on its way.

How has organizing activities changed your life abroad?

Well, it’s fun to meet new people with the same interests and I now have company at the events I want to go to. Life has just gotten more interesting. Thanks for the appreciation from your end.

State of the Art

The Montréal Photography Group visited the ghost town and Iroquoian site of Droulers-Tsiionhiakwatha in May. Activity host Charles Boch looked to organize a special photo opportunity with a historical twist, for members to take some beautiful pictures and improve their skills.

Tell us about this specific activity! What made it special?

An abandoned and supposedly haunted town, as well as an Iroquoian archeological site are both charged with history, with a twist of mystery and paranormal. All this piqued people’s curiosity. Add to this a road trip with an opportunity to get out of the city for the day… and of course great photography opportunities. This was the recipe for making the event quite attractive.

What do you love about the group/community? Tell us about the best experience you’ve had with them!

I joined the photography group out of interest for… photography, and the desire to share my hobby with other people.

As an amateur photographer, being Consul of this group forces me to constantly look for new and original activity ideas. I try to have diversity, some being more nature or travel photography, others more like studio photography.

This allows me to meet many great people, from all walks of life and origins.

How has organizing activities changed your life abroad?

Organizing activities makes you discover the place you live in more depth. So, this would also apply to your hometown. Walking around the city you live in, with the eye of the photographer, makes you discover new things in places you thought you knew.

Cultural Melting Pot

Activity host Carolina Ortega gathered the Paris Joie de Vivre Group in the heart of the city to watch the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 together. Eurovision has become a huge annual event with 200 viewers worldwide and for such an international crowd as this group, this get-together was a must for every member.

Tell us about this specific activity! What made it special?

Sharing the musical tastes of other countries always makes us see the mistakes of our own country and the positive in other countries regardless of the politics and geopolitics right now. Above all, it makes the global mind grow and think that we are the same in this world.

What do you love about the group/community? Tell us about the best experience you’ve had with them!

One of the Ambassadors of the Paris Community wanted to share this activity with us and I was happy that Antoni was with us that day.

How has organizing activities changed your life abroad?

I have changed in the sense of being more empathetic, thinking more about others while staying the same emotionally.

Let’s Change the World

The Hamburg Spontaneous Activities Group in Hamburg got together for a charity dinner for a school in Liberia. Activity host Lutz Kock got members together to eat, drink, and donate. All the money and donations collected at this activity went towards clean water, lunch, and school fees.

Tell us about this specific activity! What made it special?

A friend of mine, Zoe Yaskey, is from Liberia. She offers a lot of “help”, for example to woman in the “Frauenhaus” in Wedel. In the past, she also collected money for a school in her home village in Liberia. Since I am very interested in African people, culture, and countries, I connected with her last year. When I heard about her projects, I wanted to be involved. This year, we started with selling used books in the Wedel Library and we planned this charity event. It was Zoe´s idea and I am glad we did it. We collected approx. 1,000 EUR for this project. Many people offered their help with cooking and other tasks — we even got the room in that sports club for free.

What do you love about the group/community? Tell us about the best experience you’ve had with them!

I am the Consul of various groups. My favorite is sailing but I like being spontaneous, too. Hamburg is big, international, and there are so many activities in the city. Sometimes it’s a problem to figure out what to do first.

The best experience I had were with the spontaneous or walking activities: good people, nature lovers, good conversations. I prefer these over loud clubs where talking is not possible. I also love cinemas — and meeting up for dinner, talking, and connecting beforehand. After the movie, people mostly tired and go home.

How has organizing activities changed your life abroad?

My life hasn’t really changed. But I meet more international people. As sales engineer, I have traveled around the world. Getting in touch with people from different countries helps me to always be open minded and hear what’s going on in the world.