Lane Carrandi

All of the hikes are within an hour or two from Banff National Park. …Marble Canyon, Numa Falls, Lake Eiffel and Moraine Lake Shoreline, Peyto Lake and Falls, and Takakkaw Falls. Banff, and Canada in general, has endless hikes and all of them can be beautiful and enjoyable. I did not get the chance to go here, but it is known to have amazing campsites, day-hikes, cross-country skiing, mountain biking, fishing, hot springs, and wildlife.

It is important that we acknowledge when a situation is not allowing us to live as our most authentic selves or is not aligned with our true selves and core values. It involves a lot of intentional listening, mistaking intuition for fear, and subsequently more intentional listening. After discovering what it feels, looks, sounds, tastes, and smells like to trust myself, I can reflect that to other close relationships. Living in true authenticity requires courage and a constant commitment to discovering what that looks like.

My best friend attended one of the major universities in the city, which attracts a lot of young people. If you choose to stay in the city, I would recommend staying in the Old Port. A restaurant with great poutine is La Belle et La Boeuf – also great hamburgers and mac n’ cheese. There are also great restaurants with poutine in Old Port, along the water.

What has come up has not been so pretty- mostly anxiety about the unknown future (read more about my visa journey here) and discontentment with the present moment. I want to “have it all together” with the “perfect” job, family, future, bank account, body, and relationships. Once we get there, we may come to realize that our fear really is worse than our worst case scenario. Because you can’t self-isolate from fear”A close family relative to my host family & his 10 year-old son, Frank