We're sharing the contest entries from our Secret Spots & First Impressions grad student photo competition.

This photo is from Samantha Fischer, Faculty of Education. She writes:

I've lived in Toronto my whole life. I drove my 1998 (hardly functioning!) Dodge stratus across the country (with all of my possessions strapped on top) with my girlfriend in May, from Toronto, and when we thought our 3-week long adventure had ended at Vancouver, it had just begun.

By reaching the end of the transcanada highway, we reached our goals of seeing two coasts by car. However, by leaving Vancouver to see what was around it, our adventure had only just begun.

All in all, this picture marked a beginning, and a conclusion: my trip had "ended," but my new life, and the exploration of British Columbia (made possible by my acceptance to SFU) has only just started.

The road to the end of the highway (5 hours from the Metro Vancouver Area) took us to a place we had never seen before. It made me dream of all of the places left to explore before the end of my degree … or, life, should I make it my home! I've got so much to see and do.

My first impression, therefore, of the Metro Vancouver Area, is that there is so much to discover; this is true both within and outside of the city.