Living at GEC Viva – Student Testimonials
GEC is the largest off-campus student residence and community in Vancouver. Hear what our students from Vancouver Film School, Douglas College, Quest University, and Thompson Rivers University say about living at GEC Viva student housing in Downtown Vancouver.
At GEC Viva, student housing has never been more exciting. GEC Viva is a 17th-floor tower located in the heart of downtown Vancouver, Canada, featuring panoramic views of the city and the North Shore Mountains of Vancouver BC. With dozens of schools, shopping centers, and transportation nearby, the possibilities are endless when everything is at your doorstep.
Nearby schools include SFU Vancouver (Simon Fraser University), UBC Robson Square (University of British Columbia), BCIT Downtown, University Canada West, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Vancouver Film School (VFS), Emily Carr University, and more.
Testimonials
Aden | Vancouver Film School
“My name is Aden. I’m from Kamloops, BC, and I go to Vancouver Film School. GEC was recommended to me from my friend Youssef, who lived here a couple months ago when I came here for school. When I came back here from living at home, I got in contact with Jenny here. And she told me all about the rent and all of that and the accommodation and stuff like that. That’s when I made the decision to come here. It’s super convenient with grocery stores all over the place. I like walking around the city, so there’s a lot of stuff for me to do downtown, which I like.”
Rose | Douglas College
“Hi, I’m Rose. I’m from the Philippines. I came here last February and I’ve been in GEC for eight months now. I chose to stay here because the location is very convenient—I can just walk to Robson every time because I really like just window shopping and seeing all the stores there. It’s very convenient because there’s housekeeping and the kitchen’s fully equipped with all the equipment I need to cook, which I really enjoy, so yeah, I really like it here.”
Sofia | Quest University
“My name’s Sofia. I was born and I grew up in Mexico City. Then I moved to Vietnam, then Panama, now Canada. I go to Quest University in Squamish, but it’s online right now. So I don’t have to commute, I just take classes from my apartment. I just recently moved here and learned to cook. I had never cooked before in my life. I’ve had everything I need here, like all the pans and pots and knives and everything.
The downtown location’s great for me because I can just go out for a walk and go to Sunset Beach or English Bay, Granville Island. It’s just great for me. I love walking around downtown.”
Iffath | Thompson Rivers University
“My name is Iffath and I’m from Bangladesh. I am studying right now in my Masters of Business Administration in Thompson Rivers University and it’s in Kamloops, but because of the pandemic, the classes are online right now so that’s why I can actually come here.
I came to know about GEC from my best friend. She is Japanese and she was a student in my university, too. She was an exchange student, Ami. When I was planning to shift to Vancouver, she told me she used to live in GEC and she loved it here. She told me this is fully equipped with all kinds of utensils and cooking stuff. I can actually bake cookies as well, so that’s pretty fun.
GEC is just at the centre of the downtown location and it’s really good. I love eating outside a lot so that’s why all the places I like, like sushi places mostly, they are very near, it’s like a two minute walking distance from here, so that’s why it’s pretty good. I really like GEC. It’s pretty nice.”
*Repost from www.gecliving.com/blog/viva-student-testimonial/