Exchange Report. Queen s University, Canada

Transcription

1 Exchange Report Queen s University, Canada Kiki Wong Global Business and Economics Spring 2013

2 Part I Activity Log January After 15 hours of international flight from Hong Kong and 1 hour domestic flight from Toronto, we arrived at Kingston Airport in the midnight. The weather was cold with snow during the arrival, and the temperature was between -10 C and -20 C in January. As we arrived earlier then the check-in date of residence, we stayed in a hotel for 3 days. We then moved into Harkness International Hall in early January. The Queen s University International Centre (QUIC) was very helpful. They guided me through the registration and briefly introduced the departments and facilities of the school. There was a well-organized orientation which gave us chances to know more about Queens and meet exchange students from different countries. I spent most of the time in January exploring Kingston. I went sightseeing along the Princess Street with friends and got familiarized with the locations of grocery stores, restaurants and shopping centers in Kingston. There was not much entertainment in Kingston as it is a small town. One of the daily activities was going to Metro (a grocery store near Harkness) and cooking together with friends. February Temperature dropped further as it came to the second month of winter term and it was snowing or raining nearly every day. The workload in February was quite heavy as there were many quizzes, midterm exams, projects and presentations. After the midterms, there was a long holiday called reading week. We travelled to Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City with a local girl who can speak French. It was real fun skating on Rideau Canal, the world longest skating rink in Ottawa. There were great Canadian and French food in Montreal, and the architecture of Quebec City was really beautiful. But I don t recommend you to visit Montreal in winter because most of the museums would not be opened to the public. March There was a well-known western festival in March called the St. Patrick s Day. Teenagers and college students all dressed in green and drank green beer. Kingston is a quiet town with small population but streets were filled with people on that day. We went to the Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area to learn about the process of

3 sugaring off from sap to syrup. Don t forget to try pancakes with maple syrup if you go to the sugar bush. April Finally the last month of the winter term, we generally stayed in Kingston to prepare the final exams and finish group projects. We have been to Wolfe Island and biked and picnicked there. A nice lady who lives in Kingston Centre also drove us to cities nearby like Ganaoque and brought us to some local attractions like Fort Henry. She brought us to shop in Frontenac Mall and Cataraqui Town Centre as well. We left Kingston and travelled Toronto and Niagara Falls in late April. I recommend buying bus tickets and booking hotels earlier to save money because the price range of a Megabus ticket can be from CAD1 to CAD50! If you have time, I recommend you to stay 3 days in the Niagara City as there are some entertainment such as haunted houses, themed restaurants and casinos apart from the natural attractions. May We then left Canada and started our trip to the East Coast. We have visited New York City, Boston and Washington D.C. and finally back to Toronto to take the flight to Hong Kong. The most unforgettable part was that my UA flight from Washington to Toronto delayed 4 hours so that I could not catch my CX flight to Hong Kong. The airport was empty and I could find nobody for help in the midnight. I felt really hopeless standing alone in freezing wind with two big suitcases at the time. Luckily there was internet connection in the airport so I can find a hotel to stay and called the hotel shuttle to pick me up. I would recommend you not to travel or take flight alone because accident or emergency could happen at any time and you would feel extremely hopeless if there is nobody beside you.

4 Part II General Exchange Information Visa Procedures No Visa is required to study in Canada for less than 6 months if you are a HKSAR passport holder. However, a US Visa is needed if you want to travel to the US. You can apply for it in Hong Kong or in Canada. Orientation Activities There were many activities organized by QSB, ETC and QUIC for exchange students especially during the Welcome Week. QSB and ETC held activities for Commerce exchange students like International Pub Crawl and QUIC held activities for all international students like orientation dinner. All of them are not compulsory so you can join if you are interested. International Services and Activities QUIC gives supports to every incoming student at Queens. They always organize activities for you to make new friends, for example, day trip to conservation area and skiing activity. The exchange coordinator, Jacoba is also willing to help you if you have any enquiry about Queens. For your interest, all exchange students whose first language is not English can apply for an extra 30 minutes for final exams. Accommodations There are two on-campus residences for exchange students to choose, Harkness International Hall and Jean Royce Hall. Harkness provides single rooms and co-ed bathrooms. Living in Harkness would be much more convenient as it is located on the main campus and very close to Goodes Hall where commerce classes are held. You only need to walk 5 minutes to have classes. Jean Royce is a 20-minute talk to main campus and most students choose taking a 10-minute bus trip in winter. It is much cheaper and the rooms may be bigger if you choose renting a house outside, but you will meet fewer international students and you may need longer time to go to school. For your reference, it costs around CAD a month to rent a house compared to one-term residence fee of around CAD300. Course Registration The course registration system is the same as the SIS of HKUST, so I believe you will have no problem if you are familiar with the SIS. One important thing to note is that

5 there is no waiting list for courses in Queens. Please register the courses earlier or you may not enroll in some popular courses. Teaching and Assessment Methods It is on absolute grading for all courses and the passing grade is D-. Usually participation constitutes around 10-20% of the grades. There are assignments, midterms, quizzes, final exams and projects. You can take at most 6 courses a term but I would recommend you to take 3-5 courses or the workload would be too heavy. Textbooks are extremely expensive in Canada so you can choose not buying them if they are not compulsory or getting a relatively cheaper online version. Courses I took at Queens are: COMM 313 (ACCT 3020) COMM 353 (MGMT 4230) ECON 351 (ECON 3334) ECON 255 (ECON2174) GPHY 102 DRAM 205 Sports and Recreation Facilities There are many kinds of sports provided by the school. You can play sports on your own or join sports classes at the Physical Education Centre or Recreational Centre. Playing sports at Queens is free of charge with your student ID card but renting equipment requires you to pay. Costs/Expenses Round trip tickets from Hong Kong to Toronto HKD17,500 One-way ticket from Toronto to Kingston..HKD2,500 Residence fee..cad2,800 UHIP.CAD250 Textbooks.CAD200 Winter clothing HKD3,000 Food and Miscellaneous..CAD2,500 Travel..HKD30,000 The tax rate in Ontario is 13%. In total, I spend around HKD80,000. Social Clubs and Networking Opportunities There are always different activities held by clubs and societies at Queens. You can know more from their promotions in QUIC.

6 Health and Safety The school requires every exchange student to pay for UHIP as the compulsory health insurance. Luckily I have not been injured or sick in Canada so I did not use the medical services at all. Canada is actually a very safe country and Canadians are super nice, but try not to walk alone on the street at night in Kingston as the roads are quite dark and there are usually some drunk people. Food I did not buy the meal plan but as I know the food of the meal plan is quite nice. During my stay I usually bought groceries from Food Basics, Metro and Loblaws and cooked at residence. Priced in Food Basics are cheaper but it is quite far away from campus. Metro is the closet to campus. Dining out is more expensive then cooking yourself, each meal costs about CAD You can find a lot of nice restaurants along the Princess Street proving Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Western cuisines % tips and 13% tax are required if you dine at a restaurant. Transportation It is free for students to take a bus in Kingston if you have a student card. You can get an updated bus schedule and map in the bus or from QUIC. If you are going to other cities like Toronto and Montreal, you can buy tickets online from Megabus and Greyhound and it is always cheaper if you buy it earlier. You can choose buying bus tickets from Tricolor store on campus as well. Climate The temperature can be as low as -25 C and there was still snow in April. The weather will be warmer in April but it would be still around 0 C to 10 C. Weather in Kingston is not easily predictable and there is always strong wind, snow and rain. It is recommended to bring snow boots, gloves, scarf, hat and thick coat. Communication I used roaming service so I did not purchase any phone card in Canada. Using mobile phones in Canada is extremely expensive and not all cell phones can be compatible with their SIM cards. There is no wifi in residences but there is a LAN cable at each room so you can choose bringing a router from HK or share wifi to your phone by your laptop.

7 Part III Items to Bring and Contacts Checklist Passport Flight Tickets Confirmation Letter Credit Card Laptop USB Camera Cell Phone Adaptor Stationery Financial Calculator (for Accounting and Finance courses) Winter Clothing Summer Clothing Swimming Suit Business Suit Bed Sheet Blanket Pillow Laundry Bag Lock (for locker at gym) If more information is needed, you can get my contact from SBM Exchange Team by ing at Enjoy your exchange! Name: Kiki WONG Major: GBUS and ECON