UQ Program: Bachelor of Engineering
I went to Waterloo Uni in Ontario, Canada in the winter term and I studied year 3 semester 1 of electrical and aerospace engineering. This meant I took equivalents of METR3200 (control systems), ELEC3100 (electromag) and ELEC3400 (electronic circuits). I also took a free elective of Ethics in Engineering. All of the engineering courses were of similar difficulty to UQ, but took up a bit more time. There were lots of pracs and it was harder to prepare for exams. This was fine since I lived on campus instead of over an hour away! The Ethics (philosophy) course was an arts course and so was deliciously easy, but very fun and very informative. They have a different approach to teaching engineering, but that is in an overall basis rather than course to course. If you are going to study for more than one semester (term), see if you can do a co-op (work) term in Canada to count towards your engineering work experience. Waterloo is where RIM (Research In Motion – Blackberry et al) comes from; heaps of students get jobs there.
On campus I stayed at Village 1, which was individual rooms and cafeteria food; not as bad as one might think. I could recommend both just for the convenience; give yourself more time to enjoy the country. I managed to make it to Ottawa for ‘Winterlude’, Toronto a few times (including a Muse concert!!!), Niagara Falls (awesome), Blue Mountain for skiing/snow blades/snowboarding and Montreal. There are some great clubs and programs for international students where you’ll get to find out heaps of good stuff to go to as well as meeting other international students. Staying at Village 1 is another good way to meet international students, as they end up grouped together since we all apply late.
Canadians are good fun to hang out with; I had some great times chilling and studying with mates that I hope to see again. It was also really fun to live in the snow for a season. (Non French) Canadian culture is not very different to Australian really, they just have more double doors to keep out the cold, don’t include tax in prices (rage) and they put milk in bags. In a bag.....! In all seriousness it is quite multicultural and people are very friendly. And yes, they laugh at Australians. Every time I asked a question in a lecture everybody would look at me as if expecting to see an Akubra and my kangaroo mount tied under my chair.
Exchange was a great experience for me; it’s the perfect way to experience a country, extend yourself and give breadth and depth to your degree. For me, the thing I learned by travelling was that many people are just totally, bafflingly different. You can always think you’ve known that, but until you actually see and feel the differences it isn’t a part of you. It can be quite humbling. I went to lots of other places on my trip (including south east Asia; I’m under no delusions that Canada is radically different), but that’s my general sentiment.
On the tips front; buy snow gear over there - it’s dead cheap, make use of Canadians’ ridiculous health care, don’t buy cheap whiskey, try good Canadian beer and get YOUTH ALLOWANCE! And on that note, stop reading and start applying!