UQ Program: Bachelor of Engineering
Looking back at my exchange at the University of Waterloo I can honestly say I had the craziest, most interesting, most unbelievable and eventful 6 months of my life. I chose to study in Canada because I wanted to experience a real North American Winter with subzero temperatures and snow. I chose the University of Waterloo because it is known to have one of the best engineering programs in Canada and is an internationally known university.
I arrived in Toronto just before new years after my first time on a plane and (after an interesting experience with immigration where the customs official tried to deport me) I stepped onto Canadian soil. After a few days in Toronto being a tourist and meeting some other exchangers I headed out to Waterloo (about 2 hours and roughly $15 by greyhound).
My accommodation for the semester was in WCRI or Waterloo Cooperative Residence Inc, which is a dorm style residence where we cooked for ourselves. For me WCRI had the perfect location, about 100m down the road is a coffee/donut store called Tim Horton’s, definitely the most Canadian fast food store there is and can be found everywhere in Canada, on campus alone there are 5 Tim Horton’s Stores. Closest thing in the other direction is a great Irish Pub and a full plaza. Directly across the road are the first uni Buildings.
I did my 3rd year, first semester of a dual degree in Engineering (Mechatronics) and Science (Physics). I found that UW had a fairly similar workload to UQ and the lecturers always tried to make the material interesting. UW uses less technology in teaching with no equivalent to Lectopia and for some courses the notes were not made available online. I was enrolled in 5 courses to make the equivalent UQ full time load with roughly the same contact hours and teaching structure.
On campus there is a group called Global Cafe which is run to allow exchangers and Waterloo students to meet and get to know each other. Had some great times getting to know people from all over the world and forming lasting friendships. If you’re going to Waterloo in the future I highly recommend getting involved in the Global Cafe.
In the mid semester break a group of exchangers did a trip up to Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa. Probably the coldest I’ve ever been and definitely the most amount of snow that I’ve seen (metres in places).
After the semester was over I did some travelling around North America. From Waterloo to Niagara Falls, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Miami, Chicago, Detroit and Muskoka Lakes for May 24 which is a Canadian holiday. I then took the Train across Canada stopping in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Jasper where some of the other exchangers and I rented a car and explored the Canadian Rockies for a few days before finally heading on to Vancouver. From Vancouver onto San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Salt Lake City, Yellowstone, Spokane, and Seattle.
My advice: buy good quality thermals and a down jacket (I lived in mine), always take megabus over greyhound, eat Tim Horton’s as much as you can (Boston cream or Canadian Maple Donuts mmmmm!), if you are going to Quebec take some French friends with you for translators, don’t wear thongs in the snow, don’t lock yourself outside in -10 when wearing a singlet, take every opportunity and keep an open mind.