Simon Franchini

Final Report for the Bachelor Plus
Programm 2011/12
by Simon Franchini, University of Alberta, Edmonton
Hi there,
I am Simon Franchini, one of the lucky ones who got the chance to participate in
the Bachelor Plus Program. This report does not cover the information that you
can easily access on Wikipedia etc. as it would be a waste of my time and an
insult to the readers research skills. In this report I write about my experiences at
the UofA (as the University of Alberta is called here) and try to give you some
information that will hopefully help you during your preparations and first days.
1) Preparations
Enrollment at the UofA
After being accepted to the Bachelor Plus Program many things had to be
organised. One of the first things I had to do first was getting enrolled as a visiting
student. On the form for the enrollment at the UofA you are asked for the courses
you are going to take.
Although I had a clear idea about the kind of courses that I wanted to take I found
it hard to actually choose between the courses that were offered. The courseregistration-platform https://www.beartracks.ualberta.ca/ provides short course
descriptions.
It is good to have an idea which courses to take, but you can still change them.
So don’t worry if you are not 100% sure in which courses you will end up. You can
register for more courses then you finally want to take and drop the ones that you
don't like after the first week.
For any enquiries about the enrollment in courses contact Alex Drummond:
[email protected]. He is very kind and helpful!
If you don’t have a TOEFL yet, make sure to get it as soon as possible. It might
take some time to get it. I do recommend not getting it in Stuttgart. I had bad
experiences with this facility.
Visa
The first thing you should get as soon as you are enrolled at the UofA is your
study permit:
(http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/germany-allemagne/visas/studyetudier.aspx?lang=deu&view=d)
The form asks you for the duration of your studies. During the summer term you
intend to do an internship, so consider this as your time of studies as well. It might
take up to 8 weeks to get the visa. I got it in about 2 weeks. You have to show the
letter of acceptance from the University at the border when you arrive in order to
get the study permit. So take this letter with you in your hand-luggage ;-)
Flight
I found my flight at http://flug.idealo.de/, yet it is usually worth checking at airlines
directly. Flights were in 2011 at around 800-900$ return from Stuttgart with British
Airways. Stuttgart was even slightly cheaper than Frankfurt. Check prices
regularly and book early; you can safe quite some money. One way flights are not
worth looking for since they are way too expensive.
Insurance
Make sure to get a travel health insurance if you intend to travel to other
provinces of Canada or the US. You still have to get health insurance in Alberta,
there is no exception (more about that later).
Enrollment in Courses
After you received your ccid-number (same as uni-account in Freiburg) you are
able to register for courses online at Beartracks. Starting August courses tend to
fill up quite fast, so make sure to enroll in courses prior to your arrival. Dropping
courses is possible during the first 2 weeks of a term, so you can still decide late if
you want to drop or swap them.
If you're not sure whether you have sufficient prerequisites, or if Beartracks
doesn't allow you to register for a certain course feel free to contact the instructor.
If you show that you're interested in the topic you shouldn't have problems getting
into courses.
Bankaccount/ Creditcard
Some german banks offer free withdrawal of money with credit cards (Deutsche
Bank for instance). This is by far the easiest way to get money in Canada. You
can open a bank account here, but international money transfers are way too
expensive. Almost all shops and institutions here take credit cards anyway.
Bafög
It takes the Bafögamt up to 6 months to work through your application, so I
applied as early as possible. I got the first money transfer in November. I was
lucky that I had enough money to support myself, so better plan some extra
money for the first months. We had to report the Bafögamt that we receive the
scholarship from the DAAD since this counts as income.
2) First days in Edmonton
Health Insurance
You might have other things in mind during your first days in Edmonton, but it is
good to get this done as soon as possible. If your study permit is valid for around
12 months you can drop out of the University Health Care plan which is
35$/month. Instead you have to sign up for Alberta Health Care (which is for free).
The International Center was very helpful with giving assistance in doing that.
Orientation Week
Before the term starts there is an orientation week for international students. It’s
called transitions. I didn’t learn much there, but it is a very good way to meet new
people, make friends and get free food. There will be more information about this
event
on
the
website
of
the
International
Center:
http://www.international.ualberta.ca/index.cfm
Fees
At the beginning of the September the fees for the UofA have to be paid. For the
two terms I paid 208 $.Thanks to the Bachelor Plus Program this is compared to
normal tuition almost nothing.
3) Living
During your first days you can either check out the Hi-Hostel:
http://www.hihostels.ca/westerncanada/1404/HI-Edmonton.hostel or if you are
more adventurous try couchsurfing: http://www.couchsurfing.org/ and sleep at the
home of a Canadian and make some friends during your first days. I was lucky
and have friends that live in Edmonton, so I stood at their place the first week.
Check http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/ for rooms in shared apartments. Usually Canadians
search for roommates during the last week of a month for the next month. So if
you arrive at the end of August it should be able to find a room for September.
Realistic prices for rent start at 500$.
The public transport system is not as developed as in bigger cities in Europe, so it
might be worth checking how long it takes from your prospective flat to the
campus. If you want to use a bike to go to school there is a place where you can
find a cheap used bike: http://edmontonbikes.ca/. Cyclists are a minority in
Edmonton, particularly during winter.
There are rooms available on campus, but there are things to consider first. Some
rooms come with a meal plan (Lister Center for example). This means there is no
kitchen and you have to pay a fixed amount of money together with rent. You get
vouchers for food on campus, but that’s usually fast food. Some rooms are very
expensive (HUB, International-House). I finally ended up in a room in East
Campus Village and I was paying 475$/month and it did not come with mealplan.
This is fairly cheap for standards in Edmonton. The room came without furniture,
but I was able to borrow almost everything. Living on campus has some
advantages (short distances to classrooms..) but one has to apply very early for
residence on http://www.residence.ualberta.ca/ . If you plan to live on campus you
should apply as soon as possible.
4) Finances
Life in Canada is expensive. Here are my tips to
safe money:
Buy bulk - There are big supermarkets
(Superstore for example) that offer much cheaper
food in big quantities, but it takes a while to get
there by LRT (tram). These stores usually offer
some European food (you should check the
cheese-shelf ;-))
Cook your own meals- Food on campus is expensive and usually not tasty
and/or unhealthy.
Used textbooks – www.kijiji.ca is the easiest way to find them.
Get your winter clothes in Canada - Ok, not everything is more expensive in
Canada. Clothes are usually cheaper here. You can get good outdoor-clothes and
gear in mountain-equipment-coop: www.mec.ca/edmonton
Trips with outdoors club:
Traveling during weekends alone
is boring and expensive: The
outdoors club offers many trips
during and between the terms. I
found this a fun way to meet
people and see the outdoors:
http://www.outdoorsclub.ca/
4) Studying
Expect to spend more time studying than in Freiburg. Studying at the UofA is
considered a full time job and the University does its best to keep students busy. I
took 4 courses during my first term: “Soil Remediation”, “Elementary Calculus I”,
“Particles and Waves” and “Soil Physics”
The second term I was taking 5 courses:
“Global Biogeochemistry”, “Hydrogeology”, “Soil and Water Conservation”,
“Elementary Calculus II” and “Fluids,
Fields and Radiation”.
Taking 4 courses is already a lot of work
and I would suggest not taking more than
4 courses in the first term. I needed some
time to adapt to the different system of
studying in Canada, the new campus and
facilities etc. Regular Canadian students
usually take only 4 courses as well.
During the fall-term I was taking five
courses because 2 of them seem to be less work than average courses, but as
said before it is a lot of work.
If courses are closed for online registration it is worth contacting the instructor.
Usually there are still ways to get into the course. Prerequisites usually don’t
apply for visiting student.
The selection of forestry courses at the faculty of ALES seems to be small, but
there are many courses in related programs and other faculties. I took for
example the course “Particles and Waves” at the physics department that was
designed for students in the environmental sciences.
To put it in a nutshell: Studying at the UofA is more work than I expected but I
really enjoy the time here. I met a lot of wonderful people and the additional
courses provided me with a much broader picture about my studies.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me:
[email protected]