Organization
A big plus!
During the entire preparation period (February 2011 – August 2011) you always felt comfortable and in good hands. The first contact with your website was totally straightforward and very informative. In addition, there is some general information that was definitely very helpful. Then you have to decide for yourself which direction you want to go in the end. Everyone has individual decision criteria according to which he / she decides which country is selected. One should study the individual factors very carefully. Once you have made a decision, there are only a few steps left to the semester abroad. After the application documents have been submitted, they will be checked again by your website and forwarded to the respective university. A few weeks later you will get an answer and you can start preparing. I can only repeat myself, but your website took a lot of work, time and nerves away from me!
AND all advice and support is absolutely FREE !!! Hard to believe, but true!!!
Your website helped me a lot here too. First of all, the question of whether you want to live on-campus or off-campus needs to be clarified. I decided to live on campus. Next up is the choice of student dormitory. The choices were Vanier Residence, Loyala Residence and Edmund Rice Residence. With the first two options (Vanier and Loyala) you unfortunately have to choose a meal plan (ask for more information from your website). Since I wanted to go to Halifax to study and not to eat, I preferred the Edmund Rice Residence. Unfortunately, it is now the case that you have to apply for the rooms in the dormitories. With this application you have to indicate your preferences. In my case, my first preference was met. In addition, you can specify whether you want to move into an apartment with a specific person. This wish was also granted to me. Unfortunately, on-campus living is very expensive. I shared an apartment with two roommates in the Edmund Rice Residence and paid almost CAD 3,000 for it. Note for a period of just under three months. Despite the high rental costs, I would most likely choose the Rice Residence again. The lecture rooms are approx. 5 minutes away and the way there is covered. A big minus point goes to the regulation of moving out of the dormitories. Then you have to move out of your room no later than 24 hours after the last final exam. Of course, you have the option to extend the moving-out date. You have to submit an application and provide good reasons.
If you decide to live off-campus, there are definitely cheaper options. There are many ways to rent a room within a radius of 2-3 kilometers. The prices for these rooms fluctuate a lot, because there are some really beautiful buildings and these then also charge corresponding rental prices. One of the cheapest ways to live off-campus is the YMCA. Rental price should be 500 CAD per month. It’s easy to get to both on foot and by bus. Well, the furnishing of the rooms and the general hygiene should take some getting used to. We leave what that means in space.
Flight
I booked my outbound flight with Condor. This flight was very cheap at € 330. Unfortunately Condor only flies to Halifax until October. So I couldn’t book my return flight through Condor. Furthermore, there is a great deal of uncertainty if you book your outward and return flight at the same time. Because the university does not publish the dates for the final exams until the end of October / beginning of November. I have heard from some people who booked their return flight at the same time as their outbound flight and then had difficulty rebooking. I booked my return flight later and unfortunately paid far too much for it at € 700.
Courses
Since I am studying for a master’s degree, I have also chosen master’s courses. Under certain circumstances, however, there is also the possibility of attending courses from the 4th year Bachelor’s degree. You should rather take another look at your university.
- Financial Accounting (ACCT 5540), Dr. Jeffrey Power: It’s
a really interesting course. You should generally note that the workload during the semester is really high. Especially in this course, the effort was relatively high. There were three projects or homework to do during the semester. Total length approx. 25 pages. There was also a mid-term exam (1.5 hours) and a final exam (3 hours). - Financial Management (FINA 6663.1), Dr. Mahmoud Mohamed:
A really very interesting and, above all, very practice-oriented course. I can only recommend this course. We wrote a total of two quizzes (10 minutes each), a mid-term exam (1.5 hours) and a final exam (3 hours). - Economics & Policy in Global Context (ECON 6601), Dr. Arun Mukhopadhyay:
Since I am an economist, this course suited me very well. Some basic concepts of economics are dealt with and, based on this, various application examples from politics are illustrated. This course was also really very interesting and recommendable.
One thing caught my eye in particular. The way the professors deal with the students is very different than here in Germany. The professors are very open to criticism and approach you very directly. If you have any problems with the lecture material, you simply go to the professor’s office and get a very detailed explanation.
Life / fun
As mentioned above, there is a lot to do for the courses during the semester. Nevertheless, you should take the time to get to know the state of Nova Scotia with the state capital Halifax. There are really beautiful places in Nova Scotia. It makes sense to team up with other foreign students to organize some discovery trips. For example, we have been to Cape Breton Island and Kejimkujik National Park. I can only recommend these two places. If you are in Nova Scotia in the summer, then you definitely have to visit the Kejimkujik Seaside National Park. This is located directly on the Atlantic coast and has a breathtaking white sandy beach. Just genius! I would also recommend visiting some other major cities in Canada. You should definitely not miss the cities of Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. These are relatively easy to reach by Canadian standards in terms of distance. If you intend to take a tour of the cities mentioned, I would definitely recommend you to take the train. You can find more information at: http://www.viarail.ca/en. There you can also select the “Multi-City” button, which enables you to travel to different cities with a stay of several days. This saves you money compared to individual bookings of the sections between the cities. In my opinion, you should take at least 10-14 days to explore the cities mentioned above. I did this tour in ten days and was partly stunned by the many impressions.
A very different topic is the party life in Halifax. If you’re a pub-goer, you’ll feel very, very comfortable in Halifax. There are many different types of bars in Halifax. For the most part, however, these pubs have an Irish flavor. You should definitely visit the local discos and clubs. I would recommend the male readers of this report to visit the “Taboo Nightclub”. A really very good and eventful club. However, you should note that a certain dress code applies there. There is also a certain age limit there, which I unfortunately no longer know. Other opportunities to get to know nice people are offered by “The Dome” (http://www.thedome.ca/), “Palace” (http://www.thenewpalace.com/) and “Pacifico” (http: // www. pacifico.ca/index.php).
In summary, it can be said that my stay abroad in Halifax was very nice. I don’t want to miss this stay! I had the opportunity to get to know a lot of nice and, above all, interesting people. The country of Canada is just unique. I’ve only seen a fraction of it, but I can only recommend it. I will definitely be going back to Canada one more time! Take the opportunity and take this step.
