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UBC SPRING 2018 EXCHANGE REPORT

Tina Wu

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MONTHLY ACTIVITY LOG ————————————————————————————— JANUARY 2018

The spring semester here started earlier than any other exchange partners of UST in North America, typically on January 3rd. I flew to Vancouver as soon as I finished all the final exams, saving myself plenty of time to explore Vancouver and enjoy the holiday season. Celebrations at Whistler resort, Christmas Market at Coal Harbor, New Year fireworks at Canada Place are all surprisingly great.

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After moving into my dorm on campus, I quickly settled all the necessities, such as SIM card, UBC student card, bank account and so on. Without any gap, series of welcoming activities hit the headline. There were literally hundreds of clubs promoting on the Clubs Days, which organized tons of amazing events. Particularly, Exchange Student Club held exclusive tours and parties, bringing us together and closer.

FEBRURARY 2018

February was an exciting month, with two largest festivals that you would not want to miss. Dine Out Festival lasted nearly 20 days from late January, calling everyone out of their home for dinner. More than 200 fabulous restaurants participated this year, which made it quite difficult to choose in between. I tasted around fifteen top-ranked restaurants with my friends, posted photos and recommendations on my foodie page (Instagram @Foodiewherever), welcome to check it out!

Then came the Spring Festival, when you would be shocked by the population of Asian in this western city. You would even feel at home with all kinds of Chinese Cuisine, décor, and more importantly, your friends.

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For spring break traveling destinations, I would strongly recommend Yellow Knife, where you could observe Aurora and pretend to be Eskimos. If you prefer a warmer city, San Francisco and LA are within three hours of flight. Even New York could be abnormally warm in this month, as the temperature hit 20 degrees during my visit there in the spring break.

MARCH 2018

Skiing in Vancouver is a must-do, with 3 world-famous resorts within 2 hours’ drive from downtown, and March would be the last chance before snow melts. Or you could challenge “Storm the Wall”, an iconic UBC event that heats up the campus in this busy month.

Apart from these activities, you could hardly find time between continuous midterms and homework. I had 10 midterms in total, which was even more intense than UST. One of my professors bought us coffee before his exams, as he was hundred-percent sure that most of the class had to stay up late to prepare for it.

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APRILL 2018

Soon came the last month, the busiest yet the most fantastic. Finals did not make the campus spiritless, in contrast, the highly anticipated events brought even more people back to school. Annual Block Party was definitely the best day ever, as thousands of students gathered together, cheering and singing, accompanied by world-famous DJs such as TroyBoi, from noon till late-night.

Meanwhile, April presented us with fascinating cherry blossoms and thrilling whales watching, let us spare no time to stay indoors and waste time. What’s more, I went on various impromptu trips to grab the last chance to explore the west coast, crossing the channel to Victoria, and even crossing the border to Seattle.

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MAY 2018

The Spring Term officially ended on April 26th, however, it was not the end of my journey. After saying goodbye to UBC, I flew to San Francisco and began my one-month road trip. We drove towards Los Angeles along Pacific Coast Highway, then headed east to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon along Route 66. It would be the best season to travel around the west coast, as you could enjoy the pleasant sunshine without being boiling hot and fantastic scenery without the crowd.

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LET’S GET IT!

Believe it or not, you will be too delighted to be homesick even though you will have already been six months away from home.

Grab the chance and explore out there, it will be your best semester ever!

VISA PROCEDURES ————————————————————————————— Student Permit is not mandatory, you can simply apply for travel VISA (Mainland China) or eTA (Hong Kong). The multi-entry type of Canada and US VISA are highly recommended, as you will have plenty of chances to visit US and re-enter Canada.

ORIENTATION ACTIVITIES ————————————————————————————— It is normally a quick session around 5 hours on the first day of the semester, introducing some basic information which can be easily found on the UBC Go Global website (students.ubc.ca/about-student-services/go-global). If you are looking for some real activities, I would recommend the Exchange Student Club (Facebook @ UBC Exchange Student Club) as mentioned above.

INTERNATIONAL SERVICES & ACTIVITIES ————————————————————————————— Another way to get involved quickly is the Tandem Language Learning Program (www.tandem.ubc.ca). It pairs you with someone at UBC who speaks the language you want to improve and who wants to get better at the language that you speak. This was where I met one of my best friends at UBC, a talkative Canadian girl who took up Chinese as her fourth language, and we made it our routine to meet for coffee every week.

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ACCOMMODATIONS ————————————————————————————— On-campus housing is generally offered to exchange students. Walter Gage Residence and Fairview Crescent have been the most likely destinations for exchange students. The former one is in flat style with six-bedroom suites and studios to offer, whereas the latter one is in three-story townhouse style and normally provides four-bedroom suites. Although studios are always highly demanded as they offer better privacy, I am satisfied with my six-bedroom suite as it enables me to interact more with my Canadian roommates.

Both of the residences are quite close to bus stations, which makes it easier to buy grocery or head to downtown. Considering distance to the Henry Angus Building, where most business classes take place, Walter Gage would be a better choice with a ten-minute walking distance.

My suggestion is to visit the housing website (www.housing.ubc.ca) carefully and find your own fit, but don't spend too much time hesitating since there is a large possibility that you will be assigned to another room type rather than your top three choices.

COURSES REGISTRATION ————————————————————————————— UBC will send a course registration form to you and ask for your preferences. Normally they will satisfy your requests as long as the course is not labeled as restricted. In the first two weeks, you can easily add, drop or swap classes via email to Go Global office, just make sure to leave enough time for staff to proceed your request.

TEACHING & ASSESSMENT METHODS ————————————————————————————— Teaching method varies a lot depending on professors. Economic and Math professors generally prefer hand-writing, while Finance and Accounting professors rely more on PPTs. All of them emphasize on class participation, some professors set restrictions on using electronic devices, and others call every single student to answer questions during class.

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There tends to be more focus on exams when calculating grades, so the presentations, projects and homework are treated far more casual than in UST. Some details in grades weight distributions are listed as follows for your reference:

COMM377: International Financial Markets and Institutions

· Participation and in-class work 10% · Two Midterm Exams 40% · Final Examination 50%

COMM474: Fixed Income Markets and Management

· Assignments 20% (2 at 10% each) · Midterm Exams 40% (2 at 20% each) · Final Exam 25% · Class Participation 15%

PSYC102: Introduction to Developmental, Social, Personality, & Clinical Psychology

· Mid-term exams 58% · Final exam 40% · Research Experience Component 2%

SPORTS & RECREATION FACILITIES ————————————————————————————— There are several gyms on UBC campus with a membership fee of around 30 CAD per semester. Other sports such as basketball, ice-skating, swimming, table tennis are fully supported with corresponding venues. The newly-built Recreation Aquatics Center is a great place to relax and enjoy. Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre holds provincial ice hockey and national ice-skating events, which will be your usual haunt.

FINANCE & BANKING (CURRENCY / EXPENSES) ————————————————————————————— Canadian used to pay by debit or credit card. Having a card with you will make payments much more convenient without the annoyance of scattered coins and tips calculation. Scotiabank provides the best solution to exchange students, that is a non-charging student debit card with e-transfer function. You can easily apply for a debit card or close the account at the counter, located near the university village.

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Remember to bring enough Canadian Dollar to cover your first week expenses as it takes time to get your UBC student card in order to open an account at a bank. Bringing some US Dollar with you is also a wise choice for potential trips to US.

The expenses in Vancouver are a little bit higher than living in HK. For example:

Food: A casual meal normally ranges from CAD 15 to 30, some restaurants pricing between CAD 40 to 60 are also strong attractions as they offer food of much higher quality than the restaurants at the same price level in HK.

Accommodation: Accommodation fee of Walter Gage Residence six-bedroom suite for four months is priced around CAD 2600.

Communication: Fido monthly plan costs around CAD 50.

Transportation: U-Pass is around CAD 40 per month.

Health Insurance: iMED charges us about CAD 260 in total.

SOCIAL CLUBS & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES ————————————————————————————— As mentioned above, there are hundreds of clubs for you to choose in between. During the promotion period called Club Days, you will have a chance to talk with the Excos and learn more about their offerings. Another way is to explore their Facebook pages, whose link can be found from AMS Facebook Page (@ AMS Events).

Some interesting events offered by clubs including UBC Food Society, Exchange Student Club, UBC K-Wave are worth trying. There are more than five dance related clubs are waiting for you to explore as well.

HEALTH & SAFETY ————————————————————————————— Health insurance (iMED) is mandatory and charged through the online system. But honestly, I would suggest you bring enough medicine or buy from drug stores,

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since I have experienced waiting more than 5 hours in the university clinic with an extremely weak body situation.

Safety is not a big concern as long as you keep away from some areas in the eastern part of Vancouver. If you visit downtown or China town after sunset, make sure to have somebody accompany you or at least let them know your track.

FOOD ————————————————————————————— Chinese and Cantonese restaurants can be found everywhere, some of which are very native and highly rated. I have also tasted around many fabulous restaurants of various styles, ranging from Spanish to Afghan food. Those food were much more delicate and creative from what we had in Hong Kong at the same price level.

Cooking in dorm is also a great appeal. Since big grocery stores like Save-On-Food and Safeway near campus provide fresh and high-quality meat, vegetable, and especially Pacific seafood, homemade food could be more delicious thanks to the raw materials.

TRANSPORTATION ————————————————————————————— Yes you can survive in Vancouver without having a car. After paying the mandatory transportation plan every month, which is called U-Pass and linked with Compass Card, the whole public transportation system including SkyTrain, Bus, and Seabus are free to take. This allows us to travel from UBC to almost everywhere.

Noted that Uber is not allowed in Vancouver, alternatively, you can follow Kabu, a public account on Wechat, to call a car drove by people from Mainland China or Hong Kong.

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CLIMATE ————————————————————————————— Welcome to Raincouver! Spring semester is completely consistent with rainy season. Be sure to take an umbrella anywhere and anytime. Or just follow local citizens to rush in the rain with waterproof jackets and rain boots.

Temperature rises from 10 to 20 degrees over the four months. In reality, I felt like below zero degrees when it said to be 10. It seldom snowed in downtown or UBC this year, nevertheless, I ran across the biggest snowstorm I’ve ever met when skiing at Cypress. Bringing some sweaters from home and buying some thick coats there will be of great help.

COMMUNICATION ————————————————————————————— There are several carriers to choose from, they can be reached at counters in shopping malls or retail stores. I chose Fido taking into account the connection strength and lower price thanks to promotion. It could be used across Canada, whereas extremely expensive if roaming in US. During my several trips to US, I used short-term SIM cards bought from T-Mobile retail store in US and Taobao in China. Such cards could also be bought from large convenient stores in Canada.

CAUTIONARY MEASURES ————————————————————————————— ID Cards / Passport (2 pieces of ID are required to enter clubs or buy alcohol)

UBC acceptance letter (take it with you whenever entering the Canadian custom)

Credit Cards / Cash (enough CAD cash for the first week and USD cash for trips)

Router (no Wi-Fi in dorm generally speaking)

Umbrella / Clothes and shoes (warm and waterproofed)

Laptop / Camera / Adapter / Mobile Power Bank

Hair Dryer / Kettle

International driver license

Necessary medicine

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Necessary but could be easily bought:

Stationaries / Calculators

Cooking utensils

Beddings