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Tilman Bauer Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Administration Helsinki School of Economics, Mikkeli Business Campus |
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STUDY ABROAD PERIOD IN MONTREAL Contents Why did I choose HEC Montreal? I am doing my exchange in HEC Montreal, Canada, since August 8 until December 22, 2007. So far, I may say that it is absolutely wonderful here!! The city is lovely, the people are extremely friendly, and the atmosphere is soooooo cool! Actually, just now when I am writing this, I need to leave to a party, so don't have time to write more right now... The intention of this page is to tell you what we have been doing here, how it is to study as an exchange student in Montreal, and to show you how much fun we have! Yes, you could call this page a diary with pictures, or a blog (though admittedly not a traditional one). Don't forget to click on the photo links to see the picture galleries... Why did I choose HEC Montreal? A long time ago back there in our beloved home university in Mikkeli, we were told to start thinking of where to go for exchange. After a few seconds, it was clear to me that Asia is the place to go nowadays, as the biggest economic growth rates are found there. London and New York have seen their peak of importance in the world several years ago. Asia... hmm... The problem was here that I have been there already many times. Thus, somehow there was a lack of a new dimension if I would have gone to Asia. Yes, I have been to Singapore just 3 days - but still, I wanted to get something totally new from my exchange period. So which geographic region is still unknown to me? North America. But again, there was missing something. I realized that I want to use my exchange period for improving a foreign language. (English doesn't count.) I wanted to improve my French. France? Nooo, it's in Europe, it's too close to home, I have been there a million times. (I love it already, no need to go there again.) That's when I found Montreal: Geographically it gives me the new dimension of getting to know North America. (Still, even if the peak of importance is behind, everybody has to know North America. It is just nothing extraordinary to go there - in contrast to going to South Korea, for instance. Everybody expects you to have been in the USA in the past.) In addition, Montreal gives me the important chance to practice my French! This was the crucial aspect when deciding to go to HEC. Fortunately, I got accepted. :) Hmm... I think I will skip the preparation part because my summer was full of everything else (for instance Tanzania). I did everything in a hurry. The university gives you detailed instructions of what to do before you leave, so just ask them! :) In short for students (from Finland): Make sure with Kela that you get all your securities during your exchange, make sure you stay less than 6 months in Canada so that you don't need a visa, try to prevent any bills from coming during your exchange (for example, Sonera was so kind to drop my monthly mobile phone fees because I wouldn't be using my Finnish phone four 4 months), and make sure you have all the papers in order to get through the immigration office when arriving in Canada. The last point leads me to a little story concerning my arrival in Montreal. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, I didn't have my paper, which proves that I am actually accepted as an exchange student at HEC Montreal. As a result, the attractive immigration office lady didn't let me into the country, after I had traveled more than 18 hours (including long delays) from Finland via New York to Montreal. She was going to send me back to Finland with the next plane! If they would've had an internet connection at the airport, I could have shown them the crucial paper, which was in my email. "Sorry, I am afraid we cannot let you in." Hehe, very funny. I said, I will NOT go back to Finland. So was I able to wake up the empathetic feelings of the young lady: She gave me 5 days time to get the paper in Montreal and deliver it before the deadline to the airport. Thank you! They kept my passport and I was going to get it back once I deliver the paper. A few days later, it was actually surprisingly difficult to get the job done at the airport. It took me 2-3 hours to convince the person then to understand that the "5 days later" was a deadline and not an exact appointment. Only after I managed to get around this person (by calling his supervisor), I got into the process of showing the paper and getting my passport back. In the end, it was no big deal, just a nice little adventure at the airport of Montreal. The first days in Montreal I stayed at Sylvie Claire. She is a local Hospitality Club member and invited me to stay at her place until I got my own apartment. (By the way, the Hospitality Club provides free accommodation, a network of friendly people, and great parties all around the world for free!) Thank you so much, Sylvie, for your hospitality! Together with Sylvie and also alone I spent the days getting to know Montreal. I walked a lot around the different colorful neighborhoods and around Mont Royal. In the evenings I was overwhelmed by the sheer choice of restaurants and the visible nightlife in the streets! A regular Sunday night in Montreal is as active as a Saturday night in Helsinki, Finland!! Splendid... Finally I got to know all my fellow 150 exchange students from all over the world! We all were very excited to be here, to get to know each other, and to take most out of the orientation week in front of us. Now when this first week is over, I must say, wow! It was awesome! Fantastic parties every night, awesome people, great new friends, a lot of fun and different activities... And all this in the exciting city of Montreal! If you think you know how much fun it has been here, multiply it by a thousand and you might get close. We even went climbing trees outside of Montreal! :) Check out the photo galleries below! The courses start! I have chosen these courses: International Economic Environment (in English) With this selection, I have two courses on Monday and two courses on Friday. (My Calendar will be updated soon.) This gives me a rather relaxed week (though we have to do quite a lot for each course) and the chance to do some extensive traveling, if I am "sick" on one Monday, for instance... ;) The two courses in French will force me to learn a lot of French... More content from the courses coming up later... I found this wonderful video on Lorna's Blog (a nice exchange student girl from England). Testing if it works also on my page...
Argh, haven't found the time to update this page in the last month... Sorry... But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't have done anything! For instance, I did a road trip to Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Kane, Lac Saint-Jean, Forestville, Gaspesie... More info coming up... During the autumn break, we went to Cuba! Yiihaa!! :-) HEC Montreal
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© Tilman Bauer 2007
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