University: Saint Mary’s University
City: Halifax
Country: Canada
Continent: North America
Field of study: business administration
Study type: semester abroad
My experiences in Canada have shown that Canadians are very friendly, accommodating and cosmopolitan. Finding an apartment from Germany is very difficult and not recommended because you cannot visit the apartment. I’ve had bad experiences with it. The best way to get an apartment is to rent a room in a hotel and then start looking for an apartment in the immediate vicinity of the university – there is plenty to choose from. Check jibin123.com to see best cities to study in Sweden.
The organization at the SMU regarding enrolling in courses is very easy – just talk to the relevant professors and Mr. Dixon (if it hasn’t already cut off from Germany via the Internet).
The lectures take some getting used to for German university students, since the classes are smaller than at German universities (25 – 40 students).
The material was conveyed very well in the courses I chose (Int. Marketing, Int. Business Management, Human Resource Management, Strategic Management and Marketing Management). The lectures are very practical and the material to be learned is used again and again during the course semester because you have to deliver a lot of group work, projects, term papers and presentations. This is great for learning.
People who are lazy to read have to adjust quite a bit. In my case (5 courses), the reading workload during the semester consisted of around 3,000 pages, most of which was read twice because most of it is needed for the final exam at the end of the semester.
It was also very pleasant for me that you also had to take exams during the semester. This allowed you to pass the course before the actual final exam. Furthermore, one was “forced” to learn and I didn’t let go too much and in the end stood in front of an unmanageable mountain of material.
There is a wide range of leisure activities in Halifax and the surrounding area. Only the fact that very few students have a car slows down the fun of the trip a little – but you can rent a car relatively cheaply. Then you can take a nice ride on the Light House Route to Peggy’s Cove. Or a day trip to Lunenburg and Kiku National Park for canoeing. And definitely not to be missed is Cape Breton.
All in all, a stay abroad brings a lot. You not only learn for your job but above all for life.
And Halifax is very pleasant for this experience because it is a very small city you can reach everything on foot (at least downtown) and if you have to go further there is always the bus, which is not so well organized but still drives regularly. There are also enough shopping possibilities. And the city itself always offers something to discover. You shouldn’t make the mistake of spending the whole day in the apartment, you have to go out and experience the country and its people – these are the best and most beautiful memories of the time and also those that help you in life.
