Final Post - Advice from a study abroad student

I'm writing this final blog post from my home in Scotland, and thinking back to the amazing time I had during my semester in Nova Scotia. Everyone will be returning to Acadia sometime within the next couple of days, and although this means they start classes a week earlier than I will at Dundee, I can't help but feel a little jealous of them. Of course I'm also happy to be back home with my friends and family, and I am sooo excited to see my Dundee friends again..  such mixed emotions!

So anyway, I guess it would be appropriate to make this final post not only a summary of my adventures, but also for it to contain some advice for you students that might want to take part in a similar exchange.

My first piece of advice; if you're even remotely considering the option of spending a year or a semester abroad, fill in the application form! Take time to fill it out and have it submitted on time. Speaking from experience, a last minute rush to fill out the form is pretty stressful, and it will also really work in your favour if the form is submitted before or on the due date. It would also be better to fill in the application form and then decide you no longer want to participate, than to not fill one out and then decide you do.

Secondly, of course it's scary travelling alone and temporarily moving to a country where you know no one, but what you will get from the experience will completely outweigh the scary stuff. On September 1st, leaving day for me, I was about to get on a plane for the first time by myself, being not too sure of how airports even work. This was kind of terrifying, although my excitement was getting in the way of being too scared, and by the time I'd been in Aberdeen, Paris, Montreal and Halifax airports, I was feeling pretty confident about how to get from the check-in desk to the plane. Besides, there are always so many people around to ask for help. As for going somewhere that you don't anyone, it's really just like coming to uni in first year. Everyone around you is in the same position and they're all new too, so just talk to people and they're bound to be friendly back. For me, being foreign in this situation was an added bonus, since a lot of people found me pretty interesting for that reason and so wanted to talk with me and hear my funny accent.

Thirdly, remember that although you will obviously want to have fun with your new friends while you're away, you are on a university exchange programme and so actually having to study and do assignments is necessary. The amount of work was a bit of a shock to me initially, with 5 subjects and numerous midterms, quizzes and assignments, but at least everyone else has the same amount of work. Plus it makes the work for 3 modules at Dundee seem easy in comparison!

Finally, the biggest obstacle for me, money. When taking part in a Transatlantic Exchange, you have to pay for flights and accommodation, and I also payed to eat an unlimited number of times in meal hall, since all the residences are catered, for medical and dental insurance and for the books for each subject I took. Unlike on an Erasmus exchange you aren't paid a bursuary every month, but since I'm Scottish SAAS continued to pay my fees while I was away, just at the Dundee rate since my time at Acadia was only a temporary move, and if you usually get a loan then you can continue to receive it while being abroad. My birthday is in summer and I was lucky enough to get Canadian dollars and traveller's cheques (which are actually really useful - you can use them in some shops or take them along to a bank and get them cashed for free, and they're more secure than cash which is irreplaceable if lost or stolen) to avoid using credit or debit cards too much while away, due to fines implemented by the bank for their use. I worked my butt off in my summer job at ASDA too, and had to miss out on a holiday to Turkey with my friends. Although I wouldn't recommend working 14 hour shifts on a checkout, being away and not having to worry too much about spending or being unable to do things due to a lack of money made those crazy shifts so worth it.

Anyway, I guess that's it for my final blog post. I hope it will prove useful to any of you considering going abroad to study. It really was such an amazing opportunity for me, and has only strengthened my eagerness to spend more time travelling in the future.
Good luck to any of you who do go away, and wherever you go HAVE FUN!

Power Cuts and Planes Cancelled

My last few weeks in Canada were just as fun as the rest of my time there, apart from the five looming final exams.

Towards the end of November Wolfville finally saw some snow. Unfortunately it only lasted for a few days (I love snow), but it was the first time that one of my best friends, from Trinidad, had even seen snow which  made it all the more exciting, and so of course we made a snowman and snow angels with her. However I was then pretty jealous when I heard from people at home, as well as saw on the Canadian news, that much of Europe had been hit with some crazy winter weather. The most snow in the UK since records began, and I was in Canada of all places where there was only a light dusting which lasted for a few days. I was told though that January and February are the months for snow. In addition, Nova Scotia is right on the coast and so doesn't get as much snow as more inland provinces (in fact, when being all British one day and watching the weather, I learned that Nova Scotia's climate is very similar to Scotland's - well it is "New Scotland" after all). 



Snow at Acadia!







Dennis pub crawl











I also took a few trips to Halifax during November and December. One of these was on a Friday night, when a Dennis House pub crawl was organised. Since Wolfville is pretty limited for bars and clubs, it makes sense to go to the city for the night. A $30 ticket included entry to 2 bars and a club, the bus there and back and a t-shirt. I didn't go on nights out in Canada nearly as much as I do at home, but that was mainly because most of the people I knew over there were under 19, the legal drinking age in Nova Scotia and how old you have to be to get into clubs and pubs. For that reason I only really knew a few people on the pub crawl, but I still had so much fun and got to talk to people who I hadn't before.



I went on another shopping trip to Halifax, organised by the Wong International Centre. This time we went to Mic Mac Mall, still as amazing as it was when I last went (see previous blog post), and also to Halifax farmer' market, quite similar to the Wolfville one but with many more stalls. Best purchase of the day, a plastic Disney princess tea cup set!



My last trip to Halifax was at the start of December, when my friend from Dennis invited me back to her house with her roommate, to do some last bits of Christmas shopping, to have some time away before the start of exams, and to see the city one last time. I found out on my return to Wolfville two days later that the main reason they had invited me away though was so that a surprise leaving party could be held for me on my return, before everyone was too busy studying for exams or had already left to go home for Christmas. That party was so sweet, the first ever surprise party which has been for me, and all of my favourite people from Acadia were there!  :)



Being surprised!



Storm damage



Then came December, and with it studying and exams. I had five exams to do in the space of 8 days... The last time I had to do five exams was when doing my Highers 3 years ago, and at that time they were spread over a period of one month. So with these exams I was upretty stressed, although I did feel slightly better with the knowledge that they were all only 30-40% of my grade. But still, five in one week?! In the end I actually only had to do four exams in the week, as stormy weather caused many trees to fall over and the power in Wolfville and the surrounding area to be out for a day (residences, some buildings like the library, and mealhall have emergency generators which they were able to run on). Obviously it wouldn't have been fair to ask students to write their final exams in the dark, when we were also unable to get notes from the internet, and so exams were cancelled until January. Since I'm not returning to Wolfville for the second semester, special arrangements were made for me so that I could do a take home exam (i.e. write two short essays) for the sociology exam which I was unable to do.



"Hug Me" tree, Toronto!

Before I knew it, and after a lot of sad goodbyes, it was time to leave Wolfville. For a small(ish) price I had changed the first leg of my flight, Halifax-Toronto, to the same flight leaving a day earlier so that I could visit Toronto with one of my best Acadia friends Sarah (also one of my best friends, full stop) who is from a town just outside of the city. Despite not having slept the night before I had such a fantastic day, taking in Toronto's sights and sounds, eating in a lovely vegan restaurant and meeting Sarah's family and friends. My flight was supposed to leave the next evening and arrive in Paris the following morning, however due to the "extreme winter weather", my flight was cancelled and the next flight I could be booked onto wasn't leaving Toronto for another three days, on December 22nd, and would be going via Amsterdam. I was so lucky that I was with Sarah and that her dad was fine with me staying for a bit longer. I can't imagine what it would have been like being in a hotel alone in an unknown city for several days, or worse stuck in the airport. Besides, I was kind of reluctant to leave Canada, so a few extra days were only a positive thing to me. Eventually though, I got away on the flight to Amsterdam, arriving back in Aberdeen on December 23rd with a whole suticase more of belongings than I'd left with, a lot of fond memories and experiences, some new best friends and a slightly Canadian twang to my voice!

Dundas Square, Toronto

Best Friends Forever!