final report of my studies and stay at the u of a in edmonton report mozer edmonton.pdf · final...
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Final report of my studies and stay at the U of A in Edmonton
My name is Christoph Mozer and I am one of seven students from the Albert-Ludwigs
University Freiburg who got the opportunity to study abroad for one year in Canada. I was
accepted into that new scholarship program at the University of Alberta ( U of A) in
Edmonton. I was very excited and eager to experience a different culture and broaden my
horizons, especially with regard to environmental management practices.
The following report should provide you with some important information that might be
helpful for your one-year stay in Canada and in Edmonton. But as there is more than
enough information about Canada, Alberta and Edmonton and how to get there on the
Internet, I do not mention these parts, but will give you some other helpful facts.
Before I start, I would like to thank respectfully Mr. Heinrich Spiecker, Ms. Marianne
Stadler, Mr. Niethammer, the DAAD and all authorities of the U of A for a great year and
probably the best experience I have had so far.
Things to get organized before leaving Germany and before the beginning of your semester
It is very helpful to apply as soon as possible for the one year study permit (visa) in order
to avoid any complications. Just make sure to meet all the required points and apply on
the Canadian embassy website: http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/germanyallemagne/
visas/study etudier.aspx?lang=deu.
Do not apply too late, it might take more than eight weeks sometimes and make sure your
passport is valid longer than for one year! If you want to avoid any troubles crossing the
Canadian border, keep your letter of acknowledgment with you, as you might have to show
it to the officer. Once you are enrolled as an International Student at the university, you
have to pay a fee of 243 CAD per term. This includes the “U-Pass”, which offers you the
possibility to use public transportation and some health insurance. If you want to travel and
plan to cross the Albertan border, I strongly recommend getting a one year abroad health
insurance in Germany, as everything may not be covered by the Canadian one. Usually,
they are about 35 Euros a month.
Make sure to keep in touch with Alex Drummond, who is the student coordinator for the
AELS faculty and who always tries to help you out with any questions
([email protected] ). For course enrolments, try to contact Donna Thompson,
who is the Administrative Assistant ([email protected] ). I also recommend
meeting up with her as soon as you are in Edmonton so there will be less complications at
the beginning of your semester. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the course options they
are available on the faculty website:
http://www.ales.ualberta.ca/rr/CurrentStudents/Courses.aspx
Make sure that you have at least two course backups, as some courses might have been
cancelled and so you would have to substitute your choices. You should also contact your
professors before enrolling into their classes as they may provide you with some additional
information to the course description on the website.
University of Alberta
The main campus (where all the important lectures are held) is located on the southern
side of the North Saskatchewan River and was established in 1908. The main campus
covers over 50 city blocks with over 90 buildings within the univerity. Actually, there are in
18 faculties, there are more than 37,000 students and over 4,000 international students
enrolled, representing nearly every country in the world.
Alberta School of Forest Science & Management
The Alberta School of Forest Science & Management is integrated in the faculty of
Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences (ALES). ALES is home to over 1400
undergraduate, 400 graduate students and 110 faculty members. Currently there are
approximately about 80 undergrads, 20 students per age-group and about 30 Master
students in the forestry program. For further information you can contact the forestry
society (Fachschaft): [email protected].
ALES faculty
Life at the U of A
The U of A campus is comparable to a small city, with different shops, fast food restaurants
and recreational facilities like the “Butterdome”, the gym. Most days, I stayed on campus,
as it was easier to do homework, to work out and to keep in touch with my friends. Winter
and cold temperatures might be an aspect in not going home in-between your lectures and
spending your free time on campus.
At Butterdome, you have the opportunity to participate in nearly every sport you might be
interested in. Following facilities in this centre are included:
• Main Gymnasium with 3 basketball, 4 volleyball and 12 badminton courts
• The Clare Drake Arena (Ice Hockey)
• Aquatic Centre with two indoor pools
• Nine lecture theatres and classrooms
• Dance studio with 2 volleyball and 4 badminton courts
• 10 squash courts
• 3 multi-purpose gymnasiums
• 3 racquetball courts
• Weight training area
• Equipment Room - handles sports equipment, towel service, locker rentals for use
in the VVC.
• Fitness and Lifestyle Centre - contains cardiovascular and strength-training
equipment
If you are interested in sports, I strongly recommend enrolling yourself in the “Intramurals”,
which offer several opportunities for team sports. I found this to be a great way to meet
other students and make friends. I played futsal, ice hockey, handball, volleyball, outdoor
soccer, and ball hockey. For most of these team sports, I was playing for the Forestry
Society, you can ask the other students, they always need new players and would love to
get a team together.
The Butterdome
Money!
Now the most annoying part, money. Canada and more specifically Edmonton are
expensive. You should plan to budget more than you would in Germany as groceries and
other expenses can be up to twice as expensive as in Germany. Wait till the first week to
buy your textbooks, for one the line-ups will be shorter and you may not end up needing
one.
You will need more money than in Germany, scholarship included!
Courses
In fall term, I took the following four courses:
Climates and Ecosystems ENCS 461
http://www.ales.ualberta.ca/rr/CurrentStudents/Courses/ENCS_Courses/ENCS461.aspx
This was the most interesting and challenging course I took at the U of A. It was a heavy
workload, but the professor, Mr. Grant is an expert in his field and a world famous climate
modeller. I learned a lot about irrigation management, climate change in Canada and
worldwide, nutrient cycling and also some smaller software applications in order to gain a
better understanding of all the plant-water-environment interactions. I highly recommend
taking his class.
Endangered Species Conservation and Management ENCS 464
http://www.ales.ualberta.ca/rr/CurrentStudents/Courses/ENCS_Courses/ENCS464.aspx
This course focused on the ecological and anthropogenic factors leading to the
designation of species as vulnerable, threatened, or endangered, as well as strategies for
their recovery. The main focus was on the designation process an endangered species
has to go through to get its status. Once it became designated, you still have to learn a lot
of how stakeholder interactions and conservation efforts might interact with each other and
what kind of support the species might need.
All in all, I gained a better understanding of all the bureaucratic relations and how difficult it
is to set up a good conservation plan, especially in a huge country like Canada. That
course demanded a lot of writing and teamwork.
Disturbance Ecology REN R 440
http://www.ales.ualberta.ca/rr/CurrentStudents/Courses/RENRCourses/RenR440.
As the course name already tells you, you are getting taught in the relationships between
disturbances and forest ecosystems with the main focus on Canadian respectively North
American ecosystems. I did not learn a lot more than I already knew before, but it was very
helpful to gain a better understanding, how Canadians are dealing with disturbances after
they occurred, especially in regard to clear cuts and forest fires, topics we don’t really have
to deal with in Germany.
Protected Areas Management ENCS 462
http://www.ales.ualberta.ca/rr/CurrentStudents/Courses/ENCS_Courses/ENCS462.aspx
This class is taught by John Acorn, who is kind of an Albetan hero. He had his own nature
show for children on television in the early 90s and most of my friends watched his show.
He is very experienced with all the stakeholder interactions that are necessary in
managing a park or a protected area and knows about their difficulties. He is a very
interesting person to listen to and provides you with thousands of interesting stories. Class
participation is welcomed and encouraged in order to keep the lectures going.
In winter term, I took the following four courses:
Forest Fire Management FOR 340
http://www.ales.ualberta.ca/rr/CurrentStudents/Courses/FORCourses/FOR340.aspx
This course was kind of a disappointment because it was taught more like being in a high
school lecture than for university students. We had a lot of guest lecturers, but most of
them spoke about the same topics and repeated themselves a lot. The professor did not
demand a very high level of knowledge and was more teaching about his modelling
research than about management practices. But all in all, I still gained a lot of important
future knowledge about fire issues, especially since we in Germany don’t have a lot of
related topics or possibilities in getting taught about forest fires.
Water Resource Management REN R 250
http://www.ales.ualberta.ca/rr/CurrentStudents/Courses/RENRCourses/RenR250.aspx
As I am very interested in Hydrology and water management practices, I decided to enrol
myself into this class. But in the end, I have to say that I did not learn a lot of new things,
as this is more a basic course and I already took a lot of hydrology lectures in Germany. I
still learned some new things about how people are dealing with their water issues in
Alberta, especially in the drier southern part where agriculture is dominating.
Methods of Environmental Interpretation and Communication ENCS 467
http://www.ales.ualberta.ca/rr/CurrentStudents/Courses/ENCS_Courses/ENCS467.aspx
This was a completely new academic field for me. I gained many new skills in providing
the public with environmental-related topics in an easy and interesting way. This might be
a very useful skill for my future career, as it is becoming more and more important to
provide the public with information they are or might be interested in to sensibilize them for
a certain topic.
Northern Ecology BIOL 366
http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/courses/biol366/
This is a very good class taught by a very interesting professor, Mr. Derocher is Canada’s
polar bear expert and in my point of view the probably best person being able in providing
interested students with some boreal and arctic related topics. You are getting taught an
approximate overview in some of the ecosystem interactions in these rough and harsh
environments. He is also providing his students with some polar bear related topics and I
think if you are in Canada, you should take the opportunity to participate in his lectures.
I am extremely happy with my choices and do not regret any.
The teachers are very friendly and try to help you where ever possible. They also expect
you to contact them whenever you have any question and are more than happy being able
to help you out. You should not take more than four courses, the workload will be way too
much and you probably will not be able to deal with it. But this is my point of view and it
should still be up to you. There are a lot of labs and seminars and depending on the
course, you would have to write at least three assignments per term and at least two
exams. You will be way busier than in Germany for sure!
Accommodation
I do not recommend living on campus because it nearly is unaffordable and you will be one
of the oldest guys for sure. For this reason, I moved into an apartment close to university
and very close the LRT station (a 21 km long cable-car that connects the southern part of
the city with the northern one and by the way the only train line in the one million city). Pay
attention where to move, public transportation is not the same than in Europe and you will
probably not be able to afford a car. Winter will be hard on you and you should look out for
accommodations close to the LRT line.
I shared the apartment with three other guys, lived in a basement and paid about 450
Dollars per month. This price is the lower bound for Edmonton and for this location. For
contacts, I recommend to have a look on following website: http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/. This
site is comparable to the German “WG-Gesucht”.
After I finished my term, I moved into the house of my friends for four more months. The
price of 450 Dollars per month was comparable cheap for the very close location to the
LRT, campus and Whyte Ave (where all the bars are located). We even had a big backyard
with a fireplace.
My backyard in December
My second accommodation in August
My life and studying at the U of A
I am very lucky to have made many Canadian friends and to have spent a lot of time with
them. We went out together, went on ski trips, and went deer hunting up to Lac la Biche in
fall, or studied together. Try to get involved with the Forestry or Environmental Society (I
have been in both) to stay up to date.
Be aware that you are going into a completely different country and culture, try to keep an
open mind and be willing to try anything. What you can expect is a city located in an
agricultural dominated area surrounded with huge forests and prairies, quite close to the
Rocky Mountains and to the oil fields. It is a booming and very fast growing, rich city and
does not have a lot of cultural background. However, there are many other things you can
discover. There are many interesting and good concerts that take place at bars, you are
able to experience real North American blues music at “Blues on Whyte”, you can go the a
NHL game, watch the football games etc.
As life is very expensive, I did not spend a lot of time in bars or night clubs (at least not
that frequently than in Germany). I tried to do a lot of sports or went outdoors for some
hours, especially when sun was out and temperatures had been moderate throughout
winter. But most of the time, I was busy with studying. This should not scare you, but it is
the truth. Be also aware, that Edmonton is one of the coldest cities in the world. I had
some days with below -40 degrees and associated with a strong wind, it sometimes feels
like -55 degrees. Snow did not melt for at least seven months (but they told me that it was
an especially cold one that year). Try to get some warm clothes in order to be prepared. I
by myself, I dealt very well with the temperatures and it has always been an adventure
getting out, but sometimes, the cold was still quite painful. This winter was supposed to be
the one with the most snow pack in the last 30 years and the coldest for years. But most of
the Canadians had been able to deal with it quite easily and did not complain about any
weather at all.
Internship/summer job
I got my two month job in the department of land reclamation with Simon Landhäusser,
who was looking for some summer students to help him out in his lab and with his field
work. It was not very difficult to get the job. I just contacted him via email, had a short
meeting and afterwards he told me that I could get the job if I want.
As he is also doing lots of his field research up in Fort Mc Murray, where the famous oil
sands are located, I took this as a welcome opportunity to have a look into this business
and on what kind of stuff is going on approximately 550 kilometres north of Edmonton.
It is very difficult for me to explain the atmosphere up there. I think the most fitting words
for that might be strange and crazy. They did a very good job up there in destroying the
environment in the past few decades, but are also trying to reclaim the disturbed areas as
good as possible. But personally, I really don’t know if this would be enough.
For our research in Fort Mc Murray, we went on the disturbed sites and took lots of soil
samples and measurements of the research areas.
When we did not work on the oil sands, we had to take some measurements of already
planted trees (mainly aspen, jack pine or spruce) on reclaimed soils at a coal mine close to
Edmonton.
Furthermore, I got a lot into mountain pine beetle research that I did in the lab by
extracting and measuring many samples of different parts of attacked tree parts. They
hope to gain some more information on how the beetle will spread over Alberta and about
how it might or might not affect tree qualities in regard to commercial viability .
Overall, I have to say that this was a very great personal experience. I met very interesting
people through this job and had good and helpful conversations with all sorts of people.
Summary
This had been a great experience and I am very happy, thankful and also lucky to have
had this opportunity and all the support from all kind of people.
In summary, I had a great time in Edmonton and do not regret to have made this decision.
I really suggest to everybody, to take this chance and to gain some experiences for your
life and your upcoming career.
I wish you good luck with your applications and if you have any questions, feel free to
contact me any time: [email protected]