travel report sfu spring 2015

Simon Fraser University – Spring 2015 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

TRAVEL REPORT

289627 & 300467

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORDS .................................................................................................. 3 1. PREPARING FOR THE EXCHANGE .......................................................... 3 2. EXCHANGE STUDIES ................................................................................ 4 2.1 Courses .................................................................................................................. 6 3. FREE TIME AND OTHER INFORMATION ............................................... 12 3.1 Cost of living ........................................................................................................ 12 3.2 Student life ........................................................................................................... 13 3.3 General info about Vancouver ............................................................................. 14 3.4 Travelling ............................................................................................................. 15 3.5 Good to know (quick tips) ..................................................................................... 16 4. FINAL COMMENTS ................................................................................... 17

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FOREWORDS We spent the first half of the year 2015 at Simon Fraser University at heart of the Canadian West Coast in Vancouver. Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen and getting to know it was one of the greatest things during the exchange. Also, meeting lots of international students from all over the world made this spring an unforgettable experience.

1. PREPARING FOR THE EXCHANGE After the results for the exchange places were released, there was plenty of time to complete all the necessary steps to apply to Simon Fraser University for the spring term. In August, a quite long application had to be filled out. It included, for example, a tentative selection of courses to be taken there, a certificate about adequate English skills, a statement of interest and an official transcript as well. The acceptance letter came relatively quickly after the application was submitted. Another thing to do was to apply for housing on campus. The main campus of Simon Fraser University is located in Burnaby, about 40-60 minutes away from Downtown Vancouver (depending on traffic) so living on campus was definitely the easiest and the cheapest way to arrange housing. The housing application could be done already in October and it did not take a long time to complete. Moreover, an announcement about the possible place in residence was delivered early, so in case no place was provided, there would have been enough time to find another place to live in. No visa is required when travelling to Canada, unless one is going to stay there for more than 6 months. The actual trip to Vancouver takes a long time: with good connection flights the travel time is around 14-15 hours. The flight prices varied a lot and I paid more than 1600 euros for a round-trip ticket to Vancouver via London Heathrow. Other possible cities for plane change were for example Reykjavik and Frankfurt. All in all, there were quite many practical things to do before the exchange, but although it takes time, everything worked out well and was relatively easy to do.

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SFU Burnaby campus is built on top of a mountain and despite the grey concrete it was pretty beautiful on sunny days.

2. EXCHANGE STUDIES Beginning studying at Simon Fraser University was really easy in terms of a schedule. The semester followed pretty much the same dates than in Finland, which meant that you could travel to Canada directly after Christmas / New Year without any further delay. The move-in day was the first Sunday in January and it was followed by a couple of days of orientation. Remember to arrive early on both days to ensure adequate time to get your stuff to your place because it’s going to be busy! Also, don’t expect too much from the orientation (if you’re going there in winter - I heard the one in autumn is better), which was pretty cursory and prompt because it was in the middle of the school year. However, at least you learn how to get around on campus, eh? All the people were also super friendly and they definitely helped you out with any problems you might have had.

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All the classes at SFU began on the first Tuesday in January - no exceptions given to the exchange students who were still suffering from jet lag. The whole spring consisted of a one period (not two like in Aalto), which meant that continuous and long-term effort was required during classes. Majority of the courses had several group assignments and a mid-term exam somewhere in February. The lectures ended eventually in mid-April and the final exams were held in two weeks time after that. Overall, all the courses were demanding and required more participation than in Finland. Moreover, they had a very practical approach, which kept them interesting. Simon Fraser offered a great number of courses to select from. Even though there were many courses to choose from Aalto had quite strict restrictions for courses that could be approved. You could only select Business (BUS) or Economics (ECON) classes that were 300-level or above (no introductory courses). Furthermore, Aalto demanded to take up to 5 courses, which turned out to be an impossible task. SFU is a trimester school that has very high evaluation criterion (it is said to be comparable to Princeton) and high reputation among Canadians. Choosing courses was straightforward and SFU’s advisors did majority of the job for you. Changing courses was also possible after arriving at SFU. Note that there is also an Internet database for courses available, which made it pretty easy to take a look at them beforehand. Despite that opportunity I mainly based my decisions on previous travel reports. In the end, my choices proved out to be quite good. I’ll discuss them in more detail later on. What is good to keep in mind is that SFU is not an easy school. So if you’re only looking for a holiday it is definitely not for you. However, SFU’s education is very much appreciated and the students are motivated. That is why I can honestly say that I learned more during my exchange than ever before!

As a feedback for International Student Services at Aalto BIZ I would recommend taking a look at the requirements for SFU, as nobody has been able to achieve the required credits for a decade. From our opinion, we both worked much more at SFU than in Aalto and still we were not able to get 30 ECTS for our exchange.

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2.1 Courses

Course Code Professor Evaluation

Negotiation and Conflict Management

BUS 485

Rob Prowse

• Quizzes 10 % (5 % each)

• Reflection Papers 20 % (10 % each)

• Mid-term Exam 30 % • In-class Participation 15

% • Group Project 25 %

Description & Usefulness: Negotiation and Conflict Management presented the principles of negotiation theory and concentrated explaining different approaches of resolving conflicts. Even though the course included two books + some articles to read, it was still mainly based on the negotiation exercises executed during classes. I had my preconceptions about this kind of a course but because of its business approach it proved out to be very useful and interesting. In the end, this was the best course I took. Note: mandatory attendance. Pros & Cons:

+ Amazing professor + Interesting / more useful than I thought + Relaxed + Learn to get used to negotiation situations in English - Mandatory attendance - Lots of readings before classes - May be challenging to some → requires courage

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Project Management

BUS 361

Landon Kleis

• Quizzes 10 % • Project 20 % • Project Final Report 20 % • Project Final Presentation

5 % • Participation 10 % • Final Exam 45 %

Description & Usefulness: Project Management was a really controversial course. On the one hand the lectures were really theoretical and tedious but on the other hand the course project provided some really hands on experience on project management. In my opinion, the project formed the core of the entire course because the professor was not able to keep the lectures interesting. We created mixed groups consisting of both local and exchange students and ended up doing a project for a local organization. We ran a fundraiser for a local charity, which was an amazing experience to get to know to local culture and local students. Furthermore, we took part in project management case competition, which enhanced the enhanced experience. Note: boring lectures. Pros & Cons:

+ Experience from real project management & teamwork + Getting to know to locals + Practicality + Opportunity to take part in PM competition + Relatively easy final exam - Course project contribution to the grade should be more - The project required a lot of work throughout the term - Boring lectures

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Global Marketing Management

BUS 447

June Francis

• 20% In-class participation (individual)

• 30% Individual assignment (individual)

• 10% Midterm project presentation (group)

• 40% Final term project (group)

Description & Usefulness: Global Marketing Management was one of the last courses that people took before graduating from SFU. Basically, students were asked to utilize known marketing tools and frameworks in a global perspective. The professor, June Francis, was a true marketing professional, who had knowledgeable experience from both academic and business world. Because of her Jamaican heritage she kept the conversation going at all times and encouraged or even pressured people to give their opinions during the seminars. The course included a profound individual market research and a bigger group project where every single small detail was required. What made this course especially interesting was that it was done in cooperation with sustainable development students. I found it really useful to learn from multidisciplinary cooperation. Pros & Cons:

+ Multidisciplinary teamwork + Useful new information + Enthusiastic professor - Huge workload - Changes in curriculum, lack of consistency - Challenges in teamwork

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International Business

BUS 346

Monica Semeniuk

• Class Participation 5 % • Class Attendance 5 % • Quizzes 20 % (5 % each) • Mid-term Exam 20 % • Individual Paper 15 % • Individual Paper 5 % • Group Project 30 %

Description & Usefulness: International Business was very popular amongst exchange students. The lectures usually started with a current events discussion about recent news that has an effect on international business. After that, the lectures handled theories about different areas of international business had small group discussions about them and at the end of every lecture; there was a small case study discussion with the entire class. Some topics during the course were familiar but learning the vocabulary of these theories was definitely useful! Despite the routine-like lectures, I can recommend taking this course. Note: There is a form to measure the participation in class on every lecture- pay attention how you have participated. Pros & Cons:

+ Interesting topics- covered many areas of doing business + Good course outline- no changes were made, easy to plan how you divide the work during the semester + Versatile assignments- both reading and writing - Mandatory attendance - The professor was a bit too strict about the deadlines and the

measurement of student participation - Assigned teams - Challenges in teamwork

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Leadership BUS 486

Yabome Gilpin- Jackson

• Individual Paper 20 % • Individual Paper 30 % • Group Presentation 20 % • Group Project 25 % • In-class Participation 5 %

Description & Usefulness: Leadership is also one of the last courses before graduating from SFU. The course had a unique approach: every lecture had some “strange” activity and some theory-based lecturing. There was no exam on the course, only two individual papers and 2 group assignments. The best thing on the course was “a learning partner”- we chose the learning partner on the first lecture and throughout the course we reflected our thoughts to each other and that actually helped the learning process. This application was suitable for this course since the learning was mainly about people’s own perceptions and skills, and how they affect their leadership style and capabilities. Note: No exam on this course!

Pros & Cons: + Different kind of activities in classes- not only lecturing + No mandatory readings before classes + Good professor who was genuinely interested in what she was talking about - Mandatory attendance - The group project was a bit too ambitious with little instructions - Theory parts of the lecture were tedious

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Commercial Law

BUS 393

Shafik Bhalloo

• Group Presentation 10 % • Participation in Tutorials 10

% • Mid-term Exam 40 % • Final Exam 40 %

Description & Usefulness: Commercial Law was the other one of my favourite courses! Shafik Bhalloo, who works as a lawyer, had always relevant examples of precedents (previous real law cases) and he was very enthusiastic about the different law principles he taught. The course includes a 2-hour lecture once a week and after that a 1-hour tutorial, which is a lecture led by a teacher’s assistant (older student). This was a very eye-opening course: the court system is very different in Canada and the United States, so learning some basics about it was interesting. I will recommend this for other students coming to SFU! Note: Interesting lectures, boring tutorials. Lectures are not mandatory whereas the tutorials are.

Pros & Cons: + Enthusiastic professor + Interesting lectures + Balanced up workload- most of the studying could be done right before the exam + Good amount of readings for classes and exams + Useful new information - Tutorials were boring and not useful- mandatory to attend - The law cases that were the basis for the presentations were not

equally long or easy/difficult- not completely fair evaluation as the presentations were 10 % of the grade

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3. FREE TIME AND OTHER INFORMATION

3.1 Cost of living If you’re looking for a cheap holiday destination Vancouver is not the place to be. Because of the relatively high tax rate in British Columbia retail prices as well as the cost of living is high in Vancouver. First of all, living on campus cost almost CAD 3,000 per term, which equals approximately EUR 550 a month. Considering the quality of the shared apartment, it is quite expensive when compared to student apartments in Helsinki. Be also prepared to pay for the local insurance (CAD 300-400) and for the public transport pass (CAD 150). Fun fact: Vancouver’s real estate market is so overheated at the moment that average house prices are the second highest in the entire North America, right after Manhattan. The cost category I didn’t take into account was the course books. Even though you may get copies from the library or buy them second-hand you should put some money aside for them. Many professors require you to buy the books but after all I realized that I did just fine with the slides as well. We recommend waiting for the first classes and asking the locals about the course book. Also, I recommend buying ebooks, which can save you hundreds of dollars. Groceries were about the same price than in Finland but the considerably good CAD-EUR exchange rate helped out a little. Despite that, one could easily use hundreds of dollars for food every month. Keep in mind that clothes, sportswear and eating out are much more affordable in Vancouver than in Finland. That being said - Do not travel with the full suitcase like I did!

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Yaletown (upper) and English Bay (lower) are examples of expensive neighborhoods in Vancouver.

3.2 Student life As mentioned earlier the orientation at SFU was only mediocre. I’d say that after spending half a year there I couldn’t even compare their student life to the one we have in Aalto BIZ because of KY. I am not saying I didn’t have any fun but at SFU you were, by yourself, responsible for getting friends and attending the events. Not much help was offered. International student services organized a couple of events but they weren’t that big of a success. SFU also had lots of clubs but they were mainly focused on religion or they were not easily accessible by foreigners. Despite all the aforementioned issues we formed a really close exchange student group. We did a lot of things together from daily shopping trips to parties and skiing days. Moreover, because SFU lacked the social side of university studies we often participated parties organized by UBC (another well-known university in B.C.). For example, UBC Pub Crawl and UBC Blank Canvas are parties worth attending!

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3.3 General info about Vancouver The nickname of Vancouver is aptly “Raincouver”. Long story short: even though you might get lucky with the weather (like I did), it will rain a lot during winter. Bring your umbrella and waterproof jacket! However, keep in mind that you can also enjoy winter on mountains that are just an hour and a half away from Vancouver!

Skiing resort Whistler-Blackcomb is just 1,5h drive away from Downtown Vancouver. It’s a skier’s heaven! Vancouver’s population is very diverse and you will meet people from several backgrounds and ethnic groups. Only Asians contribute up to 30 % of the population. I think that’s what gives Vancouver its magic - Canadian friendliness combined with foreign cultures. That is also the reason why Vancouver has probably one of the best cuisines in the North America. Remember to try the Sushi Giwa nearby the campus (Holdom bus stop on East Hastings St.)!

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3.4 Travelling Vancouver is optimally located on the beautiful Canadian West Coast. Only the province of British Columbia itself offers dozens of beautiful travelling destinations from Rocky Mountains (skiing/hiking in national parks) to Vancouver Island (whale watching). Furthermore, the US border is just 50km away and offers a great opportunity to explore the state of Washington and Seattle. While I spent the reading break in Whistler many people flew to Hawaii or other parts of Canada. After the term, California was the most popular travelling destination.

Seattle is worth visiting!

A great example of the local kindness is when I was sitting in a bus and holding a takeaway coffee. The person opposite to

me noticed that my shoelaces were untied and he offered to hold my coffee so that I

could tie them.

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3.5 Good to know (quick tips) • Tap water is fresh and drinkable • No public drinking or open liquor bottles without the paper back • B.C. is very liberal so expect to see a lot of minorities and public use of

drugs (marihuana) • Cash is not really needed - You can pay by card (also NFC) almost

everywhere incl. cabs • Apply for a credit card before leaving Finland! • Mobile data plans are really expensive! Family plan (2+ people) with

Rogers is a good option. • Renting a car is relatively inexpensive and an awesome way to look

around (driving in Canada is easy). Join Hertz Gold Club and waive the underage fee!

• If you like to ski buy the student's season pass to Whistler • Biking is very popular in Vancouver! Try that in Stanley Park. • USA ≠ Canada - Canadians are patriotic and don’t like if you call them

Americans • Prepare yourself for the question: “How are you doing?”

Extraordinary nature and enthusiasm towards hockey can be said to be trademarks of Vancouver!

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4. FINAL COMMENTS After the memorable four months in Vancouver, I am sure I can recommend SFU for other students. Vancouver in itself is a great city and it attracts people from all around the world to do the exchange there. The application process was fluent, there were no difficulties with the practical things dealt with the university and for a North American destination it was really versatile. You just have to keep in mind that this university is not a place for a holiday. Even with 4 courses there was a lot of work throughout the semester. As we heard on the second day from the vice dean, 4 courses is an academic challenge, 5 courses is impossible to cope with. If I went to SFU again, there are some things I would do differently. For example, I would travel to the West Coast a bit earlier than I did now. Because of the huge time difference (10 hours), it takes a week to get completely adjusted to the new day rhythm. I would also try to be more social in the beginning of the semester. As mentioned above, the school did not provide that many opportunities to get to know new people, so it is completely up to your own activeness if you get to know the other exchange students as well as local students. During my exchange period I learned a lot on the courses. There were many kinds of assignments that you really had to spend time doing them and with them, you really learning the things. I also learned a lot about cultural differences. Maybe the time when cultural differences complicated working was doing group assignments. I think that despite the difficulties, having multicultural groups was a good experience when thinking of the future. There is a big possibility of multicultural teams in the work life so this experience was certainly valuable and useful! The most important things I learned during the exchange were about myself. I realized that it took quite a long time to get adjusted to a new environment. Adjusting there was definitely worth it: getting to know a new culture was a great experience and in 4 months, it really was possible to get properly into the Canadian state of mind.

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Spectacular nights in Vancouver! The upper photo is from Burnaby campus towards Downtown.

travel report sfu spring 2015

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