I spent the fall term 2014 in Winnipeg. In order to present my experiences in the best possible and understandable way for everyone, I will divide them into different topics.
Decision making
Actually, I had already ticked off the topic of a semester abroad for myself. Most of them actually go abroad in the 5th semester of their bachelor’s degree. I actually only study mathematics in Münster and since, as far as I was informed, there were only places at our faculty in non-English-speaking countries, it quickly became clear to me that I had to finance the study abroad myself. Since a friend of mine had also gone to Canada with MicroEDU a year before and she had very good experiences, I went to an information evening and, after considering various considerations, the English-speaking countries and universities (time of semester, costs, range of courses, accreditation options, etc. ) I then decided on Winnipeg. Everyone has to make this decision for themselves, as everyone has different preferences or requirements and everyone has a different budget. Winnipeg was now one of the “cheapest” universities, which I don’t understand because the university has a very good reputation in Canada. I also wanted to have a different climate than in Germany and since Halifax, for example, has very similar weather, this university was out of the question for me. I also had in the testimonials read that there are few German students in Winnipeg, which was also a very important point for me. This turned out to be a mistake afterwards, but I’ll tell you more about that in a moment. Visit andyeducation.com to get information about University of California Santa Barbara study abroad program.
Living
In Winnipeg there is the possibility to live in different residences on or near the campus or alternatively to live with a host family or to look for an apartment yourself. Let’s roll it up from behind. Personally, I only knew two girls who were looking for an apartment together, even before they were in Winnipeg, so I can’t say whether this is a good idea. In other cities it seems to work quite well, but because the city is not exactly known for its safety, I would be careful with that. I lived with a host family myself.
In Canada it is very common for people to have pets and so I also had two dogs, which personally didn’t bother me too much. The family was very friendly and the food was always very good and healthy. I really couldn’t complain about that. Some of us lived in host families and as far as I can tell, no one had had any other experiences with food and hospitality. And if there are problems, you can change families without a problem. Canadians have a different sense of cleanliness. You should be aware of this beforehand and be able to live with the fact that it is not always perfectly clean and tidy in the family. What bothered me most about the family was that you were more or less promised that you could get to university quickly. I now had to take the bus every morning and due to the weather conditions and the rush hour I had to leave the house at a quarter past to be at the university for the next full hour. This is annoying not only in everyday university life, but also in your free time. Of course I could have changed my family because of that, but it wasn’t worth it to me. And there were others who lived right next to university, so you can have luck and bad luck there again. Because there were 50 (!!!!) Germans in Winnipeg at the time I was there, I was happy to live with the family so that I could speak English there. That was also different in the residences. ) Were Germans in Winnipeg, I was happy to live with the family so that I could speak English there. That was also different in the residences. ) Were Germans in Winnipeg, I was happy to live with the family so that I could speak English there. That was also different in the residences.
The most stayed in the Lions or McFeators. And then very often only German was spoken there. All I can say about the Lions is that it is an old building that has been supposed to be renovated over and over again for years, there were some problems (water comes from the sprinkler system for no reason and you have a bathtub in your room), no water, clogged Pipes, bed bugs,. . . of course, that wasn’t the case in every room, but there were some problems that weren’t dealt with properly or very late. But because you had a common room with a kitchen and thus a meeting point, you quickly got that youth hostel feeling and I think that this also has its advantages. There’s nothing wrong with the McF other than that it’s expensive. The meal plan has to be taken and there were people who probably had problems with it,
Campus
The university itself has, as I said, a very good reputation. She is well equipped, some buildings are more and some less modern, as is probably normal in any other university. I personally found it very good that a gym was included, although the cardio machines gradually gave up the ghost over the course of the semester. But there was actually always some functioning free device. I found the library very confusing, but I didn’t really need to use it very often, so I can’t say whether that will go away with time. There is a used bookstore in the basement of the main building. There you can buy and sell books during the semester. You know that, the early bird catches the worm, that is, you better look very early, if you know which books you need, check there to see if they are available.
Courses
The course selection was relatively easy. You had to select courses, send the selection to an employee, who also wrote to you about it, and then sometimes provide evidence of the requirements. I got all the courses I wanted:
Introduction to Business I: The course was very basic and so you had the feeling that it could be very easy. Unfortunately, however, it turned out that the professor asked the questions in such a way that one only got good points if one had really memorized everything. Similar to business administration in Germany and therefore not necessarily easier with this course (I was also not allowed to use a dictionary, which was partially fatal because you can’t always have all the vocabulary in your head).
Corporate Finance I: This course was very different from CF in Münster. In the end, we just had to calculate time values, which turned out to be very simple and thus an A was relatively easy to get. We didn’t need the book that you should buy according to the course description from this professor (Dennis Ng), so I definitely recommend waiting for the first lecture before buying books.
Aboriginal Politics in Canada: Terrible course: D So I thought I would choose this because I had to take a course that was independent of my subject and it might be very interesting to find out more about the indigenous people of Canada. The professor was totally disorganized, never kept the schedule, let alone deadlines, grades for donations, of which there were what felt like a thousand, were only given after three inquiries and otherwise it was only said that the natives are so poor and treated badly. To see this, all you really need to do is walk around Winnipeg and not take a $ 1,400 course. But well, since it was credited to me, I pulled it off. The professor was Jennifer Keith, by the way.
Leisure
As long as it is still warm (possibly until mid-October), I would recommend visiting the surrounding national parks (up to 4 hours by car). They are really very nice and, especially in larger groups, such a weekend trip is not expensive. For example, we lived with four people in a cabin at Whiteshell and paid around € 70 per person for a weekend for the car, fuel and living.
Winnipeg itself is a very ugly city, but if you settle in there is a lot to do. As in other small towns in Germany, there is also an opera and a musical here.
In any case, don’t underestimate the cold! It can get really cold: I once had -36 degrees and I left on December 13th, so it can get even colder;)
In a host family you definitely meet other people like at university. If you want to experience more social life from the university, then maybe one of the residences is really recommended.
Costs
Canada is expensive. Point. That’s just the way it is and you have to get involved with it. Tips, expensive alcohol, expensive parties, expensive books, expensive tuition fees, taxes that are always added in retrospect, expensive domestic flights, etc. And the University of Winnipeg always thinks it’s very funny to charge a fee for everything you do especially if you pay by credit card, so you should always try to find out as much as possible about this. If you want to see a bit of Canada, I recommend doing that beforehand. Before that I did a trip through the Rocky Mountains with adventures, which was just amazing. The trip itself was expensive, but if I had done it from Winnipeg I would certainly have paid more for flights and so on. In addition, the snow comes even earlier in the Rockies and therefore you should really do that before September, because otherwise the roads are partially closed and you cannot see everything, and that would be a real shame!!!!
Conclusion
Canada is a wonderful country and the Canadians are very friendly. Unfortunately, Winnipeg is not a pretty city in itself, but with the right people it can be an experience. As for the uncertainty that many speak of, there are true and not-so-true points. I think we as Europeans are definitely safer than the natives (those who look like Indians). The action against them is very racist. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t spend too long alone on Portage Avenue (main street in front of the university). So either quickly on the bus or take a taxi (although the taxi drivers sometimes scared me). Unfortunately, Winnipeg is also in the middle of nowhere. So if I repeated I would probably choose a different city. I don’t think you can get around many Germans anywhere, that is, don’t choose your university afterwards!! This year there were really a lot of Germans everywhere, because on my trip to Winnipeg (Toronto and New York) I met a few from other universities who didn’t say anything else. If you want to save money, you should either choose another country or really go to Winnipeg. You can have fun here too. The university is definitely worth it!
