Thomas Lyon

Host institution: University of Waterloo
Year spent abroad: 2010-11

Where did you live? Would you recommend it?

I lived at Columbia Lake Village South which is a large collection of 'townhouses' each accommodating four students. This seemed to be where most international students were placed but most houses usually had one or two Canadians living in it aswell. I would greatly recommend living here, although it's the furthest residence away from campus (about a 15 minute walk so not actually far) there's a bus stop just outside (your 'Watcard', a similar concept to our Ucard, allows you to get on any buses in Waterloo for free) as well as the regular shuttle service that is run throughout winter. Doing your shopping is easy with a supermarket 'Sobeys' just a 5-10 minute walk down the road.

The houses themselves are really nice, an open plan style on the bottom floor with a small kitchen, dining room and living room. There is also a community centre with a pool table, laundry room, tv etc etc.

Columbia Lake Village has a great community feel to it and is in a beautiful area which for me makes it well worth considering.

Which department(s) did you study in?

Philosophy

How does the workload/classes/teaching styles vary to Sheffield?

Most of my classes consisted of around 20-30 students and so were a mixture between seminars and lectures. Things were taught, but due to the nature of Philosophy there was a lot of class discussions.

I found the workload to be much heavier than at Sheffield with a lot of reading to do but also A LOT of essays and midterms - although what was expected in terms of quality seemed to be a little less (I actually had a multiple choice section in one of my midterms). As such it feels like you're constantly working - but in reality its only during midterms times and at the end of the semester. As long as you keep on top of the essays then it's fine really.

What did you do for fun at the weekends and during the holidays?

Waterloo isn't known for being the most exciting of places. However, there's plenty of clubs to go to at night - I'd definitely recommend Phils - but you'll tend to come across more students from the Wilfrid Laurier University across townwhich is the more 'party university'.

I never struggled to find something to do, there's a large mall just outside of town which the free bus will take you to. There's two cinemas, a local pool hall, a local Ski Hill - Chicopee - which is great for a day trip to in winter (I learnt to snowboard whilst there).

If you're looking for things a little further afield then that's no problem - you're in Canada! In reading week we went on a ski trip to Mont Tremblant near Montreal, other trips included Toronto at the weekend (about an hour away on the greyhound), New York is just a 10 hour journey away on the Greyhound - it's really not hard to get out of Waterloo.

Did you join any societies or clubs?

I joined the Snowriders club which offered a couple free snowboarding lessons throughout winter - I found that these aswell as a couple trips to Chicopee were enough to know the basics of snowboarding and helped greatly for my trip to Mont Tremblant.

Could you give any travel or immigration tips?

Just make sure you're organised with everything. I was quite worried about the proofs I'd given to show I could support myself, I got the sense that they'd be quite strict about what they'd accept but I actually had no problems with the downloaded excel document as my bank statement and photocopies of my student loan stuff. They got back to me in about 4 weeks but it took longer for some people and some people heard back in just two weeks - so don't worry about it, just make sure you've got what they asked for.

I also found it quite difficult to get in contact with them, I think you could only do it through email which is obviously not always they best method when you're stressed, so just bear this in mind and try to anticipate any problems you may have.

Could you give any advice or tips to a student preparing to go or tell them anything you wished you knew in advance?

Make sure you have enough money!!!I thought I'd have enough, but it turns out that you end up wanting to do ALOT.

Be as outgoing as you can be in Froshers week, its really really different to our Freshers week - lots of singing and group activities that makes you feel about ten but you'll meet so many people if you get into it.

Would you say it is cheaper or more expensive to live than Sheffield?

I would say it's probably about the same. Some things such as red meat are alot cheaper, but all in all you'll probably spend about the same on general living costs.