The UNIVERSITY of BRITISH COLUMBIA
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The UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Chen Jui Ning FINA & ECON, Year 3 Spring 2020 1 TABLE OF CONTENT Content Page Part I Monthly Activity Log P. 2-6 Part II General Exchange Information P. 7-11 Part III Items to bring P. 12 Part IV Useful Links and Contacts P. 13 Part I Monthly Activity Log December 2019 Ｉ Before flying to Vancouver, I visited New York for 7 days with my friends and I experienced my first Christmas in the United States. It is the best time for travelling because you do not have any stress and workload from your exchange university. I would recommend that whoever goes to Canada the US for exchange should spend their Christmas holidays in New York. We went to the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Chelsea Market, The Vessel, Rockefeller Christmas Tree, and a lot of Christmas markets. I also watched the first NBA game in my life. New York is a cultural melting pot, and you can always see people with different cultures. It is interesting to speak with people from different countries and this trip was a start to train my skills in making small talk with complete strangers. 2 January 2020 Arrived in Vancouver during early January, I went straight to UBC and met my housemates in Fairview Crescent. I had three housemates, and they are from Mexico, Italy, and Philippian. There were 300 – 400 exchange students in UBC, which was one of the things that I liked UBC very much because I met people from different countries and knew more about their culture. I did the grocery and applied for the necessities in the first week, i.e., bank accounts, phone plans, U-Pass. In the next few weeks of January, my friends and I travelled around the downtown, Granville Island, Gastown, Grouse Mountain, and Vancouver Lookout. We also rode the bicycle around Stanley Park, which took about one and a half hours. Still, it was relaxing and beautiful on sunny days. On the Orientation Day, GoGlobal, the organization taking care of and dealing with the affairs of exchange students, divided exchange students into different groups and assigned a student ambassador to be the group leader. It was an excellent way to meet new people and to know more about UBC. 3 February 2019 The workload in UBC was really light compared to the one in HKUST. Even though you did not get a good grade in the exams, the final grading was more generous than UST. Most of the courses I took had two midterms and I had many midterms in February. The atmosphere and approach of the lectures were very different from the one in HKUST. Students were willing to answer questions and ask questions during lectures. All the professors I met were kind and helpful, and the relationship between the students and the professors was like friends. After midterm, my friends and I drove from Vancouver to Kelowna, Banff, and Calgary. We had a wine tasting workshop in Kelowna; I learned how to ski, and we tried the hot spring in Banff. Additionally, we have seen the famous Lake Louise and ended our trip in Calgary. My lovely friends and the stunning scenery made my first road trip memorable and unforgettable. 4 March 2020 The trip to Yellowknife for the aurora was the best in my exchange semester. We have seen the aurora dancing and changing its color from green, pink, to purple. It was breathtaking and amazing to see the northern lights because the color and the shape changed every second. We drove one and a half hours to a chalet that had no light pollution and waited for the northern lights. Despite the cold weather and the long drive, everything was worthwhile once we saw the aurora. After the trip to the Yellowknife, I went to Seattle and visited my high school friends. We went to Pike Place Market, Space Needle, the first Starbucks, and Kerry Park. It took only 4 hours bus ride from Vancouver to Seattle, so it was the right choice for a weekend trip. My friends and I spent more time outside in green and natural spaces in March while we were in Vancouver. We went to Cypress Mountain for ice tubing, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Horseshoe Bay, and Buntzen Lake. Canada was famous for its natural landscape, and most of them could arrive within one hour. If you do not know where to go on weekends, these places are also good choices. Last but not least, I had a picnic with my friends and delicious Indian food at UBC before I left. 5 April 2020 Not much information can be provided due to COVID-19 because I went back to my home country on March 20th. All the courses went online in late March and the semester ended on April 30th. 6 Part II General Exchange Information • Visa Procedures For Taiwanese, we do not have to apply for the study permit for staying in Canada for less than 6 months. We only need to apply for an electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) online and it only needs 200 NTD. If you want to visit the United States, the Taiwanese also can apply for the visa online, which only costs little money. • Orientation Activities UBC had an Orientation Day for the exchange students. Exchange students were divided into groups and were led by a student ambassador. There was a campus tour led by the student ambassador and we had a Facebook group for us to ask questions. UBC also held an introduction session allowing exchange students to know more about the facilities and necessities that we might need in Canada or UBC. • International Services & Activities GoGlobal is the office for exchange students, so go to GoGlobal if you have any questions during your exchange semester. UBC has an Exchange Student Club (ESC) and they also have a Facebook group. They hold a lot of activities, i.e., trips, parties, movie nights, sushi nights. It is a good chance to meet other exchange students by joining those activities. • Accommodations Fairview Crescent and Walter Gage are the two residences that exchange students can live in. Fairview Crescent is an area lined with townhouses, and Walter Gage is a collection of several buildings, similar to the TKO Jockey Club Hall in HKUST. I lived in Fairview Crescent and I had three housemates. It takes 20 minutes to walk from Fairview Crescent to Sauder Business School, which is uncomfortable in windy or snowy days. Walter Gage is much closer to Sauder Business School, and it is more convenient because it is close to the UBC Exchange that has a lot of bus stops. However, as far as I know, more exchange students are living in Fairview, so it depends on your choice. 7 • Courses Registration GoGlobal will send the exchange students an email and ask you the top 10 courses that you want to enroll in. They will help you to enroll in the courses according to your survey, but not every student can get 5 courses before the semester starts. After the semester begins, you could go to GoGlobal and ask the advisors to help you enroll in courses you like. There are a lot of courses for credit transfer at UBC. I would recommend everyone take 5 courses because the grading is more generous than the one in HKUST. The following is the list of the courses I took: UBC Course UST EQUIVA. COURSE CONTENT ECON 355 ECON 4364 International Trade and Trade Policies International Financial Markets and COMM 377 FINA 4403 Institutions COMM 474 FINA 4303 Fixed Income Markets and Management Introduction to Developmental, Social, PSYC 102 SOSC 1960 Personality, and Clinical Psychology POLI 321 SOSC 1350 Chinese Politics and Development • Teaching & Assessment Methods UBC Course Assessment Methods Review Class Participation: 10% Professor Emrul is the best Problem sets/Assignments: 25% professor I met at UBC. You ECON 355 Term exam 1: 15% can learn useful International Term exam 2: 15% Trade concepts and theories Final exam: 35% (Cumulative) in his class. This course consists of the Class Participation: 10% broad concepts of Midterm I: 20% COMM 377 international finance and only Midterm II: 20% touches the surface of every Final Project: 50% field in finance. Assignments: 20% It is a beneficial course if you COMM 474 Midterm Exam I: 20% are interested in fixed-income Midterm Exam II: 20% markets because it is detailed 8 Final Exam: 25% and combines many business Class Participation: 15% cases and macroeconomics events. class Participation: 5% Online Quizzes: 5% Every aspect of this course is Article Critique: 10% PSYC 102 similar to the common core Midterm I: 25% course (ccc) in HKUST. Midterm II: 25% Final Exam: 30% Think Piece 1: 35% Light workload and it is Think Piece 2: 50% POLI 321 suitable for students who want Class Presentation: 10% to transfer their ccc credit. Class Participation: 5% • Sports & Recreation Facilities UBC has free ice-skating rinks, indoor swimming pools, sauna, and gyms for students. You can also register for the fitness classes, but they might need some entry fees. Be sure that you watch the ice hockey game in UBC because it is exciting, and you won’t have the change to watch it in UST. • Finance & Banking (including currency / expenses) Scotia Bank has a branch and ATMs in UBC, so I opened my banking account there. The accounts for students do not need any monthly fees. You can use your debit card for online shopping and paying bills in restaurants; The payment records will be stored on the app, and you can also do the money transfer on the app.