My Exchange at The University of British Columbia – Vancouver
I found out about the 360 International exchange programme through my own research; my high school had students visit from abroad and I knew a few people that had gone overseas and really enjoyed it so I decided to look into the option for myself. Upon first arriving in the city my first impression was honestly that it reminded me somewhat of home. The city is much bigger but the architectural style and vibe of the city reminded me a lot of Auckland. My experience arriving at UBC was different; I was incredibly sleep deprived and slightly overwhelmed and spent a little while orienting myself just walking around as the campus is absolutely massive. My accommodation was very nice. I was in the Ponderosa Commons building which is rather unusual, every other exchange student aside from 1 I met that had student accommodation was in either Fairview or Walter Gage. This at first kept me slightly isolated from other exchange students but overall didn’t matter as it was really easy to meet people. Orientation was good, lasted a few hours and gave a decent look around the entire campus, it was also a very nice opportunity to meet people. The schooling environment was really great, all the professors in my experience were very invested and presented interesting lectures. The cost of living is overall slightly higher than Auckland; mainly because of the stronger Canadian currency plus the price of food, but there are cheaper supermarkets near campus that make it very manageable still. Some highlights of the exchange were being invited randomly last minute down to trips in Oregon and Washington allowing me to explore a decent amount of the Pacific Northwest. Food options are very good; Vancouver is a very multicultural city and there is a wide variety of options available either on campus or nearby. One of the big extracurriculars I took part in was the film club, it’s very well managed and takes place in an old theatre on campus, they do multiple showings a week which often include some rather esoteric older movies if you enjoy that. My main bit of advice to future exchange students is understanding that UBC is quite far from downtown; like 30-40 minutes, although this isn’t too much of a detriment as the bus service runs from UBC and is quite good and there really isn’t a need to head downtown too often. Overall UBC has a very vibrant campus life and Vancouver is a very cool city. Would highly recommend.
Q&A
What were some of the highlights of the academic experience at your host university?
I really enjoyed my GEOG 364 class. The professor had won the highest award in geography (the Vautrin Lud Prize) just the previous year and taught an incredibly insightful class on economic geography. My experience was that the professors were all very hands on and attuned to the needs of the students.
Would you recommend any particular activity/activities unique to your host country or university?
UBC has incredible services available; I would especially recommend taking advantage of the pools and film club; the pools are free to students, large and not busy if you time your visit right, while the film club takes advantage of an actual old theatre on campus making it a very fun experience. Furthermore if you really like hiking or climbing British Columbia is an amazing province to explore with incredible options available for both activities
What are your top 3 tips for future students attending your host university or going on exchange to your host country?
- classes tend to be much less online than at UOA; I had multiple lectures post essentially nothing on canvas and almost no classes posted recordings of the lectures so make sure you are willing to attend classes in person
- classes with essay based assignments were closed book; this was different from what I was used to as it meant I had to memorise and prepare quotes and specific ideas a lot more so than I needed to at UOA
- UBC is like 30-40 minutes from downtown Vancouver so be prepared for a bit of a journey.
How much did you budget for your exchange? Was this enough? Were there any lessons learned that would help future students budget for their own exchange?
I had roughly $13,000 NZD going in; I left 3,000 for 3 weeks of travelling afterwards and found that 10,000 was easily enough. The best way to manage your budget is just to have good meal prep.
What are your most significant takeaways from your experience abroad?
Some key takeaways I gained were economic; especially regarding the innefficiency of local economies in the post-fordist, responsibilised, era. I found this class very insightful and helped me develop a more educated understanding of both local and global economy.
Do you want to share anything about travels you did outside your host city/country?
Highly recommend taking advantage of travel around North America; personally I did a couple trips down to Oregon and Washington state, along with a big trip at the end to Montreal, Michigan, and Los Angeles.
Is there any advice you could share about accommodation options at your host university and/or in the local area?
I lived on-campus. UBC sends you an email that just has you fill out information regarding your housing preferences along with ranking the available housing options. Following the email is essentially all you have to do to apply for housing.
Do you have any advice on what mobile phone apps and/or phone plans that were useful in your host country?
I used the Bus service app “transit” and also “wise” which is a payment service that allows you to avoid international debit card fees, you can either purchase a physical card through them or use paywave.
I honestly did not have a phone plan while I was here, I was hoping to detox a little bit and to avoid using my phone as much; this basically meant I just needed to plan my routes a bit before I left and worst case would run into a restaurant for their free wifi which many places had. Overall did not present any major problems.
Final Comments
Understand that Vancouver has very nice weather during the summer but can get slightly rainy during the winter; the last few weeks or first few weeks of your exchange depending on your semester may have worse weather than during the rest of the exchange.