McGill University
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Reading Week Roadtrip: NYC, Boston and Vermont
By Katie Dolan, McGill University, Canada. Eight days, three states, and a ton of photos later, it’s safe to say that I’ll be thinking about this trip for a long time. New York With around 10 days off in October, some friends and myself decided to go on a trip to New York, Boston, and Vermont. We got a night bus from Montreal to New York which got us in at around 8am in the morning. You can imagine how much a NYC bagel and coffee hit the spot after the 8-hour bus ride. But in fairness, the bus wasn’t actually too bad at all and I would be lying…
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Montreal, from a foodie’s perspective
One word on everyone’s mind when you think about Canadian food, is poutine. Well, that and maple syrup. Speaking of which, did you know that Quebec produces about 70% of global maple syrup production? I didn’t know that either! That also explains why almost all Quebecois desserts are doused in the sugary substance. Interesting, eh? One of those would be la tire sur la neige, also known as Canadian maple taffy. As my very limited command of French has taught me, sur la neige literally means “on top of snow”. How it’s made is that boiled maple syrup is poured on top of snow, and wrapped around a wooden popsicle…
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Saying goodbye
This was not how it was supposed to end. I was supposed to have stayed with everyone till the end of April, before bidding goodbye to a time well spent in Canada. Unfortunately, life had other planes in store for me, and the pandemic saw me flying back to the opposite end of the world, bypassing Manchester altogether. Now, I am back home, back in sunny Singapore. Things could not be more different here. You know, I’ve always had an affinity for islands. Born and raised on my island country, I moved to the UK for my studies about two years back. Then for exchange, I went to Montreal, also…
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A love letter to Montreal
All that talk of how cold it is in Canada doesn’t actually prepare you for how cold it is in Canada when you first arrive. The slush that seeped into my shoes when I walked around the city for the first time wasn’t exactly the welcome I had expected, nor the teeny tiny steps that I had to take to avoid slipping on the ice. They told me that it’d be cold but I hadn’t thought that I’d lose all feeling in my hands and feet when I went ice skating one bitterly cold weekend. Or that I’d trudge through a snowstorm and end up with ice in my hair…
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Advice for future McGillians
Now that I am settled back at home in the UK and looking back at my study abroad as if it were a dream, I feel it’s time to write my final blog. I will dedicate this mostly to future McGill students and offer some specific advice for you, as I know this is harder to come by than generic advice about studying abroad.
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The Final Travels
With the end of April came the end of exams and the end of a fantastic year at McGill. Although it was sad to leave behind all I had known for the previous 8 months, I was eager to begin my travels that I had been planning and dreaming of since this Canadian experience began. At the heart of these dreams has always been road tripping through the Rocky Mountains and we took no time to hang around before embarking. After a night stopover in the cowboy city of Calgary, we picked up the car and set off on a hefty 6 hour journey to Jasper. This took us along…
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A Look Back at Spring Break
A highlight of my year abroad that I’m yet to blog about in detail was Spring Break. When it came to planning for this week, I was at a bit of a loose end. I hadn’t committed to any plans as most of my friends at McGill had long planned to go to Cuba. Having already been in December, I was keen to travel elsewhere in my precious week off. After a quick chat to a close friend on exchange at the University of Tennessee, I had a flight to Knoxville booked and my plan had been made. Knoxville, Asheville and Nashville… this trip couldn’t have sounded more American if…
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Surviving (and enjoying) the Canadian winter
From the moment I found out I would be spending a year in Montreal, the horror stories about the crippling Canadian winters began. “Minus 30 degree temperatures every day” they said. “You won’t be able to go outdoors for months” they said. “You’ll need to spend $1000 on a Canada goose jacket and winter boots” they said. I expected and mentally prepared for the worst but soon came to realise that this worry was unnecessary. I mean, Montreal’s snow and regular sunshine versus Manchester’s grey and rainy Winters… I think I know which one I’d rather.
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A Very White Christmas…
By James Walley, McGill University, Canada. Having never spent a Christmas outside the bustling metropolis of rural Cheshire I was extremely excited, albeit slightly apprehensive, about spending the festive period away from home. As long as I’ve known that I will be partaking in the study abroad program, I have always been fully committed not to go home for Christmas and originally planned to use this time to travel. However, I luckily finished my semester earlier than expected and was able to take advantage of cheap mid-December flights to Cuba and returned in time to spend Christmas and New Years in Montreal.
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Academic Advice for Future Canada Exchange Students
By James Walley, Canada, McGill University. After completing my first semester at McGill, I believe my academic experience over here is sufficient enough to write this blog and provide some honest advice for you future exchangers on what to expect academically and how to successfully cope with the change. As I know the academic system in many Canadian universities is similar, this blog doesn’t just apply to those of you going to McGill. Yes, I may be a Scrooge posting such a dry (but important!) blog on Christmas Eve but I hope this provides some useful festive reading. Choosing Modules Do this as soon as registration opens! I was not…
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Being back from study abroad
Hello, my name is Emily and I’m addicted to talking about study abroad. I’m back, lads. Back in Manchester after studying abroad at McGill University and do not need much prompting at all to start talking about Canada. I don’t want to be a typical ‘Gap yah’ continually talking about my year in Canada but it’s not hard to slot into conversation something that happened in Canada, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Just to reiterate, I studied abroad for a year at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, I feel everyone needs to know.
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Settling into life in Montreal
By James Walley, McGill University, Canada. Wow, what a start to life in Canada. So far, my expectations have been well and truly exceeded and I am incredibly excited for what the rest of the year has to hold. I have now been here for over three weeks and so much has happened in that short space of time. Granted, the first week was not the stress free start I wanted and instead it was filled with intense house hunting along with the tedious tasks of sorting out bank accounts and phone contracts. However, I did manage to explore the city and surrounding areas; such as downtown Montreal, Le Plateau,…
