• Canada,  North America,  Simon Fraser University

    Academic Life at SFU

    By Katie Lewin (Simon Fraser University, Canada) Finals have just finished, ending semester 1, and I head home for the holidays in a couple of days, which I’m so excited for. My first semester at SFU hasn’t been the easiest, however, once I finally settled in and found my feet, things have only gotten better. The academic side of life at SFU is what I’ve had the least issues with; it was what I expected and hasn’t yet caused me any major difficulties. Lectures are fairly similar to Manchester in layout and teaching, although not all professors use slides or put them online. The size of lectures depends on the…

  • Canada

    First Weeks

    By Katie Lewin (Simon Fraser University, Canada) My first two weeks in Canada and SFU have been so busy I have barely had a minute to let it sink in! After two lonely days in Vancouver sorting out a phone and exploring, I took a taxi to SFU. I hadn’t been nervous about starting until I saw the mountain looming in the distance and it hit me how much of a big adventure I was undertaking. Moving into my accommodation was fine with everyone being very helpful, however, it was early to move in (which mainly first years do), so my accommodation was very empty which was a slightly strange…

  • Canada,  North America

    The Final Countdown

    By Katie Lewin (Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada) After all the applications, research and planning for what seems like the past year, I’m leaving for Canada on Monday! I feel slightly mentally unprepared but otherwise I have pretty much everything sorted from accommodation to my timetable. The only thing I’m dreading is saying goodbye to my friends and family, although it’s not too bad as I’m back at Christmas. As this is the first year Simon Fraser University has been available to the University of Manchester for exchange, there hasn’t been any previous Manchester students I could get advice from. However SFU have a Buddy Program where they partner…