Experience report Michiel Weerts
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366513
Michiel Weerts
weertsmichiel@gmail.com
Fall 2013
2013-2014
Université Laval
Canada
Introduction
Quebec is an old French-speaking city situated in the eastern part of Canada. It is the most
European city in Canada and has a lot of French influences. It is also one of the oldest cities
and therefor has a lot of old buildings and fortresses in and around the city.
Admission, arrival, housing
On August 18, 2013 I began my trip from Dusseldorf Airport. Via New York, I would land in
Montreal 19 hours later. After losing my bag including my Macbook in the cab to my Tilburg
University friend Metehan in Montreal, we drank a couple of beers and went to bed. The
next 5 or 6 days I would stay with him to explore Montreal a little bit and take part in the
introduction activities of HEC Montreal. 6 days later I took the bus to Quebec City and got
the keys to my new room, which was actually a really typical ‘American Dorm Room’. The
first night was little rough without a pillow or blankets, but I was satisfied after all. The
rooms were pretty nice and perfect for 4 months. If I had stayed longer than 4 months, I
would have searched for an apartment in the city center.
Location of university/city
The dorms were situated in a huge building on campus called Marie-Parent, which housed
almost 1000 students. Almost all of the exchange students were placed in this dormitory,
turning it into a very vibrant place with loads of things to do at every time of the day. The
campus was really big with the biggest sport accommodations I have seen in my life.
The university campus was located in the east part of Quebec City next to the biggest mall in
town called Sainte-Foy. The closest supermarket was a 20-minute walk away and classrooms
were 10 minutes away from Marie-Parent. Downtown Quebec was a 20-minute bus-ride.
You could find a lot of old pubs, nice restaurants and great lunchrooms. Poutine is of course
a must-eat in Quebec; especially after a good night out! Once a week we would go partying
in the city, every Thursday night there was a big party at the Pub Universitaire and another
day we would go to some friends’ place in the city center. This was quite expensive though.
Even drinks from the supermarket were twice as expensive as in here in Holland. Plus, in a
bar you always had to pay an extra tip of around 15% to the waiter.
Academics
I chose the following five courses:
-Venture Capital
-Human Resource Management
-Development of Global Markets
-Strategy of Internationalization
-Sales Force Management
Overall, these courses were easier than any other courses I had in Tilburg. The level of
education in Université Laval is just lower than that of Tilburg University. I would say that
Venture Capital was a very nice and quite hard course, in which I learned a lot of new things.
The course Development of Global Markets was also very educational, since we worked
with a computer simulation trying to market a new product in South-America. This was a lot
of fun and I finally got to put my combined university knowledge to practice. Strategy of
Internationalization was also an interesting course, but unfortunately it contained a couple
of themes I already learned in other courses in the last two years. Sales Force Management
was quite all right, but not my thing. It teaches you how to sell products to potential
customers, which is not really thing. Human Resource Management was a big
disappointment for me, but this was mainly because of the poor teaching skills of the
lecturer and the low level of education of the course itself.
Social life
Globe FSA, the business administration faculty student association, organized lots of
activities during the year including a few trips. The first introduction week was organized
specifically for the international students. There was tour through Quebec’s old town, a
boat party, a rafting day, a hiking day, a football match in the big stadium and many parties
during the night. I also joined Globe FSA during their trips to New York and Cuba. I couldn’t
join them for the trip to Toronto, because I was sick from the Pfeiffer disease for a couple
weeks. The trips really increased the cohesiveness within the group. We had a really great
group and I am happy that I met so many wonderful people.
Living costs
During my exchange period I spent a lot more money than I had expected beforehand. I
went on a lot of trips to Montreal (3X), New York (2X), Cuba, National Parks in Canada and
even on a 1-month Californian road trip at the end of the semester. To finance my stay and
trips I worked for several years, which gave me the opportunity to do all the things I wanted
to do. I also received the normal student grant from the Dutch government of 270 euros.
Next to that I had a reimbursement for my public transport card of 90 euros. Below you can
see the monthly costs:
-
Housing: 250 Euros
Food and going out: 450 Euros
Transport: 30 Euros
Books: 300 euros
Miscellaneous (trips etc.): 300 Euros
TOTAL:
1330 Euros
Culture
The Quebecois people are rather nationalistic and have a small aversion towards foreigners.
They don’t want to be associated with the rest of North America and some even want
Quebec to become a separated state. Of course there are some minor cultural differences
such as the custom of always tipping the waiter, but I haven’t experienced any major
cultural differences in Quebec. Overall, the people in the province of Quebec are very open
and are always there to help you if you need any help. Particularly after visiting other cities
in North America, I have come to the conclusion that Canadians are much more friendly
than Americans.
Personal development
Being completely on my own in a new environment far away from your usual life
surrounded by international people made me learn a lot about myself. Looking back, it was
a 5-month period of self-reflection and getting comfortable with who I actually was. I
learned very much from all the different cultures of my international friends, picking out the
good parts and leaving out the bad ones. I also learned very well how to deal with
intercultural communication within an international group of people. I came back as a
different person, feeling more like a global citizen and eager to learn as much as possible
about everything.
Tips for future students
I would highly recommend Université Laval to other students wanting to go on an exchange
period in the future. Quebec is just a wonderful city with great people in it and Université
Laval is simply perfect to make lots of new good friends. The campus way of living increases
the social interaction between students and makes you want to be around other people all
the time. Quebec is also a very nice base from which you can travel a lot. Toronto, Montreal,
Ottawa, New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and even Cuba and the Dominican
Republic are not very far away and not even that expensive.
It was an experience never to forget!
Below is a link to my Tumblr Blog. If you have any questions, never hesitate to contact me!
http://weerts.tumblr.com