Simon Fraser University by Léon Dupont Myhre spring 2005
(Written on February 16th 2005)
General Information on the School
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The school is on top of Burnaby Mountain just outside of Vancouver. The campus takes
about 15 to walk from side to side, with the townhouses on one side and UniverCity on
the other side.
There are a lot of faculties, and a quite big school (more than 20 000 students I think), and
I attend the business faculty of course.
There are a lot of young people here (19-20 years old), but some are a bit older as some do
coop terms (part work, part school), and at the main campus, there is mostly
undergraduates I think.
The Teaching situation
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All the classes are taught in English, and if your English is not very good, you might have
some problems in understanding the professors, as they can talk quite fast.
As to the level of study, it is very high here. This is one of the top 3 business universities
in Canada, and there is a bigger workload than what is normal back home. The profs are
very keen on discussions and class participation (which is part of my grade in 2 of my
classes) when there are small classes, and as we have it back home, some are primarily
practical and some theoretical. There is also extensive use of assignments, midterms!!,
cases and group work in addition to the lectures.
The relationship with my profs depend on the person. 2 of them I can just chat with (one
of them has already provided me with a contact (the business liaison for the library) for a
group project I have in BUS 364), and 2 are more formal. As to the relationship between
the students, it is not very different from home. Some are very friendly, and some are just
there to learn the stuff and then go home.. Surprise surprise…
Required Literature
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Since the local language in western Canada is English, the literature is also in English.
The level is different from class to class, and the exams are based on a mix of literature
and lectures.
Exams
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I have only had 2 midterms so far, and one was short answer and cases, and the other was
multiple choice and short answer. You do have to study a bit to pass, but you have to put
in an effort to get a good grade.
Description of Courses
I am taking:
BUS 303 Business Ethics (very theoretical and quite hard)
BUS 346 International Business (very general, and lots of common sense put into a system)
BUS 362 Information Analysis and Systems Design (an interesting class but with many
assignments you have to do)
BUS 364 Information Systems in Organizations and Society (as BUS 346, with very
interesting discussions)
Descriptions of the courses can be found on http://students.sfu.ca/calendar/. From there you
choose “Course Descriptions”. This opens a new window where you choose course-code BUS
and Upper Level.
How is the library?
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I have personally not been to the library more than once, and then for a meeting, but then
again I am not a big user of the library at home either. What I have been told however is
that there are great quiet areas to study there and they have a pretty good computer access,
but I would STRONGLY recommend that you bring a laptop with you. This is to be able
to communicate with home, either via MSN Messenger or Skype, and because you are
paying for internet in your room no matter what. It is required, so why not take advantage
of it???? Also all of my profs share their ppt presentations on the course websites.
Information before you went
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The information from SFU was sufficient, but not too extensive. There was supposed to
be a pickup-service, but it was snowing when I arrived, so the driver didn’t dear to drive
anymore. And you might laugh now, but that was after 10 cm of snow, cuz drivers in
Vancouver doesn’t know how to handle snow. The busses up to the university gets
cancelled and there is just a big traffic-chaos.
Visa Procedure and travel experiences
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In Canada, you don’t need any visa if you are staying for less than 6 months, but one thing
you should be aware of is when you enter the states. As a Norwegian citizen, you can
travel under the “visa waiver program”, but this is only good for 90 days starting the first
time you enter USA. The 90 days keep running when you are in Canada, so either you
have to get some kind of visa (don’t know what you need) or you can do as me, and time
your first entry less than 90 days before the last time you know you want to leave the
states for the last time.
Academic Calendar
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I arrived on the Thursday before class started (January 6th) and when I arrived at campus, I
was escorted to my townhouse by campus security (I had way to much luggage to walk
they thought). The next day there was a meeting for all the exchange students with a lot of
info, and a campus tour. After this we were left to ourselves (so get to know some of the
exchange students right away to hang out together during the weekend) and I had to go
shopping since I had no food whatsoever. See later on for where to shop.
The semester is short, with my semester starting January 10th and classes ending at April
8th. After this is an intensive examination period ending April 21st. I have only 2 finals,
that are on the 14th and 16th.
Housing
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You have to apply for housing yourself, and I would recommend living in townhouses.
This is because you have a bit bigger space, and hopefully you get nice housemates as I
have, living with 3 Canadians that as helped me a lot in settling in and figuring things out
around here.
Tip: write in the comment field that you are an exchange student, and you will almost
certainly get your application approved.
Costs
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The cost of living is a bit cheaper than in Norway.
The International Office
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There is an international office, and they are very helpful if you have questions, and they
have some events for the students.
Social Activities
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When it comes to social activities, we have created “Team International” and do a lot of
things together. We go skiing a lot, meet at the pub every Monday, go out together, go
bowling, go on trips, you name it. We are a good bunch on the mailing list (between 45
and 50) so there is always someone keen on doing stuff.
When it comes to the local students, I have gotten to know quite a few. I was on a skitrip
with the Ski-club a week after I arrived (extremely fun) and also gotten to know a few
through the ones I live with and when going to the pub, etc.
I enjoy being here a lot. Nice people and lots to do. But if you’re not active and open to
people, you are going to end up “Viggo”……
Culture and Language
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Since I know English pretty good, there are very small language problems, and the
Canadians are mostly very helpful and friendly (even the bus-drivers are friendly) so if
you have problems, just ask someone.
Tips for people going here
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For shopping you have to take the bus nr 135 (Burrard Station) down to Kensington. Here
is a supermarket called Safeway’s where we shop in addition to going to Lougheed (a
little more complicated to go). Make sure to get a membership card, cuz you get
discounts, and the first Tuesday of every month they have 10% off on everything in
addition to the normal discounts, so be sure not to miss this. Also remember to go to the
produce-store before Safeway’s, because they have better quality and cheaper veggies and
fruit. Also go to Wall Mart at Lougheed if you need anything (I bought a lamp, an alarm
clock and towels there) cuz it’s pretty cheap there.
Bring a laptop and live in a Townhouse
DO NOT order a meal plan. I was warned against it by everyone here.
Bring a duvet (dyne på norsk) and a pillow. This is not provided.
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Bring power converters for appliances like cell-phone chargers (have to by them in
Norway).
If you have a tri-band cell-phone, bring this and just get a prepaid-deal from FIDO, and
you should definitely install Skype on you computer and bring a headset. Skype is a free
IP-telephone if you call from user to user on the internet, and you can also call to landlines
at home for 0,14 NOK pr minute. This is what I am doing, and it works fine. In addition
your housemates will probably have a phone that you can use if you are to call collect or
just local numbers (as they can call unlimited locally for their startup-cost). In addition
you can also bring a webcamera, and see the person you are talking through by talking on
skype and running the webcam on msn messenger.
More tips will come at a later time, and if there is something you are wondering about,
just contact me at leon.myhre@gmail.com, but a warning… I WANT NO SPAM!!!