Students
Nord University student, Haakon Frostad Sivertsen, shared his experience with semester exchange to Queen’s University. Read his story below!
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My experiences as an exchange student at Queen’s University
By Haakon Frostad Sivertsen
I decided to go on exchange after several shutdowns over the last two years. Covid-19 made the world even smaller and thus I had to go out into the world as soon as it opened up again. The reason I chose Canada was primarily because I’ve heard a lot of good things about the country and because I will be teaching English in grades 5-10 in Norway when I complete my degree and are a certified teacher. What started as a hesitant idea turned into the best choice I’ve made in my life. Canada has become my second home and the second best country in the world to live in.
The process
The process from when I applied until I was on my way to Queen’s was pretty simple and straight forward. I got approval from Nord to go on exchange. I then sent this approval to Queen’s University and got an approval document from them a few weeks later. I received the approval from Queen’s a bit too late regarding applying for on campus housing, as the deadline had past. If I’d received the documents a bit earlier, I might have been able to live on campus. The next step was then to look for accommodation. My best tip is to join a Facebook group where you can look for accommodation and where the members consist of other exchange students. I found some Dutch people to live with after a few days of searching. The rental prices in Kingston are just like in Bodø, so it’s important not to be picky, but exercise critical thinking to avoid getting scammed. Never accept anything until you’ve had a Zoom meeting or similar with the landlord. Once I’d rented a place to stay, I chose my subjects. The coordinator at Queen’s if very helpful and nice, so don’t hesitate to ask her for help. After I had chosen my subjects, all I had to do was book my flights and do the count down.
My meeting with Queen’s University
I arrived in Toronto at 2pm in late August. I recommend taking the bus to Kingston, as the train fares are very high. School started a week after I arrived, so I explored Kingston for a week before school started and before my roommates arrived. The first week of school was mainly getting to know fellow students, the Campus and the subjects. I met two exchange students from Switzerland on the first day and they were in the same classes as me. We were given a tour of the Campus and a number of activities were organized during this week. I did not attend these activities because I wanted to explore the city and the Campus with the people I lived with. If, however, you do not know anyone, I would recommend participating in as many activities as possible. Canadians are very welcoming and are always open to meeting new people.
Every day life as a student and for your free time
I spent a lot of time with my room mates. They have become some of my best friends and we did a lot of social things after school. We went to the Pub, watched football matches (World Cup), went to parties, went to FOCO and HOCO and met other exchange students who we hung out with for the rest of our stay. If you enjoyed “russetiden”, FOCO and HOCO are a kind of Canadian “russetid” at the university. Those days were amongst the most fun days I had and is definitely something you just have to experience. If you do strength training or other sports, Queen’s has fantastic facilities for working out, basketball, football, volleyball, swimming and more. I do CrossFit in my spare time and joined Queen Street Fitness located Downtown. The price for the membership is extremely expensive, but I think it was worth it as it was only for four months and I wanted to experience Canadian CrossFit as well as making new friends. Through the Crossfit community, we had several social gatherings that were worth every penny. In my spare time I also traveled quite a bit to other cities, such as Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City. If you have the time, I highly recommend exploring as much as possible if the opportunity presents itself. Try to travel along with someone else, as it makes the trips even better. I traveled alone quite a bit and noticed that I missed a friend or two to travel with.
Everyday life as a student was roughly the same as at Nord. I had English, pedagogy and special education pedagogy. The school days were however longer, where some of the days could last until 8PM. It might feel strange at first, but you get used to it. My classmates were absolutely fantastic and I found the learning environment very motivating. Everyone was interested in each other’s thoughts and we had great discussions every class. The subjects mostly consisted of assignments and group projects, and the classes had lots of discussions and collaborative tasks. As for practicum, I wasn’t able to practicum in Canada, which is a shame. Unfortunately, I don’t know the reason for this. When my classmates where doing their practicum, I worked with online assignments. The tasks were relevant for teacher education students and I got an insights into the Canadian school system.
As for food, there are canteens on Campus, but you have to get food vouchers every month. I wasn’t able to wrap my head around this system, but the coordination can be asked about this. There are several libraries on Campus. The Campus itself is incredibly beautiful – it looks a bit like Hogwarts because of its old buildings and great art. All Queen’s students can take the bus for free, so it’s easy to travel around the city of Kingston.
My advice to future exchange students
My advice to future exchange students is to be open to participating in everything you have the chance to do while abroad. Don’t be afraid to talk to Canadians – they are the world’s nicest and most welcoming people. If you have the opportunity, you should travel to the big cities in Canada. Try new dishes, activities and what the Canadian culture has to offer. If you have the opportunity, you should live in a collective with other exchange students. You’ll be able to cook together, explore the city together and it might be easier to get in touch with other exchange students. Remember to save money for the exchange, to be able to experience other cities while you’re there. The last tip is to have an open mind, to the new country you’re in and the culture which will leave you with several experiences and impression. Canada is an amazing country that I will definitely return to. I might even move over there on a permanent basis. That’s how great my exchange was.