Academic experience
I studied 4 International business courses and 1 filler course - They were Comm353: Managing across cultures, Comm 373: International negotiations, Comm 376: Business in the Asia Pacific rRm, COMM 398: Business, Government and Political Economy and Comm 357: Interpersonal Skills. I loved them all. All my courses were in the business building and there were around 15-50 students per class, we all had name cards on our desk and were expected to contribute to class discussions. 20% of our grades coming from at least some sort of contribution to the class. The professors are all very highly educated and engaging and the content was very interesting. The classes usually consisted of a few small quizzes, a individual assignment and a group assignment, with only one of my courses having a final exam. I loved the teaching and the students who go to Queens are of a very high calibre and were great at presentations. This was quite challenging as you were expected to present to a very high quality without notes, which I had never done before. Enrolment occurs initially during a two day period. In the days before the enrolment period, you added the courses you wanted to do to a shopping basket on the website (or applied for special permission for those outside the commerce faculty) and then in this 2 day window you simply selected the classes and enrolled. It was quite simple once you got your head around it.
Personal experience
I gained lifelong friends with my housemates, a passion for my degree, overcome obstacles such as the extreme cold and living in a place not knowing anyone. Overall I think I matured a lot and learnt a lot about myself through being in a new situation and getting to know different people.
Accommodation
I lived off-campus in a 4 bedroom house with 3 other exchange students. It was great - it was like a real family, we all cooked together and undertook activities together, making it really supportive. We all clicked and got on really well. My advice to incoming exchange students would be not to stress about housing too much - you will find somewhere - don't get trapped in an expensive lease for 8 months, when you are only staying 4. Sublets are hard to come by, but there are lots of other option such as rooms in a house, homestays, houses, last minute sublets. A lot of people only found accommodation once they arrived. I would suggest joining the Queens university off-campus housing page and post that you are looking for a room and comment "looking for the same" under posts where people are looking for the same - people will get in contact with you. I found my room through Kijiji. The University did not provide help looking for housing but did have a service where you could have your lease looked over to make sure everything was legal.
Costs
Rent was $800 all-inclusive per month, $500 covered food for a month, transport around the city was free and buses to Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa ranged from $10-$60. I did quite a bit of travelling, spending 11 days in the US, 5 days in Banff National Park, 3 days in Montreal along with a few road trips – Overall, I spent $4500 on travel.
Challenge
My biggest challenge was homesickness in the 2nd month which hit me out of nowhere, but it went away after 1-2 weeks. I just tried to focus my mind by keeping busy and told people close to me how I was feeling, leading to them being super supportive and kind, which helped a lot.
Professional Development
The biggest attribute I gained was learning how to work with people across many different cultures. Most of my groups had 5 different nationalities within them, my housemates were all from different countries and those I travelled with were also from different countries. I was exposed to lots of different ways that people worked, which I had to get used too. This is alot like the real world, particularly in my chosen field of international business, which will help me alot in my future career.
Highlight
The highlight of my experience was getting to know my 3 lovely housemates and the day to day learning of how to cope in a new country together.
Top tips
My main piece of advice would be to not worry about the housing situation too much. You will find something and you won't end up homeless. I was so worried about it before I arrived, but upon arrival I realised that it was unnecessary. I would also definitley recommend participating in the O-Week activities as you will learn alot about the university and make your first friends through this week.