Montréal: Le temps de ma vie Past Review
By A student () for
Champlain Abroad : Study in Montreal
Like I said in my "Words of Wisdom," I had the most amazing experience there with the best faculty a girl could have. I got to experience things, like traveling to Quebec City and Ottawa, touring video game studios and networking with potential employers, that I would never have gotten to do if I just visited Montreal every weekend. The culture and environment is absolutely stunning and it is just an amazing city. Because of my experience abroad, I am considering living there and working there in the future.
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Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The professors graded a lot harder and gave us brilliant feedback on our art work. Being directly from the industry helped get a different perspective and a better understanding on what needed to be done. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The faculty treated us like family and I love them so much and miss them being back in Burlington, VT. Our professors were just as amazing and were directly from the video game industry, at least in my case. I enjoyed the fact that I had a small group attend during the Fall in Montreal, because it made it more personal and all 19 of us bonded really well. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I ended up choosing to live with three of my very good guy friends and I had so much fun. I did not experience living with an international student, unlike a fellow classmate of mine, but I still had a great time. All the other students of UQAM were very friendly and would chat with us and ask us a bunch of questions about the states and our school. Since all of my roommates lived further from me (ex. California and Georgia), I bought the majority of the items needed for our apartment, and whatever else we needed we bought at the stores. |
| * Food: |
When the faculty would take us out to eat, they would keep in mind all of our dietary restrictions, for example my roommate up there was allergic to soy, so they kept that in mind when we would go out. They brought us places that were only in Montreal, so it was a create new experience and places that there would be something we all enjoyed. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I have been to Montreal before, but I never experienced such an amazing place for four whole months. I got to explore the majority of the city and experience new foods and meet new people. I got to visit video game studios that I would not have been able to visit ever if I did not go abroad. The two field trips that I attended, Quebec City and Ottawa, were so much fun. I have never been to either cities before and they were absolutely amazing. I could not believe the amount of activities that we did for such a low amount of money. It was the best experience I could ever have at College. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
I did not have any health issues while abroad, but I know of a few classmates of mind who had to attend a hospital for their health, and one of our faculty members personally brought them there and waited until they were check on. I felt very safe the entire trip due to the wonderful staff that always kept an eye on us and made sure we were smart about being in the large city of Montreal. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
Since Montreal is a bilingual city, French and English, it was not very difficult to make due with speaking only English. I did have a bit of experience prior to going to abroad with French, so that gave me an advantage. I took the Conversational French class while up there as one of my five classes and I got into the habit of speaking French with one of my roommates when we would want to talk about something random. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Montreal was the best experience of my life and I highly recommend you go there. I know it's close to the states, but the environment and culture is completely different. Montreal is a bilingual city of French and English, with French and the main language. The building have this modern-European feel to them and the food is excellent! Montreal is a huge hub for all types of business, ranging from International Business to Graphic Design to Game Design. It's also a really huge place for networking with potential employers. Lastly, the faculty are the wonderful people you could ever have. They are so amazing and kind. I have made such a great bond and connection with them it's unbelievable. Montreal was the best experience of my life and living there for the four months I was there, made me realize how I want to possibly move there and work up there one day. |
