McGill University
Semester Two 2013
BCom Majoring in Finance
Montreal
Montreal is a beautiful and interesting city and definitely worth a visit whether you end up there
on exchange or not. It offers a nice compromise if you are tossing up between an exchange to
North America or Europe. While most people in the Montreal city centre are bilingual, French is
the dominant language and some cafes and restaurants will only have French menus, which can
make ordering interesting. The further from the city centre you get the more people speak
exclusively French. I found Canadians extremely friendly, polite, and helpful, perhaps even more
so than New Zealanders.
Crepes at Juliet & Chocolat
Old Montreal at Christmas time
One of the squirrels at McGill
Academics
McGill is a prestigious and highly ranked University, so there are definitely both personal and
professional advantages to choosing it for your exchange. I did find the academic atmosphere at
McGill a lot more challenging and competitive than at Otago.
Enrollment is via the online system Minerva, and you can also add and drop courses online once
the semester starts, so the process is much more straightforward than course approval at Otago in
this respect. I found the online system kind of confusing at first and you might want to check with
an advisor at McGill once you get there to ensure you are taking papers you actually should be, as
the system allows you to enroll in papers you shouldn’t necessarily be taking. I would suggest
finding the exact date that exchange student enrollment opens and deciding before this date what
papers you want to take because the best classes tend to fill up quickly and then go to waitlist and
if you change your mind in the first week of class it might not be possible to swap to the courses
you want. Also, two of my papers had already started assessments in the add/drop period (the first
two weeks of class), so bear this in mind when switching. You can check the ‘Rate My Prof’
website and the McGill University facebook groups for advice on specific papers and lecturers.
I took the equivalent of four McGill Arts papers that were at the 100 and 200 level at Otago (note
that at McGill 100 and 200 level = 100 level at Otago, 300 level = 200 level at Otago, and 400
level = 300 level at Otago). I definitely would not recommend doing five papers. The work was
not necessarily more difficult than at Otago, there was just a lot more of it and the marking was
much tougher. Instead of big final exams most of the assessment took place during the semester,
although depending on the papers you take that could differ. I would recommend choosing papers
with as few pieces of assessment as possible. Most papers seemed to have marks for participation
and the classes were far more interactive than at Otago, which I found helped to keep me
interested and organized. A lot of the bigger classes are also recorded which is helpful.
I would strongly advise against taking French courses at McGill unless you major or minor in
French. I took intensive beginners French and it was probably the most time consuming paper I
have ever taken. If you want to improve your French there are conversational groups at McGill,
casual classes as part of McGill Mini-Courses, as well as more comprehensive classes at the
YMCA.
Things to do
There is always something on in Montreal whether you are interested in sport, music, visiting
museums, or just eating. If you are around in summer try and get to Tam Tams and Piknik
Electronik, as well as McGill’s “OAP” (open air pub on campus). Definitely try to make it to
McGill’s activities night, it is worth waiting in the huge line. McGill has almost 39,000 students,
and as a result has hundreds of clubs for almost every sport or activity imaginable (including a
chocolate club and a quidditch team). McGill also offers mini-courses on topics from Turkish to
speed-reading to pole dancing. Despite the abundance of clubs and courses, one thing I was
slightly surprised by was that McGill didn’t seem to put that much emphasis on sports or ‘school
spirit’ compared to other campuses around Canada and the US.
There are two really useful groups for exchange students in Montreal that you can find on
facebook. The first, MISN (McGill International Students Association) has weekly events in
Montreal throughout the year, including a theme park trip, a food-week, language classes, a
Halloween party (Halloween is a big deal in Canada), a ball, a skydiving trip, and pub crawls etc.
They also organize ski trips and weekend trips to Boston, Quebec City etc. The second group,
Interstude, is for international students from any Montreal university. Interstude organise weekend
trips to NY, DC, Chicago, Toronto, Ottawa, Niagara Falls, Quebec City, Ice-Fishing trips, and
week long trips to places like Cuba, Miami, and California outside of term time and in the midsemester break. A lot of the trips leave on a Friday morning so if you plan to travel, try to make
sure you have no Friday class. I would advise doing any travelling that can’t fit into a weekend in
April–August, because travelling in December was difficult with flight delays and cancellations
due to the weather, and there is no mid-semester break in the Fall semester. Throughout the
semester the McGill Outdoors Club also has a number of weekend trips, and the Off-Campus
Fellows organize events for students living off campus.
In O-week there are a number of formal orientation events that are worth attending. There is also
‘Frosh’ for the first years in each faculty, and exchange students can also take part in this. Frosh is
similar to Otago’s O-week, but if you’re not interested in spending the week reliving first year
there is also an Outdoor Frosh which I heard good things about from other exchange students.
McGill also has an international buddy program, which matches you with a McGill student before
you arrive. Your buddy can answer any questions you have and meet up with you when you arrive.
I would recommend this program as my buddy was really helpful, especially around enrollment
time.
Accommodation
Finding accommodation in Montreal was quite difficult as McGill is right beside town and there
are two other universities within walking distance of McGill, so there are a huge number of
students looking for a place. There is no designated accommodation at McGill for exchange
students. While you can apply to live in a hall of residence with first years, in the fall semester
there aren’t enough spaces for first-year McGill students in the halls, so exchange students get last
priority and you are unlikely to be offered a spot.
I tried to look for a place before I arrived but the vast majority of ads were for summer sublets. I
assumed it would work out when I got there but ended up spending my first two weeks in
Montreal in a hostel room with 5 other exchange students who were also looking at the same
limited accommodation listings on Craigslist/Kijiji (Canada’s versions of Trade Me). The McGill
Accommodation Office weren’t particularly helpful and told me there is a shortage for fall
semester exchange students so take what you can get – so a lot of the flat-hunting came down to
luck. Another accommodation option is living in VarCity 515, which is similar to rez but not
officially affiliated with McGill. However this option is quite expensive and you have to apply
months in advance for fall semester. The McGill facebook groups for incoming exchange students,
housing, and exchange subletting (all require a McGill email) are really useful. If you are willing
to sign an unfurnished place then you’ll have more options, but for four months it might not be
worth it.
The good news is that if you are going on exchange in the winter semester, finding a nice and
inexpensive place close to uni shouldn’t be a problem, as there are a lot of spare rooms in flats by
winter because this is when McGill students go on exchange, and there are also fewer incoming
exchange students. There are also usually rooms available in the halls or ‘rez’ by the winter term.
If you are on exchange for a full year, finding an eight month lease is also much easier than a four
month lease.
I wouldn’t advise signing a lease longer than 4 months if you are at McGill for one semester
because it can be difficult to find someone to fill your room in winter semester. Subletting your
room in summer will be even more difficult so try to get a lease that just covers your stay if
possible. I would recommend living in the McGill Ghetto or the Plateau as this is where most
students are based. If you are there winter semester make sure you are close to a bus stop or metro
station.
I ended up living with two international flatmates, one who went to Concordia University and one
from UQAM. Both my flat and flatmates were great, but I would recommend trying to flat with
McGill students so you have someone to answer your questions and to show you around campus
etc. Most of the flats I looked at were with international students (not exchange students though),
or with a professional looking to rent out one spare room in their apartment. If you really want to
live with a group of exchange students or Canadians, finding a place might be more difficult,
although not impossible. I would recommend arriving in Montreal at least two weeks before
semester starts to leave yourself enough time to find a flat and still take part in orientation.
One thing to look out for when choosing a flat is bedbugs, as Montreal has a bedbugs problem. My
flatmate’s bed was infested with bedbugs, which then spread throughout the flat and cost hundreds
of dollars and took weeks to get rid of, as well as causing considerable discomfort. McGill’s
accommodation website has more info on this and there is a Montreal bed-bugs registry listing
some of the apartments that have bed-bugs.
Money Matters
Montreal was pretty affordable. My rent was $550/month including internet and power (although I
had a gimp room), and most day-to-day items were a similar price to that in NZ. Prices don’t
include taxes so you need to factor this into the cost of everything you buy, and tipping adds a
further 15% or so when eating out, taking taxis etc. My courses did require me to buy textbooks
which cost a bit, but a lot of the textbooks are online for free and you can always look on McGill
Classifieds or on the McGill textbook exchange facebook page. When I was setting up in Montreal
I found Dollarama really useful (like the $2 Shop but better). The only thing that was expensive
compared to in NZ was phone plans.
Transportation
I walked almost everywhere, but there are buses and a good metro system in Montreal, so getting
around is pretty easy. You can also hire Bixi bikes or buy one of your own, although obviously
this isn’t an option in the winter semester. The snow can make getting around a bit difficult and
McGill is on a hill, so make sure your boots have good grip. Also, watch out as a pedestrian: on
one occasion while I was walking a car slid out of control on ice/snow and mounted the pavement
right in front of me. On another occasion a car hit me when I was crossing the road with the right
of way, this was not helped by the fact that wearing a hood up or a hat all the time limits your
peripheral vision, and that you don’t instinctively check for cars when they drive on the opposite
side of the road.
Weather
Because everyone had warned me about how could it would be in Montreal I packed mainly warm
clothes, but when I arrived in Montreal near the end of August it was actually really hot and
humid, so definitely pack some lighter clothes. The temperature does drop quite suddenly towards
the end of October/start of November, so make sure you have a warm jacket and waterproof nonslip winter boots before it gets cold and starts snowing.
I really liked the wide range of temperatures while I was in Montreal. At Christmas time the
combination of snow, huge numbers of Christmas lights, and old-fashioned architecture both on
campus and around the city was beautiful. Personally I wouldn’t want to be in Montreal during the
winter semester as the -30 degree snow storms made leaving the house a bit of an effort, and it was
dark by 4.30pm each day. In saying that, Montreal’s insulation and indoor heating are much better
than Dunedin’s, so it is only outside that you are cold, plus you can ski and ice-skate whenever
you want.
Security
Unfortunately McGill did have quite a bad theft problem while I was there and their security
didn’t seem very on to it, with a huge number of students’ laptops and other possessions stolen
from the library and other locations around campus. I would not advise leaving your possessions
unattended or even putting a bag to your side out of your view.
Eating
There was an amazing range of food in Montreal. If possible try to live near a supermarket because
carrying groceries in the snow is not fun, but either way you can order from PA online and if you
go into Provigo they deliver free (you just have to wait at home for the next couple of hours and
tip the delivery driver). If you are a big coffee drinker I should warn you that the coffee in Canada
is mainly filtered and it is pretty average, although it is cheap. McGill has a pretty good range of
places to eat on campus, as well as its own pub, faculty bars open on certain nights, and even an
ice-cream shop in the engineering building. McGill also has a free lunch program similar to $3
lunches called the Midnight Kitchen, with donations optional. While in Montreal make sure you
try their famous dish - Poutine (preferably at La Banquise). I would also recommend visiting Juliet
& Chocolat, Frite Alors, Romados and Five Guys.