McGill University
Fall 2015 (Second Semester Otago)
Bachelor of Arts majoring in French
I loved Montreal, particularly the Francophone/Quebecois element, so I'm actually
moving back there for 2 years for my Masters in August 2016. If you need a
guide/want to hang out, contact me when you arrive!
Transport in Montreal
Montreal has a great system called STM. You can buy an OPUS card (get a
student photo ID card from Station Berri-UQAM or research when the OPUS team will
be on campus) and for around CAD$45 a month you get unlimited metro and bus use
around town and uni. The metros usually start around 5:30am and finish around
12am (1am on weekends), but the buses go 24/7.
If you're a cyclist, I highly recommend buying a key for the BIXI bike rental
stands or buying your own bike. Montreal is a very cycle friendly city. I felt much safer
cycling in Montreal than I did in NZ (I usually took the bike paths that were separated
from the traffic by little traffic islands, of which there are many). Plus, a BIXI is
something like $60 from September to Mid-November. Because of this, I didn't
actually buy my metro card until November, I just cycled until then. BIXI stations are
pretty much at every 2nd block. Check out the BIXI website.
Uber is a pretty big thing in this city, and I'd recommend it as it's cheaper
than taxis – I used it every now and then.
Phones
Prepaid plans are expensive. I paid $45 a month on Fido for unlimited national and
international texting, 100 minutes free calling (this also includes the calls you receive,
however), and just 400mb of data. I do recommend getting something with data
though, just because it means you're never really going to get lost.
Living Situations and Location
I highly recommend living in the Plateau. The Plateau is apparently a little more
expensive than the ghetto (Student area near McGill), but I paid $500 all inclusive a
month which worked out to about what I paid in Dunedin (I refused to ever pay more
than $115 a week in Dunedin, except for my last semester when I was a kiwi host). It
was a 35 minute walk to school from my place in the Plateau (less or more depending
on where on campus you're headed), or a 10-15 minute bike ride. I lived right near
Station Mont-Royal. It is a really vibrant, multi-cultural part of the city that is less built
up but always has awesome events going on. There's quite a big French expat
population there too.
I had some friends who went into Evo, an independent residence right by
school. However, these people didn't really meet many people that weren't exchange
students, and I really believe you don't get the same independence, appreciation of
Montreal culture, or sense of community that comes with flatting in Montreal. I
believe Evo starts at $775 a month.
If you see an “enclosed room” advertised, this means it has no windows. I
am usually huge on having lots of natural light in a room. However, when I applied for
my flat and met my flatmates on Skype, I realised that the flatmates were way more
important to me. I bought a happy light for my room to help me get up in the
morning, and spent way less time in my room, meaning more time bonding with the
flatties!
Finding a Flat
I was lucky enough to hunt down a flat via the McGill website (they have an
area where independent landlords and flatmates can advertise off-campus housing)
before I even arrived in Montreal. Do be careful- a lot of houses in Montreal aren't
insulated and can be a little scarfie even though it can get to -30 in winter!
I skyped my flatties just once before I moved in for an interview. Once I got
there we hit it off so well that they're subleasing my room for 6 months before I move
back to Montreal again.
Find a flat that's social (trust your instincts when reading their flat adsanyone who said "quiet" and "doesn't like to party" was struck off my list... It usually
means not only do they not like to party but they don't like to socialise at all. My
flatmates described themselves as "active" and loving having barbecues with their
neighbours).
2/4 of the Scarfies who went over just stayed in hostels and found
accommodation when they got there. One found an incredible apartment and
flatmates in the Plateau at a really great price, and the other found a slightly more
expensive flat a little closer to McGill on the edge of the Plateau.
There are lots of exchange student and housing Facebook groups, so join
them and start hunting. I only found my flat a month or so (maybe 2 at most?) before
I arrived in Montreal.
Rent
generally you'll pay rent monthly and be expected to pay rent for that month on the
1st. Hydro = electricity. If a flat is advertised as 4 and a 1/2, it doesn't mean that many
bedrooms, that's the total number of rooms, so it might only be a 1 or 2 bedroom
place.
Nightlife
Montreal has an active, quirky nightlife scene. Thankfully Montreal isn't
quite as "messy" as Otago can be, but McGill definitely has a work hard, play hard
kind of atmosphere. Like Dunedin, there are some sweet underground bars and pubs
if you take the time to find them.
I highly recommend Chez Baptiste, L'Entrepôt (both on AV du Mont-Royal plus L'Entrepôt has great $5 meals 24/7 that are pretty big with a range of choices),
Snacks and Blues (a bar that provides free candy on entry as plays lots of jazz vinyl)
and Big in Japan (pricy but they specialise in Japanese whiskey and make a mean
whiskey sour and other great cocktails if that's your jam).
Quebec has a huge craft beer scene and there are heaps of microbreweries
in the Plateau worth checking out. There are also 4 on campus bars which have deals
all the time. Open air pub is pretty awesome during o week.
Sports
North America takes college sport seriously, but Canada isn't quite as
intense as the States. There are both men and women's rugby teams (but no women's
NFL team) at McGill. You can easily sign up for their social sports by attending a "Free
Agent" meeting if you don't know enough people to make your own team. I highly
recommend it- I signed up for dodgeball and football (soccer) and met some
awesome people and was pleasantly surprised by how social the social league actually
was!
Go and watch the Montreal Canadiens (Habs, short for habitants) play if you
get a chance. Pretty much every game sells out so be online when they go on sale or
buy off Stubhub.com. The cheapest tickets bought direct from the Habs site are often
around $100, but on stubhub we once got tickets for $35. (stubhub is a ticket reseller
that guarantees refund of your money if tickets turn out to be fake).
Go watch any of McGills numerous hockey teams (there are 6 leagues and
the lower leagues in particular often have about 20 teams in them) play at the McGill
hockey stadium. It's free, you can rock in whenever you want, and you're allowed to
bring beer if you so desire!
Inside the McGill Stadium where the Montreal Alouettes (CFL Team) play
French
I went to McGill to complete my French degree. If you are a French student
wanting to become fluent, I highly recommend you move in with Québécois or French
flatmates. McGill is an English speaking university, so outside your French classes, uni
is kind of limited in terms of French exposure. In the beginning, when you go into
shops people may detect you're a foreigner and reply in English - my best advice is to
just keep talking in French no matter what, eventually they'll give in and speak French
with you. When you head further out of Montreal, you'll find more and more people
who only speak French.
You will pick up some Québécois slang and accent without meaning to.
Don't be too proud about this and don't fight it! It's likely you've had a French teacher
or French friend scoff at the Quebecois culture or accent in the past, but you're
choosing to go there so be respectful- you'll begin to like it! I'm really fond of
Quebecois French now. It reminds me a lot of kiwi English- they cut a lot of words
down, have lots of their own slang, and pronounce things a little lazy, they same way
kiwis do.
Do be aware- I had been to France previously and felt near fluent in French
when there. Speaking to Quebecois people made me feel pretty useless in the
beginning.
Université de Montréal runs a language buddy program that anyone can
sign up to- I got paired with two exchange students from France who were awesome
girls and helped me to rebuild my confidence in speaking after feeling like Quebecois
was pretty hard! I had a lot of Quebecois neighbours who I persevered in speaking
with and made great friends with.
Quebecois Culture
The Quebecois faire les bises (air kisses on the cheek as they say hello and
goodbye) but usually only to females (male to female and between females).
Look everyone in the eye when you say "cheers" with a drink (my
neighbours were pretty shocked the first time I didn't), and wait for others around
you to be seated/say “cheers”/”bon app” before you start eating or drinking.
Eating
Food is pretty comparable in price (but butter is bloody expensive unless it's
on sale). Eating out is not too bad either. Try Ma Poule Mouillé (order the $10 Louis
Cyr, share it if you're not a big eater) for awesome Portuguese chicken, and Patati
Patata for their Patatine and Frites Alors for their poutine.
Hiking and Outdoors
I highly recommend booking a weekend of canoe-camping in Poisson Blanc
where you can book your own island for something ridiculous like $30 per person a
night. Join the McGill Outdoors Club because there's usually about 6 different trips
running a week, and get in on the Icebreaker Canoe Trip! Mont Sainte-Hilaire is pretty
for a day walk (as is Mont-Royal for a little hill run or walk if you don't wanna leave
the city/are too broke), and lots of people head to the Adirondacks in Upper NY for
tramping.
Our private island in Poisson-Blanc
Ice Breaker Canoeing in the Raquette River
Finances and other Money Issues
Be aware that a lot of places in Montreal take cash only or do not accept
credit cards.
Write a budget or at least keep track of your spending.
My main question for people who had been on exchange was "How much
money did you need?" I went over with $12,000 after buying flights. I have to say, it is
very easy to burn through this when you're in holiday mode. I have a tendency to
spend money on food (I'm a huge foodie), "experiences" (shows, festivals) and travel.
I didn't really buy any souvenirs or clothing apart from a few dresses. Still, little bits
add up and it's easy to spend. $12,000 was more than enough for my time in
Montreal (during which I went to the states twice, to Quebec City twice, camping a
few times, and Toronto), and I left with $2000 for my further travel. Like I say though,
write a budget and keep an eye on your spending. It's pretty easy to live on your
Dunedin budget even in Montreal, but face it, you're going to want to spend more
because everything is new and you want to experience it.
If you apply for a study permit (at the time of my exchange I didn't need one
because I was in Canada for less than 6 months from a commonwealth nation, but I
think this is changing), you can work while you're in Canada. I chose not to, because I
wanted to be able to travel and spend time meeting new friends without
compromising my grades. However, the McGill classifieds page has quite a few cashpaying research experiments you can be involved in!
Remember most things don't include tax in Canada, and you need to tip taxi
drivers (~10%), bartenders (usually round up to $1. Some locals say only tip every
second drink), and any restaurant where you are given table service (15%). You don't
need to tip at places where you wait in line to grab the food/drink yourself (I.e fast
food, takeaways). I never had any rude waiters or waitresses, but if you do, don't tip
or tip less.
Starting a bank account was super easy, I just needed two forms of ID. I'm
with BNZ in NZ, and took over a Cash Passport MasterCard which you preload with
money. TD was the only ATM that didn't charge me extra fees despite BNZ's assertion
that hardly any ATMs would. I'm probably going to open a Westpac account in NZ
before I move back to Montreal because Scotia Bank is their partner, so you can
withdraw money from your NZ account without fees, just at the exchange rate (I
think!).
The Winter
-10 is not as cold as you'd expect. I wish I could give you more advice but I
was at McGill for the 2015 Fall semester which had an unusually warm beginning to
winter. You'll need gloves and a hat, puffers are always great. If you're biking, make
sure you have a windbreaker.
The MORSL (McGill Office of Religious and Spiritual Life) offers free preloved winter jackets, scarves, hats and gloves to international students- I think this
usually happens in October or November, do some research (and hit up their office
when you're cold anyway cause they have free hot chocolate). Make sure you've got
good boots for ice and snow. My tramping boots were great for the weather I was in,
but Montreal can have ice storms. I'll be as confused as to what to do as you when
that happens. Maybe try YakTrax?
The Workload
I was scared before arriving at McGill because everyone's previous McGill
reviews wrote about how full on the workload was. I took EDKP449, FRSL431,
FRSL449 and MUAR392.
I'd previously completed Honours in another degree, so maybe it's just
because I've already been exposed to higher level study, but I really didn't find the
workload that bad. I got a little stressed around exam time, but who doesn't? FRSL431
had hard mid-terms, but apart from that everything was fine.
Regarding French papers, don't stress if you see there are placement tests
occurring before you arrive- they occur every day during o week when you get to
McGill, so you'll have a chance.
Be aware that the FREN papers are intended for students who are fluent in
French. I took a placement test (this was my final semester of my French degree), and
was cleared for FREN250. I'd originally been enrolled in 300 level FREN papers
because Minerva let me, but consider whether or not these papers are achievable for
you and definitely take a placement test.
Safety
While Montreal is obviously a lot bigger than Dunedin, I felt really safe. I
wouldn't walk home through parks alone at night (but would happily cycle through
Parc Mont-Royal at night), but apart from that would feel totally safe walking home
alone no matter what time or day or night. Be sensible, ask around for local's
opinions, but you'll get a feel for the place pretty quickly.
Even if you're broke (I self-funded my entire trip, so I know what it's like to watch
other exchange students who have a little help throwing money around while you're
counting pennies), there is a lot to do in Montreal, and lots of student deals around
the place. Montreal has something for everyone, you just have to go out and find it!