<p>I'm American and I'm deciding between The University of British Colombia - Vancouver and some other American schools. This isn't a help me decide which post, I'm just wondering if there are any other American students that attend Canadian Universities that can shed some light on the issues that undoubtedly arise with keeping in touch with friends, cell phones, money, culture (ok I guess Canada isn't a huge stretch culturally). Any insight?</p>
<p>Dude, it’s Canada, not Slovakia…</p>
<p>Canadian engineering degrees aren’t acredited in the US. Keep that in mind if that is your plan. (That is why I have been told anyways.)</p>
<p>Yes, I can tell you what the issues are, my DD is at McGill. The cell phone you use here will not be of much help in Canada, you will need to get a Canadian cellphone if you want to be able to use a cell phone to contact your friends in Canada. My daughter has Rogers and regrets it, it is overpriced.<br>
To contact home and friends in the US, she has set up a SKYPE account in Canada.
Money- She opened a bank account in Montreal so she would have a ATM card. Using your US bank is not a good idea, because you have to pay exchange rate fees each time you use it to take money out of your account in Canada. To send her money from US to her Canadian bank account, I had to set up a wire transfer account with my bank. Also, to pay tuition, through the school, I set up an automatic pay account, where the tuition is transferred by signing on at the schools website and authorising payment from my acccount. When going to Canada for the first time, we went to a lacol exchange band and gave our daughter about $200 in CAD(canadaian dollars) to start out with. Airports in Canada have exchange ATM’s to use as you go in and out of th country.
Culture- Canadians are more reserved than Americans, sort of like the Brits. They are extremely nice and honest. That is the main aspect that comes to mind, and it is a generalization.</p>
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<p>yes they are. The western provinces even have a deal with the USA allowing engineers to practice as engineers freely across borders.</p>
<p>canada has one of THE WORST price and rate in the world. For contracted services telus is perhaps your best bet. There is another monthly pay per called koodo, which is relatively new company, but has pretty good rates. Thing with telus is that you can call the company before signing contract to negotiate a bit.
But when i was checking around phone companies in US, there was one offering long distance calling across canada and us for additional 20 dollars or so extra using your regular minutes. </p>
<p>culturally you may be in bit of shock depending on where you come from. and we love to say eh? or eh! </p>
<p>my friend in UBC says the campus is lovely, and perhaps one of the most beautiful one in Canada.</p>
<p>i don’t know anyone who says eh who isn’t from the east coast.</p>
<p>and the culture is basically the exact same. At least compared to the states that I’ve been to (arizona, cali).</p>
<p>I’ve heard Western Canada is more conservative and kind of like the western/southern US whereas Eastern Canada is similar to the Northeast US. welll based on watching Degrassi i’d say it’s not too different…some differences i’ve noticed:</p>
<p>their money looks like Monopoly money or something
they’re a bit more liberal
it’s colder compared to the southern US
their drinking age is lower, 19 I believe! sweeet :)</p>
<p>enjoy Canada…as for keeping in touch with family/friends, they have technology over there too, ya know…computers, phones and the like. plus i’m guessing you’ll fly home for vacation.</p>
<p>stargazerlilies is pretty spot on. Except our money doesn’t look like monopoly money, it looks better than american money. Aus money looks the best, though. I got so annoyed when I was in the states because you can’t just notice bills by colour. </p>
<p>and the legal drinking age in some places is 18 (quebec, alberta, and I think some other places).</p>
<p>I live on the UBC campus (still in high-school though) and I know lots of people who go to the school. There ARE some American students, but probably around 60-70% of students are commuters.</p>
<p>Culture-wise, I don’t think there are too many differences. You’ll find alot of Asians here who’re really into Asian clothing/hair. Hipsters are everywhere - weed is practically legalized in Vancouver and you’ll see it everywhere. Fake IDs are also pretty easy to get and I know a friend who’s gotten away with some pretty crappy ones (especially if they’re American). I’d say Vancouver is a lot more laid-back than the States. And even the far right Conservatives you meet in Vancouver will be considered Democrats in the States.</p>
<p>It rains a lot in Vancouver - basically 9 months of rain so be prepared for that if you come. However temperature in Vancouver normally doesn’t drop below 0 degrees celsius and doesn’t get above 25C.</p>
<p>I love our money. You can actually tell how much you’re spending! Plus, you get a nice little poem on the ten dollar bill.</p>