Queen’s University Smith School of Business

ExchangE Study REpoRt

Tse Sze Man, MandyProfessional Accounting and Information SystemsYear 3Fall 2018

Queen’s UniversitySmith School of Business

Monthly activity log

September 2018

I arrived in Canada on 1st September. The temperature at that time was still high. After a few days of my arrival, there was an orientation activity organized by the School. I met other students who came from another Hong Kong’s university and also some international exchange students there. The class started in the second week of September. Since the semester was justed started, the workload is not heavy and I had a lot of spare time. I used my first half month to explored Kingston.

Kingston is a small town and there are not many places to go to. Luckily, my friend and I found out that there was a student pass of VIA train that we can use it unlimitedly during the semester. We brought the pass and visited Toronto on every weekend. Toronto is a big city and there are many attractions. We went to AGO, U of T, CN Tower and etc... I also went to Hamilton, which is a small city near Toronto, to watch my first overseas concert. It is definitely an unforgettable experience for me.

October 2018

The weather turned cold in October. I regretted that I had bought many summer clothes as the temperature already started dropping af-ter mid-September. October is still a relaxing month. Although there were midterms in the late-October, I still traveled around with my friend. In early-October, We joined an Ottawa one-day trip organized by QUIC. Ottawa is the capital of Canada and it is a beautiful city.

We also join the corn maze activity organized by QUIC. It was ac-tually a pumpkin farm trip. We first walked in a maze which is full of corns. After got off the maze, there was a large pumpkin field and you can pick your own pumpkin. It was a fun experience, yet my new boots were caked with mud after the trip...


In mid-October, we went to Quebec City and Montreal with other friends who were going to ex-change in Toronto and the US. Quebec is a province in Canada which using France as its official language. The views in Quebec City is amazing and I would say it is the most beautiful city in Can-ada I have visited. Korean drama ‘Guardian’ also shot the scene there.

November 2018

November was a busier month because there were many group projects due dates and presentations. Also since we had traveled most of the places we planned to visit before, we almost stayed in Kingston for the whole month. Although there were many works, we still found some time to have some fun. We watched our first ice hockey competition. It was an exciting and worth-watching competition. There were Christmas parade and market during the mid-November in Kingston. The scale of the parade was bigger than my expectation.

The last week of November was a crazy shopping week for us since there was Black Friday. All brands were doing sales promotion and it was a golden chance for us to shopping! We went to an outlet during Black Friday and brought many things.

In late-October, we went to Niagara Falls. The falls’ view was amazing. October was definitely an enriched month for us since we have trav-eled to many places. Actually the days we went to Niagara were the homecoming weekend of Queen’s. I heard my schoolmates said that there would be many parties and celebrations and they would play crazily. However, we had booked the bus tickets to Niagara and it is a little pity for me.


December 2018

December was a tough month for us... Not only because of the ex-aminations (I had four exams and it was the time for us to pay for the time we played), but also the cold weather. Yet, it still could not be the barrier stopping us to travel. We went to Yellowknife to see the aurora in early-December. It was amazing and the most beautiful nat-ural view I have seen for sure...It is beyond words.

After the amazing aurora trip, we flew back to Kingston and prepared our exams. After the exams, I traveled to some cities in the United States and back to Hong Kong in January.

1) Visa ProceduresFor Hong Kong Permanent resident, no Visa is required for entering Canada. The document only needed is an eTA. It can apply online and only takes less than twenty minutes to finish the applica-tion. It costs 7 CAD and credit card payment is required. If you would like to travel the US during the exchange period, you are required to apply for a visa and it takes around 3 weeks to finish the whole application, which includes online application and an interview.

2) Orientation ActivitiesThere is a several-hours orientation activity before the term starts. It provides a chance for you to meet other exchange students and have a brief knowledge of Kingston and Queen’s.

3) International Services & ActivitiesThe QUIC(Queens University International Centre) offers many activities for international includ-ing one-day trips to Toronto, Ottawa and Niagara Falls. Also, sometimes they organize farm visit and ball games watching. The ETC(Exchange and Transfer Committee) also offers these activities for exchange students.

4) AccommodationsQueen’s provides Jean Royce Hall for exchange students. However, it is located on the west campus, which has a 5-minutes bus taking distance from Goodes Hall(the business school building). I heard some schoolmates said that the living environment is not that good and the price is really expen-sive(around 25000 HKD for four months). Also, the spaces are limited and it is difficult to get the offer. My friend and I tried to apply and both of us didn’t get the offer.

Therefore, other students will choose to rent a shared house outside the campus since the price is much cheaper(15000-17000HKD for four months). Kingston is a small town and therefore most of the house will not be very far away from the campus. Some are only a few minutes walkable dis-tance from campus. Some may be more far away and take 20-minutes bus taking time to campus. Therefore, it is very important for exchange students to find a house as early as possible if you plan to live outside. The competition for exchange students to find a house is high since not many hous-es will offer only 4-months lease(most of them only offer 8-months lease). You can find a house on Facebook group: Queen’s University - Off-Campus Housing or kijiji.ca.

My friend and I started looking for a house in July but it is too late for us to find a suitable one. Fi-nally, we rented a house through Airbnb. It is more expensive than renting a house outside(around 18000HKD for 4 months), but still cheaper than living in residence.

5) Courses RegistrationThe course registration system used by Queen’s is called SOLUS. The system is more or less the same as SIS so you don’t need to worried about how to use it. However, some courses don’t have a waitlist and it may be complicated to enroll in it.

gEnERal ExchangE infoRMation

6) Teaching & Assessment Methods

Course Equivalent Course ContentCOMM 311: Financial Accounting Practices, Principles & Concepts

ACCT3010: Financial Accounting I

Assessment:MyAccountinglab homework, 2 quizzes, 1 group project, 1 final

This course is easy and some topics were covered in ACCT2010. The workload is very low.

COMM 313: Financial Accounting II

ACCT3020: Financial Accounting II

Assessment:Group assignments, 1 midterm, 1 final

Actually students are expected to take this course after finishing COMM311. Therefore, this course would be difficult if you haven’t taken COMM311. However, since the grades in Queen’s are really good, you won’t fail the course easily. The work-load is very low.

COMM 317: Auditing ACCT4510: Auditing Assessment:In-class group assignments, 1 midterm, 1 final

The course content does not involve accounting calculation theory. Therefore, it is not a problem for taking it without taking COMM 311 and 313 before. The workload is very low.

COMM 401: Business and Corporate Strategy / Business Policy and Strategy

MGMT4210: Corpo-rate Strategy

Assessment:In-class group assignments, Capsim project, 1 final

This course is the highest workload course since you have group assignments every class which re-quire you read a case before classes and discuss it in a group during the classes. You need to make a PowerPoint and you might need to present it. The Capsim project is an online simulation and your group need to make decision twice a week. Therefore, your group might need to discuss it somewhere outside the class. Yet, the difficulty lev-el of the content is acceptable.


7) Sports & Recreation FacilitiesThere is a very big gym room in the Athletics & Recreation Centre. It is free of charge if you have your student card.

8) Finance and BankingIt is very common to pay by debit card in Canada. Exchange students can open an account and apply for debit or credit card. You can just close the account before you leave Canada. I choose to open an account in CIBC since there are CIBC ATMs in Queen’s. It is free of charge to open it.

Expenses spent in Canada (not including U.S. trip)Item Amount (HKD)

Flight ticket 9500Food 8900Travel (including transportation and accommodation) 19000Groceries 1600Clothing 1400Utilities 900Education 1300Miscellaneous 6600Accommodation 18000UHIP 1224Total ~68000

9) Heath & SafetyStudents are required to pay 204 CAD for UHIP(Canada’s University Health Insurance Plan).

10) FoodIt is expensive to eat outside. The price is normally 12 CAD to 15 CAD if you plan to eat outside. You also need to pay an extra 13% tax and 10-15% tips. Therefore, People normally cook for them-selves and it is much cheaper. There is a Metro supermarket in downtown and you can buy most of the food you need. There is a 10% students’ discount on every Tuesday and Thursday.

11) TransportationIn Kingston, bus is the only public transportation. Queen’s students have free bus rides if you present your student card. If not, you need to pay 3 CAD for every ride. For traveling to other nearby cities, you can take Megabus, Greyhound or ViaRail. ViaRail is the most expensive but also the comfiest one. If you will always travel around, I will suggest buying the student pass. It costs 507 CAD but you can use it from September to December unlimitedly.

12) ClimateThe early-September is still hot. However, the temperature starts dropping in mid-September. The snow starts falling in mid-November and the average temperature in November is below 0oC. Yet, the humidity in Canada is low so it is not that cold unless the temperature is lower than -5oC.

13) CommunicationThere are several telecommunication providers in Kingston and you can compare the price and choose different plans. I used Freedom Mobile as it is the cheapest. It costs 45 CAD per month with 8 GB of data and unlimited phone calling. However, the data coverage area is only within Ontario.


- Passport, ID card- Letter of Acceptance- Cash- Clothes- Business suits- Medicine- Notebook- Converters- Calculator- Stationery

1. MyQueen'sUhttps://my.queensu.ca

2. Smithlearning Portalhttps://smithlearning.ca/d2l/home

3. Queen’s University - Off-Campus Housing Facebook Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/1618611005028802/

4. Queen’s University International Centre (QUIC)http://quic.queensu.ca/

If you have any quesions, feel free to ask SBM office for my contacts.

itEMS to BRing

uSEful linkS and contactS

Documents

Queen’s University Smith School of Business