Bachelor Plus 2011/12 - Final Report Jan Kiehne, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton My name is Jan Kiehne and this is my final report about my 10-months stay in Canada with the Bachelor Plus program. I studied at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick. This essay shall briefly summarize my experiences and provide some helpful information for future exchange students. The Bachelor Plus program includes two semesters of forestry studies as a full time student at one of three or four Canadian universities. The studies are followed by an internship in a forestry-related institution. I had the choice between three participating universities – Edmonton AB, Toronto ON, and Fredericton NB. I decided to go to Fredericton because I liked the idea of staying in a smaller city and I was interested in the Canadian east coast more than in central Canada. For me it was the first longer stay that far away from home. I was very excited about it and I was not sure what exactly to expect. But I certainly knew that the scholarship program is a great opportunity for every student who gets the chance to participate. How to apply The first step is the application for the Bachelor Plus program. I recommend everybody who is interested in studying abroad and in Canada to apply for this great program. It is definitely worth a try. The students are chosen according to their academic achievements but also based on an application letter and an interview. This gives you the opportunity to convince the program coordinators that you are the right person for this scholarship. The application has to be handed in to the Institute for Forest Growth. Mrs Marianne Stadler is the main coordinator of the program. Preparing the stay Once you are accepted, there are many more things to consider before you even leave for Canada. You need a flight, a place to stay, and, since you want to study, you need a study permit, which is issued by the Canadian Embassy. Furthermore you have to write a second application with a one page motivation letter for the chosen Canadian university. The paperwork is provided by the university. For the visa (study permit), all the necessary information and the application forms can be found on the Canadian Embassy’s web page. The visa takes up to four weeks to get it. In addition it can be useful to apply for the Auslands-BaföG. I did not get the BaföG but it was worth a try. Even if you do not get the regular BaföG in Germany you might get some money from the Auslands-BaföG because the conditions for the Auslands-BaföG are different. My flight to Fredericton was relatively expensive because when going to Fredericton an expensive inland connection is always part of the flight. If you book early you also have to change your flight back because you can only book for one year in advance. This costs another $100. I travelled with Air Canada from Frankfurt to Fredericton via Montreal. Another option is to go to Halifax, Nova Scotia from Frankfurt with Condor. This is much cheaper and faster but you have to get to Fredericton from

Halifax which is at least a 5-hour drive. There are buses going to Fredericton daily which costs about $80. At the university you need a health insurance. UNB offers an insurance plan for international students but it is relatively expensive (around $800). It might be better to bring insurance from Germany. I could keep mine because it is a private insurance which is valid worldwide. I recommend checking for offers with your insurance company or for a sort of travel insurance e.g. by the ADAC. Often the contract has to be made before you leave Germany so keep that in mind. Housing In Fredericton, there are several options of where to stay. First, there are the student residences on the UNB campus. The university offers either single rooms in a residence, which is the majority of the student housing on campus, or apartment type residences, where the residence consists of several apartments which are rented out to groups of students. The room-type residences all include the mandatory university meal plan, which I would not recommend. Although there is a buffet with many different dishes, students were complaining that the food gets repetitive. Furthermore, the meal plan is very expensive and you have to have all three meals of a day in a campus dining hall (at least $30 per day). It also is common knowledge that exchange students taking the meal plan gain about 10 pounds (~5 kg) in the first months of their stay. The apartment residences are affordable and do not include the meal plan. Each apartment has its own kitchen so that you can cook for yourself. The biggest advantage of the on-campus residences is probably the contact to other students. There are a lot of students living on campus so there is always something going on. But that makes it a really busy place too. It is also possible to stay at the Fredericton International Hostel for the whole time. They offer rooms for a monthly rent of $400 for students. That makes it a bit similar to a student residence but it is smaller and is located between the campus and downtown Fredericton. At the hostel you are always surrounded by many different people from all over the world. If you like to socialize a lot the hostel might be a good choice for you. The shared kitchens and community rooms make it very easy to get in touch with other people. You have to be aware that there is a cat living in the hostel, in case you have an allergy. If you want to stay at the hostel you have to provide your own bedding and dishes. The third option is to look for a place in town, off-campus. There are many people renting out rooms or apartments to students. From what I heard and saw, some places are in really bad shape but there are many nice places, too. Therefore I strongly recommend looking for a room when you are in Fredericton already. I think it is very important to see the place before signing a contract. Make sure you do not sign a contract for a longer period than you study time. Your internship might take you to a different part of the country. A place in town is probably the best choice if you want a more remote and quiet place or if you want to get in touch with some non-student residents. The best place to look for a room is the web page http://fredericton.kijiji.ca/

Living in Fredericton The city of Fredericton is rather small but I found it much nicer than most of the other Canadian cities I visited. Everything is spread out. The roads are wide and there are a lot of trees in the streets. Downtown Fredericton has some restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs where you can go. There is also a farmer’s market which is very nice, especially in the fall. Basically everything is in good walking distance. The city is biker friendly for Canadian standards. There is a nice trail system, including a walking bridge over the beautiful St. John River and trails along the rivers which are nice to bike. A great attraction is the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival which takes place in September. I found it definitely worth going. You can get groceries seven days a week. There is a big mall with many different stores up the hill and several big supermarkets all over town. Groceries are somewhat more expensive than in Germany. Dairy products in particular are higher priced. Other things, for example clothing, are cheaper. In general, living in Fredericton is affordable, especially when compared to other Canadian cities. To pay or draw out money I used two different credit cards. I had one Visa credit card with which I can pay in stores without a fee and a DKB (Deutsche Kreditbank) one with which I could draw money at the ATM without a fee. The DKB card is free. Studying at UNB My studies in Fredericton were a very enriching time. The forestry program at UNB has fewer students in the last years so that almost every class contains only 10 to 30 students. This made it a very unique learning experience for me. The relationship with the professors is very personal. You address most of the professors by their first name and they know basically every single student. The entire staff is very friendly and helpful. A good address for any organizational question is Yolanda Spithoven. She coordinates the programs and has some useful information on course combinations, etc. If you have any questions related to your status as an international student you can address Silke Klenk, a very friendly and helpful lady in the International Relations Office. During the studies at UNB you have to be enrolled as a full time student. That means you have to take at least four courses per semester which are worth 12 or more credit hours. It is possible to do more courses but from my experience it is hard to manage the work load of more than four. You do not have to worry about choosing the right courses at the beginning. There is a period of several weeks at the beginning of each semester during which you can still switch and drop courses. You can choose from all the offered courses so that you can select the most interesting subjects. I found that really great. I recommend the 3rd and 4th year courses. Most of the content of 1st and 2nd year classes is sufficiently covered by the courses in Freiburg. Since the classes are so small the courses are held differently from what I was used to from Freiburg. There are many weekly assignments like presentations or written reports. There are also quizzes and tests during the term in many courses. Even though it is a lot of work I really enjoyed this way of studying very much. I got the impression that I learned much more within one year than I did in Freiburg. And I could apply a lot of my knowledge that I brought from my studies in Freiburg, too. The whole studies were more of a challenge and you get constant feedback which helps you to get better.

This is a list of the courses that I took:

A) Fall term - Fall Field Camp - Geology Lab for Foresters - Forest Ecology: Populations & Communities - Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management - (Forest Landscape Design and Management) – I only visited classes;

no lab participation and no marks, lot of work!

B) Winter term - Population Analysis - Forest Management - Forest Watershed and Forest Fire Management - Integrated Management of Insects and Fungi - International Forest Studies (Excursion to North Carolina)

I can definitely recommend all of the courses except for the geology lab. That class was not very interesting and I did not learn a lot. The block excursions Fall Field Camp and International Forest Studies are almost a must go although the International Forest Studies are relatively expensive. Internship An internship after the two semesters of studying is part of the scholarship program as well. At first I was not too happy about being busy studying and working the entire time of my stay in Canada but then I found out that the internship can be a great chance to get to new places. A lot of the jobs you can do are outdoor jobs where you work as a research assistant or do a practical job in the field. I, for example, worked at the university for the Watershed Research Centre which is part of the faculty. I worked there for eight weeks, four of which I stayed in a research camp in northern Alberta. That was a really unique experience. We worked in the forest every day and we even got the opportunity to go on a helicopter flight. If you put some effort into finding a nice job you can really have a great experience during the internship. One thing to remind is that you need a work permit for which you have to apply some time in advance if you want to work for a non-university employer.

If there are any open questions on the program, studying in Fredericton, etc. feel free to contact me. I hope that the next students will enjoy their Fredericton experience as much as I did. Closing I want to thank all the persons and authorities involved in the coordination of the program. I am very grateful for this wonderful and formative time. Special thanks to Prof. Heinrich Spiecker and Marianne Stadler who coordinate the program in Freiburg and to Dirk Niethammer who even takes care of the business of students on a different continent. I also want to thank all the friendly and always accessible people in the Faculty of Forestry at UNB. Best regards, Jan Kiehne

List of web pages Canadian Embassy: http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/germany-allemagne/index.aspx?lang=deu&view=d Deutsch Kreditbank (DKB): http://www.dkb.de/ Fredericton International Hostel: http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostels-HI---Fredericton-011048.en.htm Faculty of Forestry: http://www.unb.ca/fredericton/forestry/ Course Timetable: http://www.unb.ca/schedules/timetable/ List of email addresses Silke Klenk: sklenk@unb.ca Yolanda Spithoven: yolanda@unb.ca Marianne Stadler: Marianne.Stadler@iww.uni-freiburg.de

Pictures – Field Camp

Pictures – Fredericton Campus, Indian Summer at the UNB woodlot

Pictures – Bay of Fundy, Woodsmen Competition in NB

Pictures – Woodsmen Competition in Ontario, Fredericton Campus

Pictures – St. John River winter, Field Trip to North Carolina

Pictures – Summerjob in northern Alberta