Jess – Polytechnique Montréal, Québec – Canada
Semester 2, 2023
Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Civil)
I still shudder when I think of the 24hrs before I left Australia to embark on one of the best experiences of my life: my student exchange.
I had just finished my final concrete structures exam, still hadn’t finished packing up my apartment, and had Version 14.0 of my packing list strewn across my kitchen table. I hadn’t completed my web check-in yet, was awaiting email confirmation of my private travel insurance, and was existing almost solely on coffee. Anyone who knows me could tell you I’m one of the most organised people they’ve met, but packing up my life and moving overseas? A completely different ball game. Leading to…
Learning 1: Leave enough time to get life sorted before departing.
Spoiler alert: I managed to get on the plane with the help of my amazing family, housemates, and friends, and still managed to fit in end-of-exams celebrations with my peers.
Learning 2: Time spent with loved ones will be a grateful memory during low periods.
I arrived in the United States to the excited faces of some of my uni friends, who were eagerly waiting to start our dream road trip across the southern states and rocky mountains. After a few test drives around a Walmart carpark, I found myself driving thousands of kilometres through national parks, making so many memories while the reality of moving halfway across the world started to hit home.
Suddenly, my everyday now included calculating tax and tip, only drinking filter coffee, and accidently putting my windscreen wipers on when I was trying to indicate.
During my pre-exchange holiday, it felt like a part-time job spending each night messaging people and applying for places to live in Montréal in the middle of a housing shortage. Since accommodation at my university, Polytechnique Montréal, was only available to year-long students, and private student accommodation had long waiting lists, it ended up taking a few months to find somewhere to call home.
Learning 3: Choose a university with student accommodation available to exchange students, otherwise start the search early.
Eventually through word of mouth, I found a wonderful student looking for a housemate and am lucky enough to now call her one of my best friends. She welcomed me into her family, friends, study groups, and more than anything, her Québécois (French-Canadian) culture.
As someone very familiar with the western culture of Canada, there was admittedly some culture shock coming to Québec.
When I dreamed of moving to Montréal, I expected the rich, vibrant diversity of a bilingual hub that made it one of the top student cities in the world for many years. I can now attest that it is gorgeous place, with a thriving study-café culture, nightlife, and public transport system. My university, consisting of huge snow-proof buildings connected by tunnels, was even on the side of a mountain with some of the best views of Montréal.
However, my arrival coincided with some major unforeseen policy changes, leading to political unrest in the city about the divide between French and English languages. I had some ‘character-building’ experiences because of this, though I daresay they were worth it for the many stories and perspectives I heard along the way.
Learning 4: You will probably make cultural mistakes, but showing humility and earnest goes a long way.
As an anglophone with decent French knowledge, yet who hasn’t had many chances to put it into practice, I was so keen to finally imbue myself and push my fluency. Going to a Francophone school was rewarding but challenging, and I was grateful that the exchange classes were predominantly in English, with additional resources being offered in French.
Whilst a bilingual city, English wasn’t accepted everywhere. There were boroughs around the two Anglophone universities where it was common to hear, however my university and suburb provided maximum immersion. Sometimes it felt like I was running on the spot (or going backwards!) when I would be tired from all my classes, but then I would have a short French conversation with the bus driver on the way home and feel like ‘I can do this’ again.
Learning 5: Language immersion has exponential progress, so trust the process.
I also had the opportunity to take French classes at Université de Montréal, which were such a highlight and helped me understand the Québécois accent. I made some of my closest friends there and even dressed up as our fantastic professor for our final exam day, followed by a big group dinner for my perfectly timed birthday.
The support of my fellow exchange students, who mainly spoke English, was one of the greatest gifts of exchange, offering camaraderie in any hurdles we faced. Whether it was issues with rental properties, public transport cards, finding winter coats/boots at thrift stores, Québéc’s mandatory health insurance etc, there was always a friendly face to recognise on campus, or group chats to consult.
We coordinated our activities for O-week together, hiking trips, sunsets at lookouts, city markets, live music, ice hockey games, huge picnics, road trips in campervans across the country, weekends away to chalets in the mountains… I can’t imagine another time in life where you will be able to just say ‘yes’, with a group of people who want to make the most of the experience just as much as you do.
Learning 6: Be open-minded, open-hearted, and say ‘yes’ to every invitation.
Before I moved, I was nervous on how I would even find other students to make friends with, but everything happens quite organically once you’re there. There was a webinar a month before where we made a group chat, an international mixer our second day there, and many parties to widen your friendship circle.
Learning 7: Check your host university’s websites and social media often so you don’t miss out on events (including their guild and student clubs!).
My university offered exchange classes in a themed cluster format, so I was lucky that my friends and I shared most of our classes. Apart from a Chilean and a Ugandan, everyone on my program was European, providing many insights when learning about Sustainable Engineering initiatives under the UN frameworks (the topic of my cluster).
Originally, I had signed up for a different cluster of my specialty of geotechnics, however my courses were cancelled one week before classes started, including all my back-up courses. I’ll definitely admit that this was a really rough week for me, as I was so prepared with class registrations and deadlines and was ready to just focus on O-week activities.
I had to liaise with administration and navigate re-enrolling (in another language), while staying up every night to get my home faculty to approve new units. Everything worked out in the end, and I was really grateful to have the STAE team to bounce off of.
Learning 8: No matter how prepared you are, course problems can arise so remember the STAE team are here to help.
All of my classes were at a Master’s level and offered a different style of delivery and assessment, and I’m coming home with a fresh view on where I’m taking my degree at QUT. Our class format was different in that we had one or two 3-hour interactive lectures with small class sizes, regular breaks, and nothing recorded, which was fantastic for feeling engaged. We were close with our teachers, and I was even offered a research opportunity towards the end of exchange.
Learning 9: While exchange is an absolute ball, don’t forget it can be a great chance to learn and network.
My friends and I studied together often as we had many group assignments, however never felt like we had to give up on the fun social side of exchange. Many of our biggest shouts of joy and loudest bouts of laughter came from being hunkered in the library late at night and finally getting our model to work.
So, I have now joined the club of people saying that exchange is one of the best experiences of their life. I have no regrets having to save for this for so long, and am glad I did save extra to buffer the cost of living crisis, as I can’t imagine my life not having done this.
After exchange finished, I spent time just enjoying the city of Montréal, and am exploring more of Canada during a semester off before I come back rejuvenated and excited to see my loved ones.
Learning 10: You’re more likely to say you regret not going on exchange, then you are for going.
Find out how you can apply for exchange via the QUT Student Exchange website.
