Bishop´s University (BU)

The Golden Lion is the place to be! This is the local pub, which has been voted Best University Pub in Canada thanks to the strong school spirit of the Bishop's student population! The Pub brews its own beer and organises special nights with quizzes etc. What is great about the Lion, too, is that Bishop's is a small "everyone knows everyone else" kind of place, so you can go to the Lion all by yourself and you're still guaranteed to meet someone you know. The downside in Lennoxville is, if you don't like the Lion, you don't have much of an alternative... There's the Mayson, of course, which is decent when they organise special theme nights, but on a regular night the Mayson is completely dead, so don't go there. If you've got a car, then check out Sherbrooke instead; there, I can especially recommend the Well (on Wellington Street) which always has a good crowd and a good taste in music.

The rooms are fairly small, but if you're an outgoing, active person like me, you won't spend much time in your room anyway. All the necessary furniture is there and the janitors are extremely helpful, so it never takes long if you need to have anything fixed. I shared a bathroom with one other person, that worked out very well.

The bookstore on campus is really expensive, but unfortunately you don't always have an alternative. If you are a business student, however, there is a student organisation that arranges a sale of used books at the beginning of each term. The problem is, though, that most students like to keep their books after they are done with a course. Therefore, the number of students that want to buy second hand books largely outnumbers the books available. Therefore, you might want to try Amazon.ca or a similar book store online. Other than that, I had no financial surprises of any kind. I can recommend the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC); they have an outlet in Lennoxville and are very nice and helpful. Make an appointment to open up an account there, and you'll have your bank card in no time at all. There are two cash dispensers on campus, so money is readily available. If you live on campus like I did, you won't need to buy any furniture or appliances whatsoever, but if you do need something you can usually get it in Lennoxville or at the very least at the mall outside of Sherbrooke.

The only drawback I can see, is that Lennoxville is the smallest place on earth. So at times, you will get an urge to go out and see something new, go shopping, etc. Thus, at regular intervals, take a weekend off and travel a bit: Quebec and Montreal are roughly 4 and 2 hours away respectively, and if you are there during the fall you might want to go to Toronto, Niagara Falls etc. during Thanksgiving. If you are there in the spring, there is a winter break near the end of February where you have a whole week off. Ask around and see what the other internationals are doing, and you will be guaranteed to find something fun to do!

Canada is a bit of a special case. In fact, I studied in Quebec which is a Francophone region. This was not a problem for me since I already spoke fluent French after spending four years in Toulouse. However, the Quebecois French is really weird, so they have a lot of slang I didn't know, most of which I still don't know... However, Bishop's teaches all courses in English only, so you can actually spend a whole year at Bishop's without ever having to speak any French. So if you are like me and you speak fluent English before you leave, then that will do you nicely. And even if you don't speak fluent English but would like to learn it, then Bishop's is still a really good choice because they are already used to having French-speaking Canadians come to them with limited English abilities, meaning that the staff and administration etc. are very patient with you.