Survive

Hey there,

I am sorry that I did not write for a long time,because i have so many mid-term exams and assignments to do.

Every course has one or two assignments, some of them are really hard and need a quite long time to finish.One of my courses is Portfolio Theory and Management, and i spent almost 15 hours to finish its first assignment.Fortunately, the result is quite good. However, i have a course named Options and Futures, i strongly recommend students DO NOT take this course. I did the assignment with my friend from Tilburg University, one exchange student from Germany and two Canadian students, we sat together, discussed for 4 hours, and still not sure about our answers. The result is bad and the mid-term is so hard.I didn't do well in this course that probably because i didn't take Corporate Finance 2 which is the basic course of this course,but i still think that it's not a wise choice if you have a lot of other things to do at the same time.

I have two courses that have two mid-term exams, and the rest have one.I have to say, they are not easy, and some of them are really hard!! You have to spend a lot of time on them, however,just as my professor says:" make sure you do the dirty work, and you will be fine." Some of the exams question are quite similar to the exercise questions in the book, if you try to do all of them and read the course materials, it's possible to get a very good grade. But there are still some other exams which acquire you to understand the concept clearly,good at calculation, and are able to solve some practical problems, which means you have to read the book and course materials carefully, try to understand every single concept clearly, and know how to use these concepts in the real world.

I have much more works to do there than in Tilburg. It's not a good idea to skip class, because the materials are really hard to understand by yourself, it's much better if you follow the professor step by step.

Although there are a lot of works to do, but it's still excited if you can study in a different country and breathe the different fresh air, right?


Hope everything is going on well with everyone!

See you!

Zoey
xxx

P.S: I went to Wonderland to celebrate Halloween with my friend! It's so exciting and a unforgettable experience.

Trip to Toronto

Hey there,

Last weekend, i went to Toronto to see my friend, Alice, who are studying at University of Toronto at the moment, i lived in her apartment, and she showed my around the city.

Toronto is very nice!It's very international, i saw lots of foreign people and international students there.The city center is really big and developed, it's a nice place for shopping and hanging out ,you can find all kinds of stores and restaurants in the city center,and there are also several shopping malls. Alice told me that there is a big outlet in Toronto, but it's quite far away from her place, so i decided to go there next time.


Alice suggested that we could try some international food, she bought a cup of bubble tea for me,which is quite popular drink in Canada now, then she brought me to a Korean restaurant which she went there several times with her friends, and she 's right!The food is really tasty there and i would like to go there next time when i am in Toronto.After dinner, we went to see together!!!I was so impressed by Leo!! is the best movie that i have ever seen!!

It's almost 10:00pm after watching the movie, but it's still very crowed and lively in the street.There are lots of pubs in the city center, i didn't go there, but it seems like that Canadian people quite enjoy their night life as well as Dutch people.By the way, Toronto looks very beautiful at night!

Okay, just a brief introduction of Toronto and i will upload some photos of University of Toronto later.

Hope everyone is going on well!

Zoey

New life in Canada

Hi there,

I am studying in McMaster University in Canada now!

I left home to Canada one week ago and it's a quite long journey.I chose the United Airline and i flied 12.5 hours from Beijing to Chicago firstly, then transferred flight at Chicago O'Hare Airport and flied another 2 hours to Toronto.The seat size of economic class in the flight is a little bit small and i couldn't sleep,actually, i was watching the same movie <The Kongfu Kid> the whole time.Basically,it's a nice journey because i was so eager to see Canada and this could make everything much better.By the way,the Chicago O'Hare Airport is nice!



I rent a room in a house near the University by myself, and i have already settled in. I am living with my landlord Maja and 4 Canadian girls. The house is quiet,clear and it's really safe and beautiful around here.My housemates are so nice and make me feel that i am really one of them!!I always talk with Maja during the coffee time after dinner, she is so smart, and she run her own company and developed an memorizing system named 'brain burn' which can help people memorize a whole book in a very short time.The bad thing is that,due to my bad direction, i am keeping getting lost all the time....i hope i can figure it out shortly.Anyway,it's happy to live with them.



I walked around last weekend and i think i really like the city.The city is not big but quite convenience, and people are really nice here.I have already opened a student bank account in TD bank and it allows me to swipe my bank card 25 times/month for free, and i also selected a mobile phone plan which cost me 35$/month with 50min calls+50min texts and blackberry service(just email and instant msg).After that, i went to grab some food and buy some daily necessities,basically,the things are cheaper than in Tilburg.



I choose five courses in finance this semester, some of them are really tough but i will try my best to do it.The professors are wise and knowledgeable,they acquire students to innovate and think more.If getting a good grade is important to you, hard-working is not enough,you have to learn how to come up with innovative ideas, and try to think more and ask more.But there are not many team works to do if comparing with Tilburg.

The campus is quite big, but there are some buses pass through the campus,and for students,we can take buses within Hamilton for free.Normally,i go to school by walk since it's not far away from my home.The studying conditions and environments are quite good. DeGroote School of Business has its own library just near the faculty building, and the student center is connected with the faculty building which contains a lot of shops and one food plaza(We have all kinds of food here,Chinese food,Japanese food,fast food,pizza and so on),so it's convenience for students who are in the faulty.The only one problem is that the classrooms are always in the basement here,so it's better to wear more clothes when having the class.I don't have many classes a day, so i signed up a yoga course with my friend.It's better to keep healthy and fit,right?

Anyway, I am really enjoying my new life in Canada!!

Hope everything is going on well for everyone!

Take care and all the best!

P.S:Nice weather here and i hope it can keep nice much longer.