What it’s like to study abroad in Canada
This year I went abroad, continuing my studies of Physics with Astrophysics at the University of Calgary, in the western Canadian provenance of Alberta. Before arriving in Canada, I had to select the courses I wanted to study for each semester. Since my year abroad counted towards my degree, it was important that the courses I took roughly matched those that were taught in Leeds. In particular, the experimental astrophysics module stood out to me. The University of Calgary has its own observatory located just outside the Canadian Rockies which we were ableto visit one evening during the first semester. Due to its location, pollution is low, allowing an unbelievable view of the night skies. The university has remote access to the telescopes there which we used for various projects throughout the semester. In one such project, my group successfully detected the exoplanet WASP-12b from the transit light curve of the host star WASP-12a.
The style of learning and assessment was quite different in Canada, with some similarities to our school system. Instead of ‘lectures’ we had ‘classes’ in much smaller groups with regular assignments and even weekly quizzes during my second semester. Although this meant term-time was busy and my workload was heavy, it took a lot of pressure off of the end of the year with final exams only worth 20-30% of our final grades.
Across the year I was lucky enough to visit both Banff and Jasper National Park. Both have great views of the Rocky Mountains and were beautiful to visit in all seasons. I was also able to visit Jasper during the Dark Sky Festival. Due to it being a dark sky reserve, the light pollution was limited. Paired with clear skies, this meant that I could see the Milky Way. However, the highlight of my year was seeing the Northern Lights one evening on campus!
Finding the right balance between studying and making the most out of being abroad was challenging, but it is definitely the best decision I have made! Studying physics abroad provided me with the opportunity to learn in a new way in addition to having access to the incredible resources of Calgary’s Physics and Astronomy department.
