Details

• Canada
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• SoSe 2026
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months
• Contact: Login to see contact information

1. Preparation

I was flying there by plane. Read the email the university is sending you. They contain important and very helpful information such as course enrollment, welcome days, accommodation search and much more. Furthermore, don't wait to long for applying for on-campus housing. Places are limited and it's first come first serve. I would definitely recommend trying to get into on-campus housing because it's much cheaper than an apartment in the city and you are directly living on campus which makes the experience way more fun because you are directly in action.

2. Accommodation

I was living in Glacier Hall on campus. It was a two bed apartment both of us our own room. Don't wait with applying for on-campus housing because places are limited. Otherwise you would need to find an apartment on your own which can be very hard in a city like Calgary. In addition, on-campus housing is cheaper than an off-campus apartment or Airbnb. In safety terms it was very safe because it was directly on campus. I wish I had applied way earlier for on-campus housing because I was waitlisted at first and luckily got a place in the end.

3. Academic life at host university

The campus facilities were nothing special but it was a good mix of old and new buildings. The teaching style is different than what I knew from WU. The teachers teach way more student focused and try to include every single one in the lecture. Also the course grades are more divided. There are a lot more quizzes and assignments than at WU but the exams are not that heavily graded. Some final exams are only 20% of the overall grade. The courses are also more practical so you can directly implement the things you learned in the course. At WU, many courses tend to be quite theoretical, and the teaching can sometimes feel a little impersonal, as if the main focus is on covering the material rather than engaging closely with students. Of course, this does not apply to every course. Overall I personally think that the teaching system at the University of Calgary fits better for me at least and I liked it more and was enjoying seeing the difference between the teaching styles. I would recommend doing Finance and Marketing courses because I personally learned a lot doing these.

5. Every day life in the host country

Public transport is nothing like in Vienna. The busses are very unreliable and come only every half an hour. There is also a train that takes you downtown and the times when it is coming is very variable. I never felt unsafe at any times as Canada is a very safe country to live in. The sports options at UofC are very big. You can rent almost everything from skis to footballs. They also have a big gym which is included in your uni fee. The uni also hosts a lot of events like Ice hockey or basketball games. But I thought there would be more going on. Since it was deep winter nothing was really going on outside. But I think it's way different in summer.

6. Testimonial

I really enjoyed my time in Calgary. I learned so many new things that will be helpful for the rest of my life. Furthermore, I met so many new people and made friendships that will last a lifetime. All in all I would definitely recommend choosing Calgary as your semester abroad. But if you go during the winter don't forget to pack warm clothes.