Exchange Report

At WU, we are privileged to have the university organize many aspects of the semester abroad. Also, the WU website provides a lot of information, like locations, previous exchange reports from other students who have already gone abroad, and information on the application process. If you are interested in going abroad and check your WU emails regularly, you will be informed of the semester abroad soon enough, and the exact steps to apply will be listed. There was one mandatory meeting to attend for students who go abroad in order to receive the financial aid. While preparing your semester abroad the first thing I would suggest to do is to inform yourself about who from WU will also be going to the location you've chosen.

In my case I searched for apartments with the two other girls that also went to Toronto. We were extremely lucky and found a really nice place on Airbnb in the early days of searching. We lived in a private apartment downtown between the baseball and basketball/ ice hockey arena. Our place was also near Union station (5 minutes by foot). For us it was clear that we wanted to live downtown instead of on campus because the campus was a 50 minute subway ride away from downtown. Even though the campus is quite far there is a subway line that passes through Union Station and takes you to York University without needing to transfer to another subway/ bus. As there are always so many people around Union Station and where our apartment was, I never really felt unsafe.

The campus infrastructure is extremely easy, and it's not hard to find new places because there is a lot of signage, and in most buildings, there is an information desk to ask around. The Schulich School of Business is a 2-minute walk from the subway station (York University). Besides the university, the campus also has a mini mall (York Lanes), which includes a bookstore and multiple restaurants/ coffee shops. There is also a small doctor's practice at York Lanes. Besides that, there is also a gym on campus and, of course, multiple Tim Hortons. The academic culture in the MBA program was extremely inspiring. Most people are involved in multiple university clubs and networking is very prominent at York University. York University usually has one event per week in collaboration with different companies (e.g. L'Oréal Paris) where you can sign up. The teaching style is very hands-on. Usually, classes start with about one hour of theoretical content, but almost every class also has group work at the end of class, where you are expected to work on an assignment and then talk about it/ present it in your group. Compared to the Master's programs at WU I would say the MBA at York University is very similar in regards to the teaching style.

As I lived downtown, I went almost everywhere either by foot, streetcar, subway, or Uber. I have not had any bad experiences, but I've heard from other girls during my stay that sometimes they didn't feel safe when going on the subway late at night. Living in downtown, the social/ leisure activities are endless. I would recommend King Street for bars/ restaurants. Toronto also offers a lot of sports classes like pilates, yoga, HIIT, etc. I used to go to the Health Cafe, but there is also a Sweat & Tonic near the Well that is also extremely nice. I would recommend following the Instagram page "todotoronto". The page informs you about everything going on in Toronto during the week and the weekends, from concerts, stand-up comedy, fairs, etc.

My exchange was one of the best times in my life, and I encourage anyone who has doubts to just go ahead and do it!! Academically, I learned so much, and I made so many connections. The domestic students were extremely nice and offered to help if we ever had any problems. What I enjoyed most, honestly, was doing things that I could never do in Austria (e.g: going grocery shopping at 9 p.m, going shopping on Sundays, having an extremely large selection of sports classes, coffee shops, and study spots to visit, going to NBA/ MLB games). Nearly 50% of Toronto’s population consists of immigrants or first-generation residents, contributing to an exceptionally high level of cultural diversity. As a result, the city offers access to authentic cuisine from virtually every part of the world. Overall, my exchange semester was an incredibly enriching experience. It allowed me to grow independently, broaden my cultural perspective, and create memories and connections that will stay with me long after returning home.