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Final Report - BachelorPlus 2014/2015Tobias TraberUniversity of New Brunswick, Fredericton
This report should give you an overview about my stay in Canada, about theexperiences I had, and about the things we had to organize for studying at the Universityof New Brunswick (UNB).VisaGetting a visa for Canada was the first thing I had to organize after my nomination andadmission. I applied online under http://www.cic.gc.ca/ for a visa. I do not know why butmy visa differed from the visas of the other Germans who came with me to Fredericton.They were allowed to work off-campus and I was only allowed to work on-campus. Weeven compared our application before handing them in. Anyway, I found a job oncampus so this difference was not a big deal for me. I was just a little bit confused at thebeginning. Process time for a Study permit is about 4 to 5 weeks so we had to makesure that we applied early enough for a visa.Application at UNBAfter being accepted by the committee in Freiburg which decides who is financed by theDAAD we had to hand in a formal application at UNB. Applying at UNB was very easyand well organized thanks to Mrs. Stadler because she told me exactly what I have tohand in.FinancesWe got a one-time payment of 1450 to pay for the flights. This money is enough if youare booking your flights early. The DAAD was supporting us with another 300 permonth and another 35 per month for paying a health insurance. The money coveredthe rent in Fredericton because renting a room in Fredericton might be very cheap if youfind a good spot. I was also able to pay a few other basic needs with the money.Another point under finances is banking. I had a bank account at the DKB whichincludes a checking account and a credit card. A DKB bank account is costless. At thebeginning of my summer job I opened a bank account at the Bank of Montreal. As astudent I did not have to pay money for it.
Health InsuranceI had to take the university insurance for the first 8 months. I paid 644 C for thisinsurance which is a bad deal because there are cheaper options in Germany (forexample an ADAC health insurance). But there was no possibility to avoid the officialuniversity insurance instead of a cheaper German insurance. I knew about that beforebecause the students which were in Fredericton one year before told me about thisannoying fact.ArrivalFlying to Canada is not as expensive as you might think it is but you have to book early.Google Flights will give a very good overview about all different airlines and their prices.In my case it was the best to take a flight from Frankfurt to Halifax (flight back: Halifax toFrankfurt) because Condor offers cheap direct flights. Another cheap opportunity isIcelandair.There are busses going from Halifax to Fredericton frequently (MaritimeBus). Anotherway to go from Halifax to Fredericton is ride sharing (e.g. Kangaride).LivingIt was very easy to find a place to stay in Fredericton. I stayed in the “Freiburghouse”.Other exchange students from Freiburg stayed there before. I just sent an E-Mail to thelandlord and she offered me a room right away. First rent in September was 400C because we were only 4 people in this house and total rent was 1600C . We looked fora new roommate online for the next months and we found somebody. So we werepaying only 320 CAD per month which was very cheap. It was not very easy to “refill” thehouse with new people when somebody moved out especially in the summer time butmost of the time my roommates and I were lucky and we could find somebody. There isa very useful website called Kijiji which helps you to find new roommates or to find aplace to stay.Food (especially cheese!!!) is a little bit more expensive in Canada than in Germany butclothes and electronics things are a little bit cheaper. A good place to spend a lot ofmoney is the UNB bookstore. Some of the required readings are very expensive.
Fall TermForestry Field Camp (FOR 4973)This course gave me a great opportunity to see and learn about Canadian trees andharvesting concepts. First of all I was really shocked by the clear cuts and it took me afew days to understand the dimensions of this country. German forestry seemed to beso different. The Canadians asked a lot of questions about German forestry and it wasinteresting for me to figure out the differences between both countries. Also, field camphelped me to get to know the different tree species.Silviculture (FOR 3005)This course was taught by Daniel Kilham, a very helpful, humorous, and younginstructor. This course was very practical and really interesting and it helped me tounderstand more about managing different types of forests. In field camp I got theimpression that productivity is the most important factor in Canadian forestry but Danchanged my mind again. There are a lot of different goals and objectives when it comesto forestry in Canada. After one year I have to say that this course was my favoritecourse I had in Canada thanks to Dan and also to Jasen Golding who is the headbehind this course. Jasen Golding is the person who was responsible for the structure,quizzes and tasks in this course. Due to his own workload in the fall term he could notteach this course.The workload for this course was high. There were quizzes every week and we had towrite reports which were a lot of work. We had to write a midterm and a final exam forthis course as well.Non Timber Forest Products (FOR 3885)This course was taught by Ron Smith and Steward Cameron. Both are very avid aboutNon Timber Forest Products. They taught us a lot about other forest products besideswood. Different guest speakers were invited what made the course really interesting.There was a midterm and a final exam for this course and we had to write a report andheld a presentation as well.
Wildlife Investigational Technology (FOR 4655)This course was very hands on in the labs and the professor (Graham Forbes) taught usabout catching and marking animals. We had labs about electrofishing, telemetry, deernecropsy and catching smaller mammals. It was a very practical and thereforeinteresting course.Winter TermClimate Change (ENVS 2023)I took this course because I thought as a forestry student it might be useful to take atleast one course about climate change. Unfortunately the course was just based on alarge PowerPoint presentation which was boring after a while. The workload wasmoderate; we had to create a WiBipage about issues when it comes to climate changein a smaller community in New Brunswick. We had to write a term test, a final exam, andan assignment as well.Remote Sensing and Air Photo Interpretation (FOR 3303)This course was taught by Brigitte Leblon, a very helpful professor at UNB. At the end ofmy studies I worked two months for her. I was quite impressed by her connections todifferent enterprises and organizations in Germany.The course was split in two parts. The first part was about the interpretation of aerialphotos and the second part of the course was web based and we learned in this part ofthe course to handle and work with the program PCI Geomatica. In the second part wewere able to manage our schedule for this course by our own which was great.Forest Operation (FOR2703)Forest operation was another course taught by Jasen Golding. I was not surprised bythe workload for this course as I knew about Jasens courses from FOR 3005. Thecourse was very well structured and again very useful. I learned a lot about themachinery used in Canadian forestry. He taught us about the basics of productivity andhow to observe wether an operation is done well, and to find possibilities to improvequantity or/and quality of forest operations. We had a few field trips to observe forestoperations.
Wood Technology (FOR 2803)This course was about the different properties of wood and the use of wood which isstrongly based on these properties. Felisa Chan taught this course. She was verymotivated and the workload was actually very high (6 assignments 3 lab reports midterm and final exam!) for this course but always very easy.Summer jobI worked two months for Professor Leblon and Dr. LaRocque at UNB. The work wasmostly computer based which I did not like very much at the beginning but it wasactually a pleasure to work with Professor Leblons team and the tasks I had to do weregetting more interesting after a few days. In this time I participated in different projectswhich had to do with satellite image processing and also with wood sensing. I gainedgreater software skills especially with PCI Geomatica and also in using the R statisticallanguage.What I liked very much was the time I got from both instructors to solve problems by myown and with the help of other students which were working for her.AcknowledgeI would like to thank you Prof. Dr. Spiecker and Mrs. Stadler for their effort and their helpin this year. It was always good to know that there is somebody in Freiburg foranswering questions and helps you.Another thank you goes to Prof. Dr. Jäger who visited us in Fredericton and supportedus especially at the beginning of our year abroad.Thank you to the DAAD which made this year possible, I will never forget about thisexperience.This year would not have been so positive without the friendly people in Fredericton so Iwould like to thank you all my friends, fellow students, teachers, staff at UNB, and also abig thank you to my roommates I hope the “Freiburghouse” is still standing.The last thank you goes to my friends and family in Germany for all their support withinthis year.
“Freiburghouse”Blueberries
No need for a descriptionBoiling maple syrup
A DKB bank account is costless. At the beginning of my summer job I opened a bank account at the Bank of Montreal. As a . In my case it was the best to take a flight from Frankfurt to Halifax (flight back: Halifax to Frankfurt) because Condor offers cheap direct flights. Another cheap opportunity is
