Impressions after the first year of undergraduate studies in Canada

0. Introduction

Hello, dear readers Habr!
This topic is a direct continuation of my previous two articles.

April is in the yard, and I have already completed my first undergraduate course at Canadian University of British Columbia. Honestly, a lot of things happened: both good and not so good. Although Canada is for me a kind of “Parallel Universe”, it does not do without its specific minuses. I will tell you about some of the little things, the difficulties of the daily routine, the courses of the Department of Computer Science, housing, recreation, work, the attitude of Canadians to each other and about a ton of interesting things!
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Attention! There are a lot of pictures, photos, text, impressions and, of course, my subjective opinion under the cut.

1. Look around

I noticed that I never told you about the nature of British Columbia, but in vain, it is wonderful.

As soon as I arrived in Vancouver and finally dismantled things in my room, I bought myself a bike and drove around the city. Well, like the city, the neighborhood of UBC. Still, the town is not small, and I think it is rather difficult to go round it even in a day.
I was amazed by the huge number of parks: I did not have time to cool down from the previous park area, as the next one begins. And all living things: geese, ducks, gulls, squirrels, raccoons and our smaller brothers. Speaking of squirrels, I took a good picture of a squirrel only once, and when I rode my bike in the opposite direction.





Of course, I really like the fact that Vancouver is a place where the mountains and the ocean meet. That is, in fact, you can go snowboarding, and in the same day swim in the ocean. Speaking of swimming in the ocean: it's pretty cold here; I, at least, it is difficult to swim in it. Friends said that such a thing is here all the time. This is not surprising - a cold current passes near Vancouver.
Due to the special geographical location, the weather here is very changeable, as we have in Siberia. The temperature here does not jump from -10 to -35 in a couple of hours, but a clear sky in 20 minutes can be overcast, and after that, torrential rain can begin.
The photos below are my trip to the mountains with my friends. Everything is just like in movies and cartoons: mountains, lakes, deer, fresh air.





Throughout the winter, the temperature was +6 ... + 12. A week in December was -5 ...- 10, even snow fell, but literally the next day it completely melted. The snow here almost does not fall, unlike the same Toronto and Montreal. Throughout the winter I honestly tried to buy a hat for myself - it didn't work out: I was too lazy for that. But even without a hat, life was good - I bought myself a jacket for $ 30 (very lucky, the clothes here are quite expensive) and wore a hood all winter. Laziness made me thrifty.





It is worth noting the Garden of Roses (Rose Garden) - the photo was taken after all the roses had been torn off, but the beauty of the view of the garden, the mountains and the bay was roughly transmitted. Plus, below is a photograph of another perspective - on the benches, from which it is very convenient to contemplate this landscape. Almost every bench in UBC was set in honor of someone. On one of these benches, the inscription reads "Sharing his love to the sea and mountains" - as I recall.





For a while, people were greatly annoyed by the construction on campus. This is how the UBC works: two years ago, the Main Mall was a carriageway, today there is a smooth-cut lawn at the site of the road. I have never been frustrated by any construction projects - I understand that all this is for the best. By the way, a new building SUB - Student Union Building is under construction. Someone once whispered in my ear that there would be slides down there, as an alternative to elevators. Gorgeous.

3. EA and Global Game Jam Vancouver

During the time I studied at Computer Science, I managed to run to where FIFA and NFS are made, and I managed to participate in the creation of a small game on GGJV. What can I say, I really liked the EA office. I hope my company will have an office in the future not worse. And the football field with the inscription EA still exists and is even often used for its intended purpose (you can check on google maps). Kodak building across the street from the EA office. What a twist!







There was a lot of fun at GGJV, but I practically didn't learn anything new - my team worked in the Game Maker program, and I acted exclusively as a level designer. I also ate there a lot, played in Kinect, talked, tried not to get fat (my vain attempts) and met the creator of Retro City Rampage. By the way, this guy gave all the participants (and there were more than 200) on the free Steam version of the game.

4. What courses did I take?

• CPSC110 - Programming Basics. We studied functional programming on the example of LISP'o-like language Racket. Delved into the generative, degenerative, tail and other types of recursion. It can be said, this is a course on the knowledge of ZEN (!) Recursion.
• MATH100 - Differential Mathematics. Derivatives, applied stuff and all that.
• PHYS101 - Pressure, liquids, gases - in general, the fundamentals of physics.
• EOSC112 - Something like a merger of geography, ecology and similar sciences. Basically a course on the knowledge of ZEN (!) Of the greenhouse effect, solar radiation and global warming.
• SCIE113 - Mandatory course (Scientific Seminar in English). Here we discussed various articles, learned to think critically and put our thoughts on paper - Philosophy and English in one bottle.
• CPSC210 - Basics of OOP and extensive training in Java. Quite an interesting course. The final project (15% of the assessment) was a small application for android - nothing complicated.
• CPSC121 - Fundamentals of Logic. Throughout the course, we learned to think like a car. Conjunctions, Disjunctions and the like. Plus a little set theory and a big spoon of proof of the theorems. Oh yeah, another spoon (so savory) electrical circuits.
• MATH101 - Integral Mathematics. Course inverse MATH100. Integrals and their application. Many integrals. Many uses.
• PHYS102 - Electricity and Magnetism. Almost all of this was in my 11th grade, so this course was not a problem for me. However, I did not get the highest rating for it. It so happened - physics does not love me, I do not like physics.

Basically, the impression left the courses favorable. All teachers are responsive - to a teacher on CPSC210, say, I just sometimes went for a joke or just talk about OOP together. Sorry for the lack of professionalism - Java was very easy for me after Objective C.

5. You lied to me! Where are the cons?

I did not deceive anyone. Cons, after all, are present.

1. Vancouver is a very expensive city in itself. Clothing, food, entertainment, etc. - for me it was too expensive.
2. Grants for training is very difficult to get if you are a white man in good health. Neither the UBC, nor Google, nor Microsoft, I liked. Looks like I just prepared a bad resume or my grades were not high enough. Well, let's organize our company with preference and sofas.
3. Travel on any public transport for students is free. From here it is a lot of not students, but fans of a freebie. Once or twice I did see either drug addicts under a dose, or just people with mental disabilities, but they behaved very strangely (for example, they stamped all the way, snapped their teeth and looked sharply around). It's okay, they are not aggressive, but still unpleasant.
4. Sexism is not loved here. Although I believe that it is time to protect the rights of men - it is much easier for women to get a job than a “simple white guy in full health.”
5. In addition to taking the TOEFL, you need to pass the LPI - the exam inside the UBC. It took me a lot of nerves, and I passed it only from the third time. Many passed from the first, but I know people who, like me, had a huge amount of difficulties with this exam.
6. Study There is a lot of time to take a walk, but sometimes you just want to learn - therefore it is impossible to break away from social life.
7. Very difficult after Canada in Russia. In Canada, everyone smiles at one another and everyone is friendly. In Russia ... well, you know.

sqrt (-1). Conclusion

What can I say, I really liked this year. The only thing missing was the beloved one nearby. Well, what can you do, she studies in Russia, I am in Canada. Nothing, I'll take her to me soon;)
By the way, I found accommodation for $ 450 5 minutes from UBC and I am very happy about it.
This topic was written at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. It just so happened that I write such topics during long flights there and back.
If you suddenly notice any inaccuracy or typographical error in the text - you are welcome to my receptionist .
I am pleased to answer any of your questions in the comments!

PS After the first two articles I wrote an incredible number of people on Skype, on mail, on facebook, in contact about the admission process. See you all next year!

From the first article in this series, my life began on Habré. Thank you, Habrahabr, that you inspire me every day for new achievements!