Hello again
dear readers. It’s been a while since the Cuba rant, miss us? Probably not.
For the
past month, we've been trying to come up with subjects to talk about and
every-single-time, we have hit a wall (talk about a rookie-wall). So, I’m now
resorting to the oldest trick in the book, and one of the most obvious ones:
This blog post is going to be a sort of a miserable try of a sequel to the
misconceptions of Exchange mentioned in one of our posts, A.K.A a “coming to
exchange” tips post, A.K.A complete bullshit.
Honestly, I’m losing track of the things we've already been ranting on about. I hope this sequel doesn't spoil the broth as so many sequels before it (Anybody know there was a sequel for JAWS?)
Honestly, I’m losing track of the things we've already been ranting on about. I hope this sequel doesn't spoil the broth as so many sequels before it (Anybody know there was a sequel for JAWS?)
Let the
heads-a-roll….
Tips
1. Rent an apartment after arriving
Now to be
honest, this is highly dependent on where you are going on exchange, but please
people, at least try to gather as much information about different intermediary
companies / or renters before going in all “YOLO” and renting something that
would make the homeless cringe. Now, in the end if you find yourself paying
$700/month for something that’s worth less than half, you might say you got
screwed harder than an Ikea shelf, or you know, whatever…
At this
point, some people might already be saying, “What if I don’t want to risk it?”.
Well, that’s what you pay the dumb-ass-premium for isn't it? Just cold, in your
face, asymmetric information.
2. Make some sort of a budget…..then double it
Ok, so
those of you, who enjoy budgeting, please go back to doing your taxes.
If you followed my advice in part 1, you don’t
need to take notes of this one. Just pay attention.
Whatever
you’re thinking you’re going to spend, is not even a ballpark figure, it’s not
even a reliable estimation. You have no idea how much groceries cost, you do
not know what initial investments you will have to go through, and as far as I
know, you might end up having to buy a new toilet for the house you’re renting,
IF you’re in South Europe, or someplace as irrelevant.
I plowed
through my initial thoughts of a budget in 2 months, and no, I was not buying
Dom Perignon Champagne and pouring it into the ground (OH yeah, that’s a
thing). I was merely trying to buy cheese, but obviously Canadian cheese is
made out of fairies and orphan tears, since 100 grams of cheese costs more than
a cheap six-pack of beer. Honestly, I’m not even exaggerating that much.
So, if you
have a job, or you know, not a job at all (Applies to Finland) you might want
to think about saving a bit before coming to exchange.
Added comment: There is definitely a chance for
arbitrage somewhere there
3. Travel, preferably with friends
Please do
this. Don’t be someone from eastern Finland and live in a sandbox your entire
life (Helsinki attitude and quite proud). Also, bring those friends with you,
even the new ones, whatever. Friends always push you forward to new experiences
you might never acquire yourself [insert all kinds of other self-help
bullshit]. Friends might also annoy the shit out of you, but hey there’s always
a trade-off. As for me, I’ve been to
Cuba, Boston, New York, Toronto, Quebec City and planning to go to Washington as
well, a lot of stuff. Worth it, every single trip, EVEN THE CUBA ONE.
4. Try to widen your view of the world
Most of you
probably could not see this one coming from me, especially after the
cynicism-loaded blog posts about how I basically know everything and you do
not. Well, here it is.
Conversations I've had with people from different backgrounds have allowed me to learn so many things, be it religion or the educational systems of other countries. I’m not going to dissect the valuable lessons I've learned, because I simply don’t care about sharing them. Get your own experiences. Geez.
Conversations I've had with people from different backgrounds have allowed me to learn so many things, be it religion or the educational systems of other countries. I’m not going to dissect the valuable lessons I've learned, because I simply don’t care about sharing them. Get your own experiences. Geez.
5. Do not stress studies
There is so
much to see, so many people to meet, so many places to discover. Exchange is
the time of your life where you are almost as free as a person can be without
being homeless, unless you’re going on exchange to North-Korea, which I can
imagine to be an otherwise enriching experience.
6. Work with people who are not from your home
uni.
Sure, it
has been convenient as all hell and easy to work with Niko (we have probably
done 30 cases, presentations or other thingamajiggies together throughout
business school so yeah, we know how to work together) and other Finns on group
projects, but this is a great chance to test what it’s like to work with people
from other cultures. Yes, I know, you have heard this beyond comfort zones and
multicultural teams pitch a million times, but hell, it’s repeated everywhere
for a reason. It’s amusing to see the stereotypes in action, ranging from
German efficiency to Swedish overblown democratic teamwork procedures, where
participants’ happiness goes before getting results. Sure, there will be times
when you’ll wonder how you have the patience to deal with varying notions of
“being on time” and you’ll struggle to understand the thick accent of others.
It is equally interesting to see when people go against their national
stereotypes, you’ll see that too. You have a chance to expand your view of the
world, take it.
7. Make contacts in the other universities as well
As you may
or may not know, Montreal is one of the biggest student cities in the world.
Home of a number of renowned universities and a plethora of colleges (for
Finnish counterpart, think AMK), Montreal offers ample chance to network beyond
your own university. We have been lucky enough to meet a number of people from
competing universities, who are well connected and open by nature. As a result,
we have had the pleasure of being introduced to people beyond our own social
circle. We have made friends with not only HEC students, but also with people going
to UQAM, McGill, UdeM and I guess Guy-Concordia too. Know more people from more
universities, get invited to (read: crash) more parties. Sound advice, coming
from two guys who attended more med and law school parties during freshman year
than some students of aforementioned schools.
8. (HEC only) Take the Strategic management
course
OK so this
course is a shit-ton of work, all for a grade you don’t even need. BUT it is
also the most entertaining course I have taken during all of my binnis school
studies. Sure, your BS-generator will be running on full steam doing all those
BCG, Ansoff and SWOT matrices, but the satisfaction you get from playing the
strategy simulation is unparalleled. Though quite simplified in the end, it
gives you a nice chance to be a sneaky back-stabbing bastard in a dog-eat-dog
simulated business environment. Just remember: if you take this course and play
the game, our Finnish readers, it is your God-given mission to beat the Swedes
for that intoxicating better-than-intercourse feeling of (6-1) superiority.
Kevin knows what’s up
Montreal Top 5 shitlists
Let’s wrap
this horrible blogpost up with a list…
Burgers
Royal
Burger located in the Plateau – The shit.
Burgers are greasy as hell, but easily worth it.
The fast
food chain A&W – The shit.
Burgers are real burgers, not some fast food chain bullshit.
Harvey’s – Just shit. The burgers are expensive
and they suck. Nuff said.
Places to watch sports
Well, this
list will start off with probably the king of sports bars in Canada, Chez Serge.
Chez Serge –
The shit. It’s a legendary place
among locals. During the canadiens hockey games, the place is packed. I MEAN
PACKED. I had to wait 20 to 30 minutes outside just to get in. It is a great
bar at a great location that features bartender pole dancing between periods
and a booze-roulette, you can’t …. go….wrong.
Cages aux
sports – Can’t say really. Located at the heart of hockey, centre bell. It’s a cozy,
casual looking bar. Seems more like a diner. Ate there a couple of times, was
ok. Moving on.
Station des
sports – Ok. We were there once. TV-screens were all over the goddamn place; imagine
that you had a studio apartment and 10 TV’s, at some point you have to go; “No”.
Beers
Ok, so I imagine
we already covered the beer-portion quite fast in the first blog-posts. But
here it is, a list that is a result of intense empirical research and
reflection.
Budweiser –
Gold.
Bud light –
Gold.
Bud light
lime – Moving on..
Coors Light
– Drinkable, but not really.
Molson
Beers – Nope.
Moosehead –
Didn’t drink it. Seems legit though.
Sleemans
light, or any other brand of sleemans – Ok, but has an odd after taste. If
hiding bad smells with cologne could be a drink, it would be Sleemans.
I think
those are the most important beers you need to know about. You can also try the
Rickards brands, which are quite ok.
Place to drink beer
Anywhere.
‘Hoods to live in
Well, as some
of you know, we live in an area that I think has a higher chance of drive by
shootings than other downtown areas. What that means, is up to you. But, to be
honest, I’ve liked Parc Extension thus far. Yeah it might be a cab ride away
from everywhere, but the neighborhood seems to be easygoing and quiet.
Obviously, if you’re a student, or you know.. a drug addict, you might want to consider the Plateau or Mile-end, or whatever. As long as you live close to the things you think you’ll need its fine. At least we have a plethora of fast food restaurants around, so that’s good.
Obviously, if you’re a student, or you know.. a drug addict, you might want to consider the Plateau or Mile-end, or whatever. As long as you live close to the things you think you’ll need its fine. At least we have a plethora of fast food restaurants around, so that’s good.
Well, I think
that does it for us, seeing as were pretty much sleep deprived from all the hours
of hard studying and aiding the community. We might be following up with a
couple of more blog posts in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for those.
SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYMORE.
Bye.