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There are measures taken by the city to ensure that everyone gets through the winter okay. E.g. cleaning snow off walkways and school roads, underground tunnels all over the university are surely very helpful, heaters in every house, residence and classroom, subsidized winter products etc.

• The learning environment is very conducive as there are not many distractions to detour your mind, there are few malls there, way fewer clubs and bars and they close earlier than they did in Malaysia (2; 00am). In Canada the main source of understanding a course in text books, one has to read and study so hard in order to pass a course, lecturer¡¯s notes and explanations is not just enough for success. We also do a lot of work during regular semester, quizzes, labs, term tests and of course a final exam, all these items are strictly marked and weighed on your final grade so one has to work really hard to pass. Last minute reading is definitely not an option in Canada. We have two major semesters fall (Sept-Dec) and winter semester (Jan-April) its optional to study in summer and there are a limited number of courses one can do in summer. Most people just take the summers off to travel and work, a few stay around and take one or two courses as they work as well.
• I live off campus and it's really evident that people are active here, people take morning walks and jogs, the newly built school gym is always packed with people many ages and most people are involved in at least one sport. There are a lot of outdoor activities to do in summer and taking part is a must as winters can be really frustrating. I mostly just play soccer, volleyball and go to the gym, watch movies occasionally and go visit places around Manitoba, it's really beautiful here in the summer.
• Canada being a very multicultural place makes the food variety quite large and therefor it's easy for one to find a familiar taste, there are very many fast foods and Chinese restaurants here, both equally very expensive and the rest of the foods are easy to find as well, e.g. Indian, Italian, African etc. it's cheaper and better to just cook at home and carry to school as many locals here do. IUCC was very helpful in the beginning and made my transfer and settling very easy, the airport pickup and accommodation search was very easy, Mr. JP Burak helped me a lot in counselling and course selection as it's very crucial to take the right course at the right time here. I still go to Mr. JP incase am confused on which courses to take and the advice he offers is very important.

The counsellor whom I spoke to was very well-versed with University of Manitoba in Canada and provided me with very helpful student guides and an estimation of living expenses, and expectations of when I got here, I wasn't in complete shock when I got there as I had all the information I needed to start new life there. My parents were very pleased with the initial information I gave them and helped them plan better, their estimates have been at par with my current costs and there is no problem whatsoever.

To be honest, the learning environment at Northumbria University is totally different from that of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­. In the beginning, I was not so used to studying there due to the British accent. Also, we were more focused on individual coursework. I think it is a better way to apply knowledge on coursework instead of just remembering all the things that has been taught which may be easily forgotten after exam.

Yes, IUCC helped me a lot actually. I have to say thank you to IUCC, especially to Jasveen. She did helped me a lot; she would always suggest to me which is the best choice for me, even when I was still deliberating whether to travel to UK, Australia, or Canada for my transfer programme, she was there. She would give me a hand if I didn't know how to settle the accommodations or help me in the purchase of my flight tickets, those kinds of problems. She showed a lot of concerns towards me when I was at UK. She is very nice and caring. I still remember when I was told I might not be able to study in the 2nd year of my degree because I failed one subject, I was crying at that time, she was there for me and gave me a lot of encouragement like I shouldn¡¯t give up so soon that there will always be other ways to solving these problems. She had too much confident on me, she believed I could make it and to God be the glory, just like she predicted, I finally made it through. I felt so glad that she had been helping me all the way. Thank you Jasveen!

Other than that, there is another counsellor that I would like to thank, she is Nina by name. (Although I¡¯m not so sure about her name, but I think she is an Indian lady and she worked in Mid Valley office). She did helped me a lot as well. Before going to UK, she came to Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ and offered some advice to us, with brief explanation about the lifestyle in UK including the cost of living, Newcastle's life tips, safe places where we should purchase items, and places to visit, how we should take train/bus to other cities). I really appreciate her for what she did for me; which made things easier after we¡¯ve arrived in the country. Anyway, Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­¡¯s IUCC is quite useful and helpful to guiding students. The only thing Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ need to improve on is, if the release of results can be a little bit earlier as possible would be nice, especially for those students who are going to do a transfer programme, so they don¡¯t get delayed by their visa due to late release of result.