Making the transition from Europe to Canada

[Beni]

I was recently accepted by the University of Waterloo for the mechanical engineering courses (co-op) starting in Fall.

I have to reach a decision by June 3rd and would appreciate any input from Europeans (or non-Canadians) that have made, or will make, the move across the Atlantic, as well as Canadians for more general questions.

Some points:

1. How was it adjusting to the new environment?
2. Is the public transport any good or do I need a car?
3. Are the costs higher than initially expected?
4. Do international students have restrictions on jobs (to help with tuition and other costs)?
5. What were some initial problems you encountered?
6. And what is Waterloo, the city and the university, like? Good accommodation?

If it makes a difference, I also have an offer from the university of Bath in the UK and, hopefully soon, one from a private uni in Germany, all for MechEng. Both alternatives would also costs me in the same range of money (very roughly!)

I'm very grateful for any helpful input and I'm sure I'll come up with more questions very soon

[braindead]

Don't come to the UK! Public transportation, even in London, is poor. Petrol is expensive. People are generally very uncommunicative compared to Europeans. Don't pick Bath, is what my advice would be.

I'm also interested in responses, though.. I'm in basically the same situation, only if anyone knows anything about Toronto (Mississauga) as well, that'd be great!

[Beni]

bump ( I hope this isn't against forum policy )

[Sandwich]

Whaaat? Public transport is great in London! Buses to most places max every 12 minutes, underground trains max every 10 minutes, most trains and buses much more frequently, tonnes of overground connections... I don't know how you could do much more. I would say that most big cities in the UK have decent bus systems. And we ARE Europeans! In a weird way.

I don't know much about Waterloo, but I know my friends who've gone to Bath have had a great time there. None of them did mechanical engineering so I can't relay much info about the course, but it's a lovely town, has really good sports and social facilities for the students and a nice campus. There are two Unis there, Bath and then Bath Spa (the not-so-academic Uni!) so it's a really nice place to be a student because it has such a big community that all the provisions are there.

One of my friends went from the IB in the UK over to UBC in Vancouver and has had an awesome time there. She doesn't have a car and uses public transport (but I don't know if this is just Vancouver - I guess if Waterloo is a big place it should also have decent transport, or you could buy a bike) and actually financially it was fine because in Canada they offer crazy scholarships to IB students even if your grades are only mediocre. My friend only got 34 IB points and still managed to get a scholarship! You should definitely look into it asap if you need to decide by June. She also works there, I think if you apply with the right kind of visa then you do get the right to work. You should check out student visas. Sorry I can't be more useful.

[Absolutely Positively]

Hey!

So, my cousin moved to Montréal to study at McGill. He had a friend who moved there too, so they shared an apartment and according to him, it helped a lot to know someone (even though they weren't studying the same subject). Otherwise he brought a lot of stuff to Montréal that he didn't need and so did others (like for example printers. You can print stuff at university, there's no need to ship your printer all the way to Canada)
Public transport is pretty good, though he usually walks everywhere he goes or takes the bike. (And I really don't know what you guys got against public transport in England? It's great. Sometimes it's hard to find the right bus stops in London, but otherwise I can't complain. Also the people were really helpful.)
Costs... All I know is that application process is simple at McGill and the tuition's probably one of the cheapest international rates you'll find anywhere.
He did have trouble finding a job as he wasn't allowed to work in the first place. I think he sorted that out now, but like Sandwich already said, you should definitely check that again.
Initial problems were paperwork (visa and work), figuring out how everything works (for example, you should tip the waitresses in Canada (usually 10%) even though it's already included in their salary. If you don't, they get angry and uncomfortable. Also, the taxes aren't included in the prices. So every time you want to buy something, you have to calculate how much it actually costs) getting to know people, finding places and not getting lost when riding the bike.
And I don't know anything about Waterloo. I've visited my cousin in Montréal and McGill. I liked it a lot and would recommend it.