Summer Research at University of Alberta

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Summer Research Programme at University of Alberta

January 8, 2018

Max Tan

Disclaimer: you might want to read the previous post for some context...

Note: This review is written from the perspective of a Singaporean undergraduate meant for those who have not had the opportunity to pursue research outside Singapore. It focuses mainly on the experience of “adulting” overseas rather than the actual work.

Sit back and relax. This is going to be a long one.

You’ve just stepped out of the lab for a breath of fresh air and you receive an email with the keywords: PAID. SUMMER RESEARCH. CANADA. You leap at the chance and are accepted to spend May to August at one of the most prestigious universities in Canada: The University of Alberta.

Now what.

Step 0: Don’t be an illegal immigrant.

I’m sure that you’ve, at one point or another, bragged about the untold power your little red book possesses. Being a holder of the world’s most powerful passport also means that you’ve probably never applied for a foreign visa before. Now that you’re going to be working in a foreign country, you’ll need to prioritize getting your worker’s visa done. This process varies from country to country and will often require extensive coordination with your host country (and host). For the most part, this will involve obtaining a letter of invitation which you will need to either scan or forward its information to your visa-issuing country. The entire experience of obtaining a visa can range from at best two weeks to at worst, months. Regardless, you’ll want to get this done ASAP, preferably before buying your flight tickets. Better to not be able to take up the offer at all than to arrive there to realize you’ll be sent home or worse, be an illegal immigrant.

Speaking of tickets.

Buying air tickets can be quite a chore, especially if your flights are super long haul (aka trans-Atlantic, 13-15-hour flights). The need to balance length of travel, comfort and costs often tire the uninitiated. Here’s my take on each matter:

Length of travel: For flights to the other side of the world (US/ Canada), you’ll be looking at travel times of minimally 15 hours with typically a layover at the airline’s home country. I personally dislike long haul flights and often want as many stops as possible just to stretch my legs or explore airports. If at all possible, you might consider having a long layover (>8 hours) where you can even get out of the airport to have a short trip to the surrounding cities (Fig 1). You’ll be glad to do the same; sitting still for five hours at a time is no joke at all, what with the pressure fluctuations in the cabin and the less-than-tasty airline food. That being said, always plan ahead as to how much time you can spend during the layover and always plan to arrive back at the airport an hour before the suggested time.

Fig 1: Short road-trip around Narita while waiting for my next flight eight hours later.

Comfort: The importance of comfort to your flight is directly proportional to the length of your flight. Many of us raised by SQ-poreans usually tout that the only airline worth travelling with is Singapore Airlines. While SQ flights are no doubt the more comfortable ones around, they aren’t the only ones around. Flights such as Malaysia Airlines, despite their bad press in recent years, are often just as comfortable. Of the different characteristics of each airline (professionalism, food and entertainment quality etc), the comfort of your flight, especially for super long-haul flights, is often dependent on the big question: is the seat beside you taken (Fig 2)? What I’m saying is that most flights are comfortable enough and you shouldn’t sweat the brand of the airliner. You’re probably going to spend the time eating your home-brought food and watching your laptop anyway. Tip: I tend to prefer sitting at the aisle seat for long haul flights as it provides you easy access to the toilet and your bag, and extra leg room.

Fig 2: At the end of the day, you are just praying to see this when the plane doors close.

Costs: The big question on everyone’s mind: will I need to sell my soul for my flight?

No. No you don’t. The cost of your flight is often a function of how well ranked the airliner is and how late you purchase your ticket. For the more budget traveler such as ourselves, mid-tier airliners such as China Airlines or Delta offer a good balance of comfort and cost. I, for one, avoid budget airlines like the plague due to their nonchalance towards keeping to the schedule and their monetization of every little thing (Want to select your seat? Pay up. Want to check-in an hour earlier? Pay up.) The sum total cost of all the little different hidden costs such as airport taxes and baggage coupled with the cost of the flight ticket often add up to or more than a conventional economy flight. Spare yourself the trouble and indignation and spend the extra $100 to get a full-fledged economy flight.

With the prominence of the internet, you’d be a fool to not do some research before buying your ticket. A quick cross-reference between search sites such as Google Flights, Expedia, Cheap-O-Air and Flights.com can give you a good idea as to how much your flight will cost. Also, it might be wise to track your flight prices over a couple of days before finally buying your tickets. There’s no going back after you click that “buy ticket” button.

The anticipation

At this point, you’re more or less done with the serious admin stuff and all that’s really left is some research that’ll make your trip easier. I'll divide this into three main points:

Your place

Probably the most important amongst the three. In particular, finding a place to stay while you are there should be top of the priority list next to your visa and air tickets. More often than not, your host university will recommend a housing in the form of a hostel or dorm which, while is convenient to rent and meet people, might not be the cheapest of options. My stint at the University of Alberta, is one such case. Though it was advertised as one of the cheapest options around (costing $900 a month), some quick research while there revealed that there were off-campus living options that were way cheaper. This resulted in us (the people I met at the hostel and myself) moving out from our hostel as soon as we could to a rented apartment at a third of the price. Admittedly, while the friendships made through the hostel were worth the extra cost at the start, arranging to move out with them (while a bit of a hassle) was a financial no-brainer.

Note: Renting an apartment overseas might be scary especially with the “legal-lingo” in contracts. Make sure to read carefully what you are signing up for before doing so. Also, some apartments do not have furnishings (i.e. sofas, beds, internet) and you might need to furnish the apartment yourself. For this, I would recommend looking through the internet for buy-and-sell websites that the town uses. Edmonton (the place I was at), for example, uses Kijiji.com where people trade stuff online. You can often find sofas/ tables for cheap (~$5) provided you pick them up yourself. Make adequate arrangements to get and get rid of them with the people you’ll be living with.

Getting to know the place that you’ll be staying in for the next couple of months is also essential for both your convenience and enjoyment. Bringing along clothing that are well suited for the environment is a must, particularly if you’ll be visiting a country with seasons (unlike the perpetual summer in Singapore). This will also prevent you from over-packing which can be extremely troublesome (and costly) to fly from country to country. Be sure to pack medications for stomachaches, headaches, diarrhea, flu and cough. Getting a bicycle while you’re there (if the weather permits) might also be a good idea especially in western countries where public transport can be expensive. Again, you probably can get a bicycle for cheap through buy-and-sell sites mentioned before. Finally, take this chance to read up on festivals or natural sights to experience while you’re there that you might otherwise be unable to enjoy in Singapore (Fig 3). That is, after all, your true reason for traveling overseas, isn’t it?

Tip: As a frequent traveler, I would strongly recommend Starhub’s “Happy prepaid card” that allows you to sign up for cheap roaming data plans. Its prepaid nature also prevents potential unknown roaming data charges common in post-paid contracts that could cost a bomb. Be warned though, the roaming data for this prepaid card only works in several “popular” countries and does not work for countries such as Canada. Read up on its terms and conditions yourselves by googling “Happy prepaid starhub roaming data”. Also, as most countries (particularly western countries) are going cashless, I would recommend signing up for a multi-currency account with DBS where you can buy at the bank's rate and store different currencies into one account; think of it as a wallet with many compartments for different types of currency. You can access these currency through a debit card which is able to deduct from the correct currency wallet. This is particularly useful if you intend to do online shopping overseas (i.e. Amazon. More on that later.) and don't wanna pay that pesky currency conversion charge.

Fig 3: Horse-thief canyon. Try finding this in Singapore.

Note: try looking online for whatever you need first before heading out to purchase anything. I learnt the hard way that buying stuff from thrift stores never ends up to your benefit: things there are either overpriced or faulty. Some towns, like Edmonton, have small “community centers” where interest groups set up shop and sell things not-for-profit (read: extremely cheap) (Fig 4).

Friends (Part 1)

Don’t be surprised to find yourself being invited into a group chat with a bunch of mysterious, overly friendly people. As awkward as it seems right now, you might soon find yourself needing information or help that could make moving much more convenient. Moving into a completely new environment can also be scary and it always helps to have a few familiar faces (or singlish-ers) around. Besides, no good ever comes out of burning bridges.

Fig 4: Edmonton’s community bike shop. It’s not exactly a shop but a gathering place for bike enthusiasts. You can get parts for a bicycle and fix it up there yourself (there are people guiding you along) for extremely cheap.

Money

Depending on what kind of spender you are, money might or might not be an issue for you. I personally set aside about $200 for luxuries (such as sight-seeing, travelling, souvenirs etc.), $300 for food and groceries, $400 for rent and $300 of cushion money per month of travel. Budgeting while overseas is a virtue that you will need to live by especially since you won’t have access to your main bank account. Budgeting apps, while not essential, can help stretch your dollar.

Tip: online shopping overseas, particularly in the Americas, is very developed and can often times offer items at a much cheaper price. If your research attachment is with a university, you will usually be issued with a university email account which will allow you to trial "Student Prime" on amazon which offers free two-day delivery. Amazon is generally offers a good range of prices and allows you to buy weird items like a frying pan (which can cost a bomb at a shop) for at a pretty low price. Also, take note to turn off the "auto-renew subscription after trial" option. If you don't know how to do this, feel free to open a chat with an Amazon customer service operator who can assist you in this

It's normal to find yourself counting down the days till you can finally leave the sunny shores of Singapore for the greener pastures overseas. While it’s good to be excited for your trip, don’t forget to live in the now. Trust me when I say that you’ll soon miss home.

Journey to the west

You are now on your flight and the long-held anticipation has melted away to release the butterflies in your stomach. You bade your goodbyes to friends and family with apprehension, knowing that for the next 90+ days you’ll need to not only survive, but thrive independently in a foreign land. You might at this point want to catch up on some reading to calm the nerves; as much as this will appear to be a paid holiday for you, this is actually a work trip. Take some time to read up on your subject matter before arriving so that you won’t look the fool when the time comes to hit the grind.

Home…?

23 hours of travelling later, you find yourself in your familiar foreign land; the place that you’ve been reading about for the past three months. Your mind is in a whirl as you sit in your room after a day’s worth of lugging your bags and troubleshooting admin-related issues. Here’s a quick start guide as to what you should be prioritizing:

Internet. As much as this might sound like a “first world problem”, the acquisition of internet is integral in making your stay comfortable. If you are in a country where internet is expensive, living off the free wifi in your hostel or at your university works too (as per what I did). Alternatively, you could get a data sim to satisfy your internet needs. Either way, utilize the internet (particularly google maps) to find out where the closest amenities (such as the grocery store, bus stop, train stations etc) are. If you are in a country where English is not the native tongue, google translate is an extremely helpful tool. Now that internet is a luxury, be sure to download “offline packs” for maps and languages when you have wifi. This will enable you to use these services even without internet.

Food, a must-have to survive. For the kiasu Singaporean, eating overseas is often a bittersweet experience. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself thinking these sentences (in order) while looking at food:

Woah, looks good.

CAD $5… that is… SGD $5.50.

Singapore cheaper.

Worth it or not…?

Okay lah, worth it.

*Buys*

Not as good as Singapore’s one leh.

I feel you, brah. I too have experienced this (countless times) before. To maximize your gastronomic experience overseas, my mantra is: avoid food you can find in Singapore, dig in on things you can’t. My mentality towards eating is that “I probably won’t have this anywhere else in the world. Might as well pay for the special experience”. Granted while it might not be the most financially prudent school of thought, it has served me and my stomach well.

That being said, the above is with respect to “outside food” – food that is pre-prepared and ready for consumption. For foods that require cooking, be sensitive towards the price per pound of ingredients that you are buying. That’s not to say to just buy the cheapest deal but to balance out cost and benefit: no point buying 1 kg of chocolate going at $1/100g when you can get a regular 200 g bar for $2.50. Your first grocery trip is expected to be more expensive as you pay your “tuition fees” before learning to be wiser on where and what you are spending on. Fret not, your grocery costs should fall after your first trip.

Pro-tip: try to get a group of friends (especially international friends) and establish a cooking schedule. This way, you not only cut costs by buying in bulk, you get to experience foods from different cultures, which is always a plus. Also, downloading apps such as “splitwise” helps tremendously in keeping track of debt which is always a problem when “buying together”.

Side note: Take some time to call home. Taking the five minutes to say “hi” to Mom or to write a letter to a loved one means much more to them than the five minutes you spent.

Friends. Again.

Now that you’ve more or less established your home-base overseas, its time to live a little. Odds are that the program that you’re in is not unique to Singapore and you’re probably going to meet people from all over the world. Take this time to try new things, build a new persona and understand people from different cultures. I personally was slow to the game but I count myself lucky to have met a few amazing friends (shout-out to Kristy and Mel) from New Zealand, Germany and Australia. Admittedly, taking that leap of faith to try new things and to be a new person can be tiring but it can give you new insights as to how the world works. Trying that one thing that you never tried before (read: dancing) can be refreshing and can catalyze new friendships (Fig 5).

Fig 5: In the wise words of Jogi: WHAT A DISGUSTING VIEW.

Luxury and fun

Now that you’ve more or less gotten used to the bare-minimal life, it's time to find ways to go from surviving to exceling. Go with a friend (preferably one that you’ve just met) to explore the town on foot. This gives you a good feel as to how big or busy the town is whilst letting you practice your orientation skills. As with most university towns, there exist more than enough places to “hang-out” without breaking the bank. A good tip will be to look out for bars (if you are above drinking age) which often have thematic promotions; “Friendsday Wednesday’s” $5 chicken (10 pieces) at O’Byrne’s was a good way to drink, socialize and get fat on a weekly basis.

More often than not, your host university will have a line of events lined up to bring you to keynote places nearby. They are usually well worth the money and I encourage you to go for these trips to tour the place. Naturally, there exists cheaper alternatives (ie self-planned road trips (Fig 6)) which might require some planning with a few friends (to defray the costs). This is a good chance to take a look-see at the great outdoors which Singapore so sorely lacks.

Fig 6: The Calgary Stampede!

On large topic that often comes up during exchange trips (particularly to western countries), would be the use of weed and alcohol. Singapore is extremely strict in the use of substances, particularly drugs and I implore you to make rational decisions. Here are some facts to help you with that:

As long as you are a Singapore citizen, you are liable to be charged if you are found to have use drugs (e.g. weed) anywhere. This means that the “I smoked it overseas” argument does not work in the eyes of the Singapore law.
Weed can stay in your body and can be detected even after three months of using it.

There’s your information. Do what you will with it. I however would like to express my gratitude to my overseas friends who were very cool with not smoking weed and fully understood how it would implicate me if I did.

Conflict

As much as we want to live as a “happy family”, conflicts will definitely arise throughout your time staying together. Conflict can arise from practically anything living in such close proximity (from being messy to being too loud) and it is best to know how to deal with such conflicts. In essence, we avoid conflict because it, in general, puts a lot of mental strain on ourselves. I have experienced two ways in dealing with such conflict:

Talk about it. This is the most diplomatic and “the best way” to go about doing things. Air grievances in the open and avoid secret talk/ groups which could possibly induce fractures in such a close-living society.
Bitch about it. When talks fail and people get tired, groups tend to form as a coping mechanism. While not ideal, I would say it's not an entirely bad thing. The irony of this situation was that I made some of my best friends (aka my bitching buddies) through forming such cliques. The feeling of having a common topic to discuss so passionately on and the high from just bitching are extremely cathartic. That being said, I would say that this is a last resort.

Ultimately, conflict sucks because of all the pent-up rage. Your goal is to have coping mechanisms to deal with this pent-up rage. I would say that regardless of coping mechanism, the one common feature is to not be alone. Have at least one or two friends that you can rely on when things go south.

Work

Funny how something so important can appear so late in the article. There’s not much to say in this section other than the obvious: your primary aim here (whether you like it or not) is to work. To that end, you should put in your 110%: be unafraid to ask questions, be proactive during journal clubs and work tirelessly in the lab. While the stint might be short, the impression that you leave can last a lifetime and potentially aid you when you need recommendation letters *wink wink*. While my work experience, admittedly, was far less than enjoyable, I live by the quote: there’s no experience too bad such that you can’t learn something from it. Relish in the positives and soak in the negatives that come from working (and living) far away from home (Fig 7).

Fig 7: Summary of my work in U of A: To make a surface hydrophilic to resist biofouling.

The end?

In a wink of an eye, three months of adulting have passed. You have smelt the air halfway across the world, seen the canyons that hint at the great age of the Earth, tasted foods from different cultures and made friendships (hopefully) that last a lifetime. You have gained insight (and weight) about how the world works and got a taste of what being an adult feels like. As you each leave the house one by one to catch your flight back home, you think to yourself, as you do with any other new experience: “Gosh that was a long three months. Let’s do it again.” (Fig 8)

You text your new friends about a reunion as you board your flight to wherever the winds take you.

Fig 8: Three months later, one minute before leaving. Can’t wait to see y’all again!