Practical information
Duration
The summer school will begin on Monday, May 25, in the morning, and end on Wednesday, June 3, in the afternoon/evening. So you should book your flights on May 24 (in) and June 4 (out), respectively.
Accommodation
You will be staying either at St Joseph's College or Lister Centre. You will be told which one it is in an indidivual e-mail. Please check out their web sites and familiarize yourself with the location of these places relative to the U of A campus.
Arrival
You will most likely arrive at Edmonton International Airport (YEG). There are two options to get to the university campus: you can take a taxi cab (approximately $55 one way) or the Sky Shuttle ($15 one way). For taking the Shuttle you go to their booth in the airport's arrival hall and tell them your destination (if they don't know Lister Centre or St Joseph's College, just say university campus). The shuttle ride will take approximately 45 minutes, the taxi about half that much. Both Sky Shuttle and taxi issue a receipt upon request.
The taxi will bring you to the front door. The Sky Shuttle may as well if you ask. In case the driver proves resistant to your begging, the official university stop is on 87 Avenue, immediately east of 112 Street, in front of Earl's (a restaurant) and Campus Tower Hotel.
From there, Lister Centre is two blocks west on 87 Avenue (ca. 800 m), past Jubilee Auditorium and Butterdome (a yellow structure north of 87 Avenue), at the south side of the intersection 87 Avenue/116 Street.
To get to St Josephs's College from the stop, cross 87 Avenue at 112 Street and walk north on 112 Street into the university campus. The road will eventually make a left turn (past the HUB mall and the below ground LRT station (rail transit). Follow the road (now west) for 300m; on the left side there is a large red brick building. This is St Joseph's College (it is the last building before the road turns left again to go south).
To find your way around campus, please have a look at the campus map. You will find Lister Centre at G/H 1/2, and St Joseph's College at F5, and the shuttle stop (Campus Tower) at G7.
Lecture room
All lectures will take place in 657 Central Academic Building (CAB, at D5 on the map). CAB is located east of the central Quad, as the name suggests, in the centre of campus. Room 657 is on the sixth floor facing north west.
Varia
- For your general orientation: "Avenues" go east-west; "Streets" go north-south.
- If you want to check out the river valley, just cut across campus (north) and take one of the frequent stairs down into the valley. Also, taking the High Level Bridge (109 Street) gives you an overall impression of the valley.
- To use Edmonton's busses you need exact coin fare ($2.50), paid when boarding the bus. The driver will issue a transfer slip in return upon request, which may then be used for travel on any bus or the LRT for about 90 minutes. To use the LRT without transfer slip, you have to buy a ticket at one of the vending machines at any LRT station. The tickets are also available in strips of ten (cheaper) and then have to be validated. They can be used for busses as well. The machines also sell day passes. On campus there is an LRT station close to HUB mall, which connects to the downtown (direction "Clareview", exit "Central" or "Churchill Station"). Many busses start and end there as well.
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The snow is gone and it will probably be warm and generally nice.This statement proved premature. We just had our last batch of flurries. It is expected to warm up considerably towards the weekend but it is recommended you bring some warm clothing as it may be chilly occasionally (see the forecast).
If you come from abroad
- You are of course responsible for adhering to all immigration related regulations. You will need a passport to enter Canada. Check the homepage of the Canadian embassy in your home country for exact rules and regulations.
- If you have to exchange currency, avoid bills in large denominations. Some smaller shops are reluctant or refuse to accept $100 dollar bills. Bank cards with Maestro/Cirrus logos should work at bank machines (be sure to check with your home bank whether this really works, also for applicable fees); they may (or may not) give you a better exchange rate. Many shops will accept US$, but at a less than favourable exchange rate.
- Since this question arises often, the rules for tipping are largely the same as in the United States. In restaurants one will usually expect at least 15%.