Exploring a naturally beautiful country Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I felt like the academic rigor and intensity was definitely more intense and harder in Australia. For example their grading scale counts a 50% as a pass just because the grading is so much harder there. The readings were a lot for each class and even just 4 classes was a full load for me and the other Americans on my program. I feel like I learned how to give more effort and have more motivation for my school readings and assignments.

On-site administration of your program

Since I was with a separate study abroad program, apart from just the university's that I was going to, I had a really supportive and helpful administrator from Arcadia that got really close with all of us and made sure we were doing okay and answered any questions we had about life in Australia.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I loved having my own separate room and bathroom in Marketview and sharing a communal kitchen. Having my own space to relax in but also seeing all my fellow roommates in the kitchen helped me meet people that I saw regularly but also do my own thing sometimes. We had RPL's similar to an American RM or RA that really made each floor feel like a community and Marketview in general did many events for the whole dorm to participate in.

The food wasn't much of a surprise for me. There wasn't a lot of weird things that made me step outside of my box. I mostly went to a grocery store that I could walk to from my dorm and would buy meals that I cooked for myself similar to things I would cook in the U.S. They had different names for certain foods or didn't have some things I was used to in the US but made up for that by having things we definitely don't have in the US.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I became friends with a few Australians that I could ask many questions about their culture or opinions on. I went out to places in town with them and they showed me where certain helpful things were like the grocery store. I definitely feel like I became pretty comfortable there and came to find my way around things and it really did feel like I lived there, as opposed to feeling like I was out of place or only staying for a short time.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I got sick with a really bad flu while I was there in Australia. Marion Finlay from Arcadia Australia was the sweetest, personable, most helpful person ever. I called her number asking where I should go for healthcare to get treatment for my flu and she gave me a few options, looked up which location would be best for me to go to and even called the doctors office to ask about appointment openings. She texted me afterwards asking if everything went okay. When I had to get reimbursed for the doctor treatment with insurance she told me the process and exactly what to do. HTH worldwide was super simple to use and was a great insurance in my experience. The local healthcare system seemed similar to the one in the US for me. The doctor was nice, empathetic, not rude, she gave me medication to treat me. There was a pharmacy connected to the redi-clinic and the employees helped me get the medication. The antibiotics weren't that expensive which was nice. I did not need any vaccines specifically for this program. There weren't terrible health issues in my host city, I mostly just heard of coughs or colds, flus, etc. And mostly from Americans for that matter who were adjusting to the immunity there.

Overall my host city's safety was pretty good. I lived in like the main part of the town where most of the shops, stores, buildings were. Mine was a small town in general, compared to Sydney an hour away. There were some homeless people and some people that weren't totally put together that would hang out in the same spots in the city all the time. But I've seen similar things in downtown houston or san antonio too. I would get a little anxious walking alone at night from the train station but I just attempted to walk quickly, act normally, and look like I was minding my own business to avoid any confrontations with people. I saw two guys get into a fight one time in the middle of the street and another time a senior living there told me to not get on super early trains like at 5am because of past robberies. But again, overall, I did feel relatively safe there, especially during the day when there were more people around. Public transportation was extremely safe to me as well.

My program allowed all of the students in the program to meet up before we were thrown into our school environment. We met up early in a different city, got to know other students pretty well, and became comfortable with our program local leaders. It really helped me make connections with people that I would be spending the next 4 months with. I travelled later on with these people and went out in the city with them as well. I'm really grateful that I was able to meet people that were in the same situation I was before school started and especially that this program started off in a city that I may have never had the chance to visit if I hadn't when I did.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

On my overall trip I probably spent maybe 4000 dollars in personal expenses. This includes food, travelling, transportation, shopping. I was there about 17 weeks so that evens out to around 235 per week when divided evenly. Things were a little cheaper in Australia because the exchange rate held the US dollar a little more valuable than the AU one at the particular time I was there. But still, I bought plane tickets, had to pay for hostels on vacation, ate out, shopped, etc. so it did add up.

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• Dorm

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

• Early arrival/orientation
• Program local leaders
• Program-specific field trips

• Making students aware about different electrical outlets!
• Having scheduled program transportation to an airport for our end trip home

The Academic or Linguist