Go To Sydney!!!! Past Review

By A student (Middlebury College) - abroad from 08/19/2019 to 11/28/2019 with

IES Abroad: Sydney Direct Enrollment - University Of New South Wales

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?

I learned a lot about living alone and it was definitely cool to experience college in a city environment. I would recommend booking as many trips around Australia as you can afford to as those are what I enjoyed most from my experience.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program?	6 months+

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.	Overall classes were good. The workload was decently less than I was used to from Middlebury but it allowed for us to spend our time exploring Australia! Profs are helpful and are willing to work with you to get the grades you want/need as long as you are putting in effort to the class.
* Host Country Program Administration On-site administration of your program	It was fine. We had 'orientation' but they didn't show you around campus or have you meet any of the other students - we just sat in an auditorium and listened to rules/advice. Knew where to go for help though and study abroad office was VERY helpful with class choosing and scheduling issues (definitely recommend going there if you're struggling with that).
* Housing: How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?	Lived off campus in Coogee with other Midd students. Recommend!
* Food:	Amazing food everywhere!
* Social & Cultural Integration: How integrated did you feel with the local culture?	Not at all. UNSW kids don't live on campus and only travel in for classes. The first term is only for abroad students and I only really met Australian kids in my History of Sexuality class but didn't interact outside of class.
* Health Care: How well were health issues addressed during the program?	I didn't have any issues that required a doctor, but we had a pharmacy near the house and everything was accessible from there.
* Safety:	I felt safe pretty much all the time in Sydney, even taking Uber's home at night etc. But, we did live with/near boys from Middlebury which probably made me feel safer when travelling at night, especially as coogee is more suburban and there aren't lots of street lights/people around
If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program?	Yes

Finances

* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget? (1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)	I had prepared for a higher cost of living from previous information but honestly for living in a city I think the cost of food was lower than I expected. You could eat a meal out for anywhere between 10 and 20 AUD which is about 7-14 USD. It's also very easy to just buy groceries and cook at home which we did as well.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component?	No

Other Program Information

* Where did you live? Select all that apply	Apartment
* Who did you live with? Select all that apply	Americans
* Who did you take classes with? Select all that apply	Local Students Americans
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with?	0

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?	Making new friends from Midd Travelling around AUS Living by the Beach!!!
* What could be improved?	Help with picking classes beforehand/ knowing how easy it was to adjust once you got there
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program?	make sure your schedule gives you a long weekend and start travelling as early as possible (Even just short weekend trips)... the time will catch up with you before you know it and you don't want to miss out on all the cool places to visit!!

Reasons For Studying Abroad

To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you.	The Outright Urbanite A social butterfly, you're happiest in bustling cities with hip people, and took advantage of all it had to offer. You enjoyed the nightlife, and had fun going out dancing, and socializing with friends. Fun-loving and dressed to the nines, you enjoyed discovering new restaurants, shops, cafes, and bars in your host country.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:	Aboriginal Sydney
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Instructor:
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Comments:	Relatively easy class we all took in first 'term' (like a J-term). Interesting but not that captivating of a class - take for the credit of studying the place you're in. Quiz in the first few weeks and big paper at the end (1500/2000 words) but minimal work besides that.
Credit Transfer Issues:	Transferred fine

Course Name/Rating:	Game Theory
Course Department:	Econ
Instructor:
Instruction Language:
Comments:	Similar to a Middlebury class - a lot of students said they wouldn't take an econ class at UNSW but I enjoyed it and it wasn't hard to do well overall. We had weekly problem sets, a final and a project at the end but if you paid attention in class I would say it wasn't difficult.
Credit Transfer Issues:

Course Name/Rating:	Sydney: History, Landscapes, People
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Instruction Language:
Comments:	Honestly one of the more boring classes. Super popular with abroad kids but don't take if you're planning on taking Aboriginal Sydney as they're very similar. Prof graded harder than necessary on assignments but we still did well overall so it was ok in the end.
Credit Transfer Issues:

Course Name/Rating:	History of Sexualiy
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Instructor:
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Comments:	Loved this class. Readings every week for tutorial that honestly weren't necessary to do but was a huge discussion so much more interesting if you actually did do some of the work. Really fun and interesting - if you have the chance chose the time when Luke leads your tutorial. He made it really fun for our class but my friends were in Zora's (I think that's the Professor's name) tutorial and said she was really nice too. Besides that there was a final paper and a presentation.
Credit Transfer Issues:	No, credit transferred