Australia! Past Review
By Jaclyn T (FCS- Human development & family resources, Illinois State University) for
IFSA: Wollongong - University of Wollongong
I traveled to the country by myself without knowing anyone so that was an eye opening experience, but overall i met the most amazing people and if i had the money to go back, i would be back in a second.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
In Australia they usually graduate in three to four years because they don't have to take gen eds so there aren't a lot of "fun/blow off" classes to chose from. A bunch of my friends that i met there took Australian history and geography classes which they said were actually really hard. Their class schedule was set up so you would have a couple days a week of lecture and one or two tutorials a week (which were mandatory). For my classes it wasn't important at all to attend the lectures; however, if you missed over 2 tutorials (which are like smaller class discussions) you were at risk for automatic failure of the course. Compared to here, there weren't many tests at all. In my classes I had to write papers and had one final at the end of the semester. The grading systems were very different in which getting an A there was really rare, so when you get your assignments back and see a lower grade that your not used to, don't worry, in the end it balances out to a pretty good grade. Overall, I thought their educational system was more convenient and made more sense than ours. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
When I arrived in the country we all gathered together and loaded up in different buses. We got a ton of information about the country and what to expect and got to meet the people going to my specific university. Overall it was a good experience and learned a lot. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I picked the dorm that was said to have the most local students and the closest to the beach. The rooms were a lot smaller then i thought they would be and there was no heat/air conditioning (buying a heater/fan was the best investment of my trip)I wanted to live with Australians but got paired up with Americans which in the end turned out okay because i didnt know anyone and we were in the same boat so it was easy to meet other people with someone else around. You could rent sheets, but buying them ended up to be cheaper. When I first got to campus I got directed to my room and was dropped off and left to wander around without any direction. I got lost for a while, so it would have been nice to get a campus tour, especially since i was one of the first people there. |
| * Food: |
The food wasn't too great. They had a lot of seafood and fish dishes, which I don't like so that was a problem for me. Although they eat the same kind of food, for some reason it doesn't taste the same, which isn't a bad thing, it was just different and took getting used to. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Through my program they set up a lot of different activities for us to do such as whale watching, going to the zoo, surf lessons, footy games, wine tastings and Sydney city trips. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Healthcare systems for abroad students were not very good. The doctor on campus was only there maybe once a month, if that...and you had to go to the local doctor which took a really long time and had to pay at least 50 dollars to just see the doctor (not including medicines) Each trip to the doctor was around $80 in the end. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* 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) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | I spent A LOT more than I ever thought i would. Depending on what you do and where you go it differs, I traveled a lot so that was expensive but the biggest problem was how expensive alcohol was. There everyone drank "goon" which is cheap boxed wine which was a box for around $8...other than that any type of hard alcohol (cheapest vodka) was around $40 and beer was even more than that at more than 50$ for a case. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | If your going to drink, buy alcohol at the airport at duty free...it is A LOT cheaper and you will want to make trips back to the airport after seeing how expensive it is everywhere else. Other than that you just have to get used to everything looking really expensive (just because of the difference btw AUS & USD. Everything you buy is going to look more expensive but in the end, after the conversion, its about the same. |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | This program was really helpful to me and answered all my questions before during and after my trip. Everyone would benefit from going abroad through this program. |
