Best time of my life! Past Review

By Brittany Schrink (University of Southern Indiana) - abroad from 07/24/2016 to 12/21/2016 with

ISEP Exchange: Sydney - Exchange Program at Macquarie University

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

I learned a lot about myself and how to be independent. I learned how to live on the opposite side of the world alone without anyone to fall back on. I learned to make new friends of different cultures and how to live in a big city. It was definitely worthwhile.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program?	0-2 weeks

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.	Classes were a lot more challenging abroad.
* Host Country Program Administration On-site administration of your program	Were not organized on how to give you your meal plan vouchers. You must email them and set it up on how to receive them. Your vouchers are for you to buy groceries to cook and does not work at any of the places on campus to eat.
* Housing: How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?	Very fun place to live. The administration always puts on events that has free food which is awesome and a great way to meet people. They also but on events during O-Week that are really fun. Majority of the village is international students who are just there for the semester as well. The apartments are a bit dirty, but it is college students living there. If you are going through ISEP, you must tell the administration that or they will bill you for rent.
* Food:	Food has a different taste, but once you adjust the food is way better than American food. They put chicken salt on a lot of things but it is good. Sydney is a very multicultural city so you can find many different types of foods.
* Social & Cultural Integration: How integrated did you feel with the local culture?	Australians culture is a lot like the United States. Living in the Macquarie Village was a great way meet people, especially people from other cultures.
* Health Care: How well were health issues addressed during the program?	Healthcare was easily accessible, there was a hospital on campus. The health insurance that you must buy does not cover the majority of your doctor bill.
* Safety:	I always felt very safe in Sydney and where ever I was traveling around the country.
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)	Sydney is very, very expensive.
Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week?	$300
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants?	Utilize free food on campus on at your housing. Dominoes pizza is $5.

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

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?	Where I lived. I didn't have to pay rent while I was abroad. Low cost.
* What could be improved?	Meal plans should be able to be used on campus .
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program?	Nothing.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:	215 Applied Microeconomics
Course Department:	ECON
Instructor:	Wylie Bradford
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	One of the best professors I've had throughout university. Class was always interesting and enjoyable. I learned a lot from this class. You participate in small groups more than you would have at your home institution. You were assessed weekly assignments, a paper, and a few large assignments. No final exam.
Credit Transfer Issues:

Course Name/Rating:	BBA 340 Cross Cultural Management
Course Department:	Business
Instructor:	Candy Lu
Instruction Language:	English (moderate)
Comments:	Lectures are all recorded online. Tutorial in class group project was challenging.
Credit Transfer Issues:

Course Name/Rating:	ECON 360 International Finance
Course Department:	Economics
Instructor:	Geoff Kingston
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	Very, very challenging course. Teacher seemed to be knowledgeable but read directly off the slides. All lectures are recorded and there are no tutorials. This class was a graduate level finance class.
Credit Transfer Issues:

Course Name/Rating:	STAT 279 Operations Research I
Course Department:	Statistics
Instructor:	David Bulger & KJ Byun
Instruction Language:	English
Comments:	Course was moderately challenging and you must study every week to keep up with it. You can bring a "cheat sheet" to the final which helps a lot.
Credit Transfer Issues: