Nicole - Oct 09

Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 November 2009 04:41 Written by Andrew Lai Wednesday, 11 November 2009 04:17

Week 12 here in Australia. That’s how they name the weeks, which is different from at home where they just put dates on the schedule. I like it because it’s less confusing and you can figure out exactly how much time you have between assignments.

So, it being this late in the semester, we only have one week left.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the end of the school year here. I can say it hasn’t been easy. Coming over here I had to remind myself constantly t

hat I’m not going on vacation, I’m coming to study, and when you are actually here it’s even harder to keep reminding yourself that. The more you think about it as a job to study, its easier to become overwhelmed and stressed. I got pulled in several directions on many occasions, and you have to ask yourself, “which is more important, getting an early start on my paper or taking the weekend off for an adventure?” Most kids I don’t think come here to work really hard and get HD’s, that’s High Distinction or an A. When you go to study abroad, sure you want to do well, but I think study abroad is more about studying the land and the people (the culture) of it all.

Looking back on my studies here abroad I can say they have definitely been a lot tougher than I expected. I am a junior this year at home and I can say from experience, the academic rigors of the classes here in Australia have been very intense. You may be thinking, oh well, she just thought it would be smooth sailing because she’s on study abroad, well your wrong. The truth is, of all four “first year” classes that I took all they all required the amount of study time that I would put into a second or third year class. This makes sense because here they only go to school for three years, not four so you can expect the material to move faster and more critically.

Also, if your thinking about studying in Australia you should know that its not a requirement to go to your lectures, but if you want to do well you should definitely not miss more than two. It was easy for me to take advantage of the chance to miss a lecture because at my college, a lecture is interchangeable with a tutorial and the penalties are there.

For me education should not be forced down your throat, you should be able to miss a class more than twice if you need to and not be threatened failure. At my college this is what happens and I don’t think it makes much sense. It works better here in Australia to make some parts of education voluntary because it prepares you more for the real world.

Overall I have definitely learned a good bit here in my studies. Being a communication major at home; I think the most valuable of lessons I’ve learned have been through my experiences here outside the classroom, for the fact that I’ve earned sixteen credits while gaining so much more is far greater reward than the marks I will take home with me.

Nicole

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