[SFU OLC Experience] 5 Months in Australia: From Start to Finish

Initiative

Global Skills Opportunity

Program:

Study Abroad › Exchange

University

Monash University

Location:

Melbourne

Australia

Experience Faculty

Arts + Social Sciences › Criminology

Standing under the Gibston Steps
Gibson Steps, Great Ocean Road

Gibson Steps, Great Ocean Road

Surfer's Paradise, Australia

Shopping for hangers at IKEA

Monash students celebrating a mate's birthday

Monash Exchange Student Orientation

Mornington Peninsula

Monash University Campus Grounds

Going on exchange was the best decision I’ve ever made. Living independently in a different environment for 5 months was a lot of fun, but coming back home and realizing how much I matured in such a short time was even better.

Experience Details

Semester

Spring

Year

2023

Introduction + Preparation

Financial Preparation

Preparing for exchange was a lot of work, but after I received my offer, I completed and returned any required documents as soon as I could. I suggest considering your budget and funding options before choosing to go on an exchange to Australia, as it can be much more expensive than other countries. Before I left Canada, I had already spent $600 on a student visa, $230 on a specific health insurance that exchange students must purchase, and $2000 on my roundtrip flight tickets.

Thankfully, I applied for and received study abroad and EDI IMA awards from SFU and Global Skills Opportunity (GSO), which covered the entirety of my pre-exchange expenses. I highly recommend applying if you are eligible, as accepting the exchange offer would have been a very difficult decision if I did not have the added financial support!

Packing

I read other students’ exchange reports for ideas on what to pack, but they definitely underplayed the importance of bringing warm clothes. From my experience, the hottest days (30-38 degrees daytime, 20-25 nighttime) lasted for about a month until mid-March, the majority of the exchange was moderately warm (18-24 day, 10-16 night), and the tail end from June to July was chilly (14-18 day, 4-8 night).

To cut down on costs, I brought my favourite cooking pot and as many home necessities as I could fit within my weight limit (23kg) including blankets, bedding, sheets, and pillowcases, and kept my important documents such as residence contract, printed visa, and bank forms in my carry-on bag and backpack. I brought a few of my favourite items from home such as a miniature llama that my friend crocheted for me, and a few photos to pin on the bulletin board provided in our rooms.

Travel and Transportation

I recommend against booking a flight with a layover that is shorter than 2 hours, as the overseas customs line in Australia is unreal and it took me 2 hours just to get through, almost missing my connecting flight departure by a margin of 30 seconds. Upon arriving in Melbourne, you can apply to have a personal driver from Monash University pick you up from the airport with their car for free – otherwise arranging your own transport from the airport would cost you upwards of $100. My driver was really nice!

Road trip in Melbourne

Monash University Campus Building

During my Experience

Orientation and First Weeks

Moving into the student dorm and unpacking took around two days in total. A mattress is provided, but you do not get pillows, bedsheets, or blankets. They give you the option to pay $120 for those three things, but I brought my own. Move-in day for the dorms happens two weeks before classes start, so there were a lot of social events in the dorms every day, geared towards breaking the ice between students and helping them settle in. They even booked out an entire theme park for just Monash students, and we got to go on all of the rides for free!

We did a shopping trip to IKEA using one of the campus shuttle buses and loaded up our shopping cart with hangers and cutlery, which made for a funny photo.

There was also a mandatory orientation session in which information about the university and resources available were shared to approximately 500 exchange students at Monash. They assign you to a seat with students from different countries, and make you chat with each other – I made very two good friends this way!

Reflection & Tips

Reflection

Going home was bittersweet. Some friends drove me to the airport at 3am (they’re the sweetest) and when I saw Vancouver again from the airplane window, I found myself baffled at how long it felt since I’d last been home, even though it had only been a few months. Our mountains looked much bigger than I remembered, and seemingly jumped out at me. I immediately noticed which restaurants or cafes had been replaced, as well as new installations. It felt good to give my mum a tight hug for the first time in forever, and waking up at home felt like a dream for the first few days. I was severely jet lagged but I didn’t mind at all – being home again was exhilarating.

I always wondered if I would be able to make it on my own, but now that I’ve done it, I feel ready for anything. It was incredibly stressful and painful not to have anyone to lean on when I was going through some of the toughest times of my life, but that made me stronger (we love some free character development). Living at home, five months seems like such a short time and it flies by, but I think the idea that I had to cherish every lesson and interaction of my exchange made these months feel much longer, so I will strive to do the same in Canada. I met people who were wise beyond their years and adopted a few philosophies that I’ll always use to guide my thinking and decisions.

Connection to Academic Studies or Career Goals

For courses in my programs of choice, the structure is similar to the structure at SFU. They, however, appear to have permanently adopted a hybrid model for courses in which you are not doing technical learning. For my programs, lectures and notes were all posted online and you are expected to attend tutorials having watched the recorded material and done the readings. The discussions were very interactive and all students were encouraged and expected to participate.

The grading is much easier, since anywhere from 80-100 percent (high distinction) equates to a perfect GPA score compared to our 95-100 percent range. The emphasis on written exams in my program was also smaller, with quality research and application being prioritized at Monash. There is also a mid-semester break as well as a “SWOTVAC”, which is a week given to students between class end dates and exam start times. My courses were research paper-heavy, so since I only had one final exam, I used this time to travel to Sydney and Gold Coast and met up with some awesome exchange students from there as well!

Advice for Future Students

On January 1st of this year, I started journaling about my everyday experiences, interactions, and reflections. I have not missed a day, even while I was in Australia. I highly recommend starting this and making it a habit as soon as possible. My best souvenir from my exchange is my journal, because it details everything that I remember for every day of my exchange. It’s the most valuable for moments when I didn’t take photos, or ideas that only words could describe. It also allows me to reflect on the kind of things that were on my mind at the time and understand my impulses. Overall, I see everything that happened on my exchange as a positive experience because I wouldn’t change a thing about it. This chapter of my life will always be one of my favourites.

Tags:

International