Education Abroad Student Blog

My name is Ned Scholfield, and thanks for checking out my blog. I'll be posting some blogs for the next four months while I'm on exchange in the Netherlands with my friends Pete, and Tim who are also from Swinburne - Lilydale campus.

We arrived in Holland three weeks ago, after a week long stop-over in Thailand where we hit up Ko Phangan Island down in the South of the country. This stopover is something I highly recommend to anyone making the long trip from Australia to Europe- our airfares didn't cost any more than if we stopped in Bangkok for an hour, so we looked on it as a free little holiday where we could take in some sun before we hit Europe.

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My name is Keian and I go to school at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California. I've been in Oz since the last week of July, and so far so good. After getting settled in Melbourne, I headed out on a 10 day trip to Broome and Darwin, an absolutely awesome trip. If you're curious into seeing something a little off beat from the normal touristy stuff in Oz, google the Bungle Bungles, El Questro, and Cable Beach.- all quite amazing!

Once I got back into Melbourne, it was time for the incoming students orientation. Though it is the start of school back home, the Australians are in the middle of their year here, so not many Aussies were in orientation, but I met a lot of great international students. Since then, I've done several day trips around the city to Dandendong National Park, a couple museums and, of course, the night life down Chapel Street. I also spent a weekend snowboarding up at Mt. Buller - last thing I ever expected to do when I was coming to Oz!

School has also been interesting, mainly because I only have class on Monday (guess I got lucky). Unfortunately, I'm not very disciplined, and I'm going to graduate next March, so my motivation to do work given a 6 day weekend is pretty low. But it allows me to do more fun stuff during the week, and gives me time to plan future trips...[Read More]

Sunday was the big tour of Kuching for the new students. Our first stop was a rather bizarre museum (the Kuching museum I believe) that basically just had a lot of very boring fish in tanks and a bizarre collection of things people had donated during the 50s. One particularly interesting thing was a lifesize model of an Iban house (Longhouse). After that we were taking to the Kuching 'Cat museum' (as Kucing in Malay is 'Cat'). The cat museum was even stranger as it was mostly just a random jumble of cat pictures, random stuffed toys and some 'Hello Kitty' paraphernalia. [Read More]

Hi! Just to introduce myself: My name is Bettina and I am a Study Abroad student this semester, coming from Denmark. I will stay in Aussie Land next semester as well, in order to undertake my internship. Hopefully - I need to find a place to do it!

I had a very stressful time just prior to my departure. I woke up several times each night to check email and make calls during the Australian office hours which happen to be from midnight to 8 am Danish time. Both my boyfriend and me got started very late with the application since my school at home had an exchange agreement on hand which eventually did not work out prior to the semester start.

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So I was pretty stressed while catching the train from Paris in Rouen. I had been backpacking around various areas of Europe for 3 months and after sleeping in a lift on a Croatian ferry, being chased on a dirt bike by a drunk Portugese man in Lagos, being threatened to be shipped back to Australia by a water taxi driver in Venice and having my right arm mauled to near death by bed bugs in Bosnia, I did not think much else could freak me out. But for some reason the thought of actually living in one place with the same group of people in a country where I cannot speak the language fluently made me want to get off the train, change platforms, board the next train to Paris and continue to living a nomadic life for eternity.

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 G'day! My name is Nina Peculic and I flew with about 30 other Northeastern University students from the United States to Australia.

Ever since I was young, I have always wanted to be a News Anchor for a prominent news channel. As I am now attending my first year, first semester in college, I hope that my major Broadcasting Journalism will lead me to my goal. Contently, I am currently living at the Unilodge, where I live with three other Northeastern girls. Back home I live in California where I have resided for 18 years, leaving only to travel for family trips to Croatia and for education, which has previously taken me to Australia.

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Guten Tag everyone! My name is Georgia Macrae-Otten and I am a second year Communication Design student about to undertake a semester in Mainz, Germany. I wish I could start this off by telling you some sort of crazy story from some sort of adventure I've had! But sadly I am still in Melbourne.

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My name is Alessandro and I come from Milan, Italy. I'm an international student at Swinburne University, spending here my second semester. I decided to came to Australia in the spring of 2007: the reason why I came here is that for me Australia was a totally new country, where I've never been before. Curious to see how it was Down Under, I came here in February 2008. [Read More]

Juhannuspäivä is Midsummer Day (the longest day of the year). I loved this time in Finland; everyone was so excited as it marks the start of summer. There are many festivals around this time, bars and shops open later and everyone is happy. In Northern Finland the sun doesn't set so there's 24 hours of daylight. In Southern Finland the sun sets around 11.30pm and rises at 3am. Finns usually celebrate this day by going to their summer cottages, lighting bonfires, and drinking.

The Finnish midsummer is notorious for drunkenness and revelry. I was invited by some Swedish Finns to spend the holiday with them and their friends. There were about twenty of us staying in a traditional summer cottage 30 minutes out of Pori, which is three hours north of Helsinki. The cottage was great. There was no running water, instead we washed in the smoke sauna, surrounded by forests. We spent the weekend grilling, laying in hammocks and playing hack-sack while some of the Finns sang.

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Hi!! I am an International Study Abroad Student studying last year sociology courses at Swinburne University of Technology. I arrived in Sydney on the 26th of July 2008. Looking back through my diary today makes me wonder what I did throughout a whole month. It was just like a week ago since I arrived. Surely time ticks!!!

I thought I would never make it here to study. Actually, I was granted the Global Peace Scholarship for the first semester this year but unfortunately could not get a student visa in time. It was then waived to this semester. I had so much difficulties applying for a student visa again for this semester but believed with my whole heart that I would be granted one. It's certainly true that 'where there is a will, there is a way!'

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Hi everyone! My name is Kristy, and I'm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States. I actually go to Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky and live in that part of the States for most of the year. (If anyone is interested in studying abroad there, feel free to ask me about it!) Anyway, I am very excited to finally be studying abroad in beautiful Melbourne, AUSTRALIA!!

OK, now that I've gotten that out of my system, let's get down to the minor details: I arrived in Melbourne August 1st after almost two full days in airports. Surprisingly not at all jetlagged, the first thing I wanted to do was shower. Unfortunately, I didn't even think of bringing towels or bed sheets with me (not that they would have actually fit in my only suitcase anyway). However, I was lucky enough to have one of the nicest guys at Swinburne as one of my flat mates (Four of us live in the apartment all together). Ten minutes after meeting him, he offered to take me to the closest Target to buy some things. Everyone is so friendly here J. [Read More]

Thanks for visiting my blog. Let me first introduce myself quickly before I tell you all about how great it is to be an exchange student at Swinburne! My name is Kirsten and I am 20 years old. I am an exchange student from the Erasmus University which is in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. There I am studying International Bachelor of Economics and Business. I will be studying at Swinburne for one semester, taking courses at the faculty of Business and Enterprise.

I have been in Australia for about six weeks now and time is flying! Probably because I enjoy it so much here! After a very long journey of more than 30 hours, I finally arrived in Australia. But I can tell you, it was worth it! In my first weeks I discovered Melbourne and its surroundings and of course I have visited all the touristy places. Nevertheless, there is still so much left to see and to do in Melbourne. Moreover, I am really lucky that I have got family living in Melbourne so they could show me around here.

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I am David and I came from Germany were I pursue a course in "International Civil Engineering" which includes one year study abroad in any country. Many people ask me why I have chosen Melbourne when I've got the opportunity to go anywhere in the world. It was a dream to go to Australia since I was a young boy so that's me here now. I chose Swinburne because it has very interesting lectures that fit perfectly in my studies. [Read More]

Monterrey is a sizable, modern city located in northern central Mexico, not far from the Texas border. I arrived mid-July, a good week before orientation at the Tec de Monterrey, and since then I have had one of the most fun and exciting times of my life! I am fortunate enough to be travelling with my good friend, also from Swinburne and studying at Tec de Monterrey. We spent the first week in a local hostel looking for accommodation, as we had decided to find our own once we arrived.

The process of finding accommodation was made easier thanks to the very dedicated International Office here at Tec. They provided us with 3 options which we checked out in our own time and they were prepared to help us further if required.

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Classes are almost over and a few of the European exchange students have already gone home. I have my last class on Monday which is a critique for Silkscreen Extended. I'll be silkscreening figures onto a cricket bat that my friend made in the wood studio. I've really enjoyed taking subjects that require me to use more traditional art techniques. It's been a nice change from sitting behind a computer and has given me many ideas for new media projects. [Read More]