Days of my life in Australia
Time:2014-09-11 15:01:13 Clicks:
By Jie ZHANG from 2007 International Finance (3)
The decision about going to Australia two years ago was not easy for me. Many reasons held me back, including giving up a stable job and staying so far away from my dear family, friends and everything I was familiar with. Looking backward, now I feel so grateful that I stuck to my choice because this journey to Melbourne brings me plenty of unforgettable memories and changes my vision of the world to a deep extent.
Introduction to Melbourne
In my eyes, Melbourne is a city full of surprises: sometimes double rainbow appears over the pure blue sky; people could carry their house as a whole with a giant truck; pigeons will come around my feet and parrots will fly to my shoulders. Just as Rodin said, “Beauty is everywhere. It is not she that is lacking to our eye, but our eyes which fail to perceive her.” Therefore, even though I am in a hurry I still take a moment to enjoy what I have seen.
Usually people are very gentle and friendly. For instance, when I felt uncomfortable on the street, strange people came to ask me “Are you alright?” and see if I need any help. Or sometimes they will offer to help me when I carry a heavy trolley. In these moments, I will feel warm in the heart.
However, even though Melbourne is one of the safest cities in the world, there are still some criminal issues happening every day. Some districts are relatively unsafe for international students. Therefore, my suggestion, also given by my friends when I just arrived here, is to avoid staying out too late alone in the night and to be more cautious when travelling in those districts. After all, safety comes first.
Besides, new arrivals should get to know the rules very soon and abide by them. Breaking the rules is not welcome and the punishments may lead to serious negative effects.
Study
The University of Melbourne, one of the leading universities in the world, is famous for its distinctive teaching and learning arrangements and engagement between academia and wider society.
First of all, the attractive teaching and learning system and environment builds the good elementary conditions for students’ study. Students could easily get the help they need in the libraries or the administration office. Some lectures are very inspiring. For example, when a professor gave us a challenging and interesting task about strategy competition, my partners and I discussed about it till 3 A.M. and I have never worked so late before. All the lessons improved my analytical and problem solving skills.
What’s more, the university provides students with many great opportunities to gain plenty of practical experience, both in the local society or globally. Specifically, my school offers me the chances to work within the local government as a volunteer last year and intern in the Hong Kong branch of National Australian Bank’s this year. From these activities, I gained more insights of the local culture and working under the international business environment.
Daily life
The first thing I would like to say is about food. Staying at Melbourne, which is an international city, is quite lucky since people could easily find delicious specialty foods from many countries, including German, Italy, Japan, Thailand and so on. Chinese food is also very popular there. For the most time, we cook ourselves because of the budget and convenience. More importantly, cooking and sharing the recipes together with friends are enjoyable moments for me.
Secondly, as I have mentioned, Melbourne is an international city so I could meet many interesting people from different countries or areas and learn a lot from them. My native friends told me about the local culture, I am inspired by one German group member with his serious attitude toward work and one classmate from Peru describes me about the jungles and animals in the South of America. They showed me a vivid picture about the world.
Additionally, most of my peers here have one or more part-time jobs and I also worked as a cashier for half year. I think this could be a great chance to get involved in the local culture and improve our oral English, as long as it does not interfere with our studies. I learned some slangs and native expressions during this period of time. Besides, I got to know the operation process of a local convenient shop. I also meet some interesting people at work. A strange street artist would give me a free painting to wish me a happy day.
In terms of travelling, there are many famous tourist cities in Australia, including Cairns, Gold Coast, Sydney, and so on. If you earn enough money from your part-time job, you have many good choices to go around. If you do not have enough money, it is alright to visit many tourists attractions near Melbourne. Some short trips to Great Ocean Road, Melbourne museum, Melbourne Show or Melbourne zoo would also be amazing while it is not expensive. All you've got to do is decide to go and the hardest part will be over.
Attitude
Undoubtedly, there are some difficult times for an international student who stays in a totally strange country, especially at the beginning. We need to deal with many issues every day, such as adapting ourselves quickly to the new environment, balancing between our life and study and being homesick. For a period of time, I also felt depressed and confused, and then I went through it with strong faith in myself. The moment you think about giving up, think of the reason why you held on so long.
In short, what kind of life a person lives here depends on his/her choice and the gains will be quite different. Just follow your heart and find your passion. I get to know more about the world as well as myself through these years. As a result, I think I could always be confident to face any challenges in the future.