FINALLY DONE! Congrats!

 I just returned back to Germany with two degrees. But that's not the whole truth.

I'm back since mid July already. I was waiting till my degrees get approved. Now I can share these news with you.

I officialy graduaded . Yaaaaay.

COVID-19 Graduation ceremony at the chesters family

YAAAAAAAY DONE- FINALLY

I also received both of my certificates digital. The origial certificate from Germany (Bachelor of Arts) arrived two weeks ago and the Australian one (Bachelor of Business) is on its way to Germany.

My success is also published twice:

Fcebook Page of Sprachen/Internationales: Read this article Double Degree- studying in Australia? to get an insight of the partnership of USC and RAC.

AND I can also recommend you to read the newspaper article Den Doppelabschluss im Gepäck

Time for Feedback

 Since I'm done with studying and I'm jut waiting for my certificates it's time for a short throw back.

I will consider the three parts of my time overseas:

1) Organizing of the double degree agreement, fit into my life

2) University, life as a student

3) Free time/ Semester Break and travel 

1) Organizing of the double degree agreement, fit into my life

I can remember the first time at universty when I was interested in going overseas for an exchange semester. It was the very first day- the welcome of the newstudents where returned outgoings of RAC shared their experiences in their stay overseas.

And as you can see I went overseas. Not straight away- as I would have loved to- but I went in my very last year of studying at RAC.

I also thought about going to Portugal or any other ERASMUS funded country because of shortness of money ( I thought it's too expensive but NO it's good to invest into education that improves your personality, employability and broaden your horizon)

Anyway- in the end I decided not to go for a simple exchange semester- I went for a whole year (which is obviously even more expensive but yeah tht's life- nothing is for free)

As soon as I knew I'll be the first one of RAC going to Australia for one year I was expecting a lot of mess oranizing this year.

Theory is fine- the program and its claims is on paper since 2017 but execution is a different thing.

I was a bit right but all in all everyone was involved in the process and willing to send me overseas for one year. Everything worked out well.

Everyone was excited- yaas finally the first student is going for a year. (Also interesting - this article : )

I think I did the right thing. I'm open-minded, relaxed, simple and I love to learn something new and also adventures. 

I even thought about staying in Australia and work there. Start a life on the other side of the workd. Just me.

But because I love my family and friends as well as some german habits and mainly because of the pandemic situation this thought is on hold. or postponed for now.

Let's see what the future has in mind for me.

2) University, life as a student

USC is  great university! Really! Super organized, well looked after their students, always happy to help.

Also teaching and especially what I experienced is - learning for a life time!

To be honest I have the feeling that I've learned more (including still remember it) in this year than ever in school.

The pratice related lerning is focused in their teaching style (pedagogy). This helps to relate cases to other situations in life and will be remembered for a longer period of time.

Living with a family was the best decision I made -EVER-

I experiened a real life in Australia as I would live there not as an exchange student for a period of time.

No, I got an insight of a family life! Such a great choice. 

I also lived a bit of the student life because of my friends who lived at the student accommodations. So I went to their house whenever I wanted to.

I'm proud of myself that I took that risk to try it. I wasn't sceptical but I was a bit unsure if that's gonna be the right decision.

Ahh never mind. If it would have been wrong- I could have left and look for another place to stay.Finding a place to stay is pretty easy. 

But it was the perfect combination- for me- I would know a friend who once said to me: "Trish- that would be a nightmare for me to live like you do." It's okay. I respect tht. And I can understand it, too.

3) Free time/ Semester Break and travel 

To be honest I took uni very serious. Maybe a bit too serious. I had the feeling of not having a lot of free time because of cousereadings, assignments, learning new vocabularies,...

But I received good marks- so it was worth it to study hard. And I had free time- I just had to structure my day.

Thats what I did differently in the second semester. I still studied hard but I structured my day better so that I had fun time, too.

Arriving in winter (July) and spending the 4 months semester break (Nov-March) was great. I could travel in the break, celebrating christmas and new years eve in Australia and not searching for an excuse for family and friends that I'll travel after the semester finished instead of going home straight away.

Travelling in summer was really hot though. But it was worth it. I've seen a lot of Australia and I was lucky that COVID-19 started just when I strted with my second semester.

I was really lucky.

So all in all it was NOT a holiday- as  lot of people think if I tell them that I was in Australia for a year.

It was studying hard and as a reward good marks including expensive fun time.

I can definetly recommend everyone to go overseas at least for one semester or a few months of downtime. It opens your mindset about our culture, habits and other personalities.

But also cultures other countries/peopel, habits or approaches to live.

 You'll experience different perspectives you can think about life and YOU personally- YOU will grow in more than just one direction.

Roadtrip no. 3: Middle and North Queensland

Where: Roadtrip from Brisbane up north till Cairns and further to Cape Tribulation 

How long: 14.07.2020- 03.07.2020 (3 weeks)

Travelbuddys: Riana

Nationalities travelling together: German

kind of travelling: roadtrip with a campervan

Accommodation: Car

Trish and Riana ready to go

Sunset at beach of Seventeen Seventy

Tully Gumboot - again - it was raining

Our kitchen

Big big bed with a lot of space this time

Our van a bit different than the ones from the previous trips

 

Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island Lookout

Wallaman falls

 Wallaman falls is the tallest waterfall in Australia (268 meters high, Pool is 20 meters deep)

Lunch time

Dinner time

  

Lake McKennzie on Fraser Island

Spectacular rainbow beach access

bye bye

This trip was 3 weeks long and we drove 4734 kilometres. Queensland is such a nice region!!I'm looking forward to my last weeks in Australia!

personal reflection of studying in down under

Before making the decision where to go overseas, several aspects are important to think about: 

- visa

- financing

- accommodation

- courses to take

- ...

Studying in Australia was the right decision for me personally. 

I really appreciate the education system at University and I profit a lot from the teaching method and studying method. 

What makes me thinking like that?

- teaching is very interactive and practice orientated ( with tutorials, several assessments, application of theory in tasks) 

- studying needs a clear schedule or structure.

Students are supposed to do three assessments in each subject (4). The contact hours with lecture and tutor at not a lot (3 hours each) but self-studying is required. And that's the part where you benefit the most. 

The tasks or assessments are really interesting (e.g. competition between Tesla and General motors). 

It's fun to apply the theory of the lectures to the particular example for the class example or your assessment. 

These are the moments that I can still remember and know about the theory. 

Amazing World Heritage Area

This post will inform you about one of my favourite spot on my adventure: The Great Barrier Reef.

The reef is the 8th wonder of the world and good for snorkeling, diving, sailing or just swimming. It is part of the marine park since 1976 which is a protected national park.

Great Barrier Reef: Where does the name come from?

In 1802 Matthew Flinders was looking for a throughway in the ocean to Queensland. It was a big barrier for him.

Size of the reef:

- lengh: 2,000km (from Papua Neuguinea to Gladstone) -  Whitsundays inclusive 
- 2,600 individual reefs
- 300 islands
- covers more than ~250,000km² 
- biggest coral reef on earth
- biggest 'structure' built by creatures on earth

Who created the fascinating destination?

- coral polyp (living organism) built the reef over thousands of years 

What can you see down there?

- corals till 20 meter depth (they need light to grow)
- tropical, colourful fish
--> starfish
--> crustaceans (crabs, prawns)
--> turtles
--> snails
--> shells
--> rays
--> sharks
--> Humpback Whales (between August and October)

Visit the Great Barrier Reef:

You won't be alone, believe me. It is very crowed. I heard that more than 2.5 million people visit the reef every year!

But it is worth it ( I went twice), have a closer look here:

End of Week 13 what's left in Semester 1?

Yaaaay I'm almost there!!! Week 13 finished and that means one week of holidays! 

It is exam break next week. 

After 13 Weeks of content USC introduced one week of break before exam block starts (2 weeks).

What does it mean?

Studying in Australia means not only having exams at the end of the semester. It means you might have an exam but not necessarily. 

So what if I don't have an exam?

It means that you are done with your semester! So goooood! Congratulations!

But it also means that you did hard work in your assignments! 

- roughly 3 task in each subject means 12 assessments for a full-time student at USC in 13 weeks.

What does it mean in my case?

- I had 11 assessments so I will have 1 exam. I had an online quizz, 1 group presentation, 1 group assignment, 2 individual presentations and 6 individual assignments.

- The assessments count differently, so the last weeks (week 11-13) were quit stressful with 3 big assignments compared to the first block of small assessments (week 5-7).

Here is an example of one of my courses (Managing Human Resources):

So I will have an exam in the exam period on 11th of June. My last assessment for my Bachelor degrees!!
Content this time for this exam is only week 10 to 13. Not the whole semester. Less studying but different studying here at USC. It is more about applying theory to practice. My task now is to understand the contents with theories, frameworks and concepts and then to find examples in 'real life'. 

My semester Finishs with the completion ceremony on 22nd of June 2020! 

This is super exciting!

Cultural differences part 2

Straya is a bit different to Germany. Would be strange if a country on the other side of the world is completely the same.

But compared to asian countries Australia is similar to european countries.

Food & Drinks:
Healthy multi-culture diet
- Asian food (Japanese, chinese) e.g. Sushi, bubble tea
- European food (Pizza, Pasta, Salad, Sausages)
- American food (Burgers, Fries
- Australian food (Vegemite, Tim Tam, Cadburry chocolate, baked beans)

- Beer, Wine
- less consumption of alcohol and cigaretts


Shopping:

- stock up on tin food (Tomato paste, beans)
- big weekend shopping tour

- Shopping malls (all have a big supermarket)
- less music played in the malls than in europe


Infrastructure:

- Driving on the left side of the road
- limitted public transport (last bus around 8pm)
- a lot of school buses
- less trafficthan in europe
- a lot of roundabouts 

- Pubs close around 10pm, Cubs around 3 am
  

Teaching:
- practical orientated
- less social distance between student and teacher but still act with the same respect
School:
- private schools more common than in Germany
- focus on assignments in all subjects
- school times: 9 am-2 pm or 4pm
- school kids start at the age of 5 with prep and finish with 17 in grade 12
- different timetables each week
- school uniform very common

Recruiting:
- almost the same but the application looks different (more descriptive CV  not in table format)

Behavior:
- VERY thankful and nice, happy and magnetic personality
-  Australians look sometimes a bit unreliable to us but it's just the manner, they take things not as serios s we take it. They are not disappointed if a catch up is not happening, we rely on once word a week ago. 
- Spontaneous and relaxed society, life is going in slow motion some times
-  Motto: 'I'll get there, when I get there'


- awake with the sunrise and 'disappear' after sunset 

Freetime activities:

Sports, sports, sports. Nature pure

Australia is a really active society. The footpath is like a pedestrian highway in the early morning around 6 am and in the evening around 5 pm. 
Nationalparks or local walking paths are popular for a short catch up with friends.

If you meet with an Aussi they say: 'Let's get a take-away coffee and go for a walk to catch up.'



So overall the culture in Australia is similar but less rushed, more quite and more relaxed. 
The nature and its sounds (lovely birds) support the behavior I think. Sometimes I have the feeling that they are less concerned about their finances. But living is not cheaper here. 
Priorities are set different.

Australians prior happy and relaxed lifestyle to luxurious life and status symbols.

Goal: high Quality of life and count one's blessings