After a loooong and exhausting day(s) traveling over 30 hours, I have finally returned home after several months studying abroad in Australia! It's crazy that now I'm shoveling snow while a few days ago on Thanksgiving I was at Bondi Beach where I got a pretty nasty sunburn. There's so many things I miss about Australia such as Tim Tam's, being legal to drink (ha!), waking up to all the incredible bird sounds like the laughing Kookaburra, and seeing the scenic Sydney Harbour almost everyday. With that being said, there's some things I don't miss like how costly Australia can be even with the favorable exchange rate and how smokey and hazy the air was the last few weeks due to the bush fires.
The other day on my Instagram story, I had my followers ask me questions about my time studying abroad in Australia so in this post I will answer some of the questions I received. I had to consolidate some questions due to similarities, but keep reading to find out about why I chose Australia, how to manage money abroad, and what my favorite part was among other questions and answers! :)
1. What made you pick Australia? What were your other choices?
Australia has been my dream destination since I was a kid and when I was deciding on studying abroad, Australia seemed like such a great option for me! Growing up I always heard my mom talk about her trip to Australia in the 80s as a young adult (she even gave me her Great Barrier Reef shirt for my trip that she bought on hers so ~vintage~) and I LOVED watching the Crocodile Hunter on Animal Planet so these two things definitely made me fall in love with the Australia. And also I literally have "I'm going to live in Australia it's true!" written in my High School Musical diary from 2007 which did come true– living in Australia for 4.5 months definitely counts! I was so enthralled by the big land Down Under with its sprawling bush and unusual creatures and getting to study abroad there was literally a dream come true. Ok I'm gushing about Straya at this point, but I feel like Australia is such an underrated study abroad destination! It's definitely a big vacation spot, but I don't see enough people studying abroad Down Under and more people should! Australia is freaking gorgeous and there's so many great schools to study at, I was practically living in paradise and going to the beach so often. Like who doesn't want to go to class in the morning and then be petting a koala in the afternoon?
And it's funny because growing up I was obsessed with Australia, but in high school Paris was my dream destination probably because I took French all my four years and I was so in awe of the Eiffel Tower and Parisian culture that I was deadset on studying abroad there in college or somewhere in Europe. I always knew I wanted to study abroad in college like it was something I would always ask about on my college tours, but when I actually started looking into study abroad for real, Australia seemed perfect for me! My university (Suffolk University) has their own campus in Madrid and it's definitely a lot easier to study abroad there with the Madrid campus simply being an extension of the Boston campus and I had so many other options in Europe to study abroad or basically anywhere else in the world as with my major it's easy to study anywhere, but I'm so glad I chose Australia. And of course there's no language barrier in Australia although you frequently had to decipher to slang....haha.
2. Did your school help fund in anyway?
A big part of studying abroad is how much your school will fund it/financial aid so this is something I definitely looked into! The good part about study abroad through my home university is that even though I took classes at another school abroad (I studied at Macquarie University in Sydney,) my tuition was still my same home school's tuition and was billed through them so nothing about my tuition changed– I think there was only a small international fee for a program that my school uses incase there is a crisis/emergency abroad. And I'm pretty sure most if not all other U.S university's are like this with tuition if you're on study abroad/exchange. This was so nice because my financial aid and scholarships still applied too!
I also got an additional, but small study abroad scholarship through the program I was studying abroad with which was Arcadia University (different from my home university) and their studying abroad program is PHENOMENAL. So if you're looking to studying abroad definitely look at the locations that Arcadia offers. However, housing is billed through your study abroad school if you're living on on-campus housing while abroad, but it was nice because in this case my Australia housing was still cheaper than my Boston on-campus housing!
3. What are three things we should know if we are studying abroad?
I'm gonna try to make this short, but 1) Pack light, buy bigger home items and toiletries once abroad & be sure you have room in your luggage for souvenirs and other stuff you buy while abroad. More concise study abroad packing post here. 2) Make those friends! Duh. It was unfortunate that for a lot of my trips I was planning, my friends had conflicting schedules and different breaks than me, but it's nice to have a good group of friends when your thousands of miles away from home. You always need someone to lean on and I definitely see myself being life long friends with the people I met abroad :) 3) You will be homesick!! I was never really homesick when I moved to college in Boston but that's only 100 miles away compared to 10,000!!!! but I even knew I was going to be homesick before leaving for Australia and being homesick is totally ok! Once I moved in to my on-campus apartment was when I really felt homesick knowing that this is really where I was going to live, but don't let homesickness hold you back! Call your friends and family as often as possible, but study abroad goes by FAST and you don't want to be homesick for all of it. Go out, make some friends, and create some memories.
4. How did you get accepted?
So at least I think getting accepted to study abroad is pretty easy. For most schools you need to be in good standing to apply for study abroad. I think for my school the minimum GPA is 2.5 to apply so it's not difficult to apply and be accepted. To apply, I had to apply through my home school's application where I chose my location and school abroad and from there I believe I was accepted pretty quickly and then I also had to apply to the study abroad program which I wanted to be apart of, Arcadia Abroad (mentioned them earlier in this article). Arcadia's program is technically called a program provider where they provide additional support and guidance while abroad and isn't mandatory for study abroad, I could have totally skipped this part, but I'm glad I didn't as I met most of my study abroad friends through Arcadia's program and Arcadia provided multiple day trips and outings.
And then once Arcadia accepted me for Australia, they put an application in for me on my behalf for the school I studied at in Australia, Macquarie. Then from Macquarie, I received a letter of offer from. So the application process was A LOT. There were heaps (trying to use Australian slang here!) of meetings figuring out classes and what would work the best for me and a ton of forms for me to read and sign. So a lil piece of advice, try to apply for study abroad early to give yourself enough time and to relieve yourself of nearing deadlines and stress.
5. How did you handle your spending abroad? How were you able to travel so much on a student budget?
Ok so I'm going to be honest, I didn't have a set budget plan for study abroad and I should have. I attempted to keep track of my spendings in a notebook, but I just didn't keep up with it. However, I still tried to spend as little as possible on only necessary things like groceries, special outings, dinner out which definitely wasn't frequent and if I was going to spend a big chunk of money at once it was going to be on an experience like the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb which is pricey and snorkeling out on the Great Barrier Reef as well as the multiple trips I went on around Australia.
During my time abroad, I also travelled to Canberra via bus, Melbourne, Auckland (New Zealand), Brisbane, and Cairns. All of my trips were solo except Canberra due to conflicting schedules and breaks with friends so this limited me a a bit as I couldn't split transport or nicer hotel/AirBnB rooms so for all my solo trips I stayed in hostels. It's best to always read reviews on hostels, but overall I had great experiences staying in hostels which is the best way to save money while traveling especially while solo. I didn't pay over $100 for any of my hostel stays. I think the most I paid was $80 for my hostel in Brisbane because I ended up booking a single room instead of a bigger dorm like with my other solo trips.
Additionally, I always booked with the budget airlines either Jet Star or Tiger Air which are basically Australia's equivalent of Spirit Airlines, but I never had a problem with both the companies and I only had a (shortly) delayed flight once. For most of these flights I would book last minute so I probably could have saved more if I got my dates together and booked earlier, but all my flights were still super cheap with me usually leaving on the earliest flight with it being the cheapest. There were so many other places I wish I could have gotten to in Australia such as Perth and Uluru, but I didn't have the money so I definitely need another trip to Australia!
I would also like to add that I don't think I ever purchased clothes at retail– all the clothes I bought there were thrifted or purchases for cheap at a used fashion market. I got a lot of cute clothes for under $5!
And TBH Australia is expensive and I won't lie. Even with the exchange rate in favor of the US dollar (1 AUD = .68 USD) things still got pricey. Because of this even though I wanted to eat at nice restaurants it just didn't happen too often because I would at least be paying $20 AUD every time so usually I would opt for cheap eateries/cafes, my own cooking, and even McDonalds and other fast food options. I do wish I save better before leaving for abroad because I AM SUPER BROKE RIGHT NOW. And I also spent more on public transportation than I thought. I don't even want to know exactly, but that was something I didn't forecast that I would spend a lot on pretty often. I should really write a separate blog post about managing money while studying abroad, I feel like I have so much more to add.
6. Is it safe there?
Of course in any city there is crime, but Sydney is generally a safe city. Contrary to many European cities, pickpocketing really isn't a thing although it still must happen occasionally. So that was never a main concern. And Sydney and other Australian cities are considered low-risk cities for terrorism and mugging, but of course I was always still hyper-aware of my surroundings especially in the CBD area and even more so when I would walk to the bus/train station after a night out. So if you're visiting Sydney please still be on alert especially at night and in higher-crime neighborhoods.
Additionally, there were a few times where I did feel unsafe and I don't want to pretend that I always felt safe. One time I was waiting for the bus at night and the bus was late and some guy in a van pulled over to the curb and asked if I needed a lift to the mall when I wasn't even going there. Another time I was convinced some older gentleman was following me onto the bus after he just awkwardly hit on me at the bus stop (he got off at the stop before me so maybe that was also his bus) and another time my phone was completely dead while out at nighttime and I didn't know how to get back to my place with the trains finished for the night so I was wandering around trying to find a place to charge my phone while a street performer was being verbally abused by a young man and it sent me into a panic and I couldn't even call emergency services (000 in Australia not 911) with my phone dead. So these instances were so scary for me, but doesn't turn me away from Sydney at all. Just random occurrences and PLEASE also try to have battery on your phone and carry a charged portable charger on you at all times.
7. Are koalas really evil?
Haha! Love this question! No, koalas are as sweet and adorable as they look definitely not evil. Koalas only eat eucalyptus leaves which makes them sleepy so most of the time they're just in the eucalyptus trees sleeping and not causing any harm. But like most animals they can feel threatened and do make grunting noises if they're harmed or angry. Additionally, I've always loved this video of a wild koala cooling off in a person's car– it's so Aussie.
8. What subject did you study?
So I study Journalism and Public Relations at my home school, but I took electives while abroad because they still count towards my degree and I still needed to get certain creditsfulfilled such as I took as Engineering class which counted as my Science credit, a Philosophy class, an Australian Literature class for my Lit credit, and a Media class which was the only course that counted towards my major requirements. One of the big things about studying abroad is making sure your courses transfer back to your home school and I had to have A LOT of meetings with an advisor about choosing the right classes. If your classes abroad don't transfer back home then what's the point of studying abroad?
9. What has been your favorite part?
I created so many memories while abroad like snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, going to the Australia Zoo and meeting Bindi Irwin, and holding a koala, but honestly I loved crossing the famous Harbour Bridge via bus or train each time I would go into the city. It became a ritual that was just so symbolic to me and each time proved I was living out my dream. This is so simple, but every time I crossed the bridge I was so in awe of Sydney and felt so lucky to be living there. Sydney is stunning and the best way to see this was from the bridge. To the East is the Sydney Opera House in all her glory with her white sails skimming the sky and to the West is Darling Harbour among other great views with the city in front/behind you.
I miss Australia so incredibly much, but I'm glad to be back home with my family. I'm so thankful for all the memories I have created and that I will gush over and share for the rest of my lifetime. My goal is to be back in Sydney within the next five years hopefully for a Christmas and New Year's trip. Happy Summer Australia! Wishin' I was back on the beach taking in the sun instead of sitting inside staring out at this melting snow.
Expect more study abroad posts to come. Cheers!
Sarah, xo