Hello, my name is Robert. I am now 21 years old and I have been studying in Australia for almost one year. I have completed the higher diploma in Hong Kong and wanted to study further more, with the help of AAC, I chose to study in Australia. Here, I would like to share my life in studying in Adelaide and Eynesbury.
The main reason of choosing to study in Adelaide is I want to focus on my studies. Adelaide is a place, which doesn’t have as much entertainment as Melbourne and Sydney. The city in Adelaide is quite small, and I can say it is not even as big as ShaTin in Hong Kong. As I wanted to practice my English, the other reason to study here is the number of Chinese students is less than Melbourne and Sydney.
There are a few challenges I faced when I arrived in Adelaide. The first challenge for me is to catch up on my studies. I have been idle for almost a year before I made my decision to go to Adelaide, and the subjects I studied in my higher diploma program was completely different than what I am studying now.
I have a good study period when I was studying in Eynesbury, the subjects are not as hard as I thought, I also had spare time to enjoy my life in Adelaide. Eynesbury’s class time is longer than university; there is almost no break in one study period. It is easy to catch up with the course, as the teachers understand the weakness and strengths of international students. The teachers are very nice in Eynesbury, and if you study well, you can easy to reach a high distinction.
There are also a few study hints, it is important to make many friends in Eynesbury, this will help you to catch up with your studies and you will not be alone when starting university, as I find it harder to meet new friends at university. Another hint is to choose the right teacher in Eynesbury, every teacher have different teaching style, it is important to find the suitable teaching method to achieve the study goal.
The second challenge for me is to manage my time, for example when to wake up and when to sleep, because no one will wake you up even if you are late for class. As the public transport is not as frequent as Hong Kong, catching a bus on time becomes very important in Adelaide. Once you miss a bus, you’ll probably need to wait for at least 15 minutes to an hour for another bus. Therefore, a bus timetable definitely helps you a lot in catching a bus and managing your timetable.
There are also other challenges such as renting, banking and eating. But this is not a big problem for me because I know how to manage my money. For renting, I write down the requirements that I want to have if I live there, like Internet, traffic, furniture, the people I live with and also the rent per week, etc. And for the banking, I need to make sure that I have enough money in my actual account to pay for the mobile fees and the rest of it for unexpected emergency situation. Having a meal outside is expensive everywhere, so most of the time I prefer to cook. It may seem troublesome to prepare every meal on your own, but sometimes it could become an entertainment if you have spare time.
It is almost a year since I arrived in Adelaide; I met many friends from different countries such as Korea, Laos, Vietnam and China, and I clearly understand that I need to take responsibility for my every actions. Now I have finished the diploma program and started university life for half a semester. It is much more stressful than Eynesbury since I need to understand almost everything with less assistance and support. Therefore I need to balance my study and rest time better than the last year. Overall, I enjoy studying in Adelaide, and the outdoor activities with the blue sky and fresh air.