The University of Queensland Homepage
Go to the UQ Abroad  Homepage You are at the UQ Abroad website


Katrina Cuskelly: National University of Singapore (Semester 1, 2010)


UQ Program: Bachelor of Environmental Management/Laws

My exchange at NUS led to an internship in Bangkok, Thailand. While doing my internship, I was lucky enough to go to the Hua Hin Jazz Festival with some of my Thai friends.After already having studied at UQ for four years, I was looking forward to a change and what’s more, a challenge, when I decided to go on exchange. Going to Singapore, I expected to find a lot of similarities to Australia. But leaving there, what I will remember the most is all of the differences I discovered.

The structure of classes, and the subjects I took, were quite different from UQ. The classes were smaller and focused around a lot of discussion, which was particularly interesting given the broad range of cultures represented in the classes, with discussions often challenging concepts that had previously seemed concrete.  I took some very interesting subjects that I would not have had the opportunity to do at home. Furthermore, with a very international focus, it opened my eyes to how different so many countries are from Australia.

NUS was filled with people from all over the world, and provided a great forum to discuss a variety of views that a person rarely gets the chance to see. Furthermore, Singapore is a very convenient place to travel from. So I got the chance not only to see Singaporean culture, but also that of much of the region. I got the opportunity to stay in remote villages, climb mountains, dive at some of the most amazing sites in the world, meet people of many cultures, and learn about their religions and attempt to learn some of their languages.