UQ Program: Bachelor of Journalism
Everyone who comes back from being overseas says the same thing: “It was the best semester of my life”. Although I would like to disagree with this and try to convince you otherwise, I can’t. It really was the best semester of my life. Being able to study across the other side of the world, meet new people from all over the globe, and to travel to places I never thought possible were the reasons this semester was one that will never be forgotten.
Studying at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom was fantastic. The journalism department was both knowledgeable and friendly. Also, to learn in a different school gave me different views of newspapers, and other media outlets. If I were to only study journalism at UQ, I would have not learned half as much about media in the UK and Europe. Since the classes are set out differently, and graded very differently, (on different scales) trying to figure out what to do, how to do it, and how well you did on it are difficult, but with the help of lecturers, other students, and international students I eventually found out the correct information I needed to understand the system properly.
The people I have met overseas will be my friends for life. Normally when a group of people from different cultures and backgrounds are put together, it leads to disaster. In this case; however, it was anything but a disaster. I lived with students from Germany, Korea, Austria, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands, America, Norway, Sweden, and of course people from the United Kingdom. I learned so much not just about all of these cultures mentioned above, but about my own as well. I truly learned to appreciate what it meant to be an Australian. More importantly, I learned how important intercultural relations are. We had some very fun times, drunken nights, and horrible feeling mornings when we realized we drank too much. I have to admit the reason we were able to have so much fun was because we didn’t have to take the classes too seriously since the grades are on a pass/fail basis. Just another reason why a semester abroad has the potential to be one of the most memorable times of your life.
The access to other countries and cultures was so easy since I was in the UK. In Australia is takes us two hours just to get from Melbourne to Brisbane. It takes two hours to get from the UK to Germany in Europe. I was able to see places such as Anne Frank’s House in The Netherlands and the beautiful Eiffel Tower in Paris. Other places I visited were Munich, Zurich, Dublin, Copenhagen, and Florence. Also, within the UK I saw London, Liverpool, Manchester, and of course the great Sheffield.
We—as Australians are so far from the rest of the world. I truly encourage going abroad, to anywhere. There is this whole world outside of this country that is so important to see. Overall, I am glad I took this adventurous experience to the United Kingdom, and would love to be back there now. It was so far—the best time of my life.