A spring (fall?) in Australia Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The University of Sydney had a wide variety of courses, since it's such a large university. I was able to take courses in areas like entomology and animation, which was an incredible experience!

On-site administration of your program

In general, I'd say that the administrative processes worked well for the program. My one major complaint is the course selection process, which for me only gave me the first half of the first week of classes to select which courses to take. Not much of an add/drop period! I think this was a combination of my home university's policies and IFSA-Butler's/UniSyd's.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived in the Urbanest at the Cleveland Street location, and the apartments were very clean and modern. The building was conveniently located and the walk to campus every day was nice. If you choose to live in one of the Urbanests, be aware that you will be rooming with other IFSA-Butler study abroad students (i.e. Americans)

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Health issues were addressed well, and there were many resources available should something come up while you're abroad. As a caveat, make sure that if you have any sort of health care at your home university, you fill out the appropriate forms to send to IFSA-Butler! I failed to send in counseling forms on time, and then I wasn't able to receive regular counseling because of my class schedule. Don't let this happen to you!

I often walked around Sydney (in the local Redfern/Chippendale area) at night by myself to collect insects for my entomology class, and I felt safer there than I do in Boston.

Contrary to a stereotype I didn't know existed I chose to go to Australia because I've always wanted to go there, and as an Environmental Studies student I wanted to see and study the unique ecology. I definitely accomplished what I had hoped to, and I would gladly do it again!

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

I kept my travel expenses minimal by taking public transport everywhere (it's easy+cheap to get around Sydney with an Opal card). I even took the train down to Canberra for a day trip, and that was around USD$30 roundtrip. My biggest travel costs were from my spring break trip to New Zealand. Cooking for myself and ordering delivery once a week, I spent around USD$36-44 per week.

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• Apartment

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• Americans

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• Local Students
• International Students

• The classes
• The climate
• Talking with locals

• Whatever went wrong with the add/drop process lol
• There should be an option to live in an apartment-style setup with local students

The Avid Adventurer