Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

Marine biology and traveling adventures Past Review

By (Middlebury College) - abroad from 02/12/2019 to 06/30/2019 with

The Education Abroad Network (TEAN): Brisbane - University of Queensland

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
Exposed to marine science classes which I loved! Got to travel

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 2 weeks - 1 month

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Interesting classes, challenging, engaging, cool lab components and field trips! Definitely challenging though and there are a ton of big assignments, papers, and exams all at the end so the last month was extra stressful.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

Fine

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

* Food:

Grocery stores were very similar to America so it was easy to find most things

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

The campus doctor's office never had any openings. I didn't have any medical emergencies so I didn't actually use the student insurance but Australia is supposed to have good coverage.

* Safety:

Felt very safe

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? No

Just direct enroll

Finances

* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?

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

kinda expensive

Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? $100-200/week

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? No

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Apartment
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Local Students
  • Americans
  • International Students
  • Other
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with?

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • Marine biology classes
  • Getting to travel
* What could be improved?
  • TEAN was expensive and not worthwhile - barely did anything
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? A lot of classes were for study abroad students so most of my classes did actually have many local Aussie students

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

ABTS 1020 Ten Canoes: Exploring Indigenous Art
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Comments: Fine, easy class although the grading was incredible subjective. Interesting to learn about Indigenous art and it fulfilled my graduation requirements.
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BIOL 2001 Australia's Terrestrial Environment
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Comments: Interesting enough. Lots of assignments at the end. Felt in the dark about how I was doing in the class. Some cool day field trips. The program coordinator, Steve Salisbury, was a great lecturer.
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Course Name/Rating:

MARS 2005 Australia's Marine Environment
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Comments: Interesting class, loved learning about all different topics in marine biology. Field trip to Heron Island was incredible, I just wish it was longer!! There were too many lecturers - at least 5, and they all had different teaching styles which made it hard to adjust to. Administration for the class was disorganized. But I ended up doing fine and enjoyed the subject.
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BIOL 3211 Marine Invertebrates
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Comments: Challenging upper-level biology class. Lecturers were very knowledgeable, supportive, and kind. 5 hour labs each week were long but interesting. The class was a lot but I studied hard and learned a lot which was super rewarding! It was fun learning about invertebrates in a marine context!
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