Study in Sunny Brissy Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I had one truly terrible professor who really colored my academic experience in a negative light. He barely prepared anything for lectures, and when he did, it was usually just taken from other university courses. The majority of lectures consisted of watching YouTube videos while he gave us some commentary. My other professors were much more competent, and I found they cared about helping their students understand the information and succeed. All were happy to meet out of class to clarify information or provide extra guidance. Tutorials were okay, not so useful, but it really depends on the class and on the tutor. The level of work expected was much lower-- really sub-par work could earn quite decent marks.

On-site administration of your program

There was no official program, it was just direct enrollment. But the university did a good job of making sure exchange students were up to date on everything they needed to know.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Yes, but I had to find housing on my own. The university has a website (UQ Rentals) where you can look for housing, but you have to find the housing yourself. It is helpful to go to the Housing info session during O-Week (orientation week).

N/A, no food was provided.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Australian culture isn't so different from American culture, and it was pretty easy to adapt. They do have a really strong drinking culture, and I found Australian society to be a bit sexist. But it's also very laid back and people are generally quite friendly.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Health care was fine, I had OSHC which is required for international students. I had two incidents requiring health care: I fell off my bike and got pretty cut up. I went to health services at UQ and they cleaned me up and made a follow up appointment to check that everything was healing okay. They were very helpful and it was no problem to use my OSHC coverage. I also had to get a tetanus shot, which was covered by OSHC. I also got a stress fracture in my toe. It was a huge pain to find out whether a podiatrist appointment would be covered by OSHC, and in the end it was not. I had to save my receipts from all the appointments and send them to my health care provider at home to be reimbursed.

Almost always felt safe. There were a few murders at the beginning of the semester, but that was quite out of the ordinary. General common sense applies-- don't walk around alone at night-- but the area around the university is really safe. Legally, you need to wear a helmet if you are biking, as well as have a white light on the front of your bike, and a red light on the back. Police will pull you over if they see you without these.

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

Australia is very very expensive. There were lots of farmers markets though, which had much cheaper produce.

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• Apartment

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• Local Students

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

• QUEST-- a student org that planned trips and events for international students
• UQBVC-- Social beach volleyball club where I met many international students as well as Australians.
• Weather and location of Brisbane-- easy access to many fun weekend trips

• The academics
• More opportunities to meet Australians
• Brisbane itself isn't so exciting

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