Proud to be International: My experience as an international student

photoG’day! To start with, I would like to say congratulations guys! Believe it or not, you’ve made it to Week Five! I still remember my first semester. It wasn’t that terrifying, but the main reason being that I was basically staying at home all the time. Well, that’s not recommended! It wasn’t until the second semester that I suddenly realized that outside my room there was such a wonderful world. So, now, as I have been through this, why not let me tell you something that you’d probably find quite familiar and helpful! Alright!

Communication. This is probably the first thing you do when you get here. There are a couple “rules of thumb” here:

1) Be confident. You have to believe yourself because you are good enough to pass the English test and made it all the way to Australia. There is nothing you cannot do!

2), Talk to other people in English. They could be your roommates, your friends oreven your lecturers. As you are probably aware, communication is really at least a two-man job. It could be as simple as “G’day”, “Hello” or “Morning”! I am very sure that they will wave back to ya. This is the easiest but most important one. So next time when we meet, let’s give each other a big smile. What do you reckon?

Lectures. I have to say this is the best part of my everyday life. Unlike the others, I like what I am studying (Just kidding, lol). From my experience, study at FedUni is really the sort of thing that, if you spend time on it, you will definitely get equivalent grades! No jokes. And the most significant parts of this study process are you and your lecturers. They are professionals. They are experts in their teaching areas, and they’d love to communicate with their students so that they can better improve their teaching quality. Therefore, let’s make an appointment and have a chat with your lecturers about how you get along so far and what study suggestions they can give to you!

Social Activity. This is also important. Like I mentioned before, my first semester was boring from a social point of view. Let’s just say studying 10 hours a day was not that fun. I regret that I didn’t do anything back then. If I could start university all over again, I would definitely first join the university soccer team and have some easy games every Monday (or other sports of your favorite). Then I would talk to Kate Toner, who is our International Student Support worker, to join the international student committee and get involved in all kinds of interesting social activities. Next I would probably ask my friends to watch few movies. You know, stuff like this will really fulfill your life!

Know your rights and make a difference. As an international student, it is also necessary to know your rights! Know what you can do and what you don’t want to touch. If you have anything that you are not sure of, I highly suggest that you don’t do it and ask for help. Not sure where to seek help? The ASK service is located at level 2 (the third level) of the cafeteria building (U building). You can basically ask us whatever you want to, and when I say whatever, I mean no matter what. But we can choose not to answer it. Haha, just kidding. I mean we will try our best to help you or to guide you to someone who can help. Remember, there is always someone in our uni who will be able to help you make a difference!

Dong

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