Experience report Study program: Economics Exchange semester: Fall (July-December) Year: 2018-2019 Host University: Monash University Country: Australia Melbourne Itself The city of Melbourne is perfectly suited for an exchange period. The city itself is absolutely massive and going from one end to the other by public transport takes over 2 hours. Due to this and the influx of many immigrants, the city feels very diverse. This becomes clear after your first visit to the city centre. In here you will find a lot of Asian places, specifically Chinese and Indian were present. It is worthwhile to check out those cultures in more depth. This cultural diversity becomes most prevalent when you consider all the food options available in Melbourne. If you like tasting new food, then Melbourne is the place to be. The skyline of Melbourne is arguably the best in the world, as illustrated by this picture taken from the shrine of remembrance, which is located next to the impressive botanical garden the city has. Moreover, the city has more to offer than food and an impressive skyline. The city contains a wide array of museums which are a worthwhile visit. Besides this, Melbourne, in general, is also a good place for going out, if you don t mind the night bus system, however, there are also a couple of nightclubs around Monash Uni, however, they are not as big. Besides, Melbourne is also shopping heaven. Australia, in general, is organised in a way that all shops are located within a shopping mall instead of scattered around the place. This has the implication that the biggest shopping mall of the Southern hemisphere is located in Melbourne, namely Chadstone shopping centre, or just Chaddy as the locals call it. This is around 30 minutes away from Monash Uni with a direct bus connection or 20 minutes by car. This shopping centre contains a cinema (which has an up-to-date selection and good seating and they do not care if you bring in cold food) and all the shops you will ever need.
Public Transport Melbourne also has the advantage that its public transport system is quite good, even though the locals always complain about it. The CBD, central business district, is being served by a free tram system which helps with getting around. Furthermore, all trains go towards Melbourne and then out again, in this they pass through almost every train station in the CBD which makes life easier, especially the stations Melbourne Central, Southern Cross (connections to Vline trains which serve the countryside) & Flinders Street (most icon station and main station for the Metro trains, which serve the city of Melbourne itself). Important is that you get yourself a Myki Card in Melbourne, which is the equivalent to the Dutch OV Card. After you have done this you should apply for the concession card, which we are applicable for. This will cut in half your transport costs. Furthermore, if you have the concession card the maximum you pay on public transport will be capped at 7 AUD dollars (around 5 euro s), after that your journey is free. In addition to those facts, the frequency in which trains run is quite impressive. For example, the Pakenham & Cranbourne lines which run from Melbourne CBD and stops at Huntingdale station is at least 4 trains per hour. From Huntingdale station, there is a bus departing to Monash Uni every 6 minutes or every 8 minutes (doesn t run in the evening or weekends, then the 900 and 630 are less frequent alternatives, or the 730 and some others are going to Clayton station). Places to visit in and near Melbourne. After discussing public transport it is worthwhile to mention some spots you can visit when you are studying in Melbourne. The first one is Sydney. Sydney is basically a very touristy version of Melbourne, but less nice to live in. Every day there are flights going between Melbourne and Sydney and they only cost like 40 euro s both ways, if you fly with Jetstar or Tigerair. For Sydney, it is worthwhile to book a tour to the Blue Mountains!
More within the borders of Melbourne we have the town of Williamstown, which is around 20-30 minutes away from Melbourne and covered in your Myki. It has the appearance of an old-western town and offers some good views of the city of Melbourne, as illustrated by this picture: Besides towns, Melbourne is home to some of the best beaches in the World. Its coastline goes one for kilometres and offers a range from touristy beaches to beaches more favoured by the locals, the most famous ones are St. Kilda beach (which is also home to Luna Park), Brighton Beach & Mordialloc. Which are depicted in the following pictures:
Besides this, if you have a car it is worthwhile to visit the nature park called the Grampians. It is just spectacular and most important it is a place where you can spot wild kangaroos, or just cows on 2 legs, and koalas.
Furthermore, within 1.5 hours of Melbourne, the City of Geelong is located. It offers some very nice beaches and an even more lay-back feeling than Melbourne. Furthermore, it has a white night when I was there, which is the Australian version of Glow Eindhoven. It is being held around October/November in Geelong and also around February in Melbourne.
Monash University Monash University has multiple campuses in Melbourne. I had all my units on the Clayton campus which is less than an hour away from the CBD by public transport as described earlier. The first thing to notice about this campus is that it is absolutely massive compared to Tilburg. It has its own housing and sports facilities. The fitness hall is quite modern and the swimming pool contains 2 pools which both are 25 meters long and have 6 lanes each. Furthermore, there are also many cafes and some restaurants on campus. Most of them are situated in the campus centre building. In here you will again experience the diversity that is present in the Australian Society, e.g. there are some sushi places, Mexican places, Malaysian places, Italian places etc. Furthermore, there is an abundance of places where you can buy your coffee, from which Grafali s is the best. Besides, there is also a small grocery store on campus, the Monash Merchant, however, for most products, it is extremely overpriced, however, for example, bread wasn t too bad. The campus itself is a mixture of old and new buildings. The campus can be described as quite green, there are some nice places to sit down. The good thing is that mostly the engineering building is outdated and most of our units are being thought in the newer Learning Teaching Building, LTB. Practicalities Before you leave: The pre-departure process can be quite stressful. In my case, Monash was extremely slow with accepting units and providing me with the relevant documents needed for applying for a visa. In the end, I ended up spamming Monash with emails until they picked up my case and provided me with the documents. Visa procedure & arrival: The application website online is quite adequate. The only thing to notice is that you have to pay via credit card, there is no ideal option for the Dutch people around us, hence, this is something to take into consideration beforehand. However, they were extremely quick with judging the application and granting you your visa. Furthermore, you have to get an overseas health insurance coverage, you can arrange this with Monash and shouldn t be the biggest of your worries. After that, you are set to go. When arriving in Melbourne you can use the free pick-up service that Monash offered. Housing: Monash offers you the option to apply for on-campus accommodation. I went this route even though many people try to get a place closer to the city itself. I went to apply for the urban community, which are studio apartments instead of the residential community, which are the shared bathrooms and kitchens. The urban community is about 150 euro s a month more expensive but are way more modern, however, I advise against going there. In my opinion, there is no real community in those halls, if you are a bit introvert it is hard to make many friends in there, I was luckier, however, that aspect is better provided in the residential community.
Orientation/introduction activities: The orientation that Monash provides is extremely lame. You have to be there 2 weeks before the start of Uni and it contains like 2 days of activities, from which one of them was only an hour in the morning for unit approval. The rest of the orientation is organised by the Halls themselves. This aspect is extremely lacking in the Urban Community and way better organised in the residential community. However, on the plus side, this is a time where you can get a lot of free food. Our hall had a mandatory information session and a movie night, while I have heard other halls had IKEA trips a Grocery store trips as social events. All in All, do not expect too much from those two weeks and try to just settle in and enjoy while you still can. Living costs: I guess you have heard it before, but Australia is just very expensive. I think I spent around 1500 euro s a month. Housing was 750 euro s, but groceries can be quite expensive. Luckily, ALDI is also present in Australia. In this case, it is just a matter what kind of person you are, but 1500 is quite a good first thought to take into account. Academic Information In my opinion, my semester at Monash was way easier than a semester in Tilburg. At Monash the professor's attitude is quite similar to Tilburg. The mode of instruction is quite similar, but at Monash, there are way fewer tutorials you need to attend and no weekly works for you to complete (depending on the units). Another observation that I have made is that you do not have to do as much maths compared to Tilburg, which may be beneficial for some. Furthermore, the course load/work differs a lot between units, I advise taking some easy ones (to do this, just take an ARTS unit elective) in order to enjoy your time in Australia.
My units were the following: UNIT: Exam ECTS Comments ECC3600 Economics of Climate Change ATS2456 - Cybercrime MGC3250 Management in Small Firms ETC3410 Applied Econometrics Part assignment part Exam (no hurdle requirement on Exam) Assignments instead of exams Assignments instead of exams (last assignment carries a hurdle) Part assignment part Exam (Exam carries a hurdle requirement) 7.5 The most boring unit that I have taken so far. Good thing is that we were able to adjust the weight of the exam by a system, hence transfer some weight from the exam to the assignment, which implies that after a good assignment you can relax. Recommendation for if you want an easy time. 7.5 Arts unit are not that big of a deal. Easy to pass this unit. The only thing to consider is that tutorials are mandatory, missing too many and 20% of your grade will be deducted. 7.5 A more practical course. Lets you reconsider your carrier options. Good unit for if you want to be an entrepreneur. One comment, you have to perform (and thus arrange) an interview in one of the first weeks, can give some stress. 7.5 I would not recommend this unit. In my opinion perfectly doable, especially if econometrics at Tilburg was okay for you and you have followed Development Economics. In lectures he used matrices, any experience helps, but not needed on the Exam. Repetition of our econometrics,
but now in Stata instead of R. Most of unit was about IV estimation, hence Development Economics helps getting across the message. Note: Assignments can be quite demanding if you are placed in a bad group, otherwise comparable to Tilburg in terms of workload. Conclusion: Melbourne is absolute one of the best places to go on Exchange Melbourne CBD
Melbourne CBD View from Arthur s seat, 2 hours away from Monash
Wildlife near Bendigo:
View near Sandringham, one-hour bike ride from CBD, or just take the train. Visiting an AFL game:
Sydney Pictures:
Great Ocean Road: