Exchange in Australia (422345) University of Adelaide Spring 2016 Preparing for the Exchange In early March 2015 I got the news that I was accepted to the exchange program of University of Adelaide, located in the capital of South Australia. My primary choice in the initial application process was University of Southern California in United States but I wasn t surprised that my points weren t good enough to get in, as every year the school is the most popular one among the exchange applicants of Aalto. As I wanted to head as far and warm place as possible, Australia didn t sound bad either especially since I had never visited the country before. It was late August 2015 when I received my first email from the host university. The first phase contained online application followed by initial course selection and returning of a few different forms including e.g. the offer letter and mandatory OSHC insurance payment instructions. In the second phase the exchange university sent the Confirmation of Enrolment that is needed to apply Australian student visa. After all, there were two necessary payments that must be
completed before the actual exchange: Overseas Health Care Insurance (367$) is required by the university and student visa (550$/7 months) that is applied online through Australian Immigration and Border Protection. The visa process is relatively fast and I received my visa to my email within one hour after submitting the application form. I also decided to take part in Summer School enabling me to complete one of my four courses a month before the actual semester, which entailed an additional payment of OSHC around 60$. Arriving and Accommodation I booked my flights in September right after I heard I was officially accepted to the exchange program by the University of Adelaide. I found decent flights via Kilroy for 1300 euros including return flights between Helsinki Hong Kong Adelaide. Thus, I had decided in advance the dates of my stay in Australia (January 17 th July 5 th ). University of Adelaide offered many kind of accommodation choices via email early before the actual semester. The most popular option among the exchange students appeared to be living in Urbanest College that was initially recommended to me as well by the university. It s a tall flat located in CBD within walking distance from the campus. However, the price is exceptionally high, 305$/week, and due to high costs I decided to find the accommodation on my own from the private markets. University is offering also temporary accommodation, which sounded handy as you could stay there for the first week after your arrival while searching the actual accommodation. This option also includes free pick up service from the airport by the representative of Uni Adelaide. The first impression of Australia on that sunny Sunday morning couldn t have been better as I was picked up by a laid-back Aussie guy in his 50s speaking with a wide Aussie accent and driving a brand new 7-series BMW. The guy was keen how I survived my 22-hour flight and introduced me some key places in Adelaide CBD while dropping me to my temporary accommodation. One week in Residential Wing of Royal Adelaide hospital cost 200$ but I regretted this choice right on the day I arrived. The hospital is in Adelaide CBD next to the university but the building is old and poorly serviced as the meals aren t included. The rooms are tiny and the kitchen and bathrooms are shared with other tenants although there were luckily only few people besides
me at my floor, as I arrived during the summer holiday in mid-january, practically before any other exchange students. As I arrived in the middle of the summer on January 17 th, the outside temperature reached 40-Celsius degrees during my first week and the temperature inside of the Residential Wing was even higher as there wasn t any air conditioning in the building, not to mention a Wi-Fi connection. During 2016 they were building a new Royal Hospital in Adelaide, few kilometers away from the current one, and I would recommend university s temporary accommodation only if they ll move their facilities to this new hospital. Otherwise I would definitely choose to live in hostel while finding the permanent accommodation. After quite an unpleasant week in the temporary accommodation I found a shared house located in a cozy suburb around four kilometers from the CBD and the campus. I shared this detached house with four other tenants and paid weekly rent of 160$ including my own room (with air-con!) and all bills such as electricity, water, internet and gas. All in all, I visited and inspected three different rental houses during my first week in Adelaide and finally this house looked perfect for me. I booked all the inspections via accommodation rental database on website of University of Adelaide. There s also accommodation service office operating on campus providing help for students looking for accommodation. Studying in University of Adelaide Thanks to an Aalto student who studied in Adelaide previous year I heard about the intensive course option that was available at least for business students. In order to get 12 local units = 30 ECTS credits, I had to complete four courses during my exchange period. As I wanted to optimize my time in Australia and not to spend too much time within studies, I decided to choose courses from the field of entrepreneurship that all were running intensive mode. This means that all courses consisted of six days of lectures each and usually three assignments per course must be submitted during or/and couple weeks after the actual classes. Some topics were discussed basically on every course and some concepts of entrepreneurship were really repeating themselves during the spring. Practically every course had one assignment where you were required to come up with a new business idea. I really preferred recycling my ideas.
Additionally, to maximize my free time during the semester and to escape Finnish winter as early as possible, I travelled to Australia already in January and completed my first course in summer school during the first week of February, which meant that I had to complete no more than three intensive courses and 18 days at school during the actual semester that officially started on 29 th of February. This was easily the best choice I made since basically all the other exchange students were not aware of this option and they had normal school lasting the whole semester. Moreover, unlike the normal courses, intensive courses didn t include any final exams in the end of semester, which enabled me to spend my last five weeks of my exchange on travelling. As I knew this before the actual semester, I was able to book my return flight in advance unlike many others, as the final exam dates remain unknown till the first week of June. I felt the university offered a wide range of courses that exchange students could choose especially when it comes to undergraduate level. For Aalto students it doesn t really matter which courses you pick, as exchange studies constitute one s elective minor studies. I even felt my self somehow privileged when I heard stories about some other exchange students who were struggling with a very small range of courses to choose. Neither had I problems to fit into courses I initially wanted to do, as I was alert in December when the online enrolment for the semester opened. Luckily no course books were needed on any course I attended. ENTREP 3000 Innovation and Creativity (Summer School) My first course lasted only from Monday to Friday and contained approximately seven or eight daily hours of lectures. The topics were discussed pretty superficially and I was mainly getting used to lecturer s Australian accent during this week. I seemed to be the only exchange student on this course and main part of around 30 participants were Chinese full-time students. The grading consisted of two online quizzes (40%), individual essay (30%) and group presentation (30%) which I interestingly held with a few Chinese students. It came clear that my English skills weren t that bad after all in contrast to my group members and the lecturer really liked my Finnish examples of recycling that was our topic in question. All in all, the course was rather easy but provided quite interesting grasp of entrepreneurial mindset.
ENTREP 2002 New Venture Marketing The course was a combination of marketing and entrepreneurship offering useful market strategies for a new entrepreneur. Lecturer, Hermina Burnett, was my favorite lecturer of all as she had humoristic and lively grip in her way of teaching. Additionally, she had a long experience in the field of entrepreneurship although nowadays she s officially retired from the business world. The grading consisted of exam 30%, individual marketing project 30%, group marketing project 30% and individual market opportunity proposal 10%. All in all, this was the most convenience course I attended and gave me the most new perspective to entrepreneurial world. ENTREP 2001 Foundations of Entrepreneurship The course was basically an introduction into entrepreneurship and most of its superficial topics were already addressed on my previous courses. The lecturer was a start up founder from Sri Lanka and thus he didn t posses too much teaching competency not to mention his Indian accent. The assessment: exam 30%, group assignment 30%, individual opportunity proposal 30% and class attendance 10%. This course gave me the least value of all the courses I completed. ENTREP 3005 Technology Commercialisation My final course had an American lecturer who had the most understandable accent of all my lecturers. However, the core of this course remained unclear and the topics were more technical and close to engineering in general. Moreover, I did not really understand his assessment criteria. Apparently, based on his American origin, he seemed to be stricter with the grading than any other especially Australian lecturers of mine. Assessment: Group case study 55%, individual opportunity proposal 25%, quiz 10% and participation 10%.
Free time Casual life As a summer person, Australia was an ideal destination for me especially because I appeared to have plenty of free time. I lived in a suburb called Mile End that is located within cycling distance from both CBD and the main beaches (Henley and Glenelg). We often headed to the beach by bikes, which I bought already during my second week in January. I paid only 40$ for a fair mountain bike on a website called Gumtree, similar to Finnish Tori.fi. Other times I moved around in Adelaide by bus that ran smoothly at least along the main roads. Unlike many others, I found buses quite reliable and convenient way of travelling. Similar to Finland, also in Adelaide students get discount of public transport but according to my experiences, monthly unlimited rides were relatively expensive compared to Finnish practice hence I used buses only occasionally. Generally, the cost of living in Australia is relatively high but luckily Adelaide is cheaper than the biggest Australian cities. Grocery stores have mainly a similar price range in contrast to Finnish ones but e.g. meat is remarkably cheaper in Australia whereas dairy products are more expensive. Apart from fast food, dining at restaurant is more expensive in Australia hence I mostly cooked my meals at home. Before the actual semester the university arranged two different orientation weeks (international and official) that were great chances to meet other exchange students from all over the world and I also made my best friends during the O-Week. I really encourage you to participate in every kind of program that is available without hesitating at all. During the actual semester the number of ESN (Exchange Student Network) organized parties decreased and many times I found my self from some random house parties that usually located somewhere outside the CBD. It felt that those living in CBD e.g. in Urbanest spent their weekend nights mostly at clubs whereas us living in suburbs preferred house parties more. Also visiting numerous smaller pubs is a very popular way of spending a night in Adelaide.
During the casual week, besides going to the beach and drinking on weekend, I used to exercise at a local gym called Fitness Hub, which is located on campus. The gym is quite all right although the price of the membership can t compete with the Unisport prices in Finland. You may want to exploit the discounted membership price (105$/3 months) that is available during the O-week. Travels Australia is a huge country, and as I had planned to go also outside Australia, I had no chance to explore the whole continent within six months. During the semester we did a road trip from Adelaide to Melbourne via famous Great Ocean Road, which should be on everyone s bucket list if staying in that part of Australia. At Easter we rented a car and checked the famous South Australian wineries on our way to Eyre Peninsula where you are able to swim with dolphins and sea lions and perform the famous shark cage diving. During the mid-semester break in April I first flew to Bali for eight days and then to Sydney for four days. As I was done with my school already in late May, we flew with a Swedish fellow student to Cairns and drove down the East Coast all the way to Byron Bay and Brisbane in two weeks. After he flew back to Adelaide for his final exams I took a plane from Brisbane to Fiji where I spend almost the whole June exploring the most magnificent islands I ve ever seen before returning to Adelaide to pack my bags. Weather In summer the weather in Adelaide is hot yet mainly pleasant as the air is very dry. Furthermore, you will notice that the state of South Australia itself is basically nothing but a desert when you go outside the city. The temperature can hit 40 degrees in January and February when the summer is at its hottest. During my exchange the weather continued pleasant till May when the temperature dropped below 20 degrees. As I managed to escape South Australian winter in May, I experienced only a few cold days during my stay in Adelaide. However, in winter (June-August) the temperature can drop even below 10 degrees so you may want to consider having warm clothes with you if staying in Adelaide during the winter months. It should be noticed that due to warm summers the isolation of houses is negligible and the inside temperature can get even lower than the current outside temperature.
Final comments I had an amazing half a year in Australia and fell in love with the country. Laid back Aussie way of living combined with warmth and beautiful beaches impressed me, not to mention Australia s unique nature and its animals. On our road trips the size of the country brightened to me as 8-hour drive didn t indicate any progression on the map. In general, the climate varies vastly between the states. Where northern rainforest covered states stay always warm, it s possible to find snow in Victoria or sometimes even in South Australia during the winter months. The university of Adelaide is ranked one of the top universities in Australia and I mainly felt the level of teaching decent even though I didn t have too many lectures during the semester. I met so many new persons and got lots of foreign friends who made my exchange unforgettable. I can highly recommend Adelaide as an exchange destination to everyone. Although Adelaide is smaller than Sidney, Melbourne or Brisbane, there are still 1,3 million people and altogether three different universities. Especially in summer time there are numerous of events in the town of which Adelaide Fringe Festival, lasting the whole February, is nationally the most famous one. I saw the most beautiful places during my trip to other side of the world and familiarized with rich and unique cultures. I also feel that I became more independent and improved my English skills a lot. I really hope I ll be back in Australia soon, as it started to feel like second home.