Studying in Australia has become a global trend now. Students from across the world have started choosing Australian higher education institutions more than ever. It is apparent that you have also chosen Australia as your destination. You might have a curiosity in your mind about how student life is in Australia. It is always a plus point for a student to know about what their life in the destination country would be like. This can help increase your understanding of what Australia is really like. This article can also be helpful to the students who are preparing to leave for Australia can get prepared to get along with the Australian environment before they depart.
Here we have explained communication, university life, and local life majorly. Student life in Australia (or in any other country) is directly influenced by the language and culture of the destination country. There is nothing wrong in getting prepared!
Communication
Communication is an important part of life. Language is a means of communication. Whilst Australians definitely speak the English language, the nation’s unique take on their mother tongue might leave some international students confused. Generally, communicating can be difficult for those students who speak English as their second language. Australians add an ‘a’ or ‘o’ after people’s names to call them in a friendly manner.
Australian humor is dry and conversation often favors the use of sarcasm and irony. Use of abbreviated words can often put foreigners in trouble in a conversation. Australians value openness and directness, so it seems a little bit challenging if you are not habituated with them. You need to take the shortness of Australian’s language as normal. Avoid feeling that they are excluding you or being rude to you. They might just be trying to make you laugh and get along with you.
Once you have a few Australian friends, you’ll pick up the slang in no time, and might even find yourself in a position to crack a few jokes on your friends.
It is important for you to get along with the Australian way of communication if you want to progress in your studies and your career in the country.
University Culture
Unlike many other nations, most university students in Australia do not live on campus. In fact, unless they need to travel to another state to study, most students do not live in student accommodation at all: they live at home. Whilst this might seem a confusing concept to those where an ‘on-campus’ feel is integral to the experience, in Australia the whole idea of student life is different, and to embrace it you need to forget your expectations in regards to what you’re used to. As students are not distinctly tied to campus in the same way, they exercise unique control over ways they choose to engage with their university experience.
Your engagement with the university in Australia is completely dependent upon you. Your university experience will be entirely guided by your choices. Some students might choose to attend lectures in silence while some others might choose to have discussions with their peers in the meantime. This applies to your academic standard too: if you don’t hand in an assignment you will lose a given percentage of the grade you would have obtained until a cut-off date, after which you will simply fail. You are assumed to be an adult in your university who is solely responsible for his/her social and academic efforts. This may sound cold, but the universities are actually valuing your personal growth and maturity. It is up to you how much you grow, what you achieve, and what successes or failures you see in your life.
However, it is not that the Australian universities are not going to help you. You can ask for any sort of valid support from the university. The fact is that the Australian universities are not going to impose anything on you. They can be helpful if you demonstrate a need for help.
Campus life
Most students do not live on campus. This doesn’t imply that there is nothing like campus life. Big Australian universities have clubs and initiatives managed and operated by students. So campus life is collaborative as well as fun in Australia. These clubs receive a small budget from the university that they use to put on events and services for its members, such as barbeques, concerts and daytime picnics. Many clubs host trips and events open to local and international students alike and often charge a subsidized fee for a weekend that will cover your accommodation, some activity costs and sometimes meals.
For example, each faculty in the University of Melbourne has its own society that at the start of each academic year runs an Orientation camp. These camps are student-run and typically geared towards first years, but are very popular amongst local students seeking to make new friends. If you can, these sorts of camps are a great way to throw yourself into the thick of Australian university culture and meet plenty of new people in a similar position to you. Remember: local students starting university are just as nervous about making new friends, too.
Café Culture
Eating out is popular in Australia. Australian café culture, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney has traveled overseas and inspired a spate of new cafés in big cities such as New York, London, and Paris. Whilst Australians are incredibly proud of the quality of their coffee and have no scruples forking out for the day’s special blend, the accompanying food culture that follows is equally as rewarding. Mixing hearty, rich flavors with fresh local produce, Australian brunch culture is very much a big deal. As well as home-made cakes and pastries, any trendy Australian café worth its salt will have some kind of egg-based specialty gracing its lunch menu. Expect innovations with avocado, chorizo, feta cheese, thick field mushrooms, and fresh tomatoes, as well as the odd surprise that seems confusing until you taste it.
As Locals Do
A large portion of the country is deserted and thus inhabitable. So, 89% of Australians live in urban areas. So you will not have to pass through deserts or bushlands if you are going to study in a university. Aside from selected landmarks and the odd tourist trap, most people aren’t privy to the local hot-spots and hidden pulls of Australian metropolises. Whether a pop-up restaurant of newly-converted warehouse space, you never quite know what you might discover down a spindly city alleyway.
Australian cities are known for being quite expensive, and so it might seem impossible to imagine how students can afford to enjoy thriving social lives. Whilst it’s true that the places you see featured in guidebooks are quite expensive, they tend to overshadow the multitude of more modest places to eat, drink and be merry. Modest, unassuming and usually unadvertised, all Australian cities have a spate of student bars and restaurants where most Aussies flock for a Friday afternoon beer or a Thursday night boogie. Similarly, each city will have a number of cheaper places that are unadvertised and shy beneath the shadow of more famed and polished eateries. These places do exist, but you’ll need someone that knows where they’re going to show them to you.