Studying in Sydney

Guest Post by: Marketing and Entrepreneurship student Jia Jia He. She participated in the Foster Exchange at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia for Fall Semester 2019.

My time here in Sydney was definitely eye-opening! I learned a lot about myself and I got to be immersed in a different culture for four months. Personally, I lived in an apartment with some family friends because it was more cost-efficient! I stayed in Haymarket, which is their local Chinatown, and I woke up and fell asleep to an amazing view. I was very close to everything such as supermarkets, restaurants, and the central station! Everything was within walking distance, and I never had to go far to find my next food adventure.

The grading here is a little different since there was no curve for any of my classes, and grades that we are usually used to getting are very rare here. I think it’s more healthy that they don’t have the same pressures of getting a perfect grade since their equivalent of a 4.0 is so uncommon! Each week, classes are less frequent I’ve noticed, and it’s common to have only one lecture a week for each class (granted they’re super long). That made scheduling is very flexible, and I had plenty of time to do other things.

The thing that I loved the most was the fact that I was in a major city. I got to experience the city lifestyle I’ve always wanted, and everything that I needed was in close proximity. The public transportation system is pretty efficient and convenient, and there are long distance trains if I wanted to go out of the city to explore. I got to eat a lot of good food as well, being in the city, and the array of Asian food is especially noteworthy. Sydney is very beautiful and there are different sights to see that weren’t very difficult to get to without a car. The beaches here were my favorite; it was definitely worth doing the Coogee to Bondi walk, especially seeing the sunset. Overall, this exchange was a memorable experience and I learned a lot from it.