I also spent a semester abroad at Griffith University on the Nathan Campus. I study English and biology on teaching in Germany and my studies writes me a stay abroad more than 3 months ago in an English speaking country. Since I had already been to Australia for 5 months in 2009 and did Work & Travel, I really wanted to go back to this great country for my stay abroad. So I started looking for a suitable university. Important criteria for me were the location in a big city, the lowest possible tuition fees, a good choice of courses and good weather. The Nathan campus at Griffith University met these criteria best, although the tuition fees are still very high at $ 8,500.
For some help with planning, I reached out to MicroEDU. The employees always helped me during the entire time before, during and after the semester abroad and, above all, made communication with the university much easier.
After deciding to go to university, the first thing I did was sit down with the responsible lecturer and choose courses from the university’s program that would fit my studies. In Australia you need to take at least three courses to be a full-time student. Fortunately, we have also found three courses that are fully credited to me in my studies. All courses consisted of a lecture and a mandatory tutorial. I personally found this structure to be very useful during my studies, as the lecture is deepened directly and any questions that arise can be clarified.
Then it went on with the official application for the university. MicroEDU sent me a list of the required documents. I then sent these documents back and MicroEDU compiled and sent the application. The acceptance came very quickly.
At the same time, I applied for a foreign student loan because it takes a long time to process (approx. 6 months). After the application in January, the confirmation came in July. Basically, I advise everyone to apply for a foreign student loan, as many who cannot receive a student loan in Germany are granted foreign student loans. In addition to the international student loan, I applied for a scholarship at promos. Promos is a program at our university, but many universities will have such a scholarship program. In the end, all applicants I know received a grant of 1050 € each. JGood money for expensive Australia.
See allunitconverters for more information about Australia and Oceania.
I found my flight through reisebine.de. I really wanted an open return flight and in the end I chose the Korean Air offer and paid € 1075. Everything went really well and on the flight home I was even given 30kg of luggage free of charge. The only negative is the inevitable overnight stay in Seoul on the return flight. However, Korean Air covers all costs (hotel, transport).
The hotel I booked even in Germany. The university’s homepage contains a list of different accommodation options. I chose a room in the International Student Villas. The complex consists of six bungalows with four rooms each, each with its own bathroom. Kitchen and living room are shared. Unfortunately, my experience has shown that you tend to live anonymously in these accommodations. That was quite a change to my flat share in Germany. However, I have heard from students from the dormitory that they often cook together there and that there is also a certain community. The dormitory on the Nathan and Mount Gravatt campuses was widely praised!
On July 15th then finally the plane went to Brisbane. I arrived on Sunday and the orientation week started on Monday. Unfortunately, the orientation week turned out to be very disappointing. There was an information event that could have been saved and the rest of the program was also rather poor. I was very annoyed about that because I could have written an exam in Germany during that time. Looking back, I would certainly have saved myself the orientation week.
The following week the events started. I took
‘Shakespeare’s Plays’ with Dr Patrick Buckridge
‘Language and Thought’ with Dr Andrea Schalley
‘2nd Language Acquisition’ with Dr Susana Eisenchlas
All three of the lecturers were extremely nice and helpful, albeit demanding. In Australia, studying is much more involved. You hardly have to take care of things yourself here and you get a lot added. Unfortunately, I found that rather annoying. During the semester we had a lot to do due to the many assignments in the courses. Papers, essays, worksheets, summaries and so on were the order of the day. I have to admit that I was sometimes really overwhelmed with all the work and so there was a time in the semester when I sat at my desk all day and couldn’t do anything else. The exams were easier than I’m used to.). The final grade is then made up of the assignments and the exam (so you can’t do one thing so well
After the semester, I stayed 2 months to travel. I had a wonderful time in Australia, but I’m looking forward to student life in Germany again.
Here are a few more tips:
Don’t go to Nathan Campus if you don’t have to. Mount Gravatt and especially the Gold Coast campus are so much better! Maybe I didn’t like the Nathan Campus that much either, as half of the campus was a huge construction site. So it may well be that the campus is now totally beautiful. The location of the Gold Coast Campus right on the beach is unbeatable anyway. On the other hand, there are many sports facilities, such as tennis courts and a swimming pool, on the Mount Gravatt Campus.
Look for accommodation on site (there are enough offers) or go to the student dormitory.
It can get cold in Australia too! Take enough sweaters and jackets with you.
Check out sites like groupon.com.au for great deals on activities or the like.
Buy a GoCard right away. With her you get a huge discount on the means of transport.
Save enough money for Australia! Life is much more expensive than in Germany.
