Congratulations on accepting your offer to study in Melbourne. These are some of the issues that you can have in your first year in Melbourne and how to overcome them
1) Isolation and loneliness
Those first few weeks might be a struggle to make some friends especially if you are from Asian countries where your English might not be as good as the locals.
So who makes the first move, you or the locals? You of course by signing up for student clubs. They are a great way to know people
2) A bit of freedom but... not much
In here you do have some freedoms to do what you want when you want but there is also some responsibilities such as putting in a lot of hours for private study or for work. You would need at least 40-50 hours per week just for private study and 20 hours a week to attend lectures and tutorials. If you go out lots and lots you might not have a lot of time for study. But if you go out just a little bit you'd have heaps of time for study, work, play, sleep and eating meals. So the key thing is to plan your time wisely and those 70 hours that you need for study will be easy to obtain
3) Not pass everything in the first go
In my first year I didn't pass everything. In fact the opposite. I wasn't used to Uni life back then and being expected to do your own research and learning. In China we learnt things by rote and not by understanding. In here we learn things by understanding.
Some of the customs took time to get used to hence the few fails
4) Doing your own chores and cooking at home
In Malaysia and some of the other Asian countries there might have been maids, servants and more importantly your parents that cooked and cleaned for you. In Australia there is no such thing and everybody is expected to do the cooking, shopping, washing and cleaning at home.
Everybody is also expected to pay bills and do grocceries too.
5) Not having a lot of money
You need to budget as many students from time to time go broke. You need to do the grocery shopping and pay the rent/bills.Your parents will not pay it for you, unless you are extremely lucky to live with relatives.
So it is best to do your research before you leave for Melbourne. Make sure that you have enough funds before you leave town.
Luckily RMIT has a few free services and so does Student Union. Student Union has many weekly events which are free
Good luck in your first year of study in Melbourne.
1) Isolation and loneliness
Those first few weeks might be a struggle to make some friends especially if you are from Asian countries where your English might not be as good as the locals.
So who makes the first move, you or the locals? You of course by signing up for student clubs. They are a great way to know people
2) A bit of freedom but... not much
In here you do have some freedoms to do what you want when you want but there is also some responsibilities such as putting in a lot of hours for private study or for work. You would need at least 40-50 hours per week just for private study and 20 hours a week to attend lectures and tutorials. If you go out lots and lots you might not have a lot of time for study. But if you go out just a little bit you'd have heaps of time for study, work, play, sleep and eating meals. So the key thing is to plan your time wisely and those 70 hours that you need for study will be easy to obtain
3) Not pass everything in the first go
In my first year I didn't pass everything. In fact the opposite. I wasn't used to Uni life back then and being expected to do your own research and learning. In China we learnt things by rote and not by understanding. In here we learn things by understanding.
Some of the customs took time to get used to hence the few fails
4) Doing your own chores and cooking at home
In Malaysia and some of the other Asian countries there might have been maids, servants and more importantly your parents that cooked and cleaned for you. In Australia there is no such thing and everybody is expected to do the cooking, shopping, washing and cleaning at home.
Everybody is also expected to pay bills and do grocceries too.
5) Not having a lot of money
You need to budget as many students from time to time go broke. You need to do the grocery shopping and pay the rent/bills.Your parents will not pay it for you, unless you are extremely lucky to live with relatives.
So it is best to do your research before you leave for Melbourne. Make sure that you have enough funds before you leave town.
Luckily RMIT has a few free services and so does Student Union. Student Union has many weekly events which are free
Good luck in your first year of study in Melbourne.
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