Study Abroad in Australia: University of Canberra

I do have enjoyed my time in Canberra. The environment here is quite comfortable. It is a great place to relax yourself and try to live life in a simple way.The staff in the study abroad and exchange office are sooo nice and they helped me a lot. I love it here. Come and join us!

Overall this has been the most amazing experience of my life! The Study Abroad Program at the University of Canberra is wonderful. There is a great sense of community here and with the work of the exchange leadership team it has only been enhanced!

The Sydney trip at the beginning of the semester is a must! You simply have to go on this trip and I highly advise doing anything else that they plan because it is always carried out with such organization and fun! You get the chance to meet people from all over the world who you can rely on throughout the semester and even turn into travel buddies for the breaks.

Of course there is always going to be room for improvement but this has nothing to do with the study abroad program. I'm talking about things such as housing, cost of living, and other things out of their control. Personally I did a homestay and lived with a local family. Looking back I would recommend staying on campus because you never know what kind of family you will get put with. The worst part of living off campus is bussing to school and dealing with the AHN (Australian Homestay Network). On average it takes me 50-70 minutes to get to school each day, and then there is the ride home. (The AHN's estimate of travel time was wrong and they basically told me tough luck!)

If you can afford it, your best option is living in the New Apartments (aka "Globo"). Coming from Northern British Columbia, Canada I did go into sticker shock when I got here as there are a lot more costs to factor in and a revised budget was in need after a few weeks.

One thing I have noticed is that you can ask a million questions to bus drivers, students, randoms and for the most part they will try to help (much like Canada). However, 50% of the Australians I asked what to do in Canberra said its boring here. Obviously you are not going to ask them this question; there is so much to do! This is the capital of Australia which is very close to 2 huge cities and home to many tourist attractions (lots of them free). Not to mention it's a quick (cheap) bus ride to the beach and even easier accessibility to the night life. If you cannot find things that you enjoy doing to fill your time then you are not even trying! Outdoorsy you say? Go walk, bike, or paddle boat around one of the lakes, go on a hike, find a hot air balloon, jump out of a plane!

Canberra and the University of Canberra is a wonderful place to do a study abroad semester or year. If I wasn't going home to graduate I would have stayed another semester!

The school is small and connected and the campus is soo pretty and everything is close. If you are applying, apply for new apartments. I was in International house and it was gross, I've seen most of the other places and the only reasonably priced and nice accommodation is the New Apartments. The weather is also about 5 degrees colder then else where which was kind of a let down. But all the students are so nice and it's nice to be able to wander through the campus and run into 10 people you know every day. Plus Canberra is close for traveling, both to sydney/gold coast and melbourne/alice springs

I love the study abroad program of the university of Canberra. Even before I arrived here I felt comfortable and everything was well organized. WHen I finally arrived everything was a lot of fun. Especially the Orientation Week trip is great because you get to know the other exchange students very well. And because nearly everyone lives at the University of Canberra village, there is always something to do and much fun around!

My biggest fear was not feeling comfortable in a new environment. However, I feel so at home because of the friends that I have made and the activities that were planned from this program.

The program is amazing. I felt like I had a lot of support coming into a place where I was unfamiliar with everything. The only complaint I would have is that living on rez is hard to get used to with how dirty it is. My apartment is so disgusting that we have rats.

Going to Canberra has been pretty fun. My complaints would be that dining places on campus close way too early, and that smoking is allowed on campus, so there's cigarette remains everywhere and the constant smoking smell.

The greatest experience I have ever had with this campus would be the social science of it all. The students are so kind and open to everyone. The campus atmosphere is great. Also the teacher are really open to everyone and everything. I feel safe and welcome here on this campus. The academics are great, a very good challenge compared to my home university. This is a great university and students should be proud to go here.