Moving to a foreign country was scary! I am from a small town in New Hampshire and I had never traveled overseas. I was pleasantly surprised to find Brisbane to be a very safe, clean, family-friendly location. The city was easy to navigate and offers so much to do including museums, restaurants, night life, and nature. TEAN helped me learn about all these options that I had. The transition to living on my own in a new country was smooth thanks to them. I always had my resident advisor to contact if anything were to happen, which definitely eases your mind. The University of Queensland has a beautiful campus as well with sandstone buildings and purple flower trees. There were many events held on campus and when I wasn't taking the bus into the city, I could spend time at the gym, walking around campus, or doing homework in the library. I was able to do a lot of traveling as well - to the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, the Whitsundays, Cairns, Byron Bay, and Noosa - but in the end, I was very pleased with my choice to make Brisbane my home for a semester.
What would you improve about this program?
While TEAN advisors are very knowledgeable about the cities that students move to, I found that my advisor did not know as much about the university that I was attending. I had a lot of questions about signing up for classes and academic advising when I first arrived, so make sure that you read the university's website and emails very carefully and set up a meeting with an academic advisor or member of the university staff early on so that you understand what you're required to do before you begin class.