IES Abroad Sydney

I have no idea where to begin. I was pleasantly surprised by how great the IES abroad staff were. They always responded to my emails fairly quickly and they provided me with the all the information and materials to ensure I was prepared before I got to my destination. I thought for sure I was going to have to figure out all of it on my own, but there was no such problem. I was fortunate enough to attend the six week study abroad program in Sydney, Australia. I consider it the best decision of my undergraduate career; my only regret is not staying for a whole semester if not a year! If I had time I would for sure choose another IES program and travel down under again.
Once I arrived in Sydney I received the best welcome from the IES staff and enjoyed every second of my orientation. I was lucky enough to have arrived during the start of the VIVID festival and for our Arrival Dinner we ate on a cruise in the middle of the Sydney Harbour looking at all the VIVID lights. Throughout the rest of my six weeks my group went on several excursions which included a couple of national parks and a four day field trip to Central Australia where we explored the Outback. Our trip to the Outback is one of my favorite memories from my trip. No words can describe what it was like to sleep under the crystal clear stars in our swags.
As for academics, I took two different classes: Leadership Across Cultures and Australian History/Politics. I definitely enjoyed the history class. I've never taken a class where I could literally walk around the city and know exactly the backstory behind a particular building or area. We even went on field trips during our class where we could see first hand the contents that we were learning about.
I think about my study abroad experience every day and it has given me a whole new perspective on my life and the world. I wish everyone could get the opportunity to travel, make lasting memories, and form lifetime friendships just like I did because I know it will be one of their best decisions of their life.

IES provided me with the experience of a lifetime! My university did not offer an abroad program in Australia that worked with my major and required classes. However, IES gave me tons of options and most importantly for me, Sydney was one of them. The application process was a decent amount of work, but the IES coordinators were a huge help for me when it came to getting all the paperwork done. For this particular program I lived with eight other college students from around the States. We came in as strangers and left as friends. I formed some of my best relationships while abroad, and was so thankful to be sharing the learning, social and foreign experience with likeminded, adventurous individuals! We lived in the outskirts of the city in a townhouse/apartment duplex which was only a block away from a main street that had a store, doctors office, pharmacy and tons of restaurants. My favorite part of studying in Sydney was by far how often we got to travel. Almost every weekend we were on a plane going to somewhere new! The best trip was when we went to Ayers Rock which is actually a required part of the program. we spent two nights sleeping under the stars in the outback of Australia. Our tour guide Rhett cooked us up diner over a campfire and sang us to sleep with his guitar. The whole trip was absolutely amazing! We learned about the aboriginal culture from our tour guides and got to hike through Kings Canyon! We even got to ride camels which is an experience i will never forget. I would highly recommend this program to anyone looking to expand their horizons and get a taste of how much our world has to offer us.

Spending Fall of 2015 in Sydney, Australia through IES was the best choice I could possibly make. It was an incredible semester and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new, wonderful experience. The IES program Director, Matt, is one of the kindest people I have ever met and I from what I saw going through IES was the best option with great trips and resources throughout the semester. Sydney itself was just amazing! I instantly fell in love with the place and the people. I had an internship abroad at The Taronga Zoo, that had a deep impact on the way that I am currently, as a graduating senior, looking at my future.

My time abroad in Sydney was everything I hoped for and more. The program staff was with me every step of the way and made everything so simple. The Program Director made the transition to being abroad effortless and continued to go out of his way throughout the program to ensure we were all happy and healthy. I made wonderful, lifelong friends and I had an amazing time living with all of them. The classes were just right - very manageable workload with personable professors. The material was interesting and presented in engaging and fun ways. Living in the city, we were able to take advantage of everything that occurred in the area. Getting to know local parks, restaurants, and bars made us feel at home and I never thought I could miss a city so much. Going abroad was the best decision I ever made for myself - if you are considering studying abroad, go with IES. They will make everything simple so you can focus on enjoying your experience. Overall, the program was top-quality and the memories I have made will last a lifetime.

Australia is host to many exciting opportunities and places. One of my absolute favorite trips while abroad was the Great Ocean Road, south of Melbourne. My friends from my program and I went on a bus with other strangers who wanted to do that trip as well and drove all day, making stops to see things along the road. We started the day early and had to drive from the city down to the ocean and we made our first stop at a wildlife area where Koalas were in the trees and climbing around, and there were tons of birds that you could feed and they would flock all over you (not as scary as it sounds). We then went to Cape Otway lighthouse for lunch and you could go to the way top of the lighthouse which was really high over the ocean and had an amazing view. Next, and most importantly, we went and saw the Twelve Apostles. I had never heard of the Twelve Apostles until my friends had asked me to go on this trip down to Melbourne with them, and as soon as I saw the pictures of them, I was in. Seeing the Twelve Apostles was surreal, as they're these huge rocks rising up out of the ground (the beach), and seeing them so tall and right next to the ocean, it was like out of a magazine or just something that I thought I'd never see in my life. After the Twelve Apostles, we went to the Loch Ard Gorge which was also gorgeous and amazing, as it was a little inlet from the ocean, but the rockwalls were so high and basically encompassed the entire beach except a small area where water could get in, making the waves pretty big.
Along with seeing feeding birds, seeing wild koalas run and climb, seeing the Twelve Apostles and amazing sites, the view down the Great Ocean Road made all the hours of driving completely worth it. A straight view over the ocean for most of the ride, and maybe an hour or so of rainforest.
This was by far one of my favorite trips and I would highly recommend for anyone to do it and experience this.

I knew I would enjoy spending six weeks in Australia before I even got on the plane, but nothing could have prepared me for how awesome the experience actually was. Every weekday for six weeks, I spent the morning attending class in Sydney's CBD and then I was free to explore for the rest of the afternoon and evening. It is virtually impossible to run out of things to do in Sydney -- no matter what you like to do in your free time back home, there's probably an even cooler way to enjoy it in Sydney. The lecturers were interesting and the classes required just enough work to make you actually learn about Australia, but not so much work that you have to spend the whole trip doing homework in order to pass. The program included day trips to the Blue Mountains and Royal National Park, both of which were fantastic, and a 5-day excursion to the Red Centre, where we got to see Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Kings Canyon, which was definitely a highlight of the experience. The staff in Sydney are extremely friendly and provided plenty of helpful advice about navigating the public transport system, buying food, and almost anything else you could think to ask about. As cheesy as it sounds, the IES Sydney Summer program really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will completely change your life.