A Canadian Perspective :)

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!