The Land Down Under
I love to travel. Always have, always will. So far I’ve been to every continent except one…Australia! (I went to Antarctica on a school trip my junior year of high school, but that’s a story for another time). Anyway, when it came time to decide whether or not I wanted to spend a semester abroad junior year, I didn’t take too much time deciding where I wanted to go.
I’ve recently been accepted to study abroad next semester in Brisbane, Australia! I thought about going to Europe for a while simply because it is so much easier to travel to a bunch of different countries on weekends. However, I’ve already been to Spain and Italy so I am very familiar with traveling in Europe. I thought about London (since I don’t speak a foreign language due to eight years of almost useless Latin), but I decided that I didn’t want to be so isolated. I’ve never really been super enthralled by Europe, choosing to travel to Thailand, Costa Rice and Kenya for community service trips in high school instead. Plus, I figure that in the future I will inevitably make it back to Europe since it is relatively easy to get to from the United States and such a good family destination.
So, I decided that I would use my semester abroad to go to a much farther destination. I checked online at Vanderbit’s Global Education Office website for a list of all the programs and it came down to Cape Town or one of the many schools in Australia. Unfortunately, due to my major, there weren’t enough classes for me to take for direct credit in Cape Town. It seemed I was destined to go to Australia. My decision was also affected by the fact that my big in my sorority just went abroad to Australia and had an amazing time; I’m actually going to the same school in Brisbane that she attended abroad.
After going through this entire process here are my tips for those looking to go abroad:
1) Plan out your schedule for the rest of your Vanderbilt career.
- pick out all your classes for every semester (Junior and Senior year)
- make sure you can finish major requirements and total hours requirements (both for your school and for graduation)
- check what courses are offered by your program of choice (check whether they’re just for general hours or for direct credit towards your major)
2) Go to GEO early
- meet the adviser for your program
- ask about the steps you need to take for applying (get exact deadline dates)
- get in touch with students who attended your program
- submit any unapproved courses you want to take abroad for Vanderbilt approval early on
3) Do your own research
- where do people usually travel when on your program? (plan trips ahead of time)
- What’s the climate like? (how to pack)
- what are cultural norms? (prepare yourself for culture shock)
- What’s the exchange rate? (talk to your parents about cost / set a budget)
