My life in Australia, how the love began :) #4

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It's time for part 4 of my weekly post about Australia, this time it will probably be a little bit shorter. I will talk about my experience going to university in Australia and a little bit on how I arranged everything with my visa, forms etc.

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I knew for a long time that I wanted to study overseas, and later decided to go to Australia. I had a lot of help from Kilroy, an agency that helps European students to study in a different country. The help with translating all your high school paperwork and they are the ones talking to the universities on your behalf. They also have a traveling agency where you can book trips, flights and hotels.

I had a look on their website and that's how I figured out where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. Since I was little I knew I wanted to move out of the country, and I had finally figured out that I wanted to do Social Work. My first choice was Midwifery, but all the schools in Holland said that wasn't possible with the high school diploma I had. I thought about a lot different things, but in the end I wanted to do something to help people, to make a difference in someone's life, Social Work seemed like the right fit for me. Now I knew what I wanted to do, I had to figure out where and that's where Kilroy came into the picture. I found there website trough Google and had a look. You could chooses what degree you wanted to do and then it would show all the universities they work with that offer the degree you want. I was a little bit indecisive about either Australia or the United States, so I looked up the possibilities for both countries. There were at the time only about 3 options in the United States, all in cities I didn't want to live in, so I looked at Australia, which had a lot more options for me, so I decided to go for that.

After my decision to go to Australia, I contacted Kilroy to talk about the different universities, locations and what had to be done to make everything possible. I also looked up a lot of information of people who already studied in Australia and read different blogs. I decided I wanted to go to Perth and I went to a presentation from Kilroy where someone from the university was explaining what life there was all about. Then it was time for all the paperwork (sorry if it get's confusing now), I had to fill in a lot of forms and send everything to Kilroy. I also needed to take an IELTS test, which is a test that determines your English level. I also needed to apply for 'Studiefinanciering´ (I will call this Stufi in the rest of the story), which was really complicated. I needed to be accepted into the university before I could apply, but if I wouldn't get the Stufi I wouldn't be able to go, because this would be the main source to pay for the degree. I applies as soon as possible and when I got accepted I applied for Stufi, this was in June 2010. The website said it could take up to 3 months to get an answer, because they had to do research to the level of the degree in Australia compared to the one in Holland. After 4 months still nothing, so I called them and they told me they couldn't check for the next year (the school years started in February), till October. Which meant I had to wait, another few months. In the mean time I got some bad news from the university; they had changed the program and I wasn't able to do Social Work there anymore. Either I had to choose a different degree, or a different university. This was around September, so I got really stressed out, because I had to start all over again and I was planning to leave the beginning of February.

It was September and I had to start all over again, it could take another 3 months to get the Stufi approved, which meant January, and I was leaving in February! I asked Margo ( she is the one from Kilroy I always talk to) what university she recommended and because I was running out of time I decided to just go with that one. This was James Cook University, which had two locations with Social Work, I decided to go for Townsville because I wanted to live on campus and this was the only location with that option. I filled in all the paperwork right away and send everything in, as soon as I got accepted, I applied for Stufi. I couldn't wait for their answer before booking the flight, so I just took the risk. Finally in the last week of January I got the approval for the Stufi, I would be arriving in Australia on the 8th of February, so it was really last minute. The only thing left to do was to apply for the visa, which was really easy to do online, I could finally start packing and saying my good byes!

This was the part about what I had to do before going to Australia, now I will talk about the subjects I took and how the school year is arranged.

I will now talk a little but about the subjects in the first semester:

Self in Professional Helping
'' This subject introduces students to the foundations of professional helping, with an emphasis on exploring the role of 'the self' in such work. Using a range of sources, students will explore the meaning of self and the social processes involved in its construction. The nature of professional helping is then examined, including an introduction to the philosophical origins, ethical and value orientations and knowledge base that underpin professional social welfare practice. Consideration is given to the different perspectives and theoretical frameworks which shape the understanding and practice of professional helping. The role of the self in helping practice is then explored, with an emphasis on the importance in this process of critical awareness and reflection.'' 

Effective Writing
''This subject offers practical training in a key generic skill: the ability to write in a way that will assist both academic study and later professional life. Emphasis is on writing for information transfer, communication and persuasion, rather than on writing for self-expression. Major topics include basic grammar and syntax and punctuation; analysis and outlining of material; planning, developing and editing work; practical application in essays and reports. NOTE: The SP3 availability of this subject is specifically and only available to students enrolled in the Indigenous Health Careers Access Program in Faculty of Medicine, Health and Molecular Sciences(IHCAP).''

Australian Society: An Introduction to Sociology
''This subject introduces ways of sociologically exploring the social world, with a particular focus on the analysis of Australian society in an international context. It involves examining social patterns and structures; examining how these shape the world in which we live; and recognising and exploring social experience in the context of social change and global processes. Through examining a range of topics such as family life, work, the media and education, students will develop an understanding of major social and cultural changes taking place in Australia and how these impact on the lives of individuals, groups and communities.''

Exploring Psychology 1
'' A general introduction to the theories, methods, findings and applications of modern scientific psychology. Topics covered include history, methods, the nervous system, memory, cognition, intelligence, motivation and emotion, development, health psychology, personality and psychological disorders. In order to gain a comprehensive appreciation of the content and methodology of psychology as a whole, students are strongly encouraged to enrol also in PY1102.'' 

This were the subjects I took in the first semester, I liked the first one the best, probably also because of the teacher. She would share some of her experiences as a Social Worker and you also learned why you act the way you do. For example the way you are raised and what kind of family you come from have a huge impact on who you are today and how you think, this will also influence the way you work. It's important to find out the way you think about things, because you need to be able to be objective and set aside your own values and ideas in order to help someone else.

The psychology and writing where the worst ones, the writing was just really boring. And the psychology lectures where awful, because they took three ours and they just read what was on the slides. Most people just left during the break or didn't show up at all. I also was more about how the brain works and not really about any mental illness and things like that, which would be useful for Social Work. But I don't feel that learning about neurons really adds anything to your Social Work degree.

And here are the subjects I took in Semester 2:

Anthropology: Cultural Diversity in Global Perspective
''This subject provides an introduction to social and cultural anthropology. We describe and try to explain or interpret the fascinating social and cultural variability of the world's diverse peoples, with a particular focus on societies in the tropics. We discuss anthropological insights on various dimensions of human life, including kinship and marriage practices, gender relations, ethnic conflicts, political and economic organisation, human interaction with the natural world, and ritual beliefs and practices. Detailed case studies and film clips are used throughout the subject to convey to students the life-enriching as well as the educational value of developing an anthropological understanding of cultural diversity.''

An Introduction to Social Science Research Practices
''This subject is about how research is conducted in the social sciences. The subject is designed to provide students with the basic skills to identify and develop research questions, and organize, analyse, interpret and present the kinds of data encountered in social research. It is conventional to divide social research methods into two types: a) qualitative, and b) quantitative. This subject introduces students to both approaches. Qualitative research is an umbrella term covering different types of research, including for example, interviews, focus group discussions, life histories, and participant observation. It seeks to interpret the meanings people make of their own lives and how people interact with one another in natural social contexts. Quantitative research has been defined as empirical research where the researcher explores research questions using numbers. This type of research focuses on measurement of the variables of interest in larger samples or groups. In this section of the subject students will be introduced to the logic of the experimental and quasi-experimental methods as well as basic data analysis techniques.''

Deviance, Crime and Society
''This subject provides a critical introduction to deviance, crime and the criminal justice system from a sociological perspective. It begins with an examination of the nature of deviance and crime, and the ways in which deviance and crime are socially constructed. The subject explores why acceptable social behavior varies over time and in different cultures. It analyses the major institutions and agents used to exercise social control in Australian society. The subject also explores relationships between crime/deviance and social class, gender, ethnicity, and age. Various explanatory sociological theories are examined and applied to an understanding of deviance, crime and social control.''

Human Rights and Social Issues
''This subject will introduce students to concepts of social justice, human rights and legal frameworks through a critical analysis of selected issues. Students will be provided with social justice, human rights and legal frameworks for understanding the lives of people who experience disadvantage.''

From this semester I liked the third one the best, because the teacher was really good and we learned a lot of things, that where useful. The most boring one was the social science research practices, because it was super long and you had to find all this stuff online and summarize it..

This where all the subjects I took, I will now explain how the school year is arranged. The school year starts in February, which is summer there. The first semester ends in June, but in between you also have one or two weeks of a study break. In June you have a one month holiday, and then you start semester 2, which ends in November. Then you have a really long summer break, because school doesn't start again till February. For me it was quite surprising how many holidays they had, but you don't hear me complain haha.

I'm sorry for the long read, but I hope you found it interesting. Here is the link to my travel blog I had when I was there, so you can read more about my adventure in detail, it is all in Dutch though...

My travel blog: estherinhetbuitenland.waarbenjij.nu
The Kilroy website: www.education.kilroyworld.nl
James Cook University website: www.jcu.edu.au

What do you study?