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Australia: Student Comments
“The University of Melbourne runs a joint program with Monash University that allows students to intern with members of the Victorian State Parliament. The project I took on involved researching the use of the Internet in political parties and political campaigns. In addition, my project required me to work with my MP-Michael Leighton, Labor Party Member of the Legislative Assembly-and develop his own Internet site.” —EAP Student “Being an EAP student helped me refine the cross-cultural and adaptation skills I'd acquired as an exchange student in high school. This was invaluable when I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, and now that I'm a graduate student in international relations.” —Sylvia Cabus, UC Berkeley “My favorite memory was getting dive certified in Austrailia with one of the other guys from my program. We had a blast and got to see a wobbegong shark and a ton of amazing fish. I also loved that on my trip to the University of Queensland I was able to develop two original research projects within small groups and follow through with the implementation and analysis of what we had studied. Tibbetts and Mike Pole were amazing teachers. I have not had so much fun talking outside of class and hanging out with my teachers. We were able to talk about our travels, interests, and research ideas.” —Sarah Eminhizer, UC Santa Barbara “It was the best year of my life. I learned a lot about the world in which we live in and a lot about the person I am. This type of education should be required to earn a degree.” —Dione Fugere, UC Davis “In all, Australia is absolutely one of the best countries to visit. Transportation is no problem whatsoever and I have felt safer walking in downtown Sydney at night than I ever would in downtown L.A.! I have had the time of my life here, making new friends, seeing the sights, and enjoying life in Sydney. In many ways, I don't want it to end. And in others, I'm happy to be going home. I'd urge all students who are interested to participate in EAP because, frankly, it is the opportunity of a lifetime, and they'd only be hurting themselves by letting it go.” —Mandy Ison, UC Irvine “I visited the electoral office to see politics in action, attended four meetings during the semester at the Victorian Parliament, and gained access to the Parliamentary library. This was an interesting project as I was able to see many different aspects of how politics are conducted around the world. At the end of my project, I presented (via the Internet) a research paper on Australian and international politics.” —Sabrina Kasbati, UC Los Angeles “EAP helped me get into a great MBA program and enabled me to talk intelligently about international business and relations. I really had a great time abroad.” —Aaron Labowitz, UC Santa Cruz “I have absolutely no regrets about spending the year abroad in Australia. I learned more about myself, my field, the world, Australia, and especially the U.S., than I ever could have learned during several lifetimes lived confined to the U.S. My GPA jumped from 2.9 to 3.4 in the course of my year abroad. Every one of the classes I took was accepted upon return for meeting the requirements of my department and college, and I was able to graduate in four-years time. I participated in helping my professor (a renowned paleontologist) excavate a 15-meter long core (dating to 15,000 years old) from a crater lake, as part of a 12-unit, third-year geography class on paleoecology. For the remainder of the semester the eight students in the class and I worked hands-on to analyze samples from the core in order to contribute to the actual Victorian GIS Database. In both my zoology and ecology classes we participated in completing publishable scientific work on the topics we were studying. I lived in the dorms and met lots of Australians, Asians, and Europeans with whom I still keep in contact. ” —Micah McIntyre, UC San Diego “I personally enjoyed my program in Australia because my group and I became really good friends and I now keep in contact and visit them in California. I went on spring break with three friends from the UC program. We traveled the Queensland coast in a car. It was the most amazing experience because we got to backpack around the country and explore.” —Kristofer Sherry, UC San Diego “I can't recommend EAP enough. It has enhanced not only my appreciation of other cultures, but my own culture as well. Although leaving the home I'd known for the past few years was a difficult decision, coming abroad allowed me to form new friendships that will last for the rest of my life. There is nothing like starting life over in a new country to teach you about yourself and other people!” —Nick Stewart-Oaten, UC Berkeley “The EAP program to study tropical ecology and marine biology at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia is a wonderful chance to get hands-on experience in the field in a variety of different habitats-from the Great Barrier Reef, to the rainforest, to fresh water streams.” —Darcy Taniguchi, UC San Diego “Going to Australia through EAP was the best decision I made in college. The experiences I had there mean the world to me; I wouldn't trade them for anything, and it was the biggest highlight of my years in college. I spent a few days in Tasmania, but it would be easy to have two weeks there and still not see everything. Also, Melbourne is now my favorite city in the world. I remember complaining about BS9000 (the class all the EAP students had to take), but in retrospect it was awesome-they really gave us an introduction into Australia, the Townsville area and the animals there, and we had to study general Australian geography/biology, which was something we might not have been able to do in other courses. I'm glad we had to take it. I really enjoyed spending time with friends in the dorms, and noticing cultural differences between the Australians and Americans. A lot of the 'work' that we had to do for classes was stuff I would have paid to do-for instance: snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and noticing species diversity; hiking in the rainforest; and observing the behavior of Cane Toads, the notorious introduced species of poisonous frogs in Australia.” —Erica Van den Haak, UC Santa Barbara “Living on your own in a new country presents many personal challenges that I hadn't anticipated, but I know that I've learned and grown from them. Academically, the field courses associated with most of my classes have given me a tremendous opportunity to gain hands-on experience and increase my understanding of the subjects involved.” —Wendy Wachsmuth, UC Irvine “I'm happy to provide my experience with the hope that it'll inspire students to go abroad. I've been doing the same with Australian students who are interested in the U.S. and study abroad programs but who hesitate because of the uncertainty in the world. This is the time I would most encourage UC students to participate in the EAP program. I've been residing here in Perth, Western Australia, for the last year and I've never felt more secure. Perth is beautiful and has the feeling of being a country town in a metropolitan setting. People are extremely friendly and always keen on helping you. It is also quite an international city with a wide range of immigrants/overseas-born citizens (Greek, Italian, British, Singaporean, Irish, Lebanese, Palestinian, to name a few) and the relations are most positive. My experience on EAP has been priceless and I would encourage anyone who is willing to challenge their culture, their people, and their own personal ideals to participate. American media lives in a bubble and the only way to expand your horizons and become an international citizen is to go out and experience the world. The first step in doing that is with EAP. So go for it! ” —Zack Weigert-Derr, UC Santa Cruz
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