Type of housing: Apartment/House

Arranged by: Host university

If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House

Why? If I were to return I would again live in a house in Coogee. The university owns many properties in this area and it is absolutely gorgeous. My house was with 6 other students and we lived within 2 blocks of the beach and a 15 minute walk to campus. Living on campus would not be a bad option at all and you would meet the most Australian students there and it is a very fun atmosphere, but I enjoyed living on my own in a house and I feel I gained a lot from doing that as well. There isn't a bad choice between on-campus and off campus but if going off campus Coogee is definitely the place to be.

Personal comments:
Many of the houses and apartments are in Coogee, which is an incredibly nice location that is very close to the beach but there are busses that can get you to campus in 5 minutes that leave very frequently, or you can make the choice to take the 15 minute walk. You are able to catch a bus to most places in the city and the suburbs that you would want to go, and if not it would only take one transfer.

Describe host city: Students interact with the local community without much university involvement

Nightlife, Travel: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment

Activities: Takes place both within and outside of the university/student environment

Personal comments:
Sydney has a wealth of night spots in all areas of the city. Thursday night is Uni night around most places and is very big for students. My personal favorite bar to go before going out later at night would be Bar Ace on the corner of Liverpool and George Streets. This bar offers a very moderately priced happy hour between 5 and 11PM every night.

Course recommendations:
There are a huge number of classes offered at UNSW, but you must make sure when choosing classes that they are offered during the semester you will be there. The study abroad office is EXCELLENT, they will do anything they can to help you get the classes you need and anything else you would need. I suggest GENS 0501 The Marine Enviornment, very easy but at the same time interesting and you get to take field trips for some hands on learning.

Personal comments:
Out of 4 classes I only had one final. The rest of the classes were either an in class test or final papers. The final either paper or exam is worth a significant percentage of the grade and can be very difficult. (My Economics final exam was worth 60% of my final grade in the class and most papers are worth 30-50% of your final grade)

Language of instruction: English

Main source of funding:
Family

Other sources of funding:
Personal savings

Work opportunities:
I didn't explore any work options

Personal spending habits:
Everything is very expensive in Australia. The telephone service I used the entire time was a pre-paid mobile phone, which cost 25 cents per minute for a local call, and calling cards which you could use from a pay phone and would cost you approximately 2 cents per minute (to call the US) I strongly recommend getting Skype as you can use it at internet cafes or if you get the internet in your residence. The housing was expensive but definitely worth it, it was $200 AUD per week for our house per person, but it was very nice and only 2 blocks from the ocean. Nightlife is very expensive compared to the normal University town in America, for a mixed drink (ie. Bourbon and Coke) you will pay between 6 and 9 AUD and for a pint of beer it will be between 4 and 8 AUD. The travel is expensive but well worth it, try to use Jetstar and Virgin Blue as they are much cheaper than flying Qantas. For the food, you should look out for bars that offer $5 steak night (Five-0 in Coogee offers very moderately priced meals 5-9 AUD) these aren't the best steaks but they are good and the portions are large.

Food, Travel, Nightlife, Overall, Telephone, Housing: was more expensive than at home.

I wish I had known...
I went not knowing a thing, and I feel that going in with no expectations made me enjoy the trip even more.

In my opinion:
Everybody loved it, you will too!