University Profile : my first day at Flinders
- alicehartmann
- 6 mars 2019
- 4 min de lecture
Dernière mise à jour : 7 mai 2019
I am studying a semester at Flinders University in Adelaïde, Australia. The university has three main campus. One is in Bedford Park, it’s where I am living and will have all my courses. Bedford Park is a bit far from the city (40 min by bus) and is located in the south of Adelaïde. It is the main teaching and research campus. The second one is Victoria Square, in the heart of Adelaïde CBD. The university teaches mainly business on this campus but for master’s degree so I will never go there, but I saw the campus many times when going to the city and it seems really nice. Finally, Flinders University is also located in Tonsley. In this campus students interact with business and business interacts with researchers in areas such as engineering, medical devices and nanoscale technologies. The three campus are really big but a shuttle can drive us between the three campus and it is free so many students are using it !
Let’s talk a little bit about Flinder’s history. In 1960 the University of Adelaïde had a second campus, owned by the government. At that time, the population of South Australia was getting bigger and bigger and education began being more important. In 1965 it was decided that Bedford Park, the second campus of Adelaïde, was going to be a separate campus. Flinders University was named in 1966 after the English navigator, Matthew Flinders, who explored the southern Australian coastline. Finally, the University opened in 1966 with 90 staff and 400 students.
I am living on the Bedford campus. You can live on the University Hall, where there are meals prepared for you every day. You can also live on Deirdre Jordan Village, where I live, where you are more independent. The village also offers a range of culturally inclusive activities in the community centre. The housing is really amazing and it is a good way to meet people. Also, the campus is a bit far away from the city but there are many buses near the campus and not expensive when you have a metro card ! Most of the students are living on the campus, but some of them are sharing a house in the city or have an Airbnb not far from the campus. There are many websites were you can find people looking for roommates like Flatmates.com.au. Flinders University also helps students that are still looking for an accommodation.
Welcome and integration
Coming in Australia is a very long trip from France and from many other countries. Before coming here to study you have to plan your flights, housing, but more importantly the Visa ! Indeed, I had to have a student visa that let me study here and also work 40 hours per fortnight. Flinders University helped me and showed me how to get a visa. Don’t forget to get biometrics collections after applying for the visa ! I forgot the first time about it and made it more complicated to finally have my Australian Student Visa.
Once everything is ready and you have your Visa, passport with you, you are ready for a new adventure !
Everyone was so welcoming when I arrived! First, a student picked me up at the airport and someone showed me my room on the campus. It was very important for me especially after a long trip like this one and being so far away. Even before I arrived in Flinders University I had the opportunity to talk to students through a Facebook page so it made the integration even better and easier. The staff also answered all the questions we had. All this help before arriving in Australia was very important because it can be very stressful leaving for a country that far away and so different from France.
They organized an orientation week for all the exchange students and even everyone on campus ! Having roommates really help feeling like home and meeting people. I have five roomates, three Australian and one american, so I get to speak English a lot ! Finally, I have met many exchange students, we are all living the same experience so it is nice that we stay together.
At the end of the orientation week they organized an O’fiesta with many artists . It was on campus and was really nice ! Unfortunately I didn’t know any songs compared to Australian student, but it was fun anyway !
Class content and student life
Compare to ESDES I get to choose every class I wanted to and also create my own timetable. Every class has tutorial and lectures. I chose mainly business classes but also one history class because I thought it was a good opportunity to study something different. I am studying this semester : international business context , history, entrepreneurship and Accouting.
The lectures are in theatres and are also recorded so you can see them at home. In the tutorials you are less than for the lecture so everyone can participate. Compare to France, students here have to prepare their class before. For example they have to read a lot of books or do some research so we can discuss about it for the next tutorial. Also, teachers are informal compared to France, for example we call them by their first name. An other difference is that people don’t really talk during like we do in France.
Students are really welcoming and like to party a lot ! They have a way of life that is almost like students in France. The main difference that I see for the moment is the time they eat. They eat their dinner at 5 :30 pm and sometimes even at 5 :00pm. They start partying at 6 :00 pm while in France we haven’t even ate yet.
Finally, there are many ways to do sport in the university like soccer, ultimate Frisbee or martial arts. Flinders University has 20 sporting clubs for students to get involved in. Also, Flinders University Sport & fitness are a member of Unisport Australia which sees students represent the University at a number of both state and National sporting events.
It is a really great experience being here and I like the fact that everyone is really nice and so welcoming ! Hope you learned something about Flinders University and my first days in Adelaïde.
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