IFSA University of Melbourne Partnership

My time abroad was truly a vacation from school. It was a time for me to explore Melbourne, meet new people, and engage with my studies in a relaxed manner. IFSA was great in being a source of support, in every sense of the word. Through my participation with IFSA, I was fortunate enough to have an instant group of friends to explore with and discover all the things that make Melbourne unique. In terms of academics, it was an easy transition from my home school to the University of Melbourne. It was great to enroll in classes that exposed me to Australian cultures and in elective classes that I would not have to opportunity to enroll in at my home university. Overall, it was a great time, and I would definitely recommend! You learn about yourself and the world, and it is a great learning experience for all.

Taking a semester abroad can be a scary thing, especially if you are younger than the "typical" study abroad applicant. As a sophomore planning to go abroad to Australia, a country around 10,000 miles away from home, you can imagine how many questions and concerns I had before I left. From the very beginning of my application until the time I landed back home after the program, I was always supported by the IFSA staff. My pre-departure advisor was always available to answer my hundreds of questions I had about studying abroad and as soon as I landed in my host country, my program advisor took her place to answer even more questions. This made my experience incredibly easy because I was able to focus on my studies and meeting locals rather than things like insurance, cellphone plans, and medications. Additionally, IFSA had planned a couple excursions that focused on specific areas around us including a tour of Sydney, the Great Ocean Road and a hike in a rain forest. These excursions allowed us to experience being a tourist in our city while also learning about the culture and building relationships with other peers on the trip. Overall, I had an excellent experience with IFSA in Melbourne and would highly recommend this program and IFSA in general to anyone planning to study abroad!

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I did two semesters abroad in Melbourne because I loved it so much. I'd definitely recommend living there! My experience studying at Melbourne University as an international student was largely positive, but with ups and downs here and there. I found that the grading at times was less harsh than I expected. I was nervous for exams because I didn't know what they'd be like, but I did much better than I expected. The lectures are all recorded and it's easy to watch them online, so you don't have to worry about missing lectures and you can study pretty methodically just by re-watching as much as you'd like. I definitely had plenty of free time because I could decide to skip a lecture if my friends wanted to go explore around the city or go out to eat, because I'd just come home and watch it online. I had two class-free days a week, too, so I only had to go to campus three days if that. Also, my IFSA program coordinator was extremely helpful with my class decisions before I even met her in person, and even more helpful once I got there. Your program coordinator will let you know how to adjust your course load to suit your requirements and how rigorous you want your classes to be while you're abroad. Living in Melbourne, I definitely had the city life experience. It's like living in any city, so you'll deal with the same things you would living in a city in the U.S. Melbourne is super unique and livable and you'll never run out of amazing new restaurants and sight-seeing. If you're proactive on Facebook, you can find tons of random public events that are super fun to do with friends. White Night is a classic Melbourne tradition where all the shops are open 24 hours for one day and the whole city goes crazy and gets covered in lights all night long! There's tons of night life too so you'll seriously never be bored, but plenty of coffee shops to get work done in. The tram takes you all around, all you need is your Myki card. The outer suburbs are so quirky and cool too and have seriously amazing street art. I lived off-campus so things were accessible, but if you're living on campus it's super easy to hop on the tram and go into the city center because there's a tram stop on campus. There isn't really a notion of school spirit in Australia, everyone really just shows up for class and then goes home. The majority of students live at home and commute every day, so I don't think there are really on-campus parties or anything like that. But if you're proactive and meet people you'll have plenty to do, there just isn't the typical university social scene you'd expect in the US. It's easy to get involved in campus life, and there are plenty of clubs and societies to join too which have their own events. Also, you get super close with your IFSA friends! The program does a great job of organizing meet-ups, study groups, and trips for the IFSA students, so you have an automatic support network. The Great Ocean Road trip is also breathtaking and a great time for bonding. I'd say the best parts were learning to live in a new place and gaining mental strength about putting myself out there to have fun. It really is what you make of it. Sometimes I felt frustrated or just really didn't want to deal with the pressure of being in an unfamiliar place, but that feeling passes. But other days you're ready to jet-set and go see the world! I traveled to amazing places like Cairns, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Noosa headlands, and the Sunshine Coast. You'll have days you just fall in love with the place you're in and other days where you just don't feel great. But through all of that, you'll get home a stronger, more experienced version of yourself and you'll have so much gratitude for life. IFSA absolutely helped me through the harder parts and helped make the great parts great.

IFSA at the University of Melbourne was, overall, a great program. I felt fully supported through all of the complex administrative work that goes into studying abroad--applying for a visa, finding housing, signing up for classes. IFSA did a great job of streamlining and facilitating the whole process, and of making us feel comfortable and safe while we were in Melbourne. I'm typically a more independent person, so I didn't communicate much with our IFSA mentor while at the university, but I really appreciated all of her reaching out and offering to chat. It never really felt like I was fully alone, and being connected to a network of American students in the city was highly useful. The housing options through IFSA were good, though I wish there had been a bit more variety in the residential colleges they allowed us to apply to. I was very happy at International House, but I think we would have benefited from being able to pick from more options. International House had a meal plan that was quite expensive, and I found that once I was in Australia, I very rarely had time to actually eat meals there (especially given the college's 45min windows for lunch and dinner). That felt like a huge waste of money, and I wish IFSA had made those realities clear before I applied. Perhaps my biggest issues with IFSA occurred during the Sydney orientation program. I was glad that we all met up in a single Australian city before going to our individual programs, but I felt that we were treated as young children for most of the time. I was particularly bothered by our visit to an Aboriginal Cultural Center outside Sydney, during which we watched Indigenous people dance (alongside a large group of primary schoolers) and painted boomerangs (an activity, I think, that was designed for 6-8 year olds). The visit offered a very watered-down version of Aboriginal history in Australia, which didn't even really acknowledge colonization or any of its consequent injustices. By contrast, during the Melbourne Welcome orientation program for exchange students one week later, we were made aware of all of these dynamics and did more 'adult' activities, like learning how to throw boomerangs. I think IFSA should restructure the activities during the Sydney program to reflect the age and maturity of its students. This is my most significant complaint about IFSA mainly because this was the period during which I spent the most time with IFSA organizers. The University of Melbourne and the academics offered there were, I found, fantastic. I really enjoyed the classes I took at the Design School and within the Department of Indigenous Studies. I learned a lot in the latter department and met some great professors and students in all my classes, many of whom I am still in touch with. Registration was made easy by UniMelb's help centers and its many advisors, so there were no real issues there. I had a lot of fun in Australia and the people I met will be lifelong friends. I travelled a ton and saw many of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life. I would highly recommend this program as a whole to anyone as IFSA makes all of the nitty-gritty details easy to take care of.

I spend the second semester of my junior year on IFSA Butler’s program at University of Melbourne. IFSA helped me feel at home in a new place from organizing a pre-orientation program in Sydney to meet other students and get adjusted to life in Australia to taking us on a surf lesson along the great ocean road. I’ll never forget during my last week in Melbourne I took an extremely hard linear algebra final and afterwards met up with Lindsey, my IFSA contact in Melbourne, who bought me coffee and calmed me down. Having that support system was amazing, especially being so far from home, and I’ll always be so appreciative of all of the work that the staff put in to ensure we had the best time possible. Thanks to the encouragement and help from IFSA staff, I was able to set goals for myself, meet new people, try new things, and step outside of my comfort zone.

IFSA is the perfect program for someone adventurous like me who wishes to study abroad and become immersed into the community. IFSA did a great job with assisting me during the application and pre-departure stages of my abroad experience. I sent IFSA staff so many emails with questions, and they were very quick to respond and always thorough. While the pre-departure stage was rightfully assisted, IFSA really knew how to loosen the reigns when their students arrived in their host country. While I always knew IFSA assistance was there if I needed it, I appreciated the freedom they gave me to explore on my own and become part of Melbourne's community because my goal of study abroad was to go into the experience completely alone and figure it out on my own. However, IFSA did not freely release their students into a new country. I felt very prepared for the transition because IFSA provides education and various tools before the experience. They also check up throughout the semester to make sure everything is going well, and if things aren't, they find ways to help. All of the IFSA staff are intelligent, kind, and cool people who love travel and culture as much as their students. I recommend IFSA to study abroad students who want to find their own way with a constant safety net below.

I studied at University of Melbourne through IFSA-Butler for a semester and had a great experience! From the start, IFSA staff offered helpful advice and practical coordination in the pre-departure and in-country stages, and they took care of our university transfer and apartment rentals in Sydney (for orientation) and Melbourne. The optional group travel throughout the semester was a great way to see more of Australia and connect with fellow IFSA students (especially those you don't live with or don't see at Uni). University of Melbourne is a huge institution so you're bound to find the classes that you need/want. Even though the learning style and expectation is very different to most US colleges, adapting was fairly simple. IFSA coordinators were always available for any questions or concerns, but definitely focus on fostering students' independence -- you do have to pursue opportunities on your own to make your semester into the experience that you want. Melbourne is a really groovy city with things happening all the time and is quite geared towards a younger population, so it's a great place to be a student. I'd absolutely recommend IFSA's study abroad program in Melbourne for anyone interested!

I studied abroad at Uni Melbourne last semester through IFSA-Butler. The experience was amazing and having IFSA take care of all the logistics made my transition into the culture, the school, and the other side of the world so much easier. I loved the programs they planned throughout the year, the location they set up for us in the city was SPECTACULAR (we lived in a Unilodge in the heart of Melbourne) and the overall support I felt from the organization was incredibly comforting. My only complaint was, since I had IFSA take care of all the housing and so forth, all of us Study Abroad students lived together, meaning that I didn't feel as culturally immersed as I originally hoped. I know that it also was due to the cultural differences of Australia and the Australian school system though (many people just commute to Uni from outside of the city, or live at home while going to Uni, so you end up being bunched with International students when you go to Uni in Australia).