AUSTRALIA - ADELAIDE

After spending some time in Australia, Adelaide, I’ve found some similarities and differences in the way of life here. Some of these might be because of the differences between countries, while others may be the differences between the life in a village and big city.

The city of Adelaide is located in South Australia. It is multiple times bigger than my home village or the nearby town.

Other than the sheer size difference, the biggest and most notable one to me was the noise levels. As I am fairly sensitive to them, especially loud ones. Unsurprisingly, a big city has a lot of noise, but from the standpoint of a person used to a more rural area, the sheer level of noise that can be present was unimaginable. Cars, people in the street, trains and trams, the other tenants in the apartments, as well as the machinery present within the apartment.

I have had quite a few nights in which the yelling people in the street have woken me up. Quite a few nights where whirring and crackling sounds in the walls of my apartment kept me from falling asleep. And many more things.

Experiencing University with new-found friends and colleagues there: people seem to be quite open and talkative. Sometimes more and sometimes less interested in making new friends, but when enveloped in a conversation, they will have opinions to share and stories to tell. It has been quite the adventure getting to know so many new faces from all around the world.

As the University of South Australia is not a small university, there are a lot of people attending there. A big number of them, also with an international background. It is quite easy to find another person on an exchange, doing their studies far away from their home and getting to know this new environment, culture, and its people together. Side by side, with strangers in the same boat. Personally, being alone together with all these other strangers, has been a comforting thought, especially in the earlier days of arriving here.

The university itself has been quite impressive to me as well – there are a lot of amenities to do things at, clubs to do things with and people to meet. After the first weeks, I had decided to join one of them. The clubs offer a good place to follow one’s interest and meet people with the same interest, making it easy to socialize and find people to connect with.

Overall, living here, in a new country once again, has been exciting and an adventure I am very glad that I have gotten the chance to experience. Travelling has always been a big passion for me, but actually getting to live in another country for a certain amount of time gives a way more in-depth experience and view on what is going on there and how it really is to be in that country.

Personally, I think it is a huge chance to study abroad and I am glad to be able to be among the people that got to join the adventure this time around. And highly recommend that if you are given the chance to do something similar, to grasp it and go.