First impression
When I arrived a week before the orientation week started, it was super nice. Met lots of nice people in town, kids sang karaoke on the promenade and the atmosphere was great too. The orientation week itself, i.e. the first contact with the university, was fantastic. All countries in the world – Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Kenya, South Africa, Denmark, Germany, Malaysia – were represented. You got to know new people very quickly because everyone was very open and approached you for no reason. It started with a few group games, where something was mixed up by all the countries of origin and we got to know each other a bit. This was followed by introductions to internal university matters and also the leisure activities that were offered on the university campus.
From Germany I asked about students at the university and asked them about the best possible accommodation. I got a recommendation from a local friend of those who rent entire houses, which usually accommodate all international students. Furthermore, he rents scooters, which means that you are very flexible during the semester and not dependent on the poorly developed public transport network.
So when I got to the airport, this friend was waiting for me and took me straight to my new home. From the first moment on, he was very helpful and cleared up any problems we had with the apartment.
What I heard from students at the university’s internal dormitory was not negative. However, they were relatively trapped, as they had no scooters available, and if you had to take care of them yourself, the search was much more difficult. The university was also a little further from the city center than the rented houses with the international students.
The supervision over the planning of the semester and thus over the entire course of the semester took place via “MicroEDU”. One of the biggest advantages is probably that there are no extra costs through this organization and that you still get a lot of help from it. I was able to get in touch with any questions and was usually helped very quickly. You also get the address of other students who are also planning their semester via CoCo. This also gives you additional help, with which you can compare and agree which things still need to be regulated, what is taken, etc. For me, CoCo was especially very helpful because Swinburne is not a partner university to my home university is. As a result I would have had to organize a lot myself without any help from my home university. Except for the delay in confirming my semester abroad, which in my opinion was directly due to the foreign university, there were no problems.
Another problem was the confirmation of the visa, which was just enough shortly before. Nevertheless, this was more or less a big theater, whereby this was again not due to CoCo, but rather to the foreign university, which took a very long time to confirm it. The ongoing process until the visa can be printed out also took some time again, this time due to the consulate. It was also very impractical that you had to pick it up in Berlin or Frankfurt and it was not sent by post like other visas.
Right at the beginning of the semester, I met my supervisor from the foreign university, with whom I had intensive contact from Germany about my studies. He greeted me by name and answered other questions that I still had open.
Furthermore, another health test was necessary for all international students, where the university divided all students into small groups and drove to a hospital on different days, where all the necessary tests were done.
Professional support
I was also able to find the contact to my program coordinator from Germany. In other words, the professional support began from home. But even when I was abroad, I still had a few questions about the individual events before I was sure to choose them. Despite many questions, I got a response relatively quickly and was even able to meet with him privately later to clarify the final details.
The university professors themselves were extremely competent. At this point I honestly expected the opposite. Nevertheless, the relationship with them was sometimes even more intense than the relationship with the professors at the home university in Germany. Not only was I able to clarify all questions with you personally at any time, but also at the weekend, when I wrote an email, I was always given a very quick response. All the events were very demanding, but I still had a lot of fun. Above all because of the competent support.
DOS
Depending on whether you are prone to it, a mosquito spray is necessary in Malaysia. Since it gets dark relatively early, but has very high temperatures all day and night, you often go out at night. A rain jacket is also not bad, as spontaneous downpours can occur depending on the month. Last but not least, I would recommend a few warm clothes, as all rooms of the university are cooled down to a very cool level due to the hot temperatures. Since, like all students, you normally spend a lot of time in the library studying, it gets very cold after a while. It is no different in the cinemas or shopping centers.
- Learn more information about the country of Malaysia and continent of Asia on jibin123.
