Jenna Nguyen – office assistant Vice Chancellor, Western Sydney University , ISB Institute alumnus shared about the “shocks” and experiences that she herself has gathered after studying abroad to help other students. Young people who have just arrived or intend to study in Australia better understand life here.
Culture shock when studying in Australia
Jenna like most other successful international students choose to actively connect with friends, join clubs on and off campus. Jenna integrates quite well, has many native and international friends early on. However, the mentality of forcing yourself to integrate and follow what others do is also one of the “invisible traps” for many international students.
Jenna Nguyen used to not know how to decline invitations from friends because she was afraid of being judged, alienated or she missed out on interesting things outside. This led to a rather “panic” situation for the young girl, whose feet were wet and dry, to Australia.
Besides, trying to integrate in a forced way, not coming from her own desires, also made Jenna lose the balance between life, study and work. From these initial experiences, she learned the lesson that she must learn the rules and laws as well as know how to refuse and make decisions based on her inner desires.
“My advice to students is that when coming to Australia, you should learn and understand the regulations so that you can protect yourself when in a foreign country,” said former international student. emphasize.
Language shock
Having studied English since childhood, coming from an English class in Ho Chi Minh City, Jenna is very confident in her foreign language listening and speaking skills. However, she was quite shocked to hear the accent (accent) and the strange slang word system in Australia. Specifically, Australians use a lot of acronyms or slang words such as McDonald’s is Macca’s, the word “afternoon” becomes “arvo”, “barbeque” reads as “barbie” …
“At first, I was afraid to answer the phone because it was harder to hear it than outside,” the former international student confided.
Jenna Nguyen shared, this is one of the typical culture shocks for international students. Although the level of English in Vietnam is very good, many students still find it difficult to adapt, leading to gradually closed-mindedness and guilt because of their foreign language ability and only play with a group of students from the same country.
Thus, in order to “prevent” Vietnamese students can completely prepare in advance by searching for the phrase “Australia slangs” before going to the country of kangaroos or joining a club. According to Jenna, many students often ignore the school’s support services. Meanwhile, those are tools to help you integrate well into the university environment.
“I made the most of these services to have the best study abroad experience. What I learned from ECG ( English Conversation Group ECG ), MATES (counseling program for students starting at school) or student unions has helped me better understand the culture and It is a good preparation to apply for a job and enter the labor market here”, emphasized the female speaker.
Besides, in terms of communication, international students should pay attention to using words like “Please” or “Would you mind”. Because Australians attach great importance to politeness and respect others. According to her, Australians are very kind and enthusiastic. Therefore, as long as they don’t lose sympathy because of such unnecessary things, international students can comfortably make friends with local people and experience a more convenient and fun study abroad life.
Shock on the cost of living
In addition to tuition fees, international students need to understand the cost of living in the country they are about to enter to plan their expenses accordingly. Jenna Nguyen said that in Australia the rent is usually calculated by the week. Wages are paid every two weeks instead of monthly as in Vietnam.
The average salary in Australia is higher than in Vietnam. Therefore, the standard of living here is also quite different. Food prices are a lot higher than in Vietnam. Accordingly, financial and expenditure management is indispensable for every international student. According to Jenna Nguyen, when studying abroad, students will often be given a large amount of money by their families to cover living expenses. Therefore, you need to learn how to allocate appropriately.
In the first few months of coming to Australia, she used to panic on the phone to her family because at the end of the month there was no money left. Therefore, she advises students to make a spending plan while they are still in Vietnam and carefully study the common ground prices of Australia to avoid a situation like hers.
“You can research on the websites of the school, the Australian government or the sharing of previous brothers and sisters to have a detailed view of life in the foreign country”, added the female speaker.
Time and means of transportation
Jenna Nguyen noted, Australians are very punctual. Before big events, they will arrive earlier than the start time. This 9x former international student advises young people to learn how to calculate and plan their time carefully so as not to be late for school, work or important events, especially when using public transport. add.
International students should prepare equipment and supplies in advance and learn how and when to use them to avoid confusion before travel time. Public transport in Australia such as train, tram, bus or ferry is very convenient and modern, so it is chosen by the majority of people.
People can use one card to travel all these types of vehicles. Each state will have different card names and policies. In the state of New South Wales, for example, this card is called Opal. Users need to top up the card via the application or at the machines located at the station or station.
In addition, students can use their credit card to touch the machine when boarding. Note that when going down or up, you need to touch the card to cash out. If you forget to touch the card, you will be charged or have the police and staff on the train to check the card and fine.
“I forgot to touch my card once because I had to rush to catch the bus and was charged twice as much,” Jenna shared.
In addition, Australia always has an application that displays the specific time of trains and buses, so students can use these tools to plan to leave home, catch the right bus to arrive on time.
“This is also a good luggage for you to integrate, go to school and even work later,” said the former international student.
