Once I got a feel of
Sydney, I was initially shocked by the culture and way
of life there. It was just way too much for me to fully
grasp in the beginning. But, I soon got over it! Sydney
is home to a whole lot of different races and cultures.
There is a large number of Asians, people of Middle
Eastern origin, Irish, Scottish, even Indian and Sri
Lankan.
Left:
Reshma with her friend
The
building in the background is the Parliament House in
Canberra.
The first day at the
University of Technology, Sydney, we had an orientation
program for the overseas students. Trying to find the
class where they had the orientation program was like
trying to find a needle in a haystack. When I went to
the main office, I was given a lot of handouts detailing
the whole program. But, it never occurred to me that
when someone gives you a handout, you’re meant to read
all of it before you proceed! So, I spent quite some
time wandering around like a tourist. When I got tired,
I finally decided to read my handout and within moments,
I found my class.
Making friends: the first friend that I made was a
Chinese-born Australian girl, her name was Mary Wong.
She was very friendly and got me accustomed to the local
rituals at McDonald’s. Once classes started, it was a
lot of work. I had also picked up a part time job, which
meant that I was really busy. The people that I met at
University and at the workplace were all very friendly
and supportive.
With regard to my studies it was quite a challenge, as the
method of studying and preparing for exams were very
different from what I was used to. The degree course
that I undertook was called Bachelor Of Business. The
duration of the course was 3 years, which consisted of 2
semesters each year. All first year Business students
had to do certain compulsory (core) subjects. Then, in
the second year I had to choose 2 subjects that I wanted
to major in. I chose accounting and management.
I studied around 4 subjects each semester; each subject had
a total of 3 hours class each week. It consisted of a
1-hour lecture and a 2-hour tutorial, or a 2-hour
lecture and a 1-hour tutorial. The lecturers gave us an
overview of the topics; the tutors helped us with the
work questions and helped us understand the subject
better. Most subjects had a final exam, some didn’t, and
some subjects especially law subjects had ‘open book
exams’. Assessments usually consisted of a whole variety
of projects, presentations and exams. So the final exam
was never the whole assessment. The study materials like
textbooks are constantly updated.
