Business As Usual

I went on exchange to the University of Warwick in Coventry, England. I decided to leave Melbourne two months before my start date to explore Europe and get a feel for my surroundings. As clichéd as it sounds, my half-a-year abroad was truly the highlight of my university experience. I not only got to immerse myself completely into British culture, but got the opportunity to meet some fantastic people who are now some of my closest friends.

Q. Why did you choose to go on exchange?
I wanted to get outside my comfort zone, and what better way to do that than moving halfway around the world for six months!

Q. Why did you choose to go to Warwick University?
I had read up about Warwick and saw what an amazing university it was. I also liked the idea of being able to travel (I’m a bit of a travel junkie) to Europe during my free time.

Q. What was the biggest obstacle you overcame on your trip?
I think the day-to-day activities that I depended on my parents for (without even realising!), and had to do myself in the UK was the biggest obstacle. It was also hard getting over the home sickness. And knowing that your friends and family are continuing with life without you was kind of weird to get used to.

Q. Tell us about us one quirky activity or memory from your trip.
Our Warwick semester ended in the first week of December, and I remember decorating my friends’ flat straight after Halloween with Christmas decorations, so we had lights and a mini Christmas tree set up all throughout November! We would watch Christmas movies and sing Christmas carols at night, and even had a Christmas dinner with Secret Santa all together before we finished for the term. Even though we were a month ahead, it really made me feel like I was a part of a family with these friends I had just met two months ago!

Another week done and dusted and thank God for that! I’m lucky enough to have Fridays off, which means I get a three-day weekend every week!

The day was pretty simple, with some study to start the day and work to finish it off. Forget going out on a Friday night, though, because I don't finish work till 10pm!

Part time work is a great way to meet new people, learn new things and if you're lucky enough, you get to use the skills you learned at uni in the workforce. The flexible schedule at uni really does help with keeping all those things in balance.

With that, I wish you a happy weekend ahead and good luck for all your exams :)

Can we just take a minute to acknowledge that we are already in week 6 of the semester? For all of you in VCE, I'm sure the countdown has already begun for those final exams.

Wednesday is a fairly long day for myself, with a three-hour seminar beginning at 9am and a tutorial following straight after, so I normally try and fit in as much study as I can at uni so that when I get home I can relax. That's not always the case though, especially at this time of the semester because assignments are piling up and deadlines are nearing.

The main thing to remember when you get to this period of chaos before semester break is to find a balance between uni life and your personal life. It's easy to get caught up in the work load but you have to give yourself a break! So as I sit in the library for the next few hours I am going to get some work out of the way and then head out to dinner with my high school friends.

Hi all, my name is Sonia and I'm in my last year at Monash studying a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Business Law and Economics. I have been involved with the BusEco PAL program as an Ambassador in 2013, a Leader in 2014, and I also volunteer with Monash Abroad when given the opportunity (to encourage people to include exchange in their studies).

In my spare time I work part-time, travel the world, and eat and bake as much as I can.