I attended international school during my middle and high school years, in Indonesia and Spain, so I was always used to the international multicultural environment. That’s why I decided to study here at UNSW, which is very multicultural - I thought it would be suitable for me.
One of the first things I noticed in Australia was that here people in banks and shops ask you how you are - that was quite new to me and I really feel people are the ones that really matter here.
At UNSW there are many services available to help with student development, many different activities and programs run by Student Development International that you can join in order to make friends and enhance your student life.
I have completed a Bachelor of Arts, with a double major in Hispanic and Japanese studies. The course was a combination of cultural and language studies. At the end of the program there was a capstone course, a revision of the whole course in which you combine what you have learned about the language and the culture in many different ways.
In Japanese, we organised a mini conference and invited a panel from Japanese firms and gave them presentations in Japanese. In Hispanic, we researched some areas of Hispanic culture gave presentations in front of the class in Spanish. It was quite challenging!
Studying in different countries was hard for me because I didn’t have my own identity, but with counselling sessions with an advisor in Indonesia I got to accept the differences and appreciate them.
My ultimate goal is to become a student advisor for international students. When you interact with students from different countries you definitely learn to broaden your mind and accept differences and develop personally. That’s why I chose UNSW as it is such a multicultural environment – for me now it’s an essential quality.
