Preparation
In order to prepare well for a semester abroad at Griffith University, you should first read a few testimonials – which I unfortunately couldn’t manage due to my time pressure.
For semester 2 you should first pack thicker clothes, as the temperatures can drop significantly at sunset. It is enough to pack one or two thick sweaters and thin jackets. For the sockets in Australia you need an adapter, which you can get in Germany for 1.50 € (in Australia the price for an adapter is 10-15AUD).
Booking the flight as early as possible saves you a lot of money. In my case, I paid € 1,500 for a return flight, whereas friends who booked 2 or 3 months earlier paid € 1,000.
Journey / arrival
The outward flight was not so enjoyable. However, it was not because of the airline, but because of the 5 children who cried nonstop from Dubai. The return flight was more relaxed!
The arrival or the reception in Brisbane was very pleasant. A Griffith University employee was waiting in Brisbane with her logo in her hand and she escorted you to the business shuttle. A minibus then drove us to the hostel, as we had decided to look for an apartment on the spot.
At the hostel (Backpackers in Paradise) the staff were very relaxed.
Tip: To be able to spend a few days in this hostel, you should lower your expectations a little (I had imagined it to be cleaner, to be honest).
Accommodation
It is best to arrive in Australia to look for an apartment on Monday, as you had the whole week to look around for an apartment. I arrived on Friday, the jet lag was bothering me, so I started looking for an apartment on a Saturday. As a young man, it is more difficult to find a room at Gumtree, as they are mostly looking for young women, so it is best to find friends quickly and go to agencies with those who can help you find an apartment.
Personally, I was fortunate to have my twin brother by my side, so we found an apartment before the Byron Bay trip. The agency in which we found what we were looking for is called First National Real Estate, compared to the other agencies this one is smaller and more personal.
We lived together in a 2 room apartment very close to the beach and paid $ 350 a week (excluding electricity). With almost 90% of Exchange students staying in Surfers Paradise, there was a lot to do with each other.
Transport
The new tram made it very easy to get to the university. The problem with organizing College-Contact was that the TTCC didn’t let you know. Therefore you had to be patient for at least 4 weeks until you received a so-called TTCC card and could use the green Gocard. The difference between the green gocard and the blue gocard is quickly apparent, as the price for a 20-minute drive for a blue gocard is $ 4. The price for a normal ticket, i.e. without any card, was $ 6. This shows that at a price of $ 2 with the green Gocard, which you could only use together with the TTCC and your student ID, you could save a lot if you ordered the card in advance.
- Visit vaultedwatches to learn more about country of Australia and continent of Oceania.
Leisure
There were two types of students on the Gold Coast. On the one hand, the students, who absolutely had to write good grades, because these are accepted in Germany, and, on the other hand, those who simply had to pass.
When you are busy with your studies in Germany and have a lot of stress, studying at Griffith University feels like a vacation – at least it felt like that to me.
The university offers a variety of leisure activities. The catch with this thing is that you had to pay for every type of sport. Indoor soccer was $ 30 and volleyball was $ 5 for each game.
The volleyball, basketball and tennis facilities at Griffith University actually had to be booked for a fee of $ 5 an hour, which, however, no one did except for the tennis courts. We played volleyball 3-4 times a week and even held a tournament for the Exchange students.
Part of free time is partying, which is by no means neglected on the Gold Coast. With a so-called Lcard, which you received in the Law Building for $ 10, there was free entry to every club on the Gold Coast until 11pm. Tuesday and Thursday were attractive for women, as women had free entry and free drinks in the most popular clubs on those days. The alcohol is very expensive compared to Germany. The cheapest bottle of vodka is $ 30, so many people have come to expect the 4L Goon for $ 10, but you will never get used to that!
University
The consideration of the level of this university goes hand in hand with the burden that is placed on the respective student in Germany. I had 4 management courses, where I am studying industrial engineering in Germany. In Germany I was used to preparing and learning something independently every day. At Griffith Uni you feel like you are in school, as you are given the documents to study and the exact descriptions of the tasks are usually available online. It seemed almost impossible to fail at Griffith University because the grade is made up of 5-6 individual grades. For employment relations, for example, the grade consisted of 2 online quizzes á 10%, a Career Focus 10%, an Essay Plan 10%, an Essay 25% and a Final Exam 35%.
The Griffith online portal is designed to be very simple, so that you can find yourself quickly and find exact deadlines or descriptions of the tasks for each of your courses. Lectures are also recorded on tape so that some things can be viewed again before the exams.
The Griffith also has an app that is very helpful and simple to use.
Food / costs
As soon as you get to know the corners of the city, you know where to get cheap food. On Sundays or Mondays there was a steak for $ 2 in Waxys, Dominos had pizza for $ 5 every day, out of season there were burgers on Thursdays for $ 10 on Longboards and mostly the fast food was cheaper than in Germany. However, healthy food was more expensive compared to Germany, but they had been prepared for that before they even arrived.
Most of the students bought at Coles or Woolworth because you needed a car to get to the nearest Aldi.
The cost of living was higher than I was used to in northern Germany, as the maintenance costs are already quite high on the Gold Coast. However, one should be aware that the city is visited by every Australian / tourist in the summer. Cities like Melbourne or Sydney are definitely more expensive!
The flights were comparatively cheap, so it was worth flying to Melbourne, Sydney or Cairns for a few days.
Conclusion
If I were to do another semester abroad later in my master’s program, I might even have chosen the Gold Coast again, as the fun factor is definitely very high. You won’t be able to forget the international students you get to know there. Students who receive Bafoeg abroad can also get along very well with their money with small savings. College-Contact makes it very easy for a student to get information and helps you every step of the way, taking the stress out of the student and making it very easy to apply to a university abroad. I would like to thank you for their help and see you next time.
