Education in Brisbane - Maria's story

Maria T. by the Sea

Maria is from Denmark and studied her Bachelor in Business Administration and Communication before deciding to study a Master of International Business at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.

After I finished my bachelor, I went to the US and Central America for four months in the Fall 2008 to get away from the books and figure out what directions my further studies should take me. I returned home just before Christmas 2008 with the intention to start my masters at Copenhagen Business School.

I don´t know if it was winter depression or a longing to travel again that did it, but one afternoon in February 2009 on my way home from work, depressed about the weather and the thought of another 18 months in Copenhagen before I could do my exchange, the thought hit me: why not do my entire master in Australia?

That same night, I researched like crazy about the different universities at the East Coast, which offered a Master in International Business. The choice was between Griffith University in Queensland and the University if Sydney. I ended up choosing Griffith for several reasons, among those was the opportunity to do an internship, which brought me to Seoul, South Korea, where I did an internship with SK Holdings instead of having my summer holiday.

It is always hard arriving in a new place regardless of the cultural differences no matter how big. There I was “alone”, puzzled and everything was new and very different for me. The hunt for accommodation was straining, as there were so many people looking out for it at that time and the prices were therefore high for even the worst places. But I found a place and then ‘Uni’ began.

First semester has been hectic and the workload has at times been huge but nothing out of the ordinary for a masters degree. One thing that has been extremely disappointing is the composition of nationalities in my degree. We are 99% international students, thus the Australians I hoped to get to know, are not exactly around. Further, it has the effect that the level of English is quite low at times. However, all in all it has been a great experience so far and I am happy that I still have 1-1½ years before I graduate.

Who would have known that I would get to live in one of the worlds most amazing cities and that I would get an internship in Seoul as part of my degree. I did not dare to imagine that, just 9 months ago.

Below is the address for my blog I started when I left for Australia:

http://blogs.kilroytravels.dk/louthy

Are you going to a university in Australia or considering to go? If so, you are more than welcome to contact me at: maria.louthy@hotmail.com.

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