Introduction

During my third year at Chalmers, I made a choice that I retrospectively view as highly successful. I decided to spend a year as an exchange student. After careful consideration, I chose to apply to the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. It's been an amazing year that I will never ever forget. Every day has been interesting and instructive, it is hard not to love Australia!

Have I not already convinced you, I hope that this report will get you thinking in the right path. To begin with, I will give three reasons for choosing sun, surf and high-quality studies in the rain, running in Skatås and exam-plug at Chalmers.

Environmental Variety
After three years, and bachelor's degree at Chalmers can Corridors know how the coffee tastes and is tired of everything. So it was at least for me. I figured that I had studied for 15 years (in a row!) After my bachelor's degree. It is thus 68% of my life. In Australia's Barrier Reef, which, unlike the Irish Rock is well worth a visit and quite remarkable for a Swedish only caught the pike, and seen the Disney movie Finding Nemo.

Making new friends
A new environment brings new friends. In Australia, studying people from all continents of the world. Education is after mining is the largest (correct me if I'm wrong) industry / income source. I have friends from America, China, Norway, ..., Australia and England. Over half of all students at UNSW are international which is probably high in the context.

Personal development
This can be seen as a cliché which is. One thing is certain in any case it's true. I can guarantee that you will develop 8x more in an exchange environment relative to stay for a year at Chalmers. The quality of the courses is a factor at play in personal development. Although many may not be the biggest reason I can reveal that all the courses I've read have been very good and that most outside studies also fantastic development!

The Sydney Opera House

Preparation

In order to get into Australia require a visa. As an exchange student you can travel with a student visa. Just one year and entitles you to work 20 hours a week during semester and full time during holidays. The visa costs about 400 AUD and booked online in advance before you sit on the plane!

I chose to travel by Australian Quantas. They fly through London or Frankfurt with quick stop in Singapore and has okay size of their seats and great food. Book your tickets early for a count of 15 000 for a round trip ticket. I booked both there and return home before I went and took the help of the Tour Pacific to find the cheapest ticket.

The food is also slightly more expensive in Sydney in the case of dairy products, vegetables and salad. A joint is relatively inexpensive. If you are like me, a carnivore, it is the Australian menu perfectly. (The opposite is true enough for a non meat eaters).

An Australian dollar cost about seven crowns of writing. This is historically very high and almost twice

David Gustafsson

against the same period the year before I left (see wolframalpha.com - search "an Australian U.S. dollars to SEC"). I came in at Chalmers exchange places with my girlfriend, which means some cost advantages. After passing three years at Chalmers with no student loans, I gave up and took the loan. The loan has been spent along with scholarships and grants, I have not taken the extra loan that you are entitled to as an exchange student. When you are looking for scholarships and generally planning for your trip is a reasonable budget for the year 100-200000 kr. I applied for scholarships through the database at the University of Gothenburg, and all were fruitless. If you are not a member of Graduate Engineers then you should be sure to be there. They have some scholarships aimed at exchange students going to get! Since Australia is part of the World Wide program, each student SEK 30 000 in travel grant from the Adler Bergska Foundation. In retrospect, my tip to take at least a week and efforts to help you find scholarships and formulate serious applications. Some of my friends managed to get its entire budget covered with scholarship funds, which probably makes the years even better!

When you submit your application to UNSW will not require a language test, because you, unlike Mr.. Wong from China, is a Swedish citizen. It is an advantage to apply for Australian industry compared to the U.S. where schools require both intelligence and language tests. I have no recollection of any proof were needed of the application and were difficult to organize (which was a question I would raise in this report).

Insurance must be purchased before entering Australia. Other countries accept Kammarkollegiet student out insurance. It is free and provided by the State. I was told that this was not accepted in Australia and bought because CSN foreign policy (in collaboration with the IF) that is approved. It cost 4000 and can be found via www.csn.se . It should be added that I met one per Swedes at UNSW, who had only Kammarkollegiet free insurance so I'm not sure what really applies. I played at least a tooth down there and am glad I had my insurance that covered it all. When you entered the UNSW so be sure to check out if Kammarkollegiet insurance is okay.

Finally I would like to advertise ICA bank that offers free competitions abroad. You get your money matters in current exchange rate and avoid, for example, the surcharge fee and lower rate such as Swedbank, SEB and most other banks have.

Housing

I was "lucky" to get one of the two sites in Australia with my girlfriend Sofia Karlsson. Sofia was a natural roommate. The first semester we had a room on the 3 Botany Street, Randwick 2031 for 280 AUD per week. This was small and not so good. The second semester we shared a third with an Irishman (Carrington Road Coogee 2031). This was much better in default with a rent of 320 AUD per week. If you are traveling yourself and do not want to share a bed so expect at least 200 AUD (1400kr) a week. Expect also to cockroaches and considerably lower standard of what you're used to in Sweden. Without insulation, it becomes the same temperature indoors and outdoors which means warm clothes are necessary in winter.

All our homes included a washing machine. Friends of mine lived, however, in apartments where there were many washes in the washing machine shops that are usually present in every block.

One of my top ten tips are to be on site at least two weeks before the semester starts. More than 50 000 students will have housing around the school and the sooner you arrive the better able you are to (i) get away with an okay rent and (ii) find a home where you feel comfortable. I came a week before and had arranged housing preliminarily before I went through www.gumtree.com.au (like www.blocket.se ). It went well but I would subsequently recommend to be on site to choose. Spend the first week in a hostel (hostel) and use the school's search service to find roommates and housing. UNSW provides telephone and an ad for housing targeted to students.

When you select the area to live, it is important to consider how often you will be in school compared to the beach. Do you live in Sydney or Kensington is within walking distance to school. Coogee Beach is the nearest beach and from here you can also walk in about 20 minutes. Just be aware that Sydney is a hilly city (even backigare than Gothenburg). I enjoyed working in Randwick and Coogee with a slight preponderance of Coogee. Many also choose to stay at Bondi Beach as it is possible to surf there, unlike at Coogee Beach. In traffic, it takes probably 45 minutes to get to school from Bondi Beach by bus exchange in Bondi Junction. This is in my opinion too much.

Public transport in Sydney is pretty bad. "The Metro" is poorly developed and there are buses that apply. If you are lucky, the bus leaves directly to your destination, unless you change. Do not forget that you, unlike Gothenburg must stamp again with every change.

Language

The language of Australia is English or if you prefer Australian English. In my opinion, the dialect just right! If you meet someone for the first time it is customary to greet with "godday mate" which illustrates part of the culture. As Northern Europeans have an advantage over the many Asians who you study with. Especially when it comes to expressing themselves in writing. Since UNSW is so multi-cultural, language tolerance high and there is no need to worry (or as they say in Australia 'no worries mate ").

Language courses are of course to read the UNSW but in my case it was not an option because they do not count as electives in the masters program. You may not read more courses than full time (four per semester) without payment to you.

Social activities

UNSW has just as Chalmers a student union called the Arc. It has a variety of compounds that can be involved in. UNSW also has plenty of sports associations. I was in the Australian soccer team for the school. Australian Football is not the same as ordinary Swedish football but played with an oval ball on a round plan where goals are four vertical posts. The sport is similar to rugby but is faster and requires more stamina than muscle. Diving club (the club under water) is another popular sports club which offers diving courses at an affordable price. This may be an option if you want to dive in the Barrier Reef. To have a diving certificate means that you can dive without an instructor but are you to the barrier reef, you can of course still dive with an instructor.

A question I must answer is whether there are any student union fees. Want to join the Corps does it cost a little bit, around 100 AUD, I think, but membership is optional. Are you part of the Corps have a discount at various locations, such as the library. Corps organizes banquets in the round house (roundhouse) located on campus.

Surfing Queensland

The campus is also a gym where I've trained. It has a swimming pool, tennis and badminton courts. Between school and Bondi Junction is Centennial Park where it is okay to go jogging. In the summer it will be about 40 degrees in Sydney so then it might be nice to run in the shadows of all large trees.

Travel and holidays

In Australia, there is very much to see, too much for one year with only a student budget. At UNSW, four courses in parallel for 13 weeks during a semester. Exam period is usually about a month. In the middle of the semester, it is a stop for a week of holidays. The school year in Australia starts in March with a winter break in June-July, the year end in November. I can definitely recommend starting your exchange in July and end in June. Benefits:

• It fits with the Swedish school year.
• You will experience three summers and no winter.
• You get three to four months of summer vacation to use to travel around the wonderful Australia, the world's most beautiful and most violent country!

We came to Australia during their winter in early July. It was pretty cold in Sydney but after a month started in the spring. After a month of school was the perfect time to take a week off. We flew with budget airline JetStar (compare Ryan Air) to Cairns. From there we took a bus to Port Douglas where we stayed at the hotel. Check resesiterna for great deals! Cairns is a great city on the edge of the barrier reef / rainforest. Port Douglas is a few mil to the north and offers in contrast to Cairns a great beach. We took two boat trips and snorkeling in the Barrier Reef (cost about 200 AUD for a full day). This is probably the best trip I have been to so far.

After school ended, we decided to see more of Australia. We bought a car [1] and went south. As the summer vacation was so long we did not have money to get by at all times. We therefore decided to get a job in a month. The options available to find a job as a foreigner is often cafes or restaurants. We chose to work in the "agricultural sector". Agriculture is also a very big industry in Australia (together with mining and education). Many seasonal workers are working to pick fruit, bananas, apples, kiwi, grapefruit and mango are some examples of fruits that thrive in different regions from Melbourne up to Cairns. Me and Sofia was working at a winery in the small cavity Penula. Penula located in Coonawarra wine districts in the state of South Australia 150 mil west of Melbourne. It takes about two days to get there from Sydney. Our work consisted of twig grapevines strains. This is called "pruning" and must be made one month before the berries must be harvested (just as they begin to grow out). Unless the trees "prunas" will all the fruit on the trunk instead of the foliage which gives a bad wine. The work was tough, especially for Sofia who has some back pain at times. The first day we worked in 43 degree heat for eight hours. The salary was approximately 100 AUD a day, which was enough for food, shelter and a few weeks off after the month was over.

Australia has great beaches

Working on the vineyard is absolutely nothing I would recommend. It is slavery. I am sure you will find a much better job if you need and want to work. Australia has low unemployment! Want to work in agriculture (harvesting), call "the harvest trail" which is a service farms use to call in personnel when it is time to harvest in their region. One thing is certain: the job at the winery in Penula I will never forget. You will meet many people from all over the world!

After Penula we traveled along the south coast back to Melbourne. I would recommend Southend has a fantastic beach and national park. The coastline is stunningly beautiful. We stayed themselves on a camping (it was a few weeks before the Australians got holiday) and sunbathed, swam and caught a few fish.

The route then went to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road, which is another attraction that I recommend. Beautiful scenery in sandstone with interspersed beaches during the high walls of rock is what it is about.

Work on the vineyard in Australia

The last month we took the car north of Sydney. There hittars towns such as Byron Bay, Noosa Heads, Fraser Island and Brisbane. Brisbane is nothing to visit but Byron Bay, however, vehemently. The surfers start far out and surf along the beach giving a long ride. My surfing experience in Byron Bay is a memorable one, next to me in the wave turned up a bunch of dolphins who wanted to play! It can not see every day in Sweden. In Byron Bay, I recommend to visit the Balcony restaurant serving good food in a nice environment.

Sydney

I will also say something about Sydney. Sydney is famous for its harbor with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. As you might imagine, it is also a very nice port! There is much else to do after looking at the Opera House for an afternoon. Take the ferry to Manly is a good option. Manly is located on the northern peninsula at the entrance to Sydney Harbour. From the harbor, take a ferry that takes about 30 minutes. Manly offers great shopping and surfing on one of Sydney's best beaches.

Coogee and Bondi Beach are two other beaches you will visit in Sydney. It takes about an hour to travel from the beaches on foot along the coast. When you get to Sydney in July to look for whales. These migrate up to Queensland to give birth to their calves in warmer waters. Australia no longer has any whaling as thousands of whales passing the coast. The day before I went home I saw a selection of Coogee Bay! In addition to whales, Bondi is famous for its surfing. You rent a Barda with wetsuits for around 20 AUD depending on demand and then you just have to start paddling. I met a friend who was able to surf the net and gave some good lessons, otherwise you can take surfing lessons by different companies on the beach. Surfing is hard so please be patient! My advice is to not buy any short surfboard before you can surf, it's hard to surf on a short surfboard.

Skyline of Sydney

I would recommend Thi-food in Sydney (the block between the school and Coogee). About six restaurants compete by customers, which provide affordable and good food. Tapas bar in the area is too cruel! Another tapas restaurant that is cruel is Kika's located on Victoria Street near Kings Cross. Test it before your fösta night out at Kings Cross (which together with Ivy at George Street and Oxford Street is where you go out in Sydney).

Tennis can also play in Coogee for a good price. I have defended Sweden's honor against a Norwegian, a couple of times a week during the last semester. Things went well at first but worse towards the end. Norwegian Axel ( www.axeljuul.com ) would go for another year at UNSW and need a game mate!

General comments on the stay abroad

After a year in Sydney, I am a better person in many ways. My language has improved along with my confidence. Australia is in many ways similar to Sweden. People are friendly and as an exchange student, I have always felt welcome.

Australia is incredibly hot in the summer. Remember sunscreen and buy a hat with a brim. Leave the suit at home and pack your flip-flop (Australian thoungs, which also can be translated to strings in Swedish).

To see as much as possible of Australia for a reasonable price, I recommend that, like me, buying a car. Team up with a friend or purchase one yourself. Think of what I previously wrote for registration (see footnote 1). Also remember not to do that and I buy a Ford, they are worthless crap cars that break [2] . Because it breaks so exceptionally well, many people know how to cook them, which is the only advantage the brand offers. Example: When we stopped the car at the winery two days from Sydney did not start (which was corrected by changing the ignition coil). Once you bought your car, you can visit the Blue Mountains (see Grand Canyon) and the Hunter Valley (great wine region north of Sydney) for free. Routes which would otherwise costs of 100AUD. South of Sydney is Australia National Park which is also worth visiting with nice deserted beaches.

Australia is also the world's most dangerous country. Spiders, Sharks and Jellyfish, I've seen it all up close! With common sense, you will almost certainly survive one year.

Expression of selected courses

A difference that is worth mentioning is how they are studying in Australia in comparison to Chalmers. As in previous trip reports have described, it is important to work continuously during the study period. I do not think it is possible that only the exam to study for high scores. The reason is that most classes have group projects, labs and assignments, which usually provides about 50% of the grade. This can be good and bad depending on your attitude. I take most of what I do very seriously and have a need for control. This I had to work out during my year in Australia, which I afterwards think is very good. In group work, it is always different motivation and knowledge. My experience is that Chinese people are motivated, but perhaps not as good at expressing themselves in English. Americans and Norwegians are better at expressing himself with the poor motivation. Ideally, the rating is to work with the Australians, who are in school to study. Best work I left, however, in conjunction with a group of Chinese people in a research course in which we succeeded in 99 out of 100!

All the courses I have chosen has been good quality, it really feels like I have learned twice as much as at Chalmers and at the same time had plenty of time for a lot of fun outside of school. This is awesome. Many might think that how much you learn and how much you are experiencing are inversely correlated, but this is not the case in Australia!

Semester 1

I chose to read the equivalent of term two and three at Chalmers during my exchange at UNSW. That means 45 Hp (6 courses) elective courses in my field of study and 15 Hp required courses. Coming years at Chalmers should I read the forward one and four (ex-work) and then be finished with my Master and Master.

Applied Marketing Research (post degree)

Applied Marketing Research given by Professor Gary Gregory the marketing department. The course responds as a substitute to the research methodology, which is a compulsory course in Qom. Just as it should is the course about how to do research. It goes through quantitative and qualitative methods (eg fukusgrupper and various types of surveys) with a lot of details on how to practically do. All steps in the research process is reviewed (define problems, set goals, figure out an approach to solve the problem, complete the survey and then analyze the results to draw conclusions). In this course you work practically with one project at a company. I worked with the Bell Shakespeare Theatre performing in the Opera House. The organization is known as non-profit and living on donations and grants. We examined what motivates people to donate to the organization and various means to improve the meeting with donors to increase revenues. I held a focus group with people who give millions to the company which was a challenge! In retrospect, it was the process and outcome of the Ogre much better than my bachelor work.

This is not a course I recommend if you want an easy grade with little work. Gary demands a lot from his students, and my report was over 100 pages and it will be a planning report and two labbinlämningar. This course is for those who want to learn something. I imagine that it would be appropriate for management consultants (probably?) Are working on similar problems and approaches.

Web Applications Engineering (entry level)

During my degree I have studied Business Administration with IT focus. I like IT because it gives me an actual / actual (English tangible) knowledge. Although I read Business Administration I share the view that management much about common sense. This can be congenital but can also plug into.

IT today is very much about web development and mobile applications. WAE teaches web development from scratch in Java J2EE. This means servlets and JSP. The exam is 50%. The other half are labs and a major project is to develop a web application. This is instructive but takes much time. Once again, read this course if you want to learn something, not if you want to have time for anything else! This was undoubtedly the most time consuming course I have ever read. In addition to the basic techniques in J2EE I also learned to use the framework, Hibernate for object relational mapping (ORM) and Run for security and web flow. WEA, I read as an elective course.

Business Process Improvement and Quality Management (entry level)

BPI & QM, I read as a substitute for a mandatory course in Qom called something like that. UNSW is not as good as Chalmers on production and this course is generally all it offers. The course covers the Six-sigma is a key technology in quality management. This interests me because I like stats! Lean, queuing theory and Little's Law is no other "concepts" as you work with the pitchers. Ogre has two "case" (Harvard), which dissolves in the group, two individual assignments as well as a business venture in a group. All projects are small, however, with reports on five sides. This course is not as heavy workload as the two I described earlier. However, it is well worth reading. The lecturer, Mr. Tong, is pleasant and well-read. Many people find him boring because he uses a lot of Power Point. Try to ask lots of questions as to better enjoy!

I've learned that the theory of Operations Management is terribly simple. The hard part is daring to apply!

International Project Management (entry level)

International project management, I read also as an elective course. The course was designed by a project manager from the industry. Interestingly, the focus on culture that was, although I may not agree with everything that Hofstede (guru of culture) say about Swedes, Americans and Chinese.

This is a course you must read if you do not want to put so much energy. It was not an exam and the examination consisted of a few small submissions. A group project was conducted which was also small. The group size of eight were too great. I worked alongside people from Pakistan, China, Thiland, Australia and Sweden. My opinion is that the score was a lot on how involved and interested in you was to follow the discussion on the lesson, which is viewed as a lottery. In my opinion, was this not a good course!

I read two courses held by Civil Engineering (Swedish road and water). Generally speaking, none of the speakers using Power Point and that the courses were more unstructured with poorer course PM. The workload and the quality was slightly lower compared with the institutions marketing, Business and Computer Science.

Semester 2

Computer Networks (entry level)

The course was all about computer networking, focusing on the Internet. All parts of the network stack were discussed, beginning in the application layer and terminated in the physical transmission layer (+ security). I had a good overall check on this before but the course went on to a great level of detail in all protocols. A packet sniffer (Wireshark) was used to study protocols for labs.

The focus of the submission were on application and transmission layer (TCP / IP). The lab was to set up an overlay network (as used in, for example Skype or BitTorrent). Other labs was about to implement TCP in a simpler form.

Management of Risk (post degree)

Risk management was about how risks should be tackled in a systematic manner. Several standards specify risk management, including the famous PMBooK (project management). It is about defining risks, set goals for their risk management, assess risks, develop alternatives and act. The focus was very much on the risk assessment / analysis, which can be done both qualitatively and quantitatively. The teacher liked to count so there were many statistics. Probability theory, regression, interference, Monte-Carlo simulation and a lot of different techniques were used. Read the course if you like this, in my opinion a perfect course for the engineer.

Skills Negotiation (entry level)

Negotiation Learn all about learning to negotiate. This is not simply a person who is accustomed to not haggle. There are two different schools of negotiation theory; competitive and cooperative bargining. The first is to grab the cake while the other is to enlarge the pie. An insight that is extremely important in negotiation methodology is not to underestimate his opponent, who is never dumber than you! A variety of techniques available to work with and the course's approach is to apply the techniques in the simulations. A simulation is held every week with a new theme which they work in groups with and with other students. Roles and requirements will be assigned as homework. Every week, it is also 3-6 articles to read and a little from a course book (which I bought in vain).

The course is incredibly interesting, perhaps the most interesting I've read. However, it is difficult to get good grades, competition is tough stone of the Australian School of Business. Two brief essays determines your rating which I think is difficult. It's all about subjective quality rather than more measurable quantity!

Stretegy and Entrepreneurship (undergrad)

This was the only course I read on below grade level (ie not at the master level). We will read two such courses to master (as I'm told). It was obvious that the course was in grade because it was a little less to do. When you read the four courses in parallel, it is smart to have someone to take a break in.

The purpose of this course was at least going through what you need thought about when starting a business and writing a business plan. Every week was a guest speaker from a start-up companies and held for 1.5 hours. Regular lessons were also held for 1.5 hours per week.

I have previously started a business during high school and was very inspired by the course. My goal is to make another start in the near future and the course definitely helped me to think properly and to develop one of my best ideas!

Finally on the topic courses

I chose the Masters program Quality and Operations Management because it can be combined with exchange students. All master's programs do not accept the substitution of courses in an exchange with those who read at Chalmers. This is terrible and wrong, and I really hope it will change in future. By MEI program managers, I got the explanation that Chalmers is as high quality as compared to other universities, so whether you read the exact same thing abroad, you have to read about it when you come back to Chalmers. My experience of UNSW, and all the world university rankings, however, proves the contrary, most exchange university is better than Chalmers! In Qom has, however, the right attitude, are the same courses at your exchange university so they can respond as a substitute against the courses offered in the program at Chalmers. So I would urge you to choose Qom and say no thank you to all proud program managers!

Starting from the courses to be registered after the exchange is completed in three copies. The rating is not included in your rate at Chalmers.

Resources

Trip report in pdf format!

www.davidgustafasson.com / blog - My blog from Sydney.

http://sofiakarlssons.se/ - Sofia's blog from Sydney. Very well written and funny!

http://sofiakarlssons.se/2009/07/ - A little about how the first month can be when you come to Sydney!

www.davidgustafsson.com / photos / on-flickr - Great pictures. Worth seeing for those who want to know what awaits you in amazing Australia, the world's most beautiful country!

www.flickr.com / techonomics - Beautiful pictures from Sydney and our adventures!

www.techonomics.se - My Swedish site, some information about scholarships and so on.

www.handbook.unsw.com.au - Courses at UNSW.

Penula, the center of Coonawarras Wine

http://www.balcony.com.au/ - The Balcony in Byron Bay.

http://southcoogeebowls.com/ - Lawn bowling in Coogee: In Australia, bowling is on the grass instead!

www.briskis.se

[2] Cracked radiator = 1000 AUD, Ignition coil = 200 AUD, Oil = 200 AUD, broken AC = Fixed yourself.