My name is Shengyi and I’m a sophomore in clinical medicine from Nanjing Medical University. I am undertaking my exchange semester at Queensland University of Technology. I am honored to receive an Endeavour Cheung Kong Student Exchange Program grant from Australian Government, and I appreciate that QUT provided such a precious opportunity for me to learn advanced medical technology.
What Brisbane is like
I arrived in Brisbane on 15th February, and now I have been in Brisbane for nearly a month. My first impression on Brisbane is that everything is in large size. Cars are large, beef burgers are large, and streets are large (wide and spacious). Brisbane is a metropolis. There are many skyscrapers and fancy mansions located near the CBD. Brisbane is scenic city with a landscape of lakes and hills. The ecological environment is fascinating, when I’m walking on the street, I can see Australian egrets and smell the fragrance of sweet-smelling flowers.
The place I live
The campus of QUT is quite close to Brisbane city area. I booked my accommodation months ago and I’m currently living with my friends in Woolloongabba. It is convenient, just a few miles far away from GP and not far to stores.
Orientation week
The first week is the orientation week，during which I participated in a variety of different activities. I took part in Study Abroad and Exchange Student Orientation welcome session and got my student ID card with the friendly assistance from volunteers in the library. During lunchtime, I sat down with my friends on the lawn, enjoying the gentle breeze and the food which only cost two dollars.
At the weekends, I went to the Golden Coast with my friends. I took a lift to the top of Building Q1 (Queensland Number One), which is one of the tallest skyscrapers in the Southern Hemisphere and had a bird’s eye view of Queensland. I was deeply impressed by the Surfers Paradise where there were many tourists and local people surfing in the sea.
Schoolwork
The experience as an exchange student at QUT is splendid. However, I also have to face some challenges in my study. My major at QUT is Biomedical, which means I need to memorize a lot of specialized vocabulary and I have to do preview before each of my classes, otherwise I would have difficulty understanding what the lecture is talking about. As a non-native speaker, I haven’t had a class in English before, so it really takes me some time to adapt to a pure-English environment.
