QUT has been a life-changing experience for me. When I was a younger version of myself, at the age of 18, I decided to move across continents to come to a place called Brisbane to get a degree. When I was applying for universities, QUT was actually one of the very last universities that I applied to, but boy was I glad that I did. So what does QUT mean to me? So much more than the normal QUT student would think I reckon. To me, it means independence, knowledge, freedom and new experiences!
1) Independence
Many people always assume that moving over to a new country for their degrees means fun, freedom and all that stuff. While that is true to a certain extent, they fail to notice the laundry, complete lack of food and money and the amount of cleaning one has to do. Yes, that comes with independence. At first when I came to a whole new city and started living on my own, it was all fabulous and fun! However, when it gets dirty (literally), I realised that independence is something that not everyone can handle. It is also something that moving to Brisbane to attend QUT has taught me. I honestly can’t imagine what kind of a person I would have been otherwise!
2) Knowledge
Considering how I moved to a whole new continent to get a degree (two now…), I had better get some knowledge. But what QUT has provided to me is more than just classes and lectures. During the course of my 1.5 (so far) degrees here, I realise that knowledge comes from your thirst to learn #GEEKALERT. When you sincerely want to learn, and when your professors and tutors can see it, they will be more willing to impart their knowledge, and therefore letting you learn more (AKA BETTER VALUE FOR MONEY). While it is obvious that I was geeky enough to get another degree after my first, it is however the learning experience at QUT that encouraged me to move on further.
3) Freedom
While freedom comes with a hefty price tag (refer to point #1), however it is also freedom that allowed me to roam about Australia when I could at my own leisure. Having been mostly stuck in my little island back home, I’ve never really found much joy in travelling till I came to Brisbane. While that could mostly be blamed on a closed mind back then, I am glad that coming to Brisbane and having so much freedom has allowed me to explore my options further, and therefore allowed myself to foray into different things that I wouldn’t have done so back home.
4) New experiences
QUT. QUT. If there is anything that I could say that is best about QUT, that would be that QUT tries its best to provide new experiences for its students. From Dragonboat Regatta races, to ISS trips to Byron Bay, and to student clubs hosting tons of events and parties, if you are bored at QUT, you probably don’t participate enough. One memorable new experience that I will always remember with QUT is taking part in a Byron Bay day trip with the Singaporean Association in 2013. It was one of the first few times I’ve been to Byron Bay and boy, was it eye-opening! Apart from being able to enjoy fish and chips on a cliff for the first time, I also managed to make new friends, that I reckon will last for quite awhile! So I guess as you guys can see, QUT does mean a lot to me. I would love to hear from you guys too. So what does QUT means to you guys?
