Mei Li

Shandong University, China
Exchange to The University of Queensland, Australia

I still clearly remember my first day at the University of Queensland when I attended the official welcome for international students. Students’ home countries were shown on a huge map on the screen and they would stand up to receive warm welcomes from other students in the hall, students from everywhere. Later I met other exchange students from Korea, Denmark, Norway and many different places and we had a famous “Aussie Barbie” together.

I was busy during the first 2 weeks of classes, trying different lectures, finding compatible courses and setting my own timetable. Unlike in China where we have fixed classes and do the same courses as other classmates, students are given more choice to choose what subjects they want to do and when. Some lectures are held in big theatres, while others are in small seminar rooms. The BEL faculty I am in has the biggest number of international students and lecturers can be from different cultures as well.

Being my first time away from home, the greatest thing I have learnt is not about the English language, not about economics which is my major, but how to live independently. I looked at ads and found a share house to live in. I started cooking for myself every day and after 4 months I became a pretty good chef. I prepared all the food for my birthday party and my friends said “I like the food! Mei, you are a good hostess!”

Australia is a great place for travel, especially Queensland. I went to Noosa the first weekend of the semester and Gold Coast the second and third again because I loved it so much. We went to Movie World and I screamed on all the rollercoasters. We drove to Toowoomba to have a BBQ and played Chinese card games by the lake. I was among the excited crowds in South Bank at Brisbane Fire and thought the wonderful fireworks were all worth the effort of traveling all the way from China to enjoy. Brisbane looked like a fairytale land when Jacaranda blossomed in spring. That’s the most beautiful time of the year. I took many pictures around UQ lake and couldn’t believe it was real. I had always wanted to see the Great Barrier Reef and that was one of the reasons I chose Brisbane instead of other places. After the exams I went there with several friends. I was amazed by the spectacular air view of the coral and sea and kept saying “How can it be so blue and so beautiful?!” I snorkeled in the outer reef and found Nemo in the “underwater rainforests”. We also went to walk in the real rainforest, saw the volcano lake, Spanish castle and curtain fig tree.

After 5 months, I found it hard to part with this wonderland. I had tried vegemite but didn’t like it. I had become used to greeting people with “How’s it going?” and calling Cairns “cans”. I had seen a kangaroo 10 metres away on the side of the road. I refused to walk out of the house without sunscreen and sunglasses. I had seen the Opera House, the Olympic parks and the Great Barrier Reef….It really was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I benefited greatly from that.

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