Have you ever thought: how will my life look like when I start doing …? I have. Multiple times. Especially before I started university. It can be quite nerve-racking, but most of all very exciting. Are you just like me, someone who cannot wait? Someone who is already dreaming of walking on campus and planning which bus to take? Someone who is simply too curious to be patient? Then this article is for you. I will explain how an ordinary day as an international student looks like for me.
Breakfast in the sun
8:00 am
Time to start the day! My alarm just went off but the sun is waking me up every day around 6:30 am. If you are not use to year-round daylight like me, this is one of the best things about Brisbane; the lovely, very reliable sun.
8:20 am
Breakfast outside. Every visitor has to try Vegemite at least once and this morning it is my turn. Here I go! I will put a tiny bit on a small toast, just like my Australian friend advised me.
You know you love your uni when you start wearing uni-clothes
8:22 am
Help.
8:30 am
Drinking water. Loads of it. What are you Aussie people thinking by feeding me this???
8:40 am
One bus later than expected due to my ‘interesting’ Vegemite experience, but I’m on my way to the Nathan campus. Lucky for me Brisbane has a great transport service and the only thing you need is your travel card, known as the go card. Good news for Griffith students as you’ll have concession priced tickets and your trip to uni will be very cheap.
The ‘hidden’ café which makes you feel like you’re away from everything
9:15 am
Just in time to Science Building 2 after using my app to check where my class is. I am terrible at navigating to the right building (Nathan is so big!) but luckily Griffith helps me with their app, which sends me straight to the right building. Thank you Griffith for your understanding!!
9:30 am
I may sound like a nerd now, but I don’t care. I love my Documentary Studies class on Thursday morning. My teacher is obviously very passionate about this course and knows how to explain it very well to everyone in the lecture theatre. In this class there are only 10 people, which is great because my lecturer knows me, what I understand and what I think is difficult. Not all my classes are like this though. In my Documentary Production – where I actually learn how to make a good documentary – there are 150 people in the theatre. That really gives me the ‘big university’ feeling.
My beloved Cafe Rossa
1:45 pm
I have to admit that sometimes you have to wait for a bit, but it is worth the wait. Cafe Rossa never lets you down. Free hint: try the muffins! You. Will. Love. It. Another favourite of mine is the Ethernet Cafe which has the best coffee or the ‘hidden’ cafe which has fresh fruit year-round. You will never get hungry while being a Griffith student.
6:13 pm
Time to meet up with my new international friends. One of the very best parts about Griffith is that almost every nationality is represented here. It is so easy to make friends and they help you to make even more friends by their amazing, very cheap events. Today: bowling with SRC for only $2!
7:02 pm
So far I managed to throw two strikes (with some help from my French friends) but apart from that my highest score was 2. Well…
7:45 pm
The bowling was fun, but my absolute favourite moment of the
day is having dinner with my friends. As you might have noticed, food is important to me. One of my favourite spots is South Brisbane. Lot’s of small, not too touristy cafes.
12:15 am
Time for bed. Tomorrow will, hopefully, be exactly the same! Good night Brisbane.
– Marel
