“I at UQ arrived at the start of February. Before coming to Brisbane I had a mini gap year after getting my A-Level results, so I travelled a little bit, including a month in Europe with a friend which was great. And then I was just working, getting some funds together ready for uni.

“I’d been to Brisbane twice before moving here because my sister also studied at UQ. She’s graduated now, but I’d been out to visit while she was a student. It was comforting to think that I knew the campus quite well already, but it was definitely much more exciting knowing that it was my turn and that everything I was seeing was for me.

“I live at Kev Carmody House, which is part of UQ Res. Broadly, I’d say it’s like a hotel! There are 16 floors of rooms, all with en suites, then one big kitchen at the bottom, a rooftop pool, a gym, a cinema room and a laundry room. My room itself is small, but it works fine for one person. It’s got its own bathroom, and you get your own fridge area too. And then each floor has a small kitchenette for the rooms on the floor, which is great if you’ve done meal preps or for tea and coffee. I love it here. It’s great. It also has music rooms, which have drums, DJ sets and monitors to connect your music to.

“It’s as social as you want it to be, I think. It’s not a college. You don’t have to speak to anyone if you don’t want to! But we first years have consciously made an effort to meet up with each other, to chat and get to know one another. And you make your friends through that. Every day I’ll probably go on a walk with someone or meet up with someone from Res, so it’s really nice.

“I’ve got a mixture of Aussie and international friends. It’s common for people who are from Brisbane itself to live at home during uni. So the Aussies in Res tend to be from further afield. One of my really close friends is from Melbourne, another is from Hervey Bay. You meet Brisbane people in your course and then it’s great because you’ll meet up and go to theirs or whatever. But in Res the Australians are from further away. Which is good for an international because it makes you feel like everyone’s in the same – or a similar! – boat to you.

“I’m studying a double degree here at UQ; I do a Bachelor of Business and Arts and I major in geography and sports studies on the Arts side. I’m yet to pick my major for the business side.

“I never really had a clear view of what I wanted to study when I was at school. When I started looking at Australian unis I came across dual degrees. They are not common in the UK. I didn’t know what I wanted to study so I wanted to choose subjects that I knew I was relatively good at and enjoyed learning. So that’s why I chose the dual degree. I’ll graduate with two bachelors degrees after four years of study.

“I don’t have many more units than other students, but I do have to bounce between different subjects which I actually enjoy because you get to have variety in what you learn, which I like. I don’t think the workload’s necessarily much more, it’s just whether you don’t mind flipping your brain between different subjects.

“I take four modules per semester. I have lectures for all of them, then tutorials for three. Tutes are smaller, basically like school. You can ask more questions, get more one-to-one feedback, and it goes into the harder topics to help. I’ve also got practicals for geography and sport.

“My two favourite areas are actually the sport study, which I didn’t expect because I didn’t study that in my A-levels. I did economics, geography and psychology. But I’ve really enjoyed sports. It’s socio-cultural foundations and it’s a really good debate and a discussion topic. I like classes where you’re not just sat watching the lecturer. I like it when people are talking and you get to hear different ideas you wouldn’t have thought of and have really interesting conversations.

“I’m also doing accounting for decision making, which is something I wouldn’t have picked because I’ve never been that great at maths or numbers. But I’m really enjoying it. I feel as though I’ve got a good balance with my modules because I’ve got accounting, which I feel is harder, and then management, which feels more like common sense. So I’ve got a nice balance of subjects that are more challenging and things I find more straightforward.

“When I’m not studying I spend a lot of time just walking or doing exercise or in the gym at RES, but I have also joined different societies. They’re all sport at the moment. I do netball on a Friday. And I play mixed football, which is really fun. And I joined social dance, which I just did to meet a different group of people and do something new. And I’ve signed up next term for Touch Footy, which I’ve never played, but again, I wanted to start a new hobby. So I thought, I’ll give it a go for a term.

“I think that’s the best thing, just to have the mindset of going into anything. If you’re not confident, it doesn’t matter. It’s social. Everything that I’m doing is social at the moment. Just get yourself out there, meet new people and try it. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to keep doing it!

“I’ve made friends with a few exchange students, which has been really nice.
They have a good mindset of always wanting to do things and see things. There was a free weekend recently, so we just went to Byron Bay for three nights. Got on Airbnb, hired a car. We’ve done Gold Coast a few times because that’s only two hours away and all journeys by public transport in Queensland cost 50 cents! My sister is now living in Sydney and I’m going back down to see her again soon, which I’m really looking forward to.

Sadie’s top tips

1. Just do it! 100% just do it, move out here. I honestly think it’s incredible. Don’t be afraid of homesickness; everyone feels that sometimes and it’s totally normal, whether you are at uni in the UK or somewhere further away.
2. Don’t narrow yourself with friends. When you’re at school, you can get trapped with certain groups and not necessarily feel completely yourself. But uni is great. I’ve met people that I love and people that I think, hmm, we probably won’t get to a deeper level. But that’s fine. You’re not going to get along with everyone. So don’t force yourself to be friends with people. You’ll find your people, you’ve just got to be patient. And join as many societies and clubs as possible, especially in semester one. You can always drop things if it gets too much or you don’t like them.
3. Think about what you want from your uni experience. I know that, given how I like to live my life and my personality, I would not have enjoyed university in the UK. I just know it’s not active enough. There’s not much to do. People here in Queensland are friendly and laid back and everyone’s out and about. It feels like a happy place to live. I’ve got friends at uni in the UK that love it, but I hear what they do and think, I would really struggle with that lifestyle. I’d probably be more homesick if I was there, thinking, I don’t like this, I’d just rather be at home. Or I’ve got friends that go home every week and then I think, what’s the point in uni? Because then you’re just going back and forth. That’s like an extension of school, really, isn’t it?