We had a great time when we were in Brisbane and the University of Queensland. This was my first time to go on a trip like this, and I deeply appreciate MPI’s help in providing all of us with such a great experience. This journey made me become more mature in addition to enriching my knowledge about many different cultures and students from a variety of places. In those two weeks, I tried to become independent and had to live with people from a very different country to my own; and also had to adapt to a different educational system.

When I was in Brisbane, I was living with a homestay family. At the beginning, they appeared strange to me because we had never met each other before. I was afraid of living in a strange environment and didn’t know how to communicate with them. Actually, they were very kind and friendly to me; this made me feel more comfortable, and I soon started to get into conversations with them. We eventually exchanged small talk and chatted every day during my time with the family. I shared my daily stuff with them and they in turn shared their life experience with me, as my homestay parents used to travel a lot when they were young. During our conversations, I picked up some of the sounds and speech patterns of native English speakers and tried to improve my own accent. I had a great time and still have pleasant memories of my homestay.

At the University of Queensland, we had many different ways of learning. The program included classes at UQ, a city tour and sightseeing trips to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and Port of Brisbane. We learned about the culture of Brisbane and the speech and sounds of Australian English. The teachers from UQ were excellent and both their talent and their lessons were funny and very different from our education in Macau. The lessons were active and encouraged us to talk more and use more critical thinking. My favorite activity in the program was the city tour. Each group had one local student with us. During the tour, we interacted with Australian students and learned more about the lives of locals; we also had some activities with Japanese students. I really enjoyed the environment of the university when we had a break between our lessons; we could go out and have a rest on the grass to enjoy a bit of natural space. There was also a lot of information provided about the outdoors tour so we could have a safe trip during our weekend.

Two weeks were a short time for us to learn a lot, but I was very happy to be there. I made many friends from many different cities, and found the experiences both useful and enjoyable. It would be great to have more activities like this program. This is a useful and fun way for us to grow up and to become more independent. I enjoyed everything there, especially the university and their educational style. I wish I could be there and enjoy our great time again!