I am so glad to have joined the GPP in Melbourne, Australia with so many students from different areas, like Shanghai and Japan. It was a good experience for me to broaden my horizon and establish friendships with many new friends.

This was my first time to experiencing homestay life. Fortunately, my homestay parents were friendly and nice. They had two children but both of them were working aboard. Their daughter was working in China, which gave us a topic for conversation. They love dogs and had two in their house. On one weekend, my host parents brought us to Healesville Sanctuaryto visit the rare animals in Australia and also feed the kangaroos. 

During those 3 weeks, I learnt a lot, especially about employability skills. As a senior student, I will face the big challenge of finding a good job. Most of the senior students are at a loss of what employers most want in employees.In the first journey, we visited CPA and listened to several speakers who talked about their careers and experiences. As an employer they told us about, what they want in employees. It was quiet excited that I could experience the environment in that building,because my dream is to become a staff in a big company in the future.

Another thing we learnt wassmall talk. Small talk is very important in our life, it may happenatany time. Small talk is an art of social situation, good small talk can show you howfriendly and polite you are. Small talk is not only useful in Australia, but also useful in many other places like Macao and Hong Kong. When we fall into a silence, small talk can break it.

Last, I learnt aboutteamwork. Teamworkplays a significant role in a project. Everyone has his/her own skills to contribute and can fine our own value on the team, so that we can make the project more efficient. For me, I am not a good soloist, I like teamwork very muchand I like the team atmosphere. We can work in a same place and help each other.

Melbourne was so beautiful that I didn’t want to go back to Macao. We did anything together like went to the Great Ocean Rd, we took the steam train, we went to St Kilda beach, and we went shopping in Myer. It was a good memory that I can’t forget. I can’t forget the Saturday morning we got up early to have the oyster and sea urchin as breakfast, alsomy first time to taste kangaroo meat, like the beef. It was a great challengeto get up early and take more then 30 minutes train to go to school.

I like the nightlife in Melbourne. I like walking in the city streets after dinner and drinking with friends in the bar, because Melbourne made me feel safe at night and l like the beer in Australia, it taste quiet sweet and pure. However most of bus in the suburb finishes very early. Most classmates have to go back home early. Luckily, I didn’t need to take the bus.

I hope I will have another chance to visit Australia. It was a pity that I didn’t go to Sydney those 3 weeks, because our free time was too short. This course has improved my English. I hope IPM can provide more ofthese activities for students meet know each other and let more people know more about IPM.