If I could sum up this trip in just two words, I would say ‘fruitful’ and ‘amazing’. I wouldn’t learn such substantial knowledge only in three weeks, if I was not in Australia.

Firstly, from the most intuitive point of view, I could feel the amazing difference of the lifestyle in Australia. In Melbourne, every walk of life has a relatively mature system. What impressed me most was the transportation system. Melbourne is a large city, but owing to the good transportation system, you can travel almost everywhere. But in China, a country with a large population, we haven’t built such a complex transportation system. Also, in China, people won’t greet their neighbors or bus drivers unless they are familiar with them, they won’t show much kindness to strangers. But in Melbourne, most people look friendly, kind, and when I walked on the street, an old lady fell down on the ground, many people went over to help her up, and I heard a woman nearby say: “Is she ok?” it is a common place happening in Australia. Moreover, it’s absolutely impossible to drink tap water in China, but in Melbourne, people will do that.

Secondly, I found interesting differences between a variety of cultures, not only between China and Australia, but also the cultural differences between me and my Japanese classmates. During the three weeks, I met many Japanese friends in my class, we studied together and went to the aquarium as well as Carlton Garden. We had lots of fun. It was interesting to communicate with people from different cultures. I learnt new things from these people, like different ideas, different ways to solve problem, different eating habits. For example, every time after I represent our Japanese class members to write down our idea on the black board, they would say: “Thank you, you’re working so hard.” to me. And when I had lunch with Japanese friends on Sunday, one of my Japanese friends didn’t finish her fried rice, and she asked another Japanese boy to help her. The boy ate all of the rice. I was surprised. I knew in Japanese education, they will teach children not to waste foods. But I was still shocked when I saw it with my own eyes.

Thirdly, I was really satisfied with the course schedule. It was a fruitful study experience. We visited two different companies, and joined many class activities. From these business activities, I now have more direct contact with those business things, and have a clearer concept about my career planning. Generally speaking, the tips I had received in those activities were experience, preparation, attitude and networking. What impressed me most about those company visit was the deep investigation of the company, they prepared a lot before they worked. And they paid attention to the attitude of their employees, they wanted their employees to show their passion about their jobs, because passion can get them to be more engaged.