"Hey Mike, how are you doing. It’s a great day ain't it", asked a tall young man as I passed by him. I looked back as to see who the guy was talking to but it seems that besides him, I'm the only one there. "But why did he call me Mike?" “Maybe he has mistaken me with someone else”.
Friendly and Quality Service
That was one of the best experience I had during the first few days of my time in Adelaide, Australia. It wasn't Mike, but mate (with accent). He was referring to me as mate which means friend or buddy. This is one of the Australian cultures that amazed me. To them, everyone is their 'mate', and because of this, it is not a surprise why Australia was ranked no. 4 for the world's friendliest country by HSBC. Any shop or counter that I went to, the staffs would greet me like "Hi, how are you", "How are you doing", "How can I help you" and It’s rare to see them without a grin or a smile on their faces. Even bus conductors and taxi drivers were not exceptional. They were very friendly, helpful and welcoming. For example, if there is a passenger with impaired ability, or an old people or maybe a mother carrying a pram needing a help getting on the bus, the bus conductor himself would get off the bus and help the passenger. Thus, making the public transports suitable for all types of people. It may be true that they were only following scripts or orders that their supervisors provided, but who cares. These positive attitudes are what the customers want and we want. It will definitely change our moods from a bad hair day to a wonderful and exciting day.
Exchange Program
This exchange program was fully sponsored by the Australian Government under the Endeavour Scholarship. It is a one semester program starting from March until July and all eight of us were each given AUD6000 for the whole duration of the program. That may seem a lot, but trust me, if you don’t know how to plan and manage them, they will disappear right under your nose without you even noticing it. This is a one good thing that I learned from this program – financial management. There were many that needed to be considered; flight tickets, rentals, foods, transportations, books, bills, and not to mention, visiting places and I could list more and more and I’m not saying in terms of Ringgits but Australian dollars. RM 100 for a book in Malaysia is AUD 100 here in Australia for the same book. The challenge was how you want to make sure that all your money is spent wisely and not lavishly.
Adapting
The first few weeks in Adelaide were harsh for us but we managed to get adapted quickly. We were lucky that one of us knew a Malaysian friend that was staying in Adelaide and so we stayed in this friend’s house for a few days before we got our own house. The Malaysian community in Adelaide was very kind and generous and they didn’t mind helping us as this is what they do each time students from Malaysia come to Adelaide. I remembered one saying, “Who else would help a Muslim brother other than his own Muslim brother?” We learned a lot of stuffs from them to help us survive in this country like getting Halal foods, finding Masjeeds, using public transportations, renting a house, what to do and what not to do, what can and what cant and etc.
One experience that me and my friends had was when we wanted to rent a house and how to deal with the landlord. The Australians, I could say, are very particular especially when it comes to meeting promises or agreements. For example, before we signed the contract for renting a house, the landlord required us to carefully inspect the house for defects or anything that may not satisfy us as tenants. How we get the house and its conditions is also how we return it back to the landlord with its original conditions.
The life in Adelaide is also different compared to Kuala Lumpur as it is not a big city, and people here are looking more forward to settling down. You rarely see luxurious cars on the road or big houses. The days and nights are also different. During the day, the city is crowded with people walking in fast pace, working very hard, however, at night, shops are closed and streets are empty. It is as if you’re in a dead city. Compared to Kuala Lumpur, it is during the night that the life gets even more happening, with mamak stores everywhere and people still going out shopping and eating.
Studying
Subjects taken:
Elective subjects (Exp: Total Quality management, industrial actuation and automation, computer aided engineering practice,etc)
Minimum subjects required for visa to be applicable: 3
Grade requirement for credit transfer: D (distinction: 75-84) or HD (high distinction: 85-100)
Experience (I’m taking 4th year courses):
· Strictly no plagiarism (software that can detect plagiarism, etc)
· More practicals, projects, assignments
· No spoon feed, independent most of the time
· Peer assessment for each project done (you give marks to each of your group members based on their contributions and efforts, (see attached)). This makes it fair for everybody. No passive members in a group
· Most of the projects involve dealing with real life engineering problems
· Lecturer never comes late to class. In fact earlier. And finishes on time
· More critical thinking and more independent study (internet, library). Can’t rely only on textbooks. Definitely won’t help
· Reports need to be written professionally (Harvard referencing)
Conclusion
This program wasn’t just about going abroad, having a wonderful holiday, and seeing new people and new culture, like most thought it would be (that was the reason why I agreed to join in the first place though), it’s also about gaining new experiences and getting the chance to discover more about yourself or maybe develop a new character inside of you. It helped me to learn to be more independent and appreciate the world that Allah has granted us to live in. There are a whole lot of things out there in this world that we haven’t yet discovered. This program helped me realize that we need to get out there and see the world with our own eyes and learn new things and make our own paths not just following the same old paths that people before us have used. Therefore, I fully recommend IIUM students to go for this exchange program and experience the benefits of it yourselves.
-Shazrul Afiq bin Zulkifli, 3rd year Aerospace Engineering-
