What people say

Moa Ek, visiting MQ from Linköping

Moa Ek came to Macquarie on exchange for Semester 2 2007. At the end of her six months here, Moa felt that she hadn’t experienced enough of Australia and decided to stay for a further six months. She has been working at Macquarie as a research assistant and has seen more of Australia than most Australians. 

Most significantly, Moa worked as a volunteer at Macquarie University’s fauna park where she was able to help feed and care for the wallabies and get close to the kangaroos. As a research assistant, Moa has taken part in field trips around outback Australia. She has recently returned from a trip to remote parts of the Kimberley to conduct research on the spread of cane toads and monitor the resultant decline of the native reptiles, such as monitors and frogs. During this trip, as a member of the Toadbuster Team, she reports that she spent most nights sleeping under the stars while keeping an eye out for nocturnal predators, such as snakes and crocs.

While here in Australia, Moa experienced her first hot, sunny Christmas and helped maintain tradition by eating seafood and drinking beer on the beach. She has also managed to take in a trip to New Zealand, where she explored the beautiful national parks of the South Island.

 

Verena Hell, visiting MQ from BOKU

"I really enjoyed my exchange semester at Macquarie. It was a great chance to meet people from all over the world and to improve my language skills. The subjects I chose were all very interesting and it was a great opportunity for me to know a completely new environment and to apply the studied theory during fieldtrips.

A great advantage of the semester at Macquarie University was that I learned how to do proper scientific research and how to compose papers and reports; this will be very useful for the thesis and research work I am planning to do the ongoing semester.

I consider my exchange semester at Macquarie University as an important part of my academic and personal life. To conclude, Macquarie University is a great place to study and Australia in general a great place to live and travel, especially for environmental scientists!"

Harald Fragner, visiting MQ from BOKU

"As I arrived here in Sydney in the middle of July my feelings were really mixed up not knowing what will happen in the next month. Fortunately you and your colleagues invited us to the morning tea and the first fear was taken away because of you nice guys.

I did a full study load with 11 credit points and I have to say I was really busy over the whole semester. The system you have here is really different in comparison to ours back home in Austria. But it was possible to manage it!

All the experiences I have had in the last months will stay forever in my life and the friendships I developed will surely last for a long time. So I can just say the exchange here in Australia at Macquarie University was the best time in my life I ever had!
Now I'm really looking forward to meet up with the exchange students in Vienna."

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Online forum

We now have the online forum we have been promising for a while. If you are on exchange, have applied for exchange or if you have returned home from exchange, visit the forum and get involved in the discussion. Find out about the different universities from current students. You’ll be able to exchange all the information you need before taking a semester-long trip overseas.
One of Macquarie’s students, Kurt Sorensen, is managing the forum to kick it off. Kurt is studying the Bachelor of Environmental Management and spent Spring Semester of 2008 at BOKU. He is happy to talk about his study, the places he visited and will let give you all the good advice about what you should organise before you go on exchange.

Visit the forum here.