Emerson's Exchange to University of Zagreb | Croatia
My name is Emerson and I studied abroad at University of Zagreb in Croatia in Semester 2, 2019. At Murdoch University, I am studying Laboratory Medicine.
The key factors for myself choosing to study at University of Zagreb were...
I wanted to pick a country that would
provide me with a completely different cultural experience to the culture in Australia. Not only that, but I had some major travel plans I
wanted to achieve, and being based in Zagreb made travelling a breeze.
A little about University of Zagreb...
While on exchange at the University of
Zagreb I completed several different cultural units, including Croatian
Language, Croatian History and Croatian Politics. As a science major at Murdoch
this was a huge shift in learning from my usual classes and indeed came with
its own challenges, however I really enjoyed taking part in all classes. The
classes were full of other international students which created a lot of
diversity and, being the only Australian, I got to meet people from all over the
world.
The teaching was very different from Murdoch. Instead of being in a lab like my normal Murdoch classes I was in a tutorial where the lecture conversed with us giving us tasks to work through to assist in our learning. My contact hours for my language classes were quite involved with 2 hours every day including an extra phonetics class which really helped accelerate my learning.
A little about the city I lived in, Zagreb…
Zagreb was an amazing little city to call
home for my semester abroad! Their tram system makes travel around the city
super easy and everything you could need is very accessible. My initial
thoughts would be that the language barrier would create a lot of difficulty in
my day to day life, however 95% of the people I came into contact with spoke
excellent English, and the other 5% just gave me funny looks, however most
locals were very friendly if they noticed I was getting a bit lost in the
translation of things. Zagreb is also a city of cafes and cake shops, meaning I
spent most of my afternoons drinking coffee (kava) and eating all different
kinds of cakes (torta).
The best parts of my experience…
The best part of my exchange had
to be my travels around Europe. Most weekends I was out on a bus travelling to
a nearby country experiencing a completely new culture only a few hours away. Over
7 months I was able to visit 13 countries and countless different towns and
cities. My favourite locations definitely would have been the Amalfi coast in
Italy, Kotor in Montenegro, and Sarajevo in Bosnia, as well as all the
different islands in Croatia!
While I did miss my friends and
family, I loved meeting so many new people everywhere I went! And lucky for me
most other tourists loved meeting Aussies abroad which made my adventures even
more exciting
Some of the challenges about studying abroad…
The hardest thing about my
exchange would have been the home sickness. Being the longest time I had ever
spent away from home, I missed my friends and family a lot. There wasn’t much I
could do to change that other than just try to live in the moment and
appreciate where I was, as you never know when you are going to be able to be
back there!
A little about my accommodation whilst studying abroad…
While on exchange I lived in the student
dorms. They were extremely affordable and meant that I had a roommate who was
able to show me around town and help me learn more about the city and where to
go. I would highly recommend the student dorms if you're nervous about making
friends! Most dorms also have a cafeteria (menza) which offer lunches and
dinners at on average $1.50 a meal with your student card making your travel
budget go a lot further.
Funding my exchange experience…
I did not receive any assistance via loans or scholarships and had to fund my entire way. I used my personal savings from the previous year. However, I was not worried about money the entire time I was away, as the cost of living in Zagreb is incredibly low for students.
Advice I would give to someone considering studying abroad…
Do it!! It’s a once in a lifetime
opportunity, and being a student makes everything 100 times easier!
- Emerson studied abroad at the University of Zagreb in Croatia.
EMAIL: studyabroad@murdoch.edu.au
