I’ve just completed Day #2 of my internship at Macquarie University! So far, it’s awesome. I’m working in International Student Services (ISS), which is a smaller office within the large department known as Macquarie International. There are about 8 people right in my office (ISS) and roughly 100 within all of Macquarie International. The University has around 30,000 students, and 1/3 of them are international students, so I guess it makes sense that the office is so large.
Macquarie International encompasses many different areas including: marketing, communications, admissions, etc. My office (ISS) has 3 international student advisors. Unlike academic advisors, the international advisors assist students mainly on issues regarding their student visas, and complying with the Australian government on different issues regarding higher education and studying abroad. One of the first projects I’ll be working on involves comparing the old regulations with the new, and predicting what trends we may see as a result.
My supervisor, Kim, is awesome. She is the head manager of the ISS department and oversees the international student advisors, as well as the administrative assistants within the ISS office. She has made it clear that she wants to make sure the internship allows me to learn as much as possible in whatever areas I am interested in. It’s nice because she’s allowed me to research a bit more about the different services offered by ISS, and then let her know where I want to gain experience.
At this point, I am interested in the following areas: Orientation, Farewell Function, Life After Macquarie, iClub, Buddy Program, and Diversity Week. I’ll explain briefly about each of these areas.
Orientation is pretty straightforward, and requires a great deal of planning. Orientation for the next semester will occur about a week after I’m done in the internship, but I will hopefully be involved in the preparation and planning. The Farewell Function is a mock graduation for international students who will not be able to attend the Macquarie graduation with the rest of the students. This will take place on June 28, so I’m excited to be assisting with this! Life After Macquarie is an event that takes place on the same day as the Farewell Function, and is meant to prepare international students for their return to their home countries. Tomorrow, I’ll already be working to edit a brochure that is to be used for the event in June. I already have a background in writing and publications, so this is really great! iClub is a social club for international students. The club also consists of numerous student volunteers who help to plan events and activities, especially during orientation and Diversity Week. The Buddy Program is a mentoring-like program that connects current Macquarie students with international students. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with that, but I have an appointment with the advisor responsible for coordinating it. Finally, Diversity Week occurs at the beginning of the semester, just after orientation. I believe Cristina and I will both be working on this, as both of our departments are involved with its planning and implementation. One project that I’ll be working on for Diversity Week is planning an “Amazing Race” activity. If you know the TV show, you know what I’ll be planning…only for teams of international students!
So…as you can see, I will be VERY busy over the next 10 weeks!!! It’s great to be in somewhat of a routine each day, though our hour-long commute on the public bus and train is a bit crazy. It has rained our first two days too, which has made the commute oh-so-lovely. But, it’s still worth it, of course.
One quick note for all those student affairs readers out there – I was having a conversation with Sinead today, the woman who coordinates iClub and plans activities such as the weekly Breakfast Club. She mentioned that she always invites faculty members (or “academics” as they call them) to join in on the activities with the international students. But, it is a challenge to get them to come. I asked her about that divide between academic affairs and student affairs, and she assured me that the divide absolutely exists at Macquarie. It’s something that they want to work on…
Hope everyone's doing well!
-Sarah
Well, despite feeling the jet lag, we ventured out into Sydney during our first full day here (Thursday). We're living in an area called Surry Hills, a suburb just south of downtown, but definitely still in the city. We live in a townhouse, shared with about 9 other international students/interns. I don't think we've met them all yet, as we've been gone from breakfast until bedtime, seeing as much as we can, and forcing ourselves to stay active until we drop at night. On our first trip downtown, we attempted to take the city bus. We waited at the bus stop until we saw the number we needed, and despite looking directly at the bus driver, expectantly, he passed right on by. We realized that we had to literally flag the bus down each time we wanted to get on. Finally, we made our way down toward the water. We began our sightseeing at the Justice and Police Museum. This was very interesting as Sydney was originally used as a drop off place for British convicts. Plus, until about 20-30 years ago, there was a ton of corruption and organized crime in the city. Next we made our way over to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which are situated around Farm Cove. The Government House (where the governor lived until the mid-90s) is more like a castle, just beautiful. At one point, we were walking around the grounds, and Cristina went to walk along the ledge circling the garden. I watched her step up to the ledge, trip over her feet, and then fall flat on her stomach! It was painful but comical to watch. Luckily, she was okay, and stood up both laughing and wincing in pain. She scraped up her knee and scratched her camera. We laugh about it now, but at the time… Shortly after Cristina’s mishap on the ledge, we were walking along and both happened to turn around at the same time to see…the Sydney Opera House through the trees! It was an amazing feeling. To see the opera house meant that we had finally arrived, officially! A sight you see only in pictures or on TV, and we were standing right in front of it. I’ll never forget that moment. The Royal Botanical Gardens were gorgeous! A little red train takes you around the whole park for $10 and a 25 minute ride. There were unique birds, trees, and even bats hanging upside down above us. Amazing. So far, I’ve been blown away by what we’ve experienced. It’s still hard to believe we’re here. I keep reminding myself how lucky I am to be here, to be seeing things that not many Americans get to see in person. I wish you all could see this! That’s why I’ve already taken a bunch of pictures and videos to share with you all! That’s all for now… -Sarah
