[Student's Essay] As an international student

Before I arrived in Australia, I had never studied with international students. It is uncommon in Colombia to see multi-cultural classes and people from Asia, India and the Middle East so my first day in Australia was quite unique, I started to see many different cultures in one place.

When I started to study at school in Brisbane I found that all my classmates were from different countries and their lifestyles were completely different than mine. Then I started to ask what was the typical food, major cities of their country and they also asked me about my country too.

While we are studying, we also sharing our manners but the funniest thing for me is that many people didn’t know where Colombia is and I didn’t know where other countries are so we took the map and we looked for them and shared our knowledge.

The way people dress was another thing that got my attention because in my country everyone wears the same style. At the beginning I thought it was a little bit strange but now after one year it has become normal.
For me studying as international student has been the best experience in my life, now I have tried many kinds of food, I have a better sense of location, I have learnt about different ways of life and I have bought some clothes that I never use to wear.

from our student Andres - Upper Intermediate Class