I'm Alies and I was an international student at UniSC from the Netherlands. My dream to study at UniSC started when I was roughly 15 years old.

We had to attend a mandatory orientation night at high school which introduced us to different things we could study. Here I got introduced to the possibility of studying abroad. After this night my mother and I started looking around for education agents that could help me on my journey to study abroad.

We learned about an information night at Kilroy about studying in Australia. I was super excited to go to find out if Australia was a good fit for me to study as the country has always intrigued me. 

While at this information night I learned about UniSC through a presentation given from someone from the UniSC international office and she made me fall in love with the Uni and the region it was located in.

As soon as she finished I knew that UniSC was the place for me and I spent the next 4 years working towards making this dream come true.

While working through high school to make sure I got the appropriate grades to get in and working to save up as much as I could, I researched every program UniSC offered and found the Bachelor of Communication with a major in Journalism and a second major in Creative Writing and Publishing offered me the perfect opportunity to practice everything I enjoy from public speaking and communication to writing stories and creating whole new worlds to share with others.

Having completed my degree last year it's hard to pick out one thing that stood out about UniSC. I enjoyed the courses and how interactive they were. With small classes the tutors actually had time to discuss questions and topics with every student.

The assignments involved a lot of actually doing the work, finding the stories, interviewing people and writing it all down instead of just essays and research. I've also found the Uni to have an incredible sense of community.

There's a great mix of internationals and local students and teachers, everyone is super kind and helpful and the university creates lots of opportunities to meet new people and create lasting connections.

My advice...

I've found the most amazing friends through both my classes and just studying with people I've met in class and joining social sports or clubs. Finally, I want to just touch on the fact that even though there's professional boundaries between students and tutors the majority of tutors I've had have been genuinely caring and super in helping me achieve my future aspirations. They have treated me as equals and I know if I run in to them elsewhere they will be as excited to see me and have a chat with me as I would be to see them.

My favourite thing about the Sunshine Coast is the blend between city and nature. I've always been passionate about the environment, taking care of it and immersing myself in it. The Sunshine Coast offers a perfect blend.

There's big stores close-by should you need them but there is a huge emphasis on enjoying nature. The ocean and beaches are effortlessly part of daily life and so are the majestic mountains and hidden waterfalls that make up the coast. There's no place that you could go that you wouldn't run in to at least one of these things. There's no rush with anything and everything is super relaxed and casual.