The 'Hello Vietnam' Exhibition

‘Hello Vietnam’ was one of the big cultural exhibitions which were held for international students in Melbourne. It was unforgettable event with all Vietnamese students, particularly me because I had opportunity to perform the Vietnamese musical instruments and introduce the Vietnamese music to all audiences.

The exhibition included many small exhibitions, such as Food Exhibition, Culture Exhibition and Music Show. All Vietnamese tradition pictures, hats, dresses and food was delivered from Vietnam and exhibited in this event. There was tradition pictures with calligraphy, hats was made by coconut leaves, and a lot of Vietnamese candy, jams. Interestingly, the music show was held with many dances and performances, which was performed by Vietnamese students in Melbourne. Some of them were students, but their performances looked like professional performances.

The exhibition happened and received a lot of positive feedbacks from the Melbourne’s government, the director from many Universities in Melbourne and the bravos from international students in Australia. Hopefully, many cultural exhibitions, such as Vietnamese exhibitions, Thailand exhibition or Chinese exhibition will be held in Australia to introduce an Australia multicultural society to international students in the world.

The library in CQUniversity Melbourne

It can be seen that every university have at least one library for their students to study. Same as these universities, CQUniversity Melbourne has a library at level 4. Even though the library is not too large, it has all academic materials as well as CDs, computers for the learners at CQUniversity Melbourne.

I can say that there was a change in library to get better day by day. In term One, the library had a lot of academic materials for Accounting, Marketing, Computers, but few books for the Arts subjects, especially the Creative Enterprises subjects. It was undeniable that the academic materials for Accounting, Marketing, Computers was crucial because most of students in CQUniversity studied these subjects; however, if the library could keep a balance between the amount of Economic books and the Arts books, it would be better.

Surprisingly, the library has a big change in term Two. A lot of Art books as well as the e-materials are bought. It is getting easy for Arts students when they want to find the materials for their research in CQUniversity’s library rather than in other libraries. Moreover, many services are supported by the professional librarians such as helping with searching materials, borrowing books or providing short courses about using the library for new students. As a student who is studying in CQUniversity Melbourne, I can say that CQUniversity has a profound care to all students and we are happy with this interest.

Friends at CQUniversity

Living and studying in Melbourne, I have a lot of friends. Even though we come from many different countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, China, or French, we become close friends after three months studying at CQUniversity.

Panesorn and Sayed are my close classmates. They come from Thailand and India, and we become close friends after three months studying together at CQUniversity. Panesorn is thin, she has long hair and never ties her hair while Sayed is tall, healthy and has tawny complexion. Studying together in all subjects, we usually share our learning experiences and study together to help each other learning better. For instance, when we have heavy assignments, we sit together, discuss about the assignments and find the way to solve the problems. Panesorn is an intelligent girl; she often has some interesting ideas, which help us get the good marks for our assignments. On the other hand, Sayed used to be a designer in India, so he helps us to design our presentations, make it perfect to achieve the high results from the lecturers. Even though we come from different countries with different culture background, the friendship and the study environment at CQUniversity make us become closer.

Moreover, I still have some friends, which are studying in different faculties in CQUniversity. Tippiwan is another Thais girl, who is very lovely at CQUniversity. She is studying Master of Accounting and very busy with her studies and her working. We knew each other when we studied in GEOS-an English centre in Melbourne. Become close friends, she always helps me and gives me some good advices when I need.

It can be said that the study environment at CQUniversity help us become close friends. Every day, we have changes to learn from each others, sharing the study experiences and hobbies. All these experiences at CQUniversity help us become close friends forever.

Mt Buller- the Snow Trip 2010

Winter in Melbourne is the season for people enjoy the snow trip. Studying and living in Melbourne, this is the first time I have change to enjoy a snow trip with my friend.

We started at 6am from Melbourne and arrived in Buller Mountain at 10am. The temperature outside was around 2 degree, so we all wear warm clothes, gloves, sport shoes and eager to see snow and skiing. At Buller, even though it was very cold, we played with snow and made the snow man. Besides, there was a restaurant in the top of Buller, where we had lunch with KFC, hot milk and chocolate. Some of my friends, they hire the snowboards, boot and toboggans, then play skiing.

After four hours playing with snow, we took a lot of photos and leave from Buller. Everybody have a great day. We are sure that we will come to Buller Mountain again in the next winter.

Shopping Shopping Shopping

Go shopping is one of the most popular entertainment for almost people in Australia. Specially, with overseas students in Melbourne, the Boxing Day and Sales at the end of winter are two big sales in every year, when they can buy not only their fashion clothes, also everything for their life with affordable prices.

In Boxing Day, people can buy their stuff with half prices or cheaper. This is a national public holiday in Australia and New Zealand, is celebrated yearly on December 26, a day after Christmas Day. Boxing Day got its name from an old traditional when employers boxed gifts for their workers on the day after Christmas. At Chadstone, Southland, or DFO, many luxury garment, cosmetic and perfume are all discounted but they are good quality.

In addition, there is a big sale at the end of every winter at Melbourne. People go shopping to prepare for a great summer with swimming or sporting clothes. At many big shopping centers around Melbourne, especially DFO, winter clothes are put away, make room for summer clothing with bright colors and varied styles. Students are also special guests because they often use fashion clothing, cosmetic or perfume in their studying and working in Melbourne.
It can be said that studying as overseas students in Melbourne means not only studying at University or part-time hard working, but also enjoying big shopping seasons.

Party Party Party.....

As a tradition in our faculty, after semester 1 finished, we celebrated a small party for our supervisor and all classmates. This was time for us to relax and remember all nice memories we got during the first term at CQUniversity.

Our small party was celebrated in a beautiful restaurant, which was very near from CQUniversity. After 15 minutes walking from CQUniversity, so wonderful, a nice restaurant appeared in front of our eyes with many kinds of plants and flowers. Specially, we were attracted by foods with good smells and different tastes from many countries such as India, China, and Vietnam, which was decorated in a large table inside this restaurant. Choosing our own meals, we sit together in a small table, enjoin food and had a chat in a warm atmosphere even though the weather outside was very cool. Camera was used to take many pictures because we all wanted to keep them as a nice memory. Mrs Tris-our supervisor, she asked us about our plans in the future and gave us some useful suggestions with a thoughtful attitude. It can be said that during only one semester studying and working together, there was no gap between supervisor and students at all.

Finishing the buffer at 2pm, we went to the park next to this restaurant and took a lot of pictures. This term, two of our friends would finished their study and graduated from CQUniversity, this was time for us to keep all memories with our classmates and lecturer.

Finishing the party, we said good bye to each other and wishing them have a good holiday. During this winter, some of our classmates would visit their home countries, some of them still lived in Melbourne for their working. Hopefully, we would have more happy days to study and work together at CQUniversity.

An unforgettable memory

Giving a good presentation is one of the important learning skills students develop in universities in Australia. In CQUniversity, all students have to do presentations as a part of their study. With us, the Creative Enterprise students, we had an unforgettable official presentation day in front of all staff at the end of Term One. This activity was useful for us because it not only improved our presentation skills, but was also considered a professional working experience in our resume.

Rehearsing is one of the important steps to do before a presentation. All of our presentations were put together to form a large presentation, then we rehearsed several times to make sure we would give a good performance.

Next day was an unforgettable official presentation day for us. Although we did our presentation at lunch time, all staff participated to encourage our motivation. At the beginning, a brief presentation was presented by our supervisor- Dr. Tris; she introduced our programme-Master of Creative Enterprise, and then she did a short introduction about students’ background. After that, I was the first person doing the presentation about ‘How much security is enough at open-air events?’

Sayed- an Indian student was the next person. He talked about ‘Why does the world need advertising?’ AFter Sayed was Panisorn, who showed her thesis ‘What is the socio-economic impact of major sporting events?’ Finally was Ning Yang- the Chinese student, who introduced to the audience his interest research on ‘Why is Asia buying more haute couture than Europe?’ Of course, there were some mistakes in our presentations because this was the first time we presented our research in front of all staff. However, we received many claps from audiences.

Even though the weather was cool outside, we finished our presentation successfully in a warm atmosphere at CQUniversity’s main hall and received many claps from all staff. It was an unforgettable day. Encouragement from staff, some help from Dr. Tris will always be a nice memory in our studies. Studying at CQUniversity, we wish we will have more useful activities like this presentation in the next term.

Study abroad means........

Study abroad means getting up every morning, thinking about what we are going to do and knowing we are in the fight of our life. It means listening to the beat of our hearts and being reminded that we try to do everything we can for brighter future.

Study abroad means carrying heavy backpacks on our backs and laptops in our hands, it means going to university and being reminded of my earlier school life at home. It means many afternoons wandering the university ground or studying alone in the library.

Study abroad means never forgetting the wishes of our parents and friends before we left. It means trying to do our best to make them happy.

Study abroad means feeling upset when we haven’t finished our assignments, it means disappointment when we fail, it means trying to communicate in an alien language.

Study abroad means our laptop becomes our best friend. It means sharing assignments, projects, online games, chat, blogs with our laptop.

Study abroad means we are proud of ourselves for the good changes we have made in our life. It means we are proud that we learn how to love others.

Study abroad means living and working collectively. It means sharing happiness and sadness and love of family with our housemates.

Study abroad means enjoying many interesting things from different cultures in a multicultural society. It means realizing that there are many things we do not accept but they are still acceptable.

Study abroad means understanding what young people are doing and realizing that they can learn from their mistakes.

Study abroad means learning how to keep our promises with people.It means respecting other’s privacy.It means knowing the value of ‘ please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘I’m sorry’.

Study abroad means learning to love and be loved. It means learning to live and live comfortably.It means learning to smile and appreciate the smiles of others. It means knowing that LIFE IS SO SHORT, BUT IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL.

LEVEL 5- CQUniversity MELBOURNE

Level 5 at CQUniversity Melbourne is home to me after the hours of regular academic study with lecturers. In this place, I receive enthusiastic support from the staff of the Learning Skills Unit(LSU).

For most international students in CQUniversity Melbourne, Learning Skills Unit is very crucial. When students visit this center, they not only get help with assignments, but also receive useful advice for their study. For instance, when I have difficulty understanding my assessment tasks, I usually bring the course profile to LSU. At LSU, I have time to discuss with the staff, and see how to best approach the topic. Moreover, sometimes I bring the draft of my writing to them for feedback and comments. Through these ways, I can improve my English effectively.

It can be said that I feel comfortable when I use the many free services at CQUniversity. In this campus, all the staff always care about their students, they are willing to help students in not only their study, but also their outdoor activities. Moreover, many free services are offered to help international students improve their studies effectively. As an international student, I myself am proud of this University and these services. I think this is only offered in CQUniversity.

DR. TRIS - OUR RESEARCH SUPERVISOR

Dr. Tris was one of my lecturers who made a strong impression on my studies during Semester 1. She comes from Wales. She is very kind and has good way of teaching the units in Master of Creative Enterprise program. Following her direction, I knew not only how to take on many kinds of assignments in University, but also how to manage my studies effectively.

Arts Research and Communication in Creative Industries were two units I studied with Dr. Tris in Semester 1. The latter was divided into three small assignments: one presentation, one case study and one analytical paper. Even though all of these were new with me, I could easily finish all three assignments and achieve good marks by following Tris’s direction.

However, Arts Research was the more difficult unit for me. There was only a single large assignment requiring up to 5000 words, which I’ve never undertaken before. Step-by-step, Tris guided me with advice on how to choose my research question, plan my research and choose my research methods. Particularly, the Literature Review and the Research Analysis were two most difficult parts, which we took many hours to discuss. By studying with her during Semester 1, I could understand what primary and secondary research was and how to conduct a survey or do an interview as support for my research. With Tris, she understood that this was the first time I’ve had to write such a large assignment, so she answered any questions I had. With her help, I managed to achieve a good mark for this subject.

I finished the first semester with good results for all three of my subjects. Now, with the knowledge I’ve received from Tris, I can confidently bring research into my study. Hopefully, in the next semester, I will have a chance to study with Dr. Tris again - one very nice teacher I know.

CQUniversity Melbourne - A Strong Impression

A one-week English course in CQUniversity Melbourne made a strong impression on me. No one believed that I studied a one-week English course before I started my degree program. However, it is true and was a memorable point of my study in Australia.

As many international students, our group of four students, including a Vietnamese and three Thais, had to study an English course to meet the entry requirements of CQUniversity. At that time (September 2009), we registered in GEOS - an English language centre in Melbourne. Unfortunately, GEOS folded a week before we could finish our English course. The collapse of GEOS was a shock to us. Without the English certificate from GEOS, we couldn’t register for a degree program in CQUniversity.

It was terrible for overseas students like us and we definitely didn’t know how to solve our problem. Following the suggestion from my aunty, who has been living in Melbourne for a long time, I sent an email to the director of CQUniversity Melbourne with a hope that CQUniversity would offer some help to us. Unbelievably, after four working days, the director himself replied with an email to me. In that email, he noted that CQUniversity would offer a one-week English course without any fee for us. After that, depending on our results in English final test, we could go through to Semester One. Happily, with this special offer from CQUniversity Melbourne, we could confidently continue our studies in Melbourne.

The one-week English course was very exciting for us. We studied with an experienced teacher, and we revised our vocabulary, grammar, reading, listening and writing. Moreover, she taught us many effective methods to study, such as how to find academic journals for our research and utilise many services in CQUniversity effectively. That information was very helpful. It gave us more confidence to begin our first semester in CQUniversity.

It could be said that after the one-week English course, we received lots of useful information and was ready for our first semester. The director, the English teachers and the staff at CQUniversity Melbourne made a strong impression to me. As a student who is studying in CQUniversity, I think I made the right choice in choosing CQUniversity for my studies in Melbourne.