Australearn by Heather DiGirolamo

Study Abroad with Australearn: Chance of a lifetime

Every year thousands of students choose to study abroad. In the Spring of 2010, I will be one of those students. I will be attending The International College of Management in Sydney, Australia (ICMS). The study abroad program which is coordinating my study abroad is called AustraLearn, which also works in association with AsiaLearn and EuroLearn, sending students to numerous colleges and universities in Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Asia and Europe. In addition to offering courses abroad, they also provide opportunities for internship programs as well. So far my experiences with the AustraLearn team have been wonderful. They have a very reliable staff and well established program.

I am currently in the process of making the arrangements to travel abroad with AustraLearn. There is a lot of thought and work that needs to go into the process, but if you are willing to put the effort in the AustraLearn team is always there to help with anything needed. I am enrolling in the Event Management degree program at ICMS. In addition to attending classes, I will also be getting hands on experience while I’m there. As a part of the class, student will help manage and participate in events held at the college. This is going to be a great opportunity to get some real hands on experience.

I had the chance to talk with Faith Olson, a Central Connecticut State University Tourism and Hospitality Studies program graduate, who also attended ICMS through the AustraLearn program. While Faith was in Australia she took courses specializing in room operations. She learned a lot about hotel management, writing annual reports and the financial aspects of a hotel. The one thing that she seemed to mention numerous times was that she how to work and live with all different types of people. ICMS is an International college, which means that there are students from over 60 different countries there. Because everyone is from all different parts of the world, you need to be able to work with people of different cultures. When I asked Faith how this experience has helped her with her career today she stated that “It has a very positive effect for all the jobs”. When she went to job interviews, they were all impressed when they had seen she studied abroad. What this shows them is that you are independent yet you can work with a variety of people, having experienced different cultures. Faith would highly recommend the AustraLearn Program to anyone and everyone. The staff of the program was helpful throughout the entire process.

I am really looking forward to this experience. From what I have heard from Faith, other students and the AustraLearn staff, I think that it is going to be very educational, not only in the class rooms but culturally. I will learn what it is like to work with all different types of people. Studying abroad makes you more well rounded and also gives you a chance to take classes that aren’t taught at every school.