Gold Coast, Australia

         To me, going to different places to learn things is my hobby because I want to explore the world while I can. I choose Australia to be my next destination because I love their culture and their people. Besides that, I really want to meet the kangaroos and koalas in person so that is why Australia is my must go country. Thanks to HPU because they have made my dream came true.     

            First, going to Australia was not easy as I thought because I had to do a lot of application to obtain a student visa. Australian visa is much more expensive than American visa; it costs me $500 USD for 8 months. Moreover, I had to go the hospital for health check up because it is a must for student applicants if they want to have a visa. After 1 month waiting, I finally received my student visa.

            For housing, I chose AHN, which stands for Australia Homestay Network. I decided to live with host family for 1 month because it was my first time in Australia. Living with host family would give you a lot of advantages: they will show you around to know places, teach you the easiest way to go to school, tell you where to buy the cheapest groceries. Even if living with them would be expensive, but you could move out after 1 month when you were familiar with everything. Living with host family is the best idea for students, who came to the new country for the 1^st time in their life.

            For the airline, I chose Air Asia Airline because it was the cheapest airline to go to Australia. It took me 15 hours to fly from Viet Nam to Gold Coast with one transit for 2 hours in Kula Lumpur in Malaysia.

            When I arrived to Gold Coast, the AHN’s representative has waited outside to pick me up and took me to my homestay family. It was very nice to have somebody waited for you and told you a little bit about the city where you will stay for 8 months. 

            About my host family, she was a very nice lady. She lived by herself because her children all have been growing up. My house had two more students from Japan and China, they went here to study English. They would be my housemates for 2 weeks. 

          My first day in Australia was very great, I will tell you more about Australia in the upcoming days.