Is an exchange year in Australia a good idea?
After they have finished school, lots of students don’t really know what to do in
their future. They are still very young, live with their parents and are afraid of
starting a job they won’t like and that will keep them busy for the rest of their
lives. An exchange year abroad often seems to be a good idea to think about
the future in a more relaxed way – far away from home and school.
In the following text I would like to show you some more negative and positive
aspects of an exchange year in Australia.
One of the main reasons that stop pupils from going abroad are the costs. A
return flight to Australia is around 2500 Euros and with this money you only
start your journey. Even if you stay with a host family, you will need much more
money than you would need at home: for trips around, eating out, activities
you normally don’t do in Germany like surfing, climbing, diving and so on.
Another big disadvantage of travelling to Australia is that it’s really far away
from home. Parents and kids might get „homesick“ and there is normally no
way you could travel home or even stop your exchange. Some kids might not
be strong enough to cope with these feelings and become stressed and sad and
don’t really enjoy their time in an exotic country.
Thirdly Australia is the country with the most poisonous animals in the world.
Why should young people want to spend their exchange year there? Wherever
you walk or swim it says: Attention – wild dogs, dangerous spiders or jellyfish.
For sure there are better places to have a great time.
There is, however, another way of looking at the question.
To spend a year in Australia as long as you are a student and have the chance
to stay with a host family has lots of advantages.
To start with you will definitely gain a lot of self confidence. For hours you will
fly to this foreign country without your parents. There you will meet your „new
family“ and need to get along with them. And some exchange students either
go to school or have jobs where they have to prove themselves.
In addition to that living abroad for a few months or a year will widen your
horizon. You will learn a lot about the country you live in, about the people
there and their way of living. Even the food will sometimes be completely
different and all these experiences will help you finding your way into your
future.
The biggest advantage however is that after your time in Australia you will
speak English fluently without having studied a lot. The knowledge of the
language is just a by-product of all the things you do every day. You learn
English while you are going to school, talking to your host parents, going surfing
or out with friends. You will start dreaming in English and the language you
have learned there you might probably never forget.
Personally I believe that spending some time abroad is a great chance for
young people. It doesn’t really matter where you go as long as it’s a few
months you can travel because you will need at least 4 weeks to start feeling
relaxed and able to learn. So don’t mind becoming homesick and try to earn
some money to realize this dream. It’s for life.