Katey Halliday: UK, Leicester University, S2 2011

Name: Katey Halliday

Flinders Degree: Law/Arts

Host University: Leicester University

Dates: S2 2011


 

1. How much money did you need for living expenses (entertainment, room and board, travel, books etc)?
Accommodation was all paid for up front (roughly $2500 from memory). You don’t have to buy textbooks there (but they are much cheaper than in AU anyway). A night out was very cheap – no more than 20 pounds, including entry, drinks, and taxi. The bus pass for one semester was about 140 pounds. Expensive – but the only way around and cheaper than buying it on a day by day basis.

2. What were the major differences between the culture in your host country and Australia?
Party culture. Most students move out of home to go to university and either live in student villages or student housing, so there are students wanting to party every night of the week.

3. Was it easy to make friends among the local population? What were the best ways of integrating yourself with the host society?
Yes, very easy. I went on the London orientation where I met most of my friends. I also socialised with my flat mates and others in my student village.

4. Please comment on the academic workload and requirements (e.g. readings, reports/projects, papers, exams) in comparison with Flinders.
Leicester is stricter on preparation for tutorials, but there is no participation mark so there’s really not much they can do about it if you aren’t prepared because you decided to go travelling for the weekend!     The assessment for law students is just one essay per topic, and the standard of marking was lower than Flinders (potentially because I was an exchange student).

 5. What difficulties did you encounter (e.g. homesickness, finances, communication)?
I had a few difficulties with my topics. Make sure you choose which topics you want to study in advance because if they are full by the time you get to Leicester, they will not let you into that class.

6. Describe a typical day at your host institution.
Breakfast in the dining hall, bus to university (about 20 minutes ride), a few university lectures, or tutorial, bus home, dinner in student village, pre-gaming, free university bus to the club at university, party, taxi home!

 

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Outbound Returned Student Interviews

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