Hi everyone, I can’t believe it’s already October, I have been in Australia for three whole months! I am having a great time, and the weather is final starting to get Australian.

I have found that it’s a weird experience studying abroad because on one hand your aboard, and you want to travel, see the sites and have fun, but on the other hand your studying, and you have to do uni work. This mid-semester break I have been juggling that balance. I have had assessments to do, but I have also been enjoying South Australia.

I spent a few days in the South Australian countryside with some friends which great fun and felt much more like we were in the ‘middle of nowhere’ than anywhere in the UK and we were only 2hrs out of Adelaide! I also went to Kangaroo Island for a weekend, which was stunning. The scenery is beautiful and the wildlife is awesome! We even had a close encounter with some young Australian sealions!

So here are my top tips for today, about balancing work and travel:

• Be organised and keep in mind which deadlines are coming up and which might clash with times when you want to be travelling.
• Don’t procrastinate (I am terrible at this) get your work done during the week so you have lots of free time for the weekends and holidays.
•  Don’t say no to any experiences because of uni work, you will only regret it later.
•  If you can’t get away for long trips, make the most of site seeing where you are.

Madeleine Peston on a semester exchange at Flinders University from University of Leicester, the United Kingdom: Semester 2 2017

• Read Madeleine’s 1st blog post here