Photo: Travelling around London (Big Ben) with friends.
Jasmine is studying at Flinders University and undertook an exchange at Royal Holloway University London, during Semester 2 2025.
I wrote my first post in my first week at RHUL, but now I’m in my second week of being back in Australia, with so much reverse homesickness.
I had absolutely the best time studying abroad and engaging in an entirely different University culture. My weekends were booked up with sightseeing in Italy, England, The Netherlands, Germany, Northern Ireland, Wales, and, of course, day trips to London! One of the biggest differences between RHUL and Flinders was the sports culture; after lectures I would attend netball training and games (whether competitively or the campus-based mixed rec league), score volleyball games whilst my friends played, and watch rugby games with many other students. So, if you really enjoy sport, I’d really recommend an exchange at a British university!
I also really enjoyed the Student Union- this ensured that all RHUL students had access to cheap nightlife on campus, with differing themes each week. It was especially awesome to properly celebrate Halloween on campus! In terms of people, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by two wonderful friend groups, one with short-term exchange students and the other with long-term domestic and international students. I met majority of them through the International Welcome Week, where international students were able to move onto campus a week prior to domestic students. This really helped us further integrate into campus life and initiate friendships with likeminded peers! I miss all my friends so much, but I also feel very privileged to know so many wonderful people across the world. A friend from Adelaide and another from The Netherlands even visited me, and I thoroughly enjoyed touring each of them around the university and London, whilst also visiting the neighbouring areas of Windsor, Richmond, and Staines!
The classes I took involved neuroscience and psychology and only contained a slightly higher workload than Flinders. However, not having a job also really helped with availability, so I was able to manage assignments well. Additionally, I really enjoyed creating content for Flinders and RHUL to promote the idea of studying abroad. Thus, I have since completed an internal transfer from studying psychology to marketing- a change I truly would not have encountered without my time in the UK! All in all, I couldn’t recommend studying abroad more, especially at Royal Holloway. It was truly the experience of a lifetime.
Jasmine was fortunate to be awarded a Mathew Flinders Statue Scholarship to support the exchange experience.
Photo: my netball team at RHUL during my exchange.
