Leaving uni to stay overseas for a bit? Here are a few tips. (Hiruni)

The sun is shining, I have some Tim Tams beside me and it is the last day of classes for the semester. It really is wonderful to be back in Melbourne! I’ve had an enjoyable past few weeks in Sri Lanka and I’m not quite sure whether I want to return to the hectic mess that is exam preparation. With SWOTVAC and the dreaded exams fast approaching, I thought this would a good time to share my full experiences of studying away from uni and how it has impacted my studies, as well as share a few tips on how to manage it all.

First of all, I’d like to point out that in no way do I recommend leaving overseas for an extended period of time during the semester.  While I was able to keep up with lectures and assignments quite well, I still missed out on actually being in lectures and tutorials and asking questions and participating in the discussions. Also, I’d like to point out that studying while being away from uni becomes difficult when it affects your mindset and lowers your motivation to study.

For those of you in my in a situation similar to mine where you find that you have to leave overseas, while the above paragraph sounds quite negative, you may be able to stay on top of things if you remain organised and motivated. Here are a few tips to help with that:

• If possible, try to organise the semester beforehand– I knew that I would have to miss a few weeks quite early on so I opted to complete three subjects during the semester instead of four. I also tried to organise my trip so that it would coincide with the mid-semester break. This way I could keep up and not miss too much work.
• Plan with your tutors/group partners beforehand– as I mentioned before in a previous post, I had to notify my tutors of my travel plans due to assignments that I would miss and to sort out attendance requirements. It is best to have these discussions early on to make sure that everyone is on the same page. In addition, if you have any group assignments, make sure to plan with your group and stay in contact while you are gone, I found that submitting my parts early was best for everyone involved.
• Make sure to keep up with your university email and LMS announcements– this was particularly important as LMS notified me that one of my exams was rescheduled to an earlier date. It’s also important to keep in contact with group partners and tutors and check assignment marks and subject updates while you’re away.