Hey there, my name is Caroline and I am from a large city called Wuhan in China...Now, let me tell you a little about myself.

Hey there, my name is Caroline and I am from a large city called Wuhan in China. I am pursuing my Bachelor of Commerce at Deakin University and my major is Accounting and Finance. After graduating from high school, I decided to study abroad. To find a transitional bridge, I spent two years studying at Wuhan University, which has a partnership with Deakin University. Now, let me tell you a little about myself.

The largest difference between Australia and China is the population. I prefer places where it is peaceful and quiet because it helps me to concentrate on my work and studies. The second reason is that I like the natural beauty of rural Australia. Australia has fresh air and much less pollution compared to China. It has been a little over a year since I arrived to this beautiful country. I have travelled to some iconic places such as the Great Ocean Road, Grampians and more. The views are breathtaking.

I chose Deakin University because Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredits the commerce courses for Deakin University. The other reason is that I received a 100% scholarship (VCPEP Scholarship) from Deakin University for my academic results, and from the financial point of view, it helped me to save a lot on tuition fees. From a career development point of view, this scholarship means much more to me. It guides and helps me in building my career and it always motivates me to work hard and give me best at everything I do.  It gives me the ability to solve the challenges that I face and allows me to work on bettering myself for the future.

I chose this as my major because I am keen to work in the banking industry or in an accounting firm in the future. I love numbers and digits and they do not faze me the slightest. They make me think rigorously, keep my mind fresh and I like using the models and graphs to solve problems.

During my initial few days when I arrived, I was not familiar with such an environment before and I did not know anyone or any places, so I felt very lonely and homesick for a while. After making some friends from all over the globe, it helped me know more about their culture and made my homesickness go away as I made friends for life. Deakin has many societies and clubs which I take part in and is a nice way to make some friends and are also my source of networking opportunities. Here are the pictures of my scholar friends and me. Gradually, I have adapted to the environment I am loving every moment of it.

Time flies fast. I am on the last leg of my course now, and I only have two more semesters to go. Generally speaking, I enjoy my life here. For the studies aspect, I am confident I will continue doing well and study hard in the remaining courses. As for a job, I need to focus more on internships and other opportunities to build my career in order to apply the theory and my knowledge in the real life and get more experience.

In my opinion, Commerce is a very practical course. It benefits you in the future even if you are not in commerce industry. If you are interested in Accounting or Finance like me, recommend you to choose to study these majors. In addition, studying this course in Australia is worth it as you can explore more work opportunities. You will not regret it.

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Originally published on Navigator.