Studying in Australia, Part 3️⃣

G’day! Good afternoon～ I'm Alice. Following on from my last post about finishing my placement, let's talk about my university life during the pandemic～

After the trial by fire of the previous semester, I was more familiar with most things and understood them better. The rough part was that not long after I came back from Taiwan, Australia closed its borders because of the pandemic. Keep in mind that at first Australia was very against wearing masks, yet placements carried on as usual, and my placement for the next semester was in a hospital again. I kept going back and forth between staying in Australia and going back to Taiwan (glad I didn't go back). Honestly I was still scared. The university made it very clear it wouldn't send students to high-risk wards, but if you actually developed symptoms you'd basically fail the placement, because they'd just send you home on leave. Failing a placement is pretty much the same as graduating late, because some placements aren't offered every semester and placements have prerequisites. But after weighing everything, I still decided not to rush back to Taiwan; after all, my guiding principle was to graduate as soon as possible～ The survival skills for each placement are pretty much the same, adjusted a bit depending on how much of an angel your CF is, but it always comes down to being proactive and learning seriously! Oh～ but at my first hospital placement I couldn't attend the practical classes because of the pandemic, so my scope of practice was pitifully small and I could only watch Q^Q. In later placements I could do more and more, and the units I went to got more and more varied～ I went to Geriatric, CCU, ICU and mental health, and got a lot out of every one of them><

Placements went on as before, but the classes we were supposed to attend on campus moved online (paying the same fees for online classes, thanks a lot). For a slacker student like me it was honestly the best time to slack off! I won't hide it from you: I spent most of my time working part-time and dating hahahaha (please don't copy me). Of course there was some serious studying too, since the theory classes decide how painful my placement is, and the assignments for those subjects matter most of all. The hard part was when an assignment was due during placement. Then you need not only to look after your body, mind and spirit, but also to know how to make good use of a GP medical certificate/counselling service to buy yourself an extension, which takes a bit of the time pressure off. Lots of people ask me: is it hard to graduate from QUT/nursing? Are there lots of assignments? That's really hard to answer, but what I can say is that if you do your assignments properly, don't pay someone to write them, don't coast, and work hard on placement, you'll definitely graduate. The lecturers definitely don't hesitate to fail people either (they're especially good at catching ghostwritten assignments!). If you're thinking of plagiarising or paying someone to write your assignments, consider yourself warned off! If you do come to study something you love, I hope you really study hard～～

The most important thing in nursing is the AHPRA registration, in other words our licence～ Applying for registration is easy: just look it up on the AHPRA website. Personally I think the website is very well done; every step spells out what documents you need to provide. All paper documents have to be certified. When you go to a JP, tell them it's for AHPRA, because their certification works differently. You can start applying to AHPRA 12 weeks before you graduate, and I strongly recommend getting your English score before graduation (IELTS 7/PTE 65. Two sittings within six months are accepted, but speaking must be at least 7/65 in each sitting “and” every band at least 6.5/58. If you studied full-time for 5 years in certain countries you can also get a language exemption; for details see the AHPRA website). And of course～ AHPRA also accepts TOEFL or OET for nursing～ If you're still waiting for your degree certificate and transcript, don't panic: once the university has finalised all results, it sends your records to AHPRA itself. The wait is about 4-8 weeks, and it may take a little longer if it falls during graduation season/holidays. The registration fee/renewal fee changes every year; the first registration is about $300 and the annual renewal fee is about $180. One thing to watch out for: nurses and midwives all have to renew at the end of May every year. Even if your registration comes through in April, it still expires in May and you still have to pay the renewal fee, so if you're due to register in March/April, it's better to register in early June. The first registration costs more, and you also have to pay for an Australian + home-country criminal check (if you grew up or lived in another country for more than a certain time, you need to provide that too). Don't panic! Everything you pay can be claimed together at tax time, so keep records just in case. Once you have your licence, they'll email you every year when it's time to cough up the money (Re)(New), so don't forget to pay your protection money～ With this piece of paper you can work anywhere you like in Australia＾＾

Finally got this post about uni life during the pandemic written. As I said, I spent most of my time working, because I had to cover all my own living costs + rent, but my hours were very unstable; usually I only found out the day before whether I had a shift the next day. Luckily they later opened up support payments, and I got through life during the pandemic just fine.

What I want to say is that since you're on a student visa, your studies obviously come first and work comes second. Work is just one way to balance your life, not your whole life, so don't get your priorities backwards～ In the next post I'd like to share my first proper job after becoming an RN! See you next time, bye～

(⬆️Sharing two graduation photos with my family, plus the QUT slogan “the university of real-world.” My parents couldn't come to the graduation ceremony because of the pandemic, so we put our gowns back on and went onto campus to take photos together❤️)

(⬆️The orange is me, the yellow heart is my sister, and the pink and orange hearts are my best friends. I definitely couldn't have graduated without them🥺 God knows how happy I was at graduation aaaah)