"I didn't choose my Career, my career chose me."

Florence won an international scholarship to study a Master of Architecture at Deakin University. She talks about the pathway that led her to study Architecture and how much she loves studying at Deakin.

In August 2020 Nima undertook an online English language course with DUELI to prepare him for his PhD at Deakin University Waurn Ponds campus. Participating in DUELI course helped him to start a new chapter in his research journey as a PhD and research student in order to advance his professional activity and align it with artificial intelligence and machine learning. DUELI was a bridge to enter this stage. In particular, he enjoyed the small group interaction, which gave him confidence when speaking English with his peers. The course did more than improve his English though. It also helped him make friends, familiarised him with living in Geelong and prepared him for the move in January. Prior to this he and his wife (Katayoon) knew little about Geelong but were pleasantly surprised by how beautiful and picturesque the city is. “Geelong has great amenities, a beautiful beach and harbor, good restaurants and cafes, and the incredibly kind local people of different cultures from all over the world (multicultural city)” said Nima.

Figure 1. Geelong beautiful beach in summer and autumn.

 “The city's public transportation is another positive intersection, making it easy to get to and from the surrounding cities and Melbourne, as well as easy access to the city's suburbs. There are also many natural and recreational places around Geelong that can be visited” said Nima.

Figure 2. Exciting entertainments around Geelong

Figure 3. Visit the farms around Geelong.

“In addition, the facilities at Deakin are terrific, we enjoy participating in extracurricular activities such as football and Volleyball. Joining numerous student clubs helped me to increase my friendship” said Nima.

Figure 4. A part of sports facilities of Deakin University Waurn Ponds campus

Nima and his wife (Katayoon) arrived in Melbourne from Iran in September 2019, as the top student (master’s degree in geotechnical engineering) at Tehran Polytechnic University with more than 6 years of experience in civil engineering and geotechnics in Iran. In his third week in Melbourne, he began working in his specialty, Geotechnical Engineering, as a Technical Geotechnical Officer and senior geotechnical engineer at La Trobe University, where he worked for 15 months prior to enrolling at Deakin University. During Corona's difficult days, he worked voluntarily to help his team and students. He is currently undertaking his PhD at Deakin in Geotechnical and also working as a senior laboratory manager at Federation University, Gippsland. He hopes to expand his work opportunities and improve his application of learning to assist Deakin in their research.

Figure 5. Work experience at La Trobe University

Boarding at the Geelong College was the most amazing and unforgettable experience I've ever had. Being away from home (Jakarta, Indonesia) surely was not an easy thing to do, but it was very easy to call The Geelong College my new 'home'. In an instant, the people I met became my new family –family from all around Australia and all over the world. The friends I've made are now friends for life. We went through almost everything together. We laughed and cried together. When you're homesick, there will always be friends to cheer you up, and they all know how you feel. I learned everything from becoming independent to becoming a leader. I developed my love of baking and cooking in the boarding house kitchen. On year 12 I was voted as one of the girl's boarding house prefect.

The Geelong College provides quality formal education, and it pushes the students capacities/abilities to the limit. I enjoyed learning music. I have always enjoyed music. The Geelong College gave me so much chance to improve and be involved in music. Music lessons were provided at school, and of course I took that opportunity to learn to sing, play the guitar and drums. I also joined the school's Stage Band where I could channel my love of Jazz. I won several 'Best Vocals' with them. Upon learning music as a subject, I was chosen to sing at the VCE Top Class in 2012, an event to showcase students from all over Victoria who had a high score on their music performance exam. It started from singing in my little room, to singing in front of over 900 people. It was such a big achievement for me, as I was once a shy girl who wants to sing but didn't have the stomach to be heard.

The Geelong College has really helped me become the better and improved person I am today. I cannot express how very grateful I am of the people I met, of the experience and of the opportunity. I am now studying film at Deakin University, working on starting an online patisserie, and I still sing.

Hear from former DUELI student Apinya how studying English in Geelong helped her realise undertaking her PhD.