EVENT UPDATES

Global Experience Distinguished Guest Speaker Series

Join the Global Experience team for the second Distinguished Guest Speaker Series for 2011 featuring Geraldine Cox AM, Co-Founder of Sunrise Children's Villages. The Global Experience Distinguished Guest Speaker Series features a prominent high-profile local or international guest speaker each Study Period, who will share their own career insights and experience with Global Experience students.

Geraldine Cox started her career with the Australian Department of Foreign affairs at the age of 25 in 1970 with her first posting to the Embassy in Phnom Penh, when the Vietnam War spilled over into Cambodia. There she lived a life of privilege under the diplomatic umbrella, while hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were suffering in unbelievably deprived living conditions as they fled the countryside to the city, to escape the provincial bombing by the Americans.

For the milkman's daughter from Adelaide this had a lasting impact which she carried in her heart throughout her other postings to the Philippines (5 years), Thailand (3 years), Iran (3 years) and finally America (3 years) in the Embassy in Washington DC, before returning to Australia in 1987. After resigning from the government in 1987 she worked for 8 years with The Chase Manhattan Bank in Sydney before deciding to live in Cambodia in 1996.

Geraldine's original experiences in Cambodia never left her and on a return visit in 1993 she became involved in helping an orphaned Cambodian child. From that small beginning Geraldine co- founded what is now the Sunrise Children's Villages.

Date: Wednesday 7th September 2011

Time: 6:00-8:30pm

Where: The Bradley Forum, Level 5, Hawke Building, City West Campus

RSVP: Click here to register your attendance

For further information: Visit the Global Experience website or email globalexperience@unisa.edu.au.

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Global Experience Orientation

Recently joined Global Experience?

Then come along to the next Global Experience Orientation on Friday 19th August and learn how to make the most of your Global Experience program.

Orientation is a compulsory part of Global Experience and will reward you with 5 points towards your Experience Suite.

Date: Friday 19th August 2011

Time: 10:00-3:00pm

Where: The Bradley Forum, Level 5, Hawke Building, City West Campus

To register: click here to register your attendance 

The final Global Experience Orientation for 2011 will be held on Wednesday 12th October so if you can't make the August Orientation add October Orientation to your diary!

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EXPERIENCE SUITE ACTIVITIES

The 2011 OzAsia Festival Symposium: Australian Fusion: Imaging Our Eurasian Future

The 2011 Adelaide Festival Centre OzAsia Festival Symposium will be delivered by International entrepreneur and Vice-Chair of Australia-China Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, Jason Yat Sen-Li.

What might be Australia's place in Asia as the region surges in economic, strategic and cultural power? And what might be Asia's place in Australia, such that we may enjoy continuing prosperity, peace, optimism and a sense of belonging? The 2011 Keynote address will probe the potential of a Eurasian-minded future for Australia- a confident, expansive and inclusive future for all- if we are prepared to embrace it.

Date: Thursday 8th September 2011

Time: 5:30pm for a 6:00pm start

Where: Her Majesty's Theatre, Grote Street, Adelaide

To register: Click here to register your attendance

For further information: Visit the Hawke Centre website

Experience Suite points: Attendance at the 2011 OzAsia Festival Symposium will reward you with 5 points towards your Experience Suite.

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Your Culture, My Culture Program

Want to take part in Peer Mentoring at UniSA?

Then why not get involved in the Your Culture, My Culture program.

Your Culture, My Culture is an innovative peer mentoring program established for students in the Division of Business at UniSA. As a participant you will be matched with a group of 3-5 students based on your preferences and the culture you have requested to learn about.

If you are planning on going on a full semester of student exchange, this is an excellent opportunity for you to prepare before you go!

To apply: Fill out an online application form. You will be contacted shortly after you apply with the contact details of your group.

For more information:  Visit the Your Culture, My Culture website

Experience Suite points: Participation in the Your Culture, My Culture Program will reward you with 15 points towards your Experience Suite.

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2011 Governor's International Student Awards

Think you could be named International Student of the Year?

Global Experience students have been invited to apply for the 2011 Governor's International Student Awards, a StudyAdelaide initiative.

The awards, endorsed by His Excellency the Governor of South Australia are presented for outstanding achievement by international students in the following areas:

•  Academic Excellence

• Sporting Achievement

• The Arts

• Community Engagement

• International Student of the Year (major prize)

The winner of the major prize will win a return trip to their home country and winners in all other categories, an ipad 2.

The awards will be presented by the Governor of South Australia at an awards ceremony at Government House on the 14th October.

To apply:  Click here to download an application form.

Applications close Wednesday 31st August 2011

For more information: Visit the StudyAdelaide website

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The Exchange Reality

By Alex Dunkin

In 2005 I travelled to Italy on an AFS student exchange and recently returned to my host nation where I was able to reflect upon my year abroad in greater depth than previously.
It was hard. No denying it. All the experiences, the struggles and the friendships thrashed along at high speeds leaving the exchange now as nothing more than a memory.

To begin with it was a fond memory combined with the strong desire to return to Italy or at least to prolong my exchange in the country. As most exchange students would know, this is not a possibility. However, returning to the country is a possibility. So again after four years of saving and planning I returned to Italy for the second time since my exchange, the first was in 2008.

People, places and feelings all change over this time. Seeing everyone again is a tribute to that fact. Some people I have never seen nor heard from since my exchange yet they still feel like part of my life. All the while during my stay more truths come out. More than what will ever come out during an exchange. 

I found the reality of the exchange was only completely felt several months after returning to Australia. Everything that I achieved, everything that others did for me came to be acknowledge after the exchange, almost too late to thank the people involved in person. It was afterwards that I recognised the real courage of the friends that stood by me during some of the harsher discoveries about myself. I wasn’t the most truthful person during the exchange yet some of those friends still smile when we meet and still host me when they can.

These friends may not remain in contact with me on a regular basis but when it comes time to seeing each other again they are there and together we discovered new experiences even if it is just a short adventure on a night out. My host family as well was not truly appreciated during the exchange. At times we clashed but they held on and battled the experiences along with me. I wasn’t always accepting of their different way of life and had to remind myself that I chose to be there.

Once the reality hit months later I came to admire what my host family had done for me. The fun times, great memories and even arguments stemmed from our attempts to adjust our ways of life and figure out a way to live together. It is such a personal sphere that each host family welcomes a student into. Nothing is more private than a home where all of the family’s memories and secrets are kept yet the families open the doors nonetheless for the child of complete strangers.

Four years later and retracing some of my steps of my exchange highlights how much my life has changed for the better after spending a year developing myself with my host family and with the friends I met along the way. I would not be studying at university or have the desire to learn more about the world if I had not been on exchange. Prior to it I was closed minded about my options yet now I can see there are no limits in what can be achieved, just sometimes you will have to take the more difficult path of discovery to get there.

Seeing everyone again, even if it was only for a dinner, was a discovery in itself. My host family is still accepting of me and some extra truths they discovered about me in the trattoria. My friends are studying hard but still find the time to go out in the evening and spend time together. Some of them have not yet travelled far beyond on the borders making me realise how few people see the world at such a young age.

Another harsh reality is that lack of appreciation that I felt during the exchange. It is only afterwards that I truly knew what everyone had done for me. What my friends had done. What AFS had organised for me, mostly done on volunteer time. And especially what my host family had done for me. It is only now that I would be able to thank everyone and know what has actually been done to thank.

Want to go on Student Exchange in 2012?

Applications for a Full Semester of exchange for Study Period 2 2012 close on the 1st August 2011. So get in quick to apply! For further information on Student Exchange and how to apply go to the UniSA Student Exchange Program website.

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The Fukushima Nuclear Earthquake Disaster

By Alex Dunkin

The recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami has created an uncertain situation within the nuclear industry, especially surrounding the future of nuclear energy and confusion around the causes of the current disaster at Fukushima.
Philip White, former International Liaison Officer with the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Centre, CNIC, in Tokyo spoke about these concerns in a recent University of Adelaide seminar on the Fukushima nuclear earthquake disaster.

Mr White explained that three out of the six nuclear reactors at the nuclear plant exploded as a result from damage that occurred during the disaster. However, these were not the only nuclear plants damaged in Japan as a result of the earthquake and tsunami.

Strict governmental controls on the release of information make it difficult for details to be accessed in Japan and as a result a greater level of information has been uncovered by foreign press. This includes information about the damage incurred on the Onagawa and Tokai II plants and uncovered reluctance from the government to release information that predicted and mapped the spread of radiation.

As part of the discussion Mr White included an explanation of nuclear reactor designs which displayed that the protective barriers do not offer as much security as it may appear in the widely distributed designs.

The different barriers in the designs take on a different number in a form of propaganda that attempts to display a system of blockades with individual functions. In reality, all these barriers function as one, offering little protection in a melt down.

How the disaster is presented to the public extends beyond this as the Japanese government and the owners of the nuclear plants refuse to accept responsibility for a disaster. The Japanese government is calling Fukushima a human-made disaster which would make the owner of the plant liable for damages whereas the owners are calling the incident a natural disaster.

Mr White explained that according to Japanese law a natural disaster places no responsibility on an individual or organisation whereas a human-made disaster does.

The official word from the government and nuclear industry has been challenged particularly by the public who have seemingly become experts on nuclear power and radiation overnight.

Insight into the current situation by Philip White presents the future options for Japan and nuclear energy. With nuclear’s current monopoly on the energy sector in Japan it will be difficult, although necessary, for Japan to consider alternative energy sources. This is especially vital considering the high possibilities for natural disasters in Japan and the Japanese need to recognise the potential dangers.