By arosema93
One thing that has stood out to me during my exchange experience is the difference between domestic students (Aussies) and international students (like me). While they all seem to like each other and get along there is definitely a divide between the two groups, at least at the college I live in. My college is comprised of 40% international students, so it is already a unique community in that way. However, it means that most of the domestic students here have friends or a best friend who has left after being here only a semester or a year. As a result, many tend to drift towards friendships that will be around for a longer term. While unfortunate, it does make sense. Luckily as an exchange student here for a year I have had much more success in breaking down the barrier and making friends with all groups of people. Another reason behind it is that the exchange students simply live by a bit of a different lifestyle. Because they are not from here, they are much keener to travel and explore around Australia. Also, exchange students classes only count for transfer credit and not for grades, leading them to typically not care as much about schooling or spend as much time on it. Whereas, being the best uni in Australia, all the domestic students take their studies quite seriously as they worked very hard to get here. This means that the exchange students all have much more time to hang out together and form a closer knit group. However, because the Aussies are here for their full degree, while they don’t care as much about seeing everything, they care more about the community and are much more involved. This leads to a difference where domestic students spend their free time helping out around college, playing sports, or working a job, while international students spend their free time traveling and having fun. Also, exchanges tend to be much more friendly and outgoing. For most of them, a major reason to go on exchange is meeting tons of new and different people from different cultures. Not many antisocial people seem to study abroad, and they also have the ability to bond over differences in culture while Australians can bond over mutual friends and their hometowns and stuff. All these reasons amount to a sort of divide between the two groups, but there are definitely many exceptions to this as well. Also, I can only speak for my own college, not others. Despite this, I have managed to meet and make friends with many Australians still, as well as many internationals and I believe it is safe to say that they are all amazing and have made my exchange experience great so far!