International perspective: a German student in Australia
Christine Mittler shares her experience studying her PhD in Australia as a German international student
Christine Mittler
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My name is Christine Mittler and I am a PhD student in aerospace engineering at the University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane. I moved to Australia around five years ago and I am originally from Germany.
In December 2017, I arrived in Melbourne with a working holiday visa and a plan to stay for half a year in Australia before returning to Munich. There is a saying in German that I have heard a few times in Bavaria: “Erstens kommt es anders und zweitens als man denkt”. It translates roughly as “things turn out differently to how you think”.
I enjoyed my time in Australia so much that I stayed for the whole year. Then I applied for the second-year working holiday visa and started looking into PhD positions in Brisbane. Since two good friends from Edinburgh, where I studied my master’s degree, both did PhDs, I had been thinking about that career path for a while. Both of my friends supported my idea to go back to university.
I searched online for PhD positions in Brisbane. With a master’s in pure mathematics and a passion for space technologies and discoveries, I was thrilled when I found the description of my current position in aerospace engineering. However, I was also concerned whether I would fit in, so I contacted my supervisor and asked for his opinion. He assured me that having a mathematics background would be fine; everything else could be learned throughout the candidature.
I applied for the position, which came with a UQ Research Training Scholarship that covered the full cost of tuition fees. The scholarship was also part of the Research Training Programme, which includes a living allowance stipend. This PhD position is part of a project with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and included a research stay.
The research group consists of four PhD students in all. Two of the group study at TUM and the other two are enrolled with UQ in Brisbane. This collaboration was initiated and is funded by the TUM International Graduate School of Science and Engineering (IGSSE), the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering and the Graduate School at UQ.
Luckily, I was accepted for the position. Before the start of my candidature, I visited my family and friends back in Germany, so it was where I applied for the student visa (subclass 500).
Fortunately, my supervisor had provided me with the contact of another student from Germany who was already in Brisbane and who helped me with my visa application.
It is a great idea for anyone who is going to start a position in another country to ask whether there is someone from your home country already at the new place and get their contact details. There are different country-specific requirements and questions in the visa process. For me it was great to be able to ask someone who had already gone through the process.
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I arrived in Brisbane in January 2020, staying for the first two weeks in a hostel (Somewhere to Stay Backpackers) while I was inspecting places to live. This is another tip for long-term living arrangements in a foreign country: I recommend booking temporary accommodation at the beginning, then it is easy to view places in person instead of organising accommodation from a different country.
This works especially well in Australia because the rental market is such that you can usually move in very soon after finding a place. If the stay is only short, it is probably worth investing a little more money and staying somewhere convenient and central so you can make the most of your time abroad.
I found a room in an old Queenslander (a kind of wooden house that is very common in Queensland) in Annerley. The location was close enough to the university campus that I could ride there on the bike I found on Facebook marketplace.
Facebook marketplace is the common platform for second-hand things here in Brisbane. Many of the things you need in a new household can be found either there or at Kmart, which sells cheap household equipment.
On my first day at university, I rode my bicycle over the Green Bridge, which is only for pedestrians, buses and bicycles, to campus, where my supervisors showed me around and helped me settle in.
The UQ campus in Brisbane is located in the suburb of St Lucia. From Brisbane’s CBD it is possible to reach it in many different ways: by bicycle, by bus, by car, by motorcycle, on foot or by ferry. I have tried all the above options. In my opinion, taking the ferry is the nicest and most special one. You can stand at the front of the boat and feel the refreshing breeze in your face when it takes off while seeing amazing views of the city.
The river in Brisbane is unique. It is very bendy, so I do not recommend trying to orientate around the city according to which side of the river you are on. It depends on where you are: you can be either south or north of the river without being further south or north than before. I also recommend you avoid swimming in it because it is home to bull sharks. And take the ferry to campus only if you have a lot of time because it is one of the slower transport options.
On campus, there are lots of shops that sell food throughout the semesters. As a PhD student, semester dates do not apply for your research work, so be aware that some of the food shops and cafés will be closed in the semester breaks.
For students new to the campus, I suggest you invest your money and time trying out various cafés to find one that you really like. How rewarding is it having a coffee in your favourite place after some hard work?
