Nina Milinkovich, Switzerland

Nina Milinkovich: I decided to go on exchange because I really wanted an international experience, and I’d always been interested in living overseas for a bit, and I thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to study while also experiencing a different culture and meeting people from all around the world.

Zurich was fantastic. It was really different to Sydney. It was a really small city, but it had a lot to offer, and I think I only really discovered that by spending time there. I was living with different international students and that just made the whole experience really interesting.

I feel like I learnt a lot of things while on exchange to Switzerland that are helping me here at UTS now, both academically and personally, because on an academic level I feel like I learnt to take more challenges, which I think is very important, and that made me more confident. And personally, I learnt to be more independent, because it was my first time living away from home and I think that’s really important, and to be more outgoing and also tolerant of others, because there were lots of different cultures in Zurich.

I chose to go to Switzerland on exchange because I really wanted to live in Europe, and Switzerland is so central, so it’s a really fantastic location for travelling and living there, and also it’s dynamic because there’s three different languages spoken there, so I love the idea that I could learn German in Zurich while also using my French language skills.

The highlight was probably meeting such an array of different people from all around the world. I really loved that, because I learnt a lot from them and we had a great time. But I also loved living right in the centre of Europe, so I was able to also travel while I studied, and I think that’s something really valuable.

I would highly recommend to other students to go on exchange, because I feel like it’s a really invaluable experience, and you only see that once you actually go on the exchange. So I would really encourage students to take advantage of the international partnerships that UTS has to offer.