Irwan Mahdi – Flinders University of South Australia

Studying in Australia has been the best experience of my life. Since I graduated from my diploma I’ve always wanted to study abroad especially to Europe or Australia. Luckily, in 2009 I had the opportunity to do so thanks to the scholarship offered by the Aceh Government who sent about 70 students to study in Australia at the time. Since we were the first group that learned in Australia from Aceh, the pre-departure process was quite a challenge because we didn’t have anyone to ask for advise. Thankfully we met Pak Samsul Bahri Usman who unconditionally helped us through Kies Aceh. With his guidance and assistance, me and three other friends finally arrived in Australia in March 2009.

I spent two years studying in Adelaide which despite not as big as Melbourne or Sydney is a very organised and beautiful city. The city supports calm and safe life with abundance facilities for family, sports and also a perfect learning environment. Currently, I am running an English course called Sabang International English which educates around 80 students in my hometown Sabang.

Finally, I want to say that If you have the opportunity to study abroad please embrace and work hard to get it because it will give you once in a lifetime experience that will be useful for the rest of your life.

I hope this article will be helpful and good luck with the new website. (The article is still opened for editing).
Best regard,

Irwan Mahdi

Mater of Tourism at Flinders University of South Australia 2009-2011