Hi, my name is Simone’ I’m 26 years old and I’m an international student from Italy.
I’ve been in Melbourne for two and a half years and despite how much I love it here, my journey so far has been far from easy. I came to Australia with a working holiday Visa, unsure of what I wanted to get out of this experience. All I’ve done during my first year was enjoying my time and working; taking advantage of the four months allowed to study. I enrolled in an English course that helped me so much to improve my English and also gave me the possibility to start socializing and make my first international friends!
I then applied for the IELTS examination (Academic level) without a particular reason; my only intention was to test my English skills with an internationally recognised English language test. It was only when I got my results that I started to consider the option of staying for a longer period of time as if the score I read on the letter I received gave me strength and courage to make a step forward.
The only way to stay, for me, was obviously getting back to study therefore I started my research. Melbourne offers a huge number of courses for international students but in the end I chose to study a Diploma of Remedial Massage, I then started looking for an institute to enrol to.
I came across Holmesglen Institute of TAFE through a friend of mine that suggested it to me, I then started gathering information firstly via the Internet and secondly calling on Skype the migration agency which I relied on when I was still in Italy to prepare all the documents needed for my departure.
All I heard were great things about it and I now can confirm everything I heard!
Friendly, accommodating and always available to help, that is how I can describe all the teaching staff in my course. I love every moment here, from the people I meet to the skills I am learning and the quality of the teaching, to the point that I made the decision to keep on studying at Holmesglen after the conclusion of my Diploma course enrolling for a Bachelor of Nursing.
Australia is really a land of opportunities, and with a bit of sacrifice and effort you can do great things!