Anna Harstead, Global Business Institute: Sydney, Spring 2026
Overall, assimilating to Sydney has been relatively easy. Since it is an English-speaking country, there isn’t much of a barrier when it comes to connecting with people. However, if I had to pick the one challenge that’s been the hardest to adapt to, it would be the academic transition and the shift in responsibility.
Back at Pitt, everything is usually laid out with very clear, rigid deadlines, but I’ve found that some of the professors here aren’t strict with things like that. They might post assignments or discussions without specific due dates, or they’ll bring up a massive semester-long project in the first week and then not mention it again for a month. It was a bit of a shock at first, and I realized pretty quickly that I had to take more personal responsibility for my education. I’ve had to start looking through my Canvas pages every single week to make sure I do not miss any important deadlines or assignments. It’s also helped me realize how important it is to have a good circle of friends in class to collaborate with, because sometimes they will catch a deadline or a detail that I completely missed.
Interestingly, this was a total contrast to my internship at Logic Lounge. There, everything is super direct; I’m usually given one assignment at a time to focus on, and my supervisor is always right there to answer questions. Navigating that gap between the super-organized internship and the more “figure-it-out-yourself” academic style was definitely a learning curve, but it’s helped me become a lot more self-reliant.
There are some culture shocks, like the local slang, which took some getting used to. For example, they call a gas station a “servo” and McDonald’s “Maccas”. It took me a while to understand everything, and I had to ask a lot of questions, but now I catch myself using those words without even thinking about it. Another difference I had to adapt to was that Australians are early risers. You see them at the beach or walking their dogs before the sun is even fully up, and that motivation definitely rubbed off on me. I now find myself getting up much earlier than I ever would have at Pitt, and I hope I can carry this motivation with me back at school.
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