Here In Australia

Experience 

It’s not a vocation they teach at university (yet), but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a career from being a You Tuber. Juliana Medina is a Colombian student who’s had well in excess of a million views on her You Tube channel Here In Australia and it’s transformed her life. Juliana is an influencer and it all began because she decided to come to Australia to learn English. She recently dropped by the Gold Coast Student Hub to share her story.

Juliana’s journey began in 2012 when she arrived in Queensland, but it took a while for her to succumb to the charms Australia had to offer. “I came here to study English for six months and after I finished I decided to stay for another six months, but that still wasn’t enough so I extended it for another year – well, I’m still here and it’s been six years now. I guess I like it!”

Initially it was the local culture that she found most challenging. “it’s completely different here. In Colombia for example we hug and kiss everyone, but in western countries it’s about personal space. What I do like is that when you come to Australia you don’t just share your experiences with Australians, you also share them with people from Asia, India and from all over the world.”

Study Path

After completing her English language course Juliana took up some vocational courses before transferring her previous university credits from Colombia. Last year she graduated here with a marketing degree, which comes in very handy when you’re establishing your own social media brand.

Not long after she began her new life here Juliana started getting lots of questions from friends back home about what it was like to study in Australia. She found it hard to keep up with their requests so she decided to start a vlog to share her study experiences. Three years on and she has followers all over Latin America.

And what’s the most common question Juliana gets asked? “Is it hard to find a job in Australia? Can you give me some tips on how to find a job? Where do I find a job?” They’re the most common questions she says.

Overcoming Misconceptions

Juliana says that the most common misconceptions from prospective students are: “that there are kangaroos everywhere and that the country is full of dangerous spiders. Of course I hardly see any spiders at all and in fact I have one in my house that I don’t want to disturb so it’s now my pet called Roberta. Australia is an amazing place. I’ve lived here for six years and I’ve never seen a dangerous animal.”

Lately the interest in Juliana’s social media posts have expanded in ways she could never have imagined. “It began with people who speak Spanish, but lately I’ve been getting a lot of people from Australia as well – I guess it’s because Australians want to see how international students are enjoying their country. I started my Instagram account in Spanish, but now that I have Australian followers I also have an account in English.”

As for the Gold Coast, what are her impressions? “It’s a beautiful city and there are some amazing education facilities here. I’ve been very impressed by what I’ve seen. Then you have these incredible beaches here - I’m beginning to wonder if there could be a better place to study.”