I loved my 3 months in Australia with the Santa Clara University Law study abroad program. The classroom portion was a wonderful opportunity to meet law students from other schools in the U.S. who have a variety of professional interests. Santa Clara Professor Abriel fostered an environment where we engaged in meaningful conversation dealing with refugee law and policies in the United States. We then compared American laws with Australian laws in a portion taught by Barrister Nicholas Poynder, a leading Australian refugee law expert. Many of the students in the class chose the Sydney study abroad opportunity for the environmental law focus. As I had no exposure to environmental law I learned a great deal from them. The environmental law segment led by University of Technology Sydney Professor Dwyer presented a fresh and thorough dive into Environmental law and Environmental Justice.
I cannot speak highly enough about my experience at the Asylum Seeker Resource Center (ASRC) in Melbourne, Australia. The staff there is compassionate and enthusiastic about their work. This is demonstrated in the instruction they gave me. The externship gave me a wonderful experience to practice drafting Declaratory Statements and taking instruction from clients. I drafted documents that would be filed in Australian Federal court. The ASRC exposed me to different facets of the asylum application legal process by giving me a variety of new and different tasks. I worked under accomplished and knowledgeable attorneys and expanded my professional network.
Aside from my academic and professional endeavors, I enjoyed the cities and their general atmospheres and local cuisines. Professor Abriel organized a trip to the Blue Mountains near Sydney that included a stop at a nature preserve and cultural heritage site. The month-long “Vivid” light festival amplified the beauty of Sydney during the program and provided an abundance of activities. West Set, a week-long music festival in a suburb of Melbourne, had a great collection of local bands to enjoy after work. I visited the beautiful state libraries and national art galleries in Sydney and Melbourne. I attended several Aussie Rules Football games and adopted the Collingwood Magpies as my local team. Outside of the cities, I explored local and national parks and spotted unique local wildlife including wild kangaroos hopping across hiking paths. Some members of the class took a weekend trip to Tasmania and visited a Tasmanian devil sanctuary. The whole trip was a spectacular educational and personal adventure.
