WW Around The World - Sydney, Australia

G'Day everyone! As the first member of Wharton Women to go abroad I am very happy to be the one to start off this blog! I hope everything is going well for everyone back at Penn with moving in, classes and the like. You all have so much to look forward to and a wonderful, exciting year coming up.

I began my studies in Sydney, Australia just four weeks ago and I have truly been having the most amazing experience! I am currently living in Coogee Beach, a suburb just 15 minutes outside of downtown Sydney. The Australian culture is a truly unique and incredible one to have the opportunity to experience. Many of the locals share a common laid-back spirit and are always so helpful, which has been quite a refreshing experience after living in New York City! As the weather gets warmer and we enter the summer months on this side of the world I have started to see the Australian's true love for surfing. I am excited to continue to explore the city and really make myself part of the Australian culture.

First, I would like to share some fun and interesting things I have accomplished in my few weeks here including: Visited the Sydney Opera House, climbed the Sydney Bridge, fed kangaroos and held a koala at Sydney's famous Taronga Zoo, took a trip up north to Byron Bay and took a surfing lesson, visited Sydney's botanical gardens and the government house, saw a film at the famous IMAX theater, visited the Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley, and so much more! Looking forward I have plans to travel up the coast to the Great Barrier Reef, visit Fiji, a spring break trip through New Zealand and finally end my semester abroad by backpacking for a month throughout Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore and hopefully Hong Kong!).

I am currently enrolled in 3 classes at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) including Marketing & Distribution Law, Business Ethics & Law, and Australian Sports & Law class. The classroom culture is very different from the one back at Wharton. Most interesting is the way that the Australian students interact with their professors by addressing them by their first names. Much like Penn, there is a Lecture and a Tutorial (recitation) each week in which we discuss some of the main issues. I have found it very interesting to compare and contrast what I have learned in Wharton's Marketing and Legal Studies courses with these courses. Some of the basic material has been very similar but it is quite interesting to hear the Australian perspective of the American legal and financial system. For instance, we compare and discuss many of the rules and regulations of the SEC with those of the ACCC.

For my fourth course, UNSW & Penn have set me up with an internship in Sydney! I have not yet started my internship program, but I plan to begin next week at Commonwealth Bank. After completing a 10 week Sales & Trading Program in New York this summer, I will be happy to comment on the similarities and differences of the trading floor as soon as I begin. From what I have heard so far, the business culture is very different then the one in New York. I look forward to experiencing the business environment first hand here in Sydney and will be sure to update everyone on my findings!

As I prepare for my internship, I would like to share some interesting facts I have researched and discovered in the recent weeks. Just last week the market saw the Australian dollar, or Aussie, the worst performer among the 16 most-traded currencies in the past month, fall from a 25-year high of 98.49 cents on July 16th. The Aussie fell as prices of commodities slid and traders bet on lower interest rates. The New Zealand dollar, however, posted its first rise in five weeks. Research analysts from New York firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. revised its forecast for the Australian and New Zealand dollars, saying they faced challenges on the ``domestic front from slowing activity.'' Goldman now expects the Australian currency to buy 86 cents in three months, compared with a pervious forecast of 96 cents, and the New Zealand currency to trade at 68 cents compared with an earlier forecast of 73 cents.

To close, I would like to wish all of you the best of luck as you start an exciting new semester. I will continue to keep everyone updated on my travels, studies and business experiences here in Sydney, Australia. If you have any questions about studying abroad in general or would like to hear more about a specific comment please feel free to e-mail me at bbensol@wharton.upenn.edu.

Best of Luck,

Amanda Bensol

The Wharton School, Class of 2010

University of Pennsylvania

bbensol@wharton.upenn.edu