Bridget O'Donovan
Ms Bridget O'Donovan
International Student AdvisorUniversity of New South Wales, International
I can't remember a defining moment when my interest in Asia started, all I know is I spent most summer holidays at uni with a Chinese dictionary in my backpack trying to remember one more character or chengyu!
I grew up overseas (Mexico, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, United States and Taiwan) but the biggest culture shock I ever experienced was my first night in a Sydney boarding school, what was it that everyone was saying? Electing out of economics for the HSC I sat the Chinese exam which led me to UNSW to complete a BA/ Asian Studies.
In 1995 went to Shanghai for a year to study, an experience I was able to repeat in Beijing in 1997. In 1999 I completed a year at Taipei's FuRen University and finished my thesis in development of Taiwanese rock music in 2000. Since then I have been working as a Cultural Diversity Officer and now as International Student Adviser at UNSW where I design and implement support programs for UNSW international students.
My interest in Asia has been focused on popular culture mediums- mostly music and film and to satisfy one of them I volunteered as Operations Coordinator at the Sydney Asia Pacific Film Festival this year. It is great motivation to be around people with similar passions and for similar reasons I joined Asialink. Sometimes it is difficult to keep up your enthusiasm when you feel like Beijing or Taipei is just too far away. Asialink makes it much more accessible.