You’re a great addition to Australia no matter how short or long your stay is and I really hope you get a PhD offer and continue to explore the country (& vlog about it).

I’ve been seriously considering to move to AUS and, in the recent weeks, started to make preparations. Great to know you’re staying! Feel I’m not that alone on the journey

Wishing you all the best. Aus is lucky to have you!

Nice to know you are staying here I hope you enjoy it and when your family are here they have a great time also

Good luck to you the pace here is more realistic and beneficial in so many ways.

Glad to hear you're staying Ashleigh! ✊️

That's great that you've decided to stay🙂. Hoping everything works out for you! Have you ever been to the Grounds of Alexandria in Sydney? Really lovely setting both indoor and outdoors for a coffee or brunch/lunch. They often have a theme there too.Alice in Wonderland at the moment.

In Coffs Harbour NSW is the National Marine Science Centre, attached to the Southern Cross University, depending on your PHD needs you could apply and look to go to Tasmania as part of your research, or live there and travel to NSW when you need to consult, but these days it can be online.

Tell your folks to come to sydney during our summer,they will love it.

Glad to hear you're staying!

Hi Ash happy Saturday night and I loved your vlogs and you are amazing Supporter and I'm proud of you

Christmas lunch on Bruny sounds fab. Go full aussie and make a memory. But have a pumpkin pie ready to have with a cup of coffee after the pav goes down. When my sister came down we managed Salamanca galleries, TMAG and MONA in one day. Touring?... The Ross bakery. Evandale bakery. Deloraine- picnic by the river. Cradle Mountain.The view of Mt Roland from Paradise. Stanley. Strahan. Gordon River cruise if affordable. Twould be nice to do the Tasman Island cruise...

G’Day, Ashleigh glad things are going well and you have made the right choice.🇦🇺🇺🇸🐬

Wow! Welcome aboard! I hope you gain enuf close friends that you feel comfortable here and those friends become more like family. I stayed to the end - always stay to the end. Luv Sam.

We are happy to hear you are staying 🙂

another smart Yank.. glad to have you... good luck..

Congratulations! We are lucky to have you. How is the study going?!

Good video hoping for you that you get to do your phd in Hobart as you choose to

Well I did my bit for your retention rate... on a different note, I've had to cut WAY back on my coffee because my anxiety was through the roof.. feel much better now.. just drinking mainly decafe but even that is too much sometimes

Great decision Ashleigh. HANG IN THERE!!!!. We are happy and lucky to have you. Australia needs more young, vibrant, and open minded people like you. Keep in mind that this comment is coming from a 67 y.o. Who wants only the best for his country and for you. Welcome and I will keenly stay tuned. Good luck.

Hi Ash. I read the vid title wrong … I am leaving … (shock and disappointment). I’m so glad I got that wrong and you are staying for another year or more. It seems like you have only just settled in (and I could tell that took a long time) and I feel you have so much more to learn and experience in Australia. As well as Hobart I sure you will also look at PhD opportunities in other states as well. Tasmania is a very quiet place, and you would have a much more exciting life in one of the bigger places - and where the weather is a bit warmer also. Welcome to Australia, and I hope all the pieces fall into place to fulfil your dreams.

I did wonder whether Tasmania would work its magic on you. You've had a few low moments in the year or so you have been here, and it is well-known that homesickness can eat away at people. I think it is wonderful that your family is joining you for Christmas, although seeing how they cope with temperatures in the rest of Australia during the austral summer will be an interesting experiment for you. I worked for over 40 years in Australian universities, including the allocation of PhD places and scholarships. The system you describe at UTas is pretty much the norm in Australia. The important thing to realise is that the funding for your PhD [tuition fees and yearly stipend] comes from central university funds and, to a lesser extent, from the Australian government, not from your supervisor or their grant funding. It is a much fairer system, and means that even a younger supervisor without any external funding can still attract doctoral students. If you hope to do a PhD, you're going to need financial support, and those scholarships provide about $30K p.a. [tax free] plus the tuition fee. If you are also working the permitted one day per week [or equivalent], you can top it up quite nicely, and still pay no tax [you might want to ensure you are eligible for the tax-free threshold]. If you haven't already done so, you should get your application in for candidature and for the scholarship, so that you can be considered along with all the UTas Honours students with whom you are in direct competition. As they say in Australia "you have to be in it to win it". If you know anything about US PhDs, the Australian model is completely different; there is no or little coursework, the thesis is substantially longer, and there is no 'committee'--the examiners will be external and probably overseas. The big advantage you have is that you probably know potential PhD supervisors personally--an advantage to you, and an advantage to them.

You made a great choice - for you and Australia. Although it’s far from family and friends back in the US your life will be so much richer and happier. I’m an Australian living in the US and despite my love of the US I feel things has been deteriorating for decades. Growing income inequality is just one symptom of the many entrenched problems we face here that doesn’t bode well for the US. Sadly the American Century seems to have ended a little more than the one hundred years it had promised.

I preferred Australia 🇦🇺. I’m from the United States 🇺🇸 Las Vegas Nevada. I’m more happy 😊 in Australia 🇦🇺

You made a good decision. Good luck.

Staying and balance is restored in Aus 😌

I went to Monash U for a year. I'm sorry I left.

I discussed PhD funding with my prospective supervisor and he told me the exact same thing. He accepted me as a student but said that he couldn’t control whether I would get funding for the reasons you outlined. Since I studied in France he also said that could work against me because of the way they class various institutions etc. He described it as very black and white. You either get the ticks or you don’t. There is a good and a bad side to this I guess. I ended up deciding not to do it in the end but might a bit further down the track.

Are there many Americans in Australia? Also , random question - but is there a country music scene in Australia?

I'm planning to come to Hobart , University of Tasmania from India. Is it a good option?

Congratulations Ashleigh for choosing Tasmania to live in it must have been a very hard choice to make. If you stay in Hobart long enough you'll end up with a Hobart accent lol. I hope you'll get to go see Kaitlyn, again? seen you having a ball with her in Sydney, some time ago on that YT vid. Seems to me you 2 get on like a house on fire. I don't mean that literary it's just a saying.Okay Ashleigh keep up the good work and many blessings to you and may your hopes and dreams do come a reality.... 🙏🙏🙏 🐧🍚🧊🦭🦭...Pete from Devonport...

i had moved Perth Austrailia 2015 and i am back to US. living US is way better for me.

Ozzys and Yanks good pals, we make fun of eachother and get along over a few pints and laughs.

So it’s based on performance not feelings ? Good

I'm surprised to hear you say that things such as renting are more expensive in the USA.....

Living in Australia is pretty much like living in USA. The only thing that is different is the accents.

we should date!

Yay. No crazy gun people here as well

I had to look twice I thought it read you're leaving Australia lol

we're also the best distance away from a Russian tactical nuke! glad you're staying here away from all the rest of the craziness in the world ♥

Not Shaw about liveing in USA but I whanted to go to USA in 1996 cas as a young boy. What I was into. Was more respected and excepted than in my own cuntry. Buy majority but their was other into what I was into but fare in between so I was sorter a loner. Just. Doing what I like no matter what in my young day s I only had odd casual job for few munth then was with out job for year s in between them job s. So I dident have $$ to fly to USA back then an no pass port. Plus going buy my salf. It would of bean daunting and it's long way from home and I dident know Anny body in USA . It sorter brake s my heart I never had no girl Frend into what I into to shear the journey with me. So I whanted a USA girl Frend. But. Then I. Just. Stayed in Oz. Thinking. No I don't need to go to USA. Now. Cas I was liveing what I like. Hear. Thru the music. Add we dident have no inter net back in 1995 days. To connect more.only snail mail.. any way so I just keep doing my stuff in my own cuntry now with inter net I can connect with lots of people s in USA UK and in other countries I still hope to make it to USA one day. But Fier of flying cas I never bean on a plain and Sint s 96 day their more others hear into what I into to conect with. But I have all way s felt connected with us in my own way. If I had gone to usa back in 95 not Shaw how my life may of tournt out add. Good or bad. And may be I would of had to come back home. 95 days was a good time. For what I am into but in USA it tripple the amount of people s doing same thing so more harder to get known plus.

Living In Australia Is Better Because Healthcare Is A Right Not A Profit For Greedy Money Making Hospital Corporations

This adult stuff sucks eh, but you made a smart choice my dear. Me thinks you won't regret it.

Despite the economic crisis, I'm so happy I have been earning $60,000 returns from my $7,000 investing every 13days.

Australia has a labour shortage. So the country needs young people to come and work.

welcome . enjoy and travel .

That PhD process sounds awful

America is a lot worse off than Australia! Trust me! I'm DYING to get out of here!

U.S.A. is a lot better for smart people. Facebook, Google, Tesla,Marlboro, Pepsi,Coke, Chevrolet, GM, Cadillac, Carrier, IPhone and many so on worldwide brands are from U.S.A. Australia doesn't even come close to that

At 26 I was paying off a house married two children and put myself through uni and worked full time in my own business, wow how times have changed PHD almost worthless get some life experience you are a long time dead.

Tax way less in usa , why you think homes & consumer goods more expensive in australia blame socalism high taxation

Australia sucks overall compared to the U.S. which is obviously a massive powerhouse in everything and especially higher education. Besides, why would anyone from the U.S. want a PHD from some obscure Australian university like the University of Tasmania?… It doesn’t make any sense because that PHD degree is going to be worth less than a lower tier U.S. university. I went to the U.S. for higher education and now I live there so my advice to you would be to go back to the only true land of opportunity and choices the USA and pursue your education and career there.

lmao. Never heard a 26 yo grown ass women complaining so much.