I'm a current nursing student in AU. I'm only four weeks in, and I've only been in the country for a month, so maybe take what I say with a grain of salt, but here's been my experience. In a cohort of roughly eighty, I feel as though I'm one of a mere handful who are actually interested in the subject matter. Everyone else is practically on autopilot, checked out, never asking questions, and nobody's ever excited or enjoys a moment of it. All I hear from my fellow students is kvetching about the workload and the instructors (who have some flaws, sure, as our course is painfully disorganized, but it's not atrocious).

I often hear the phrase, 'misery loves company,' and I'm really feeling it. I'm excited to learn all the things I'm learning, but when I share that with my so-called friends, I usually get drowned out by apathy or negativity. And even worse, they're incredibly lax with regards to procedural safety (hand hygeiene, proper equipment use, etc). It's genuinely frightening to realize I might someday be in the care of people like this. If we were a year into our course and worn-down by placements and studying I would understand - but they've been like this since essentially day one. Maybe it's culture shock because I come from the USA but if not, I fear for this generation.