Hello family and friends,
I made this blog in order to keep
everyone updated on my adventures in Australia! Since communication will be
very limited (due to expenses), I felt this would be an easier way to give
everyone an overview of what will be happening while I am away. This is my
first time blogging so I am not sure if this form of communication will stay
consistent.
Most of you may know that it has been
a goal of mine to study one semester in another country while I am in college. I did get the opportunity to spend a month in Europe visiting
historical Holocaust sights with a group of Elon students, but that was only
for a short amount of time. I will be spending my time in Australia for most of
July to the mid November (about 5 months). This will be the longest I have been
away from family and friends. Why would I pick Australia out of all countries?
For my major and minor, I did not have an abundant amount of options when it
came to study abroad. Australia was one of the options I had, but the biggest
reason I decided on Australia compared to my other choices was because
Australia is on my list of countries I want to visit. I have heard only amazing
things about Australia (minus the large bugs and poisonous snakes). This
includes how sunny and how beautiful the beaches are as well as the amazing
people.
Here is a bit of information about
where I will be. I will be living at the University of Sunshine Coast in off
campus housing. Demographically, Sunshine Coast is located in northeast Queensland,
a 14-hour drive north from Sydney, a 19-hour drive north from Melbourne and a 30-minute
drive north from the Australian Zoo where Steve Irwin worked. The
University of the Sunshine Coast is located fifteen minutes (driving) from Mooloolaba beach. The great barrier reef ends
in Bundaberg Queensland which is North of the Sunshine coast, making the
University of the Sunshine Coast only a four hour drive to the number 1 largest
reef in the world. Since I will be there between July and November, this would
be considered Australia’s winter. Temperatures will be between 45ºF and 72ºF,
which is not to warm but not to cold. From the amount of research I have done
on my location, University of the Sunshine Coast will be a bit like Elon
University’s campus where it is not located in a city and driving and biking is
the best way to get to places. I might be living in a similar life style to North
Carolina, but I will still be in a different setting that will take a bit of
time to get comfortable with.
There is a lot out of this experience that I would like to take but I
have compiled a list of fun activities and tasks that I wish to complete while
I am in Australia. This list is based off of priority!
·
Visit my cousin Lindsey in Melbourne
·
Scuba dive in the great barrier reef
·
Catch at least one wave surfing while I am there
·
Visit the Australian zoo and get a picture with
the statue of Steve Irwin and his family (he was my childhood hero shut up!)
·
Take a trip to Fiji
·
Take a trip to New Zealand
·
Learn better eating habits
·
Try vegemite while I am there
·
See what different foods I can try while I am
there
·
Hold a koala (yes I know they are a bit mean!)
·
Ride a sea turtle
·
Cage dive with sharks (because I am nuts!)
I might not be able to do everything
on the list but it would be great to cross off some of these tasks while I am
there. Some are more realistic than others but it does not hurt to throw in a
few crazy tasks. Since I will be located in the Eastern Hemisphere, I want to
take every travel opportunity I can get hence why I added traveling to Fiji and
New Zealand to the list. Visiting my cousin is my number one priority because I
never get to see her and would love to spend a longer amount of time with her
than normal. For the scuba diving and surfing, I have a scuba certification and
I know how to surf a little. My fascination with Australian surfing and the Great
Barrier Reef are the reasons why I learned these skills. This opportunity might be my
only chance to accomplish these tasks. I have a lot of reasons why some of
these tasks are on my list but I would rather not go into that much detail.
I will add some times to when I am
available to talk once I figure out what my schedule is. I will most likely use
Skype and Facetime for video chatting, and iMessage, viber and whatsapp for
messaging and calls when I have internet.
To end this, all I can say is, that I am
excited and nervous to start a new adventure and meet new people. Though being
this far away from home will be different than being in North Carolina, I think
it will be an amazing experience. I hope to give a good description of my
adventures to all my friends and family so I do not have to repeat myself when
I come back
Photo credit:
http://www.propertybusiness.com.au/sunshinecoast.html
http://www.envirodevelopment.com.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=58
http://www.best-beaches.com/south-pacific/australia/sunshine-coast/sunshine-coast-beaches
