Results of Studying Abroad

It’s over. My 5 month trip to Australia is finished. I’m back at home in Pennsylvania reflecting on all the good memories. It’s weird to think that I’ve been gone for so long. The first day back at home seemed foreign, but the next day, was like any other day in the states. I jumped back into my regular routine of going to work and hanging out with my friends, although the jet lag killed me. It took 5 days to get back on my normal sleeping and eating schedule.

My highlights of the trip consist of:

• Making new friends
• Swimming at The Great Barrier Reef
• Sailing the Whitsunday’s
• Backpacking in Sydney
• Partying in the Gold Coast
• Backpacking New Zealand.

I had the best 5 months I could’ve asked for. I experienced some culture shock, but quickly overcame that. AND, I was forced to learn how to cook! I’m walking away from this experience with so many new skills and life lessons.

What I’m going to miss most about studying abroad is not having a routine schedule. In Australia, every week was different compared to my life at home. All it took was an invite, and I was out the door and doing something different, whether it was traveling, hiking, boating, playing rugby or going out to dinner. I sure will miss the Aussie life.

If you ever have a chance to study abroad, do it!

If I had to give advice to anyone studying abroad, I would have to say make sure you have skype and stay in contact with friends and family back at home. They are your support team, and without them, you’ll miss home even more. They’ll encourage you to live it up and help you succeed.

I believe this will be my last post for The Australian in ME. If you have any questions, please ask away and I’ll get back to you. If you’ve enjoyed reading about my adventures, please let me know. I’m looking forward to doing this all over again in a different country. Fingers crossed, I think I’m going to Europe next!

New Zealand

Over the last 2 weeks, I’ve spent my time exploring the southern island of New Zealand, aka Te Wai Pounamu. It was so different from what I’m used to. The country was absolutely amazing, but so different from the United States. To start, there was more country side than cities! Their population is a little over 4 million and I think that’s awesome. Everywhere I went seemed to be in the middle of nowhere surrounded by stunning views and 100% nature. I loved it.

I began my journey leaving Christchurch to hop on the Tranz Alpine train that takes me to Greymouth, a small town on the northwest coast of the southern island. I was traveling on the TranzAlpine Back Paddock tour. The trip started off slow, as it was only 8am and we were about an hour away from anything significant. We were told there was a huge snowstorm in the mountains and that it would create the perfect winter wonderland. As I was finishing eating breakfast, I looked outside the window and stared in amazement at the Southern Alps. I’ve never seen mountains so big before! Slowly, the train started to

Coming to an END

I can’t believe this amazing trip is almost over. It’s been almost 5 months since I’ve been in Australia and I’ve had a blast. I just finished exams this week and now I had to just say goodbye to my best friends for the semester. We all woke up around 6am to say one last goodbye. We walked them to the shuttle bus in the cold and gave everyone hugs and watched them drive off.  They’re flying out of Brisbane today, leaving me behind to enjoy 3 more weeks down under! It’s a mix of emotions because I grew so close to my friends, but I’m also excited to still be here.

Yesterday, my friend Joe and I finished our exam and spent the day organizing and getting ready for his departure. It’s crazy to thing they’re gone. He spent the last 2 days counting down their departure and it kept getting more and more depressing. Today is even worse.. It’s cold, cloudy and rainy. I’m not sure what I’m going to do for the next few days…

Last night we held a huge dinner party for about 12 people. It was EPIC. Everyone brought a main dish and dessert! We served chicken, shrimp, pasta, lasagna, potato bake, quesadillas, all sorts of dip, and breads with sauce. As we were passing the food around, we were all wondering why we never had group dinners like this one. The room was full of talking and laughing as everyone reminisced on our last 5 months. It sure was a great way to end our semester. Afterwards, we went out for a little and enjoyed the last night together.

Now I’m just looking forward to my next BIG adventure… NEW ZEALAND! I leave on Tuesday for 9 days of pure adventure. The basic highlights of this trip consist of a train through the mountains, skydiving, glacier hike, Milford Sound, jet boating and snowboarding! I had the opportunity to go on this trip a few weeks ago, but felt it would be better to wait for after my exams and to celebrate a great semester.

Stay tuned for the New Zealand update!

Traveling Around Australia (Sydney)

I know it’s late, but I’ve been busy since my trip! Sydney is my new favorite place in the world. It’s absolutely amazing! The culture, night life and size of the city is what I love about it.

Taken from The Rocks

My first night there was a little rough as I waited at the airport for 2 hours waiting on my shuttle to Nomads’ Westend Hostel. I thought they forgot about me and I felt lost. After I found them, I had a nice ride to the hostel, where I checked in and fell asleep instantly.  The next day, I met a new friend from Germany. We got breakfast and then walked down Pitt St. towards Circular Quay. The city was amazing! Since it was Good Friday, Sydney was empty and I had the streets to myself!

Taken from the Sydney Bridge

My jaw dropped as soon as I saw the huge Opera House! I couldn’t believe how big it was. Pictures really don’t do it justice. My favorite sight of the city was looking from the opera house towards the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The colors were so vibrant and I felt like I was in Europe with the different color houses and red/orange roofing.

During the week, I went to Maloney’s Hotel for fish & chips and for a few happy hours. Maloney’s was one of my favorite places to go at night. The music was good and there was always a rugby game on the TV. I also tried a lot of different food in china town and all around the King Street Wharf.

My favorite place to go in Sydney was the King Street Wharf. During the day they had street performers everywhere and at night it was the highlight of nightlife. I also went the IMAX there to see a movie on the world’s largest screen! It was epic.  I spent a lot of time in McDonalds & Happy Jacks to use their WiFi. I tried to Skype my friends and parents as much as I could. I had no contact with them from the previous week while I was in the Whitsunday’s!

I also strolled around the Royal Botanic Gardens, which were sweet. For me, it was Sydney’s central park (NYC). Throughout the week I met a bunch of people, but I’d say my roommate Louis was the coolest. We hung out everyday and partied at night. He’s from the UK traveling around Australia and New Zealand for a few months. I’m kind of jealous that he has all that time.

I went on the bridge climb, which is worth the $215. The views were stunning as I climbed over 134 meters! The climb was my favorite activity of the week. We has a group of 10 people and followed our tour guide the entire time. once we reached the summit, we took pictures in our ridiculous wind suits. We learned about the bridge history and why it was a symbol of hope during Australia’s depression. I also went on a hike to the Blue Mountains and saw the Three Sisters at Scenic World. I was expecting a lot more hiking and was disappointed with our group. They were caring babies and basically dressed up like they were going out to dinner. I thought it was a HIKE… On my last full day, Louis and I went to the Taronga Zoo. It was pretty cool, but I’m not a zoo person. We spent about 2 hours walking around then decided to leave to beat the thunderstorm that was rolling in from the east near Bondi beach.

Taken from Scenic World

Overall, Sydney was the best experience of my life. I can’t wait to go back and visit. I would move there if I had the opportunity. I’m not sure if I would live there forever, but I would consider a few years. Who knows, maybe I’ll go to graduate school at the University of Sydney! I really hope that you have the chance to travel like I have. It has been such a great learning experience that I’ve enjoyed.

Traveling Around Australia (Whitsunday’s)

For the last 2 weeks, I’ve been experiencing Australia at its’ best with a bunch of my friends from the University of the Sunshine Coast! In a quick summary, I visited the Whitsunday’s and Sydney.  But what you don’t know is how much fun those 2 stops have been!  I’ll break this down into 2 blogs: 1) Whitsunday’s &  2) Sydney.

Whitsunday Islands:

1. My first stop was Airlie Beach, where we stayed at a hostel and partied like crazy! Airlie Beach was a nice small town, but full of life (especially at night) and beautiful women.  My first night was off to a good start.  That was also the first time I’ve ever stayed at a hostel.   It was quite dirty and not my favorite place.  Overall, I would give Airlie Beach a 7 out of 10.
2. The second day we boarded a boat that took us to Long Island, where we spent the entire week. Long Island was built more for families, but we made it a party spot and met a lot of people, including a few old couples who loved us.  Our hostel was located in the back of the resort, but it was perfect for us.  We basically had no food the entire week.  The only thing that filled us was our lovely alcoholic beverages we managed to buy before coming to the island.  I think from this point you should be able to guess how the rest of the week went.  PARTY!! 
3. While in the Whitsunday’s, we had a bunch of fun adventures that we booked with STA before we left.  They were extremely helpful.  The following occurred from April 1st – April 5th:
   1. Rock climbed the small mountain on Pelican Island
   2. Enjoyed a 4.4 kilometer hike to Sandy bay where we drank Goon, played baseball, & ran naked, which led to cutting my foot on rocks! My friend also got stung by a jelly fish!
   3. Sailed the Camira to Whitehaven Beach
   4. Snorkeled at Knuckle Reef
   5. Drunken hot tub adventures 
4. My week came to an end 2 days earlier than our group.  I chose to leave for Sydney and spend a week traveling alone, or so I thought. 

Why Did I Choose to Study in Australia?

I had 2 opportunities to choose from:  1) Short study tour  2) Full Semester Abroad

I chose to study abroad for a full semester instead of a study tour.  I wanted to take advantage of this amazing opportunity of combining my desire to explore new places while studying business and communication. Freshman year I realized by attending Queens University of Charlotte, I have the opportunity to follow my dream of leaving the United States to study abroad and to accomplish some of my goals.  I want to be well educated, culturally diverse, and successful.  I have looked into studying abroad in other locations, like Ireland and Hong Kong,  but felt the University of the Sunshine Coast had the most to offer.  After reading about the University, I liked how it resembled Queens in many ways:

1. There is personal attention from the professors
2.  Resources helping students do well in courses
3. Support in entrepreneurial ideas, like Queens’ McColl School of Business
4. Their Global Opportunities Program, which is USC’s study abroad program.

I chose Queens partially because of these reasons above and I wanted to study at another university that truly cared about me and wanted me to excel in life.

I chose Australia because it had always been a dream of mine to visit the land down under.  My available options helped in my decision process because I’ve already visited Europe and I’m not as interested in Asian culture as I am in the diverse Australian culture.  In the future I plan on traveling to Germany and Poland to hopefully meet family relatives who live there and explore my heritage.