Australia

My First Month in Australia

Hey guys!  Long time no chit-chat, I am missing all of you back home so much!  This first month has been a lot of settling in, getting used to my classes, and planning fun activities for later in the semester.  I had to do a lot of shopping this first month to settle into my new apartment, and I needed a couple of new pieces for my wardrobe (I will take any excuse to shop…) to fit the Australian college vibe.  Australia is VERY expensive, but the conversion rate is in my favor so it evens out a little, I paid $46 AUD for a burger, fries, and a milkshake!!!  The conversion rate is about 0.67 cents to 1 dollar, so $46 AUD translates to about $28 USD, which is more reasonable.  This is a little dangerous because I keep telling myself “Oh this is much cheaper in America so I can get it!” when in reality I am still spending money and these small charges do add up.  Budgeting for these 4 months is going to be a challenge, but it is also a great learning experience for me. 

I thought I would first talk about my classes seeing as I am here for school.  My classes so far have been pretty good, I am taking Gold Coast Surf Culture and Storytelling, Data Science, Personal Finance, and Photography.  Data Science and Personal Finance are a little tricky, but I do think these are important topics for me to learn about.  The only problem with personal finance is we are learning about a lot of the Australian standards (to be expected) and their tax policies and rates, which won’t help me much when I go home.  Other than that though, the foundations of personal finance are the same no matter where you go, so it is still useful and interesting.  Data Science seems interesting, and the professor is very helpful, so I don’t think I will have too much trouble.  Now the two fun classes, Gold Coast Surf and Storytelling and Photography.  The Surf and Storytelling class will be a lot of experiential learning because we have a bunch of different field trips planned.  The first 3 weeks of classes have been a basis for Surf Culture and what we will be seeing on our trips, but next week we take our first trip to Burleigh Heads!  I enrolled in Photography a week late because I was going to take international trade, but I decided I wanted to take two fun classes and two more serious classes rather than load up on serious classes.  I also love photography (as you all know because you are on my photography website reading this) so I am really excited to learn more techniques and improve my craft.  We just started using cameras so let's see if you can notice a difference in my photos as my time here goes on!  

As I said, this first month has been a lot of adjusting and getting settled in, but I have done some fun things and met some cool people.  For the first three Thursdays, different groups on campus hosted events at the campus tavern.  These were awesome opportunities to get a drink, socialize with others on campus, listen to good music, and have a fun night!  The first Thursday was the orientation event, but the next two were themed.  The first theme was Farmer Wants a Wife, which is a reality TV show here in Australia!  That night was a lot of fun, I got to go out with a bunch of the new friends I met the week prior and explore nightlife on the Gold Coast.  The second theme was casino night, and I got very competitive playing blackjack.  This night was less crowded, but still fun nonetheless.

Now what everyone wanted to read about… the fun, adventurous things I have been doing.  While those campus nights were very fun, I am much more interested in going on hikes, seeing new places, enjoying the beach, and trying new foods!  During the first week, I met a lot of people walking from my apartment building to campus, which was nice because my friends mostly live in my building now.  One of the girls I met is named Kayleigh, she is from Needham, and we have had a lot of fun so far.  She and another girl I met named Sabrina have become my go-to girls for traveling and day trips.  The first thing we did together was go to the Currumbin Wildlife Center where I got to hold a Koala!  In another spot, I was able to pet a kangaroo which was insane, I don’t think I have even touched some basic animals back home.  The sanctuary was so beautiful, and I saw so many animals I would never see at home. Kayleigh and I met someone from Australia, and she showed us this beautiful spot in Burleigh.  It was a little creek with the size of the beach depending on the tide.  When we went the first time, there was no beach at all because the tide was so high, but I loved that spot so much that I came back two other times with different people.  The other times we went there was much more beach to relax on, and we ended up doing the hike that goes around the creek located in Burleigh Heads National Park.  We were up at the Tumgun lookout point, and it was such a beautiful view.  

 Those were the main things I did during the first month, but just walking around in all these different areas is so beautiful.  Even the view from my balcony has been so cool, especially during sunset.  We haven’t left the Gold Coast yet, but we have many things planned for the next 3 weeks.  This Thursday, there is a formal event called Palaver, where everyone dresses up and goes to a location off campus for dinner, drinks, and lots of dancing.  I am excited, my dress is so cute, and we have a good group of girls going all together.  After that, we are going to leave Friday afternoon for Byron Bay, which is about 2 hours from the Gold Coast!  I will tell you more about that in the coming blog posts…  We also booked flights to Whitsundays, a beautiful Island, Melbourne, and Sydney.  

I hope you enjoyed my first blog post, and I look forward to writing more soon!

Best, Colleen :)