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Travelling halfway around the world to visit Australia has always been one of my dreams, but not one that I realized would come true so soon. I decided that studying abroad would be a great excuse to travel and experience a new culture, but I debated about which country that I would
like to travel to. Since my French skills had lapsed a little since high school, I figured that an English speaking country would be ideal. That narrowed down the possibilities to the countries surrounding England or
Australia. The beautiful pictures of this far away continent and intriguing accent finally drew me to my final conclusion . . . Australia.

I was slightly scared, but mostly excited to begin my journey. The long plane ride by myself wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. After arriving and spending a few days with my cousin in Melbourne, I went on extended weekend trip to Sydney on my own and found myself caught up in the midst of an Australia Day celebration. It was a great experience to have and I found
myself swept up in the Aussie culture, carrying around an Australian flag and displaying a flag tattoo on my arm. Travelling on my own was not quite as scary as I thought it would be. I met other travelers who were also journeying on their own and soaked up more of the atmosphere and beauty around me because I didn’t always have someone there to talk to who would distract me from the full experience.

Finally it was time to board the plane and journey over to the other side of the country. Perth, the city I knew little about, turned out to be one of my favorites and not just because I stayed there for the longest. The city was smaller than Melbourne and Sydney, but large enough so there were still plenty of things to see and do. The weather was amazing and the
beaches were great. I spent a lot of time swimming and soaking up the sun and also tried out parasailing and surfing for something new.

College in Australia definitely had some big differences from the U.S. Only one of my classes had a weekly homework ssignment, which wasn’t actually due until the end of the semester. I had a lot of free time
because my classes didn’t take up much time outside of class until the last couple of weeks.

During Easter break, I went with a group of students on a tour up the Western coast of Australia. We had a good time and saw some amazing scenery, but also ended up with a string of bad luck ranging from broken trailers to shattered windows to flat tires to punctured oil pans. The cars were pretty beat up by the time we emerged from the outback and headed for the coral reef along the coast, but we had a pretty good indication as to how rough the Aussie outback can be. My first time snorkeling was amazing! It was like swimming in an aquarium. I swam with sea turtles, tropical
fish, and even spotted a couple of sharks. The sharks were a bit scary . . . two of them I didn’t even see and I guess they were headed straight for me! Luckily they veered off at the last moment . . . phew!

For my second break from school, I planned a trip on my own up the East
Coast of Australia. I was slightly scared to spend two and a half weeks on my own, but it turned out to be great. Once again, travelling on my own allowed me to meet so many new people from countries all over the world. I spent time with people I met from Switzerland, Quebec, Montreal, England, France, and New Zealand, just to name a few. I traveled up the coast from
Brisbane to Cairns and stopped at many beautiful places in-between.

One of the best experiences that I had on this trip was an unplanned stop in Townsville, where I spent four days out on the Great Barrier Reef for free! I worked with a tour company that ran daily shuttles out to the reef. For a couple of hours working a day, I got to snorkel as much as I wanted and also got to have the amazing experience of scuba diving. We also slept
on a boat out at the pontoon, 2 hours off the coast, which was a very isolated spot, but an incredibly beautiful one.

On my journey back to the West side to take my exams, I stopped at Ayers Rock in the center of Australia which is a stunning feature in the rugged landscape of the outback. It is an enormous red sandstone monolith that towers above the desert floor. I spent a couple of hours hiking around the rock and exploring its intricately carved surface.

It was quite difficult to leave my flat and roommates in Perth. I felt like I had just gotten to know them well the last few weeks of school and now I had to head back home again. From living with 3 Mauritians, I had learned about an island off of the coast of Africa that I had never heard of, where the people spoke French and spent a lot of time swimming in the beautiful turquoise waters. I had sampled spicy cuisine and learned about a drastically different culture where arranged marriages were still a common practice from my Malaysian flatmate. With my Australian flatmate, I discussed sports that I knew very little about and found out the rules for
rugby, Australian Rules football, netball, and cricket.

Everyone says that studying abroad is a life-changing experience and now I realized that it is not just a cliché. In the past 6 months, I had learned how to travel on my own and to explore new cities and places without being afraid. I had seen some of the most incredibly beautiful places in the
world and have hundreds of photographs to prove it. I had met people from various countries, discussed their cultures, and even tasted their food. I learned so much more by travelling around the country and meeting people than I could have by just being in a classroom listening to a lecture. It was amazing and if I had the chance, I would do it all over again!