A Study Abroad to the Land Down Under
I had always wanted to go to Australia, for years I had a huge map in my bedroom. The wildlife there called to me, wombats, platypuses, koalas, quokkas, wallabies and kangaroos and seemed so different than what I had grown up with. I had a koala as my phone background, would visit the kangaroos at Woodland park zoo and followed several Instagram account's about tourism in Australia. No matter how many pennies I saved it didn't seem realistic to go, until I received the Plan2GO! scholarship and got help from my parents. Although I worked extremely hard to reach my goal of my study abroad I could not have done this without Plan2GO! or the help of my mom and dad and am extremely thankful for both of them.
Actually getting on the plane in Vancouver I felt pretty sick. What had I packed? What was I doing? Did I really think this through? Although I was just leaving for a semester I planned on being gone for six months with a stop in Thailand on the way in and not sure where on the way out. Thailand being so wonderful and so inexpensive was like a short vacation, eating good food, meeting amazing people and going to amazing places. I didn't think too much of where I was going next I was just was focused on the now.
When I arrived in Australia, getting off the plane was a different feeling then I’d ever felt. I’ve invested a ton of money and time in this, now I’m here, where to next? I was worried that all the expectations I had going into this would fall flat, I couldn't have been more incorrect.
I quickly moved into a share house near my school. About sixteen people on average lived in this house with many new move ins and move outs. Throughout the five months I was in the house I was always the only American. We had people from, Britain, North Korea, Scotland, Australia, Portugal, Japan, China, France, Germany, Chile, Italy, Brazil, Canada, Thailand, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Taiwan. Living in this house saved me a lot of money and overall was a huge learning experience for me but, it was very challenging. Sharing a room with 6 people is hard and having people from all over the world dealing with a conflict can be difficult. I grew a lot in this environment and was able to get better at seeing things from multiple perspectives.
Before school started I did a solo trip to Tasmania. Being a wildlife enthusiast I tried to find a place with the most wombats. I found Maria's island. This tiny islands off the coast of Tasmania didn't allow cars or have any facilities. It was just me my bike, my tent and the food I brought and of course a billion wombats. It was incredible. I have never felt closer to nature before.
After school started I quickly joined some clubs at the University one of which being the Mountaineering club. This was the best decision I ever made abroad. I met a group of people half Australian and half from America, Switzerland, and Canada from a four day trek crossing the Victoria and New South Wales border. After that trip we did so much together, surfing trips, road trips, biking trails, camping, hiking etc. I was very lucky to meet these people and get to enjoy and spend such wonderful time with them. It was also nice to get to know a group of Australians, learn how they grew up and how they live now.
Going to school at the University of Melbourne was an incredible experience. I got to take classes I couldn't take anywhere else in the world, by professors who were passionate and experienced in their subject. One of my classes was Australian Wildlife Biology where we got to study the most incredible animals. Our professor had studied in Antarctica, the Galapagos, and all over Australia. We would get guest lecturers who were specialized in their subjects. We had a lady come teach about bats and brought three live bats for us to meet. For our labs we would go to the zoo or bird watching. For one of my other classes companion animal biology we had a dog or a cat almost everyday in class. One of our class periods they brought in around twenty dogs and we split into groups of three people per dog to teach it a trick and had a performance at the end of class. I met amazing intelligent people who cared about nature and animals as much I do. The school had free breakfast everyday which made for a time to meet with friends and free unlimited beer on Tuesdays. The school was a community and set up things like free concerts every week to have us continue to be a community even during stressful weeks.
From living in the living conditions I did and mostly grocery shopping I was able to finish my time in Australia with a trip. After finals I booked a flight to Cairns with my good friend and housemate from Scotland. We explored the Daintree, saw crocodiles, and swam in the great barrier reef. I went by myself to Airlie Beach to do a sailing trip around the Whitsundays which many people refer to as the most beautiful beach in the world. I then flew down to Sydney to hang out with my closest friend I met abroad whose family lived there we saw the city, went to the Blue Mountains and ate amazing food. I headed to Perth next to see the Quokkas, the Pinnacles and the sand dunes then made my way back to Melbourne.
Leaving was both heartbreaking and exciting. I haven't seen my mom in so long and was excited to sleep in a room with just me. Saying goodbye to people who I had grown to love and deeply care for was extremely hard. I had made some of the most amazing memories with these people and had done things and seen things I never will again with them.The people I met on this trip inspired me. Many of them were 28 year old's just working abroad for a year for the heck of it. I thought after this huge trip I might be done and start back to a normal life but, quickly realized that there is much more I can do with the rest of my life no matter what my age is.
