I am a senior at Baldwin Wallace University spending my last semester of Undergraduate study at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia. Follow along on all my adventures here!

Monday, March 24, 2014

Kinder Surprise

Haven't had too much exciting going on the past few days but I did experience another "first" today. I was doing a little bit of grocery shopping and noticed that there were Kinder Surprise Eggs on special in the candy aisle. Now, as you may know, Kinder Surprise Eggs are banned in the US (I Googled why - it's because you can't completely enclose a non-food item within a food item.... not sure why that is though?) so I was naturally excited to see something new.

I tried it while I was waiting at the travel agency with Elsie (she's planning a trip). It was pretty much what I expected... chocolate with a toy inside....

Yay for Kinder Surprise!


 
 
 
On a different note, a few of us have decided to make a weekend trip down to Byron Bay sometime soon. It's about 3 hours away so we would leave a Saturday morning, stay that night, then head back on Sunday afternoon/evening. We made a couple brief stops there on our way to and from the surfing trip a few weeks ago but didn't really get much time and it seems like a pretty cool place.
 
Thinking about heading into Brisbane to go to the koala sanctuary this weekend! 

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

One Month

Today marks 1 month that I've been in Australia! I've had some pretty amazing experiences, met and befriended some amazing people, and have so much more to look forward to still!

A group of us have been planning the past few days and we have planned and booked a 9 day trip to Sydney, Cairns, and the Great Barrier Reef. I'm going to be touring the Opera House, kayaking in Sydney Harbor, climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and Snorkeling/Scuba Diving on the Great Barrier Reef. All in a week. To say I'm excited is an understatement!

During the planning for Sydney it hit me again how absolutely incredible it is that I'm here and able to experience all of this. A lot to be very thankful for and an opportunity to make the absolute most of.

I have been feeling a bit homesick on and off since I've been here, it's difficult being so far away from everyone at home. I've been Skyping a lot to keep up with my family and friends and have heaps of pictures on my bulletin board by my desk and covering nearly an entire wall in my room to make it feel more homey.

Speaking of pictures, I put together a collage of some pretty good ones from the past month :)


Monday, March 17, 2014

Buderim Forest Park

Went on another adventure today! A group of us decided to figure out the public transport system and head a couple towns over to Buderim to go to the forest and see some waterfalls. After a short bus ride and a bit of a walk we were able to easily find it.


For the first bit through the woods there was a wooden walkway, but it turned into a trail that eventually turned into picking our way through the rocks to get through the creek to the waterfalls.



There were a lot of really cool trees and roots along the way, this one being one of my favorites.


Once we hiked for about 15 minutes we ended up at the main waterfalls! The one in the top picture was pretty small/short, but the other two were taller. Especially the second one, it was pretty far up! Jillian and I climbed and figured out where the path was and climbed on top of it (Brittany & Eric took pictures so I'll try to get and post those later!).




Once we hung out at the waterfall for a bit Jillian and I decided to keep exploring. We found the trail again and did a lot more hiking before looping back to the falls to rejoin the rest of the group. 

After a while longer we decided to head back out to catch the bus again. While waiting at the bus station a few of us ventured over to a fresh fruit & vegetable market and found some good deals on fresh Australian Produce. It was a fun/adventure filled day and I wouldn't mind returning to the park again sometime before I leave. 

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Australia Zoo

We took a trip to the Australia Zoo today! It was really cool being at the zoo that Steve Irwin started and seeing all sorts of awesome animals.










Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Time

Today marks 3 weeks that I've been in Australia. One of the things I've really noticed since I've been here is how time can fly and yet stand still at the same time. Thinking about the fact that I've been here three weeks makes me look back and realize that it both feels like I got here yesterday and yet feels like I've been here for years at the same time. I know that my time here is going to go quickly so I definitely want to make the most of it!

Monday, March 10, 2014

Yeeeeew!

I survived my surfing trip! Yeeeew! (That's what you yell as you ride a wave!)




We had a total of 4 lessons and learned how to ride different types of waves every day. The first day we just focused on riding the white water (a wave as it's crashing/after it crashed) which was the easiest to catch and time standing up on, but was also the most difficult to stay standing on because of the roughness of the water. The next day we learned how to ride green waves (waves that haven't crashed yet) which were more difficult to actually catch, but were a lot smoother and easier to ride once you caught them. They also moved a lot quicker, which was more fun! The last day we learned how to catch a green wave that was starting to peel and to turn to ride it across as it peeled from one side. It was pretty rough out the last day though so it was a challenge to get far enough out in the water to actually catch a wave because you just kept getting pushed back by the crashing waves. Also ended up getting fully smashed by a crashing wave a few times... let's just say I did ingest a lot of salt water this weekend. 
Overall it was a really great trip though! I was fairly successful and although it beats the crap out of your body, I would like to try surfing again sometime! 
All around the camp there were signs recruiting people to stay there and train to be a surf instructor. Most of the instructors seemed to be people who were traveling in Australia attended the surf camp and ended up loving it and staying and training to be instructors. Our guide/main instructor's name was Josh and he was originally from Canada. He was one of the many who loved the place and surfing so much that he decided to stay. 



During the day we pretty much just surfed and hung out on the beach/explored down the beach a little bit. The first picture below is some other surfers coming in from the water as we were walking down the beach a bit and the second is me throwing up my shakas by some sand boards! (We drew sand boards to practice popping up on before we actually got into the water.) As you can probably guess by the clouds behind me in the second picture, we got rained on during our walk back up the beach that day. 



After our days of surfing and hanging out on the beach we got to hang out around the camp and meet a lot of the other people doing their own stays at the surf academy. The first night we got there the group we went with from USC just headed out to the beach and enjoyed the stars. It was amazing, I've never seen so many stars in my life. I guess being in the middle of nowhere on the coast is a good place to be for that!. The next night there was a bon fire and the night after we all headed back out to the beach for a beach party! They had a pretty sweet stereo built into a trash can and tiki torches that were all set up on the beach. 



We saw some pretty cool animals during the trip too! The second day we were surfing and we saw a pretty big turtle swimming a bit further out from us. We saw some crabs, a bunch of hermit crabs, some parrots (it's strange seeing them out in the wild), and Kookaburras! The Kookaburras are very cool looking and get really puffed up, but they also liked to hang around during meals and swoop down and steal food off of people's plates. Even with a full picnic table of people they have no fear and sat on the fence near the tables, scoped the place out, then dropped in and took large pieces of food right off of plates! They also hung out in the trees that were right by our cabin. 


Overall it was an amazing trip! When I get the pictures of me actually surfing I'll be posting those as well! 

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Classes at USC

I've officially survived my first week of classes at USC! My schedule worked out really great and I only have class two days a week, although they are two pretty long days. Yesterday I had 3 lectures and 2 tutorials and today I had 1 lecture, 1 tutorial, and 1 lab. The classes here are formatted a bit different than at home. Each class has a lecture and a tutorial, and then science classes have labs. The lecture is in a big lecture hall, between 150-300 people in size (a lot different from BW), the tutorial is a smaller group, between 15-20 people, and it seems to be more like classes are at BW - a lot of discussion and interaction with the instructor. Lab was lab... about 40 people, so still bigger than BW, but nothing all that different otherwise.

Since I have completed most of my credits for graduation this Spring I am taking some classes for interest/fun. The only class I am taking that I actually specifically need is my Systemic Physiology class to finish off my Neuroscience requirements. The best part of that was that our lecture this morning was mostly about neural transmission, a good lecture for me to start off with and get settled in. Other than that I'm taking Australian Politics (figured I should learn about it while I'm here!), Visual Design, and Creative Writing. Overall I think I'm really going to enjoy my classes!

Now that I've successfully gotten through my classes for the week it's time to have some fun! Tomorrow afternoon I leave for a surfing trip! We'll get there late tomorrow night and start learning to surf Friday morning! We'll be surfing and hanging out on the beach until Sunday morning when we leave to head back to USC. On our way back we get to make a pit stop in Byron Bay to explore a bit. I've heard really great things about this trip from people who went on in the last couple years and I'm really excited! I'll be sure to post pictures when I get back! I probably won't blog again until after I get back, so it'll be a few days but I'm guessing I'll have some pretty great stories to share.

I'll leave you with some kangaroo pictures (taken on campus between classes) to enjoy until then! :) The second one has a joey in it's pouch, if you look closely you can see the ears sticking out!


Monday, March 3, 2014

Into the City

Yesterday a couple of my classmates from BW and one of my roomates and I decided to head into Brisbane to explore and check out the art galleries and museums. Navigating the city was about the same as it would be in a big city at home - confusing and easy to get lost. We did find a sign pointing us toward home though... maybe a different Cleveland?

 After a couple wrong turns we did end up finding our way to the right parking garage that was attached to the Art Gallery. After perusing the Queensland Art Gallery we made our way over to the Gallery of Modern Art and on our way out stopped in the Queensland Science Center.




We got to see some really cool exhibits and there was even a hallway with whales hanging from the ceiling and whale song playing, which was interesting.


 Overall it was a really fun day! I did end up coming down with a cold yesterday evening though so I've been trying to rest since then so that I'm all better by the time I leave for my surfing trip this weekend.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Orientation Week

This past week was orientation week at USC! I had sessions to attend Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon and between those we explored campus and visited the tons of tents and booths set up around campus. There were all sorts of people there, some from various organizations on campus and others from local businesses and we were able to get free food and coupons for more free food (the college student's dream!).
There were also some themed parties at the apartments we're staying at to get people out and about to able to meet each other. Tuesday was toga night and Thursday was costume night. The first picture is Jillian and I on toga night and the second is Elsie and I on toga night and the bottom picture is Ayesha, Elsie and I on costume night (Ayesha and I were cops and Elsie was a pirate).



I also signed up and booked my first trip on Tuesday! Next weekend I get to learn how to surf! It's a three day trip with surf lessons and other water sports and you get to camp out and meet a bunch of new people. I'm really looking forward to it and will be sure to post heaps of pictures!

My roommates and I are still getting along really well and actually just got back from buying fish! We each got colorful little fighting fish and decided to go with a Harry Potter theme for names.
 Ayesha's fish (Luna) is on the left, Elsie's fish (Ron) is in the middle, and my fish (Sirius) is on the right. The picture below is a closer one of Sirius.
 
Other than that we've pretty much just been getting ready for classes to start. I bought the lab manuals and drawing supplies that I needed and am all set for this week! Classes start on Monday but my schedule worked out great and I only have classes on Tuesday and Wednesday so I get an extra day off.
 
I'm loving it here and looking forward to my first trip and booking more after that! We put together our list of places we want to go/things we want to do while we're here and I know that it's going to be so amazing!