Byron Bay

I think it might be impossible to not fall in love with the culture and people of Australia. I do not remember the last time I felt this free and uninhibited in my life. The past three and a half weeks have been beyond anything of my wildest dreams and I cannot wait for to see what the next four months have in store for me, I just hope the time doesn’t pass too quickly.

            The first week of classes at UQ passed in a blur for me but everything seems pretty interesting and exciting! I had originally signed up for an Imperial Rome history course, but after about ten minutes into the first lecture I realized I was way over my head. The prof used many Latin words interchangeably with English and many of the students were nodding along and keep up with the prof easily. That class was definitely a higher-level history class and I got out of it as quickly as possible. Instead I will be taking Medieval History and there are actually a few students from my USC that are in my lecture as well, so at least I know I’ll be able to have more success in this class!

            The first weekend after classes I had a pretty quiet weekend in, well sort of. Friday night Allie, Christian and I went out to dinner with Christian’s friend Hyunjin and her roommate Alicia. We went to this AWESOME Asian bistro place in Fortitude Valley, aka the Valley, and then we headed out for a few drinks afterwards. We stopped at this cool bar called Our Place where they made drinks and served them in teapots! We had a nice relaxing Friday night thankfully.

Drinking out of teapots at Our Place!

            Saturday Mr. Loxton, I mean Steve, took me to an indoor rock-climbing place in the Valley called Rock Sports. We had an awesome time climbing and it was such a workout! I was sore for at least three days after. I sent in an application for a job so hopefully they will contact me soon.

            Last week was the first full schedule of classes with all the tutorials and practicals along with the lectures. Tutorials are basically discussion sections so I have one for Medieval History and one for Philosophy. Practicals are similar to labs and they are required for my Environmental Management class and my Palaeoceanography class.  My tut for Philosophy turned out to be very interesting, there were about twenty of us and the prof went around the room and asked up questions like, “Do you think we are dreaming in reality or are we awake?” Hearing what other students answered and how they defended their answers was intriguing and I really am opening up to this subject!

            Quest, the international club that I will probably mention in every single blog for the next four months, had their weekly pub night at the Bowls Club. This club is like an outdoor country club type place with wonderful drink specials. I went with Brian from California and Davide from Switzerland and we met with a lot of new people in Quest. It was a great night!

BYRON BAY
            

Friday morning I began the best 48 hours I have spent so far here in Australia. Quest hosted a trip to Byron Bay, about two hours south of Brisbane, and we had the time of our lives! We left Friday morning at 11 am and arrived in Byron around 2 pm. The time change was a little off because Brisbane is in Queensland and Byron Bay is in New South Whales.
We arrived at our hostel called the Backpacker’s Inn and settled in for the weekend. I stayed in a four bedroom with Allie, Hyunjin and Lauren (who is also from Canada, they are everywhere over here I guess!). Once we got all situated our group went immediately in search of food.

            For the weekend I had a great ‘crew’ that consisted of three Americans, five Canadians and a German. I could not have found a better group to spend the weekend with.

Our room at the Backpacker's Inn

            After eating some really wonderful burgers we headed straight to the beach. Unfortunately, it was cloudy most of Friday but the sun peaked out a few times during the afternoon. Rain or shine, I was going swimming immediately and I did! The water was chilly but there were tons of surfers everywhere I looked. Byron bay is a huge surf destination because high and low tide cycle through almost twice a day. It was really cool hanging out and watching the surfers!

            Phil, from Canada, is in the Australian Football League (AFL) club with my roommate Christian and he brought along an AFL ball. They are closer in size to a rugby ball than an American football. We tossed that around on the beach for a while and I began to get a hang of the sport, well of course after I got hit in the face once or twice. This should come as no surprise to anyone that knows me back home; I am a magnet for the odd injury here and there.

            After the beach we went to a BBQ back at the hostel, oh and by the way our hostel was less than 100m from the beach. AWESOME. Cheeky Monkey’s was the name of the local pub we all went to that evening. Everyone was standing on big picnic type tables dancing and the locals were so friendly! On more than one occasion as I would walk by a table one of my guy friends would grab me under the arms and lift me up on the table to dance with everyone. Needless to say we all had a great time.

Saturday was an all day beach day. We all rented surfboards for the afternoon and decided we would give it a go. It’s a lot harder than those Australian guys make it look. A few times I was able to get in a half way standing/kneeling position before I would topple over. I didn’t mind too much because at least I tried!

The current was a lot stronger than I thought it was. Allie and I ended up being pulled out by a rip tide. I spent the next ten minutes feeling as if I was fighting for my life, and I was. The surfboard was still tied to my ankle but I couldn’t get a hold on it because of how strong the waves were hitting me and pulling me under. The waves were relentlessly coming one after another! At what felt like the brink of exhaustion I cried out for help from a nearby surfer. Thankfully he came to my aide and helped me onto my board so I could ride a wave back in. The wave I ended up catching felt like it must have been 5 m tall (15 feet) and I was terrified. The wave took me all the way into the beach and I collapsed in the sand for a few minutes trying to regain some morsel of composer. I looked back into the surf to wave to my guardian angle but I couldn’t find him anywhere. Looking back, I get chills and I thank God for that nice man who helped me. I was done surfing for the day after that.

Lauren and I went for a long walk down the beach and talked about everything from boys to religion. Being in Australia with all these new and interesting people have opened my perspective. I can feel myself already changing and learning from all the wonderful people I have surrounded myself with.

Unfortunately, Australia is known for its killer sunshine and I definitely got burned but only in the random places where I missed some sunscreen. That night we went to a pub called Woody’s and had a great time dancing the night away! There was a bachelor’s party being held at the same bar and they were all dressed in costumes! Iron Man was the Groom and Bumblebee from Transformers was the best man. They were a hoot!

The Bachelor's party and some crazy Australian guy!

Waking up Sunday morning was miserable because I spent all of Saturday night shivering and in pain from my sunburn. We checked out of our hostel and walked around Byron for a while and got lunch. A couple of our friends wanted to walk up to the lighthouse but I was too miserably burned to be in the sun that long. So I headed back to the hostel for a nap with my other two badly burned friends.

I was sad to leave Byron bay Sunday afternoon. I had fallen in love with the small beach town and all the memories I made there. Weirdly enough, walking back into my house in St. Lucia felt kind of like home. I made a yummy garlic chicken dinner (slowly picking up this cooking thing) and did some late night homework before I passed out.

Real homework and class are this week but thankfully Quest is pulling through again because we are going to Wet and Wild waterpark for the weekend! I don’t think the fun will ever stop for me. Cheers for now!

Two Weeks!

Downtown Brisbane on the river!

            As of February 27, 2013 I have been in Brisbane, Australia for exactly two weeks, and this could not have been a more wonderful and exciting transition into Australian life! Between shopping, pub-crawls and attempting to figure out the bus system, I’ve hardly had time to sit down at my laptop and take a stab at starting my first blog. Here goes nothing!

            I love to travel and fly. However, my first flight alone was to the other side of the planet and required two days of traveling. Needless to say I was apprehensive to take the plunge alone but everything turned out better than expected! Of course, before we could leave the country Allie, my friend from USC who I am living with in Australia, and I could not avoid a minor crisis. As we waited for our separate flights to board, Allie and I sat with my parents in the USO lounge snacking and preparing to leave. Her flight was an hour before mine so she headed to her gate early and I continued to chat with my parents. About fifteen minutes before Allie’s flight was to take off, my mother gets a phone call from a Michigan number she didn’t know, so she ignore the call. I had a funny feeling in my stomach so I called the number back and of course it was Allie frantically calling to say she left her carry-on bag and could I please run it to her. Without a second thought I grabbed her bag and took off through the Charlotte airport. We looked like a scene from a movie, Allie and I frantically racing towards each other and I slung her bag to her and yelled “Good luck!” Minor crisis averted and a good work out before a six-hour flight!

The flight from Charlotte, NC to San Francisco, CA was incredibly boring and consisted of me playing somewhere close to 20 games of Sudoku to attempt to stay awake. With only an hour layover in San Francisco, I booked it to the International terminal and made it with about twenty minutes to spare before boarding began. I got some funny looks because I was doing some serious stretching in the terminal but I knew I would be restless on this 14-hour flight and I needed to let out some energy! The stretching ended up not being necessary because our flight was only half full and I was able to stretch out on the plane no problem! A few seats down from me sat a nice man named Wade, who was from Sydney, and he had been in the states snowboarding and broke his collarbone. We got to talking and I ended up asking him millions of questions about Australia. I ended up falling asleep for a solid six hours before a snack (I use this term lightly, it wasn’t actually edible to me) was served. I had to get up a few times to walk about the plane and let out some excitement and energy but other than that it was an easy 14 hours. Wade and I were chatting before breakfast was served and the stewardess assumed we were together and politely asked Wade if his ‘wife’ wanted coffee. I was baffled but he smoothly answered, “yes, with sugar please.” When she walked away we both started laughing. Turns out I got and international husband before I even landed in Australia! 

Since Wade worked at the Sydney airport, once the wheels were down, he whisked me through the airport quickly and efficiently! I was taken through the international diplomat entry for customs as he chatted with a co-worker and then we got my bags in a matter of moments and my currency exchanged in seconds. I couldn’t have picked a more useful international husband. Mom would have been proud!

During my hour flight form Sydney to Brisbane I was way too excited! As we flew North up the coast, I was on the East side of the plane and I watched the most beautiful coastline pass beneath me. Australia is breath taking. Once we landed I collected my bags (they all arrived safely and on time, thank goodness!) and hailed a taxi to St. Lucia, my home for the next five months! Brisbane is a huge city with a lot of greenery. After a scary twenty minutes driving on the left side of the road I finally pulled up to my beautiful new home!

Allie had arrived earlier that morning and she met me outside and helped me bring my stuff inside.  Susana, our Australian roommate, gave me a tour of the house and drove Allie and I to the shopping center to buy our groceries. Once again, the whole left side of the road-driving thing really throws me off. I am never driving here. Grocery stores here are in what we would consider a shopping mall back home, so everything you would need is in one place! We just tackled K-mart and Woolworth to get groceries and some necessities to tide us over for a while.  When we got home Susana cooked us dinner and we had Kangaroo. It was so good! After dinner Allie and I took showers and Susana took us out to show us the town our first night!

The RE, or Royal Exchange Hotel, is the uni (university) hot spot on Wednesday and Sunday nights in Toowong because they have drink specials. Three-dollar drinks are what people call a special here! That’s a normal drink compared to what people pay back home in Columbia, SC. After the RE, we went to one of Susana’s friend’s house to hang out and then we headed into actual downtown Brisbane. The night ended pretty late for us, with an expensive cab ride, and somehow I woke up at 7 am the next morning!

My room! Already comfortably clean/messy!

I spent most of Thursday putting my room together and getting acquainted with the house and cooking. Cooking will continue to be a struggle for me this whole trip because turns out I have no idea what I am doing in the kitchen. Friday, Allie and I walked over to the uni! We explored a little bit and took care of a few start of terms things! Getting a student ID and a bus pass were the most important things we took care of that day.

Saturday was spent exploring South Banks! South Banks is on the Brisbane River in downtown Brisbane and is full of great places to eat and tons of outdoor stalls great for shopping for little gifts. Allie made friends with an American girl Emily from Purdue so she met us for a girl’s day exploring and shopping. We had lunch at this wonderful place called Grill’d and I had a delicious lamb burger with avocado and humus. I will be going back there soon! All the flying and walking had taken a toll on my feet so we stopped to put our feet in the man made pool/ beach area along the river.

Sunday, our new roommate Christian, from Canada arrived! So now our house is Allie and I from the States, Susana from Australia, Christophe from Germany and Christian from Canada. A mixed group for sure!

Orientation week started on Monday! There were a few presentations Monday where we learned a lot of helpful information at the University of Queensland in St. Lucia.  I won a box of Tam-Tams (my new cookie addiction) for answering a question correctly!

Quest is a student led group on campus that caters to showing international students a good time while they are studying in Brisbane, so of course I signed up immediately! That Monday night, they hosted a Pub night at a bar called Bernie Num Nums (no joke) in downtown Brisbane. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of new people!

Tuesday was an AWESOME day spent holding massive snakes and lizards down on campus! Quest sponsored an event where we got to handle these lovely creatures. No going to lie, I was terrified as first and shaking like a leaf, but eventually I sucked it up and held my arms out for one massive snake. My mother would have flipped.

Market day is UQ’s version of the club fair back home. Except much much bigger. There were stalls everywhere from Harry Potter club to Powerlifting and there was a huge stage where music was playing to promote one of the bars. I joined a few more clubs but the one I am most excited about is the Mountain club! We will go on camping and backpacking trips and rocking climbing at Kangaroo point here in Brisbane a few times a week! I am also excited about joining the Beer and Rum club because they passed out cards that give discounts to many places in the area! SCORE!

Our AWESOME back porch!

On Thursday we invited many of our new international friends over and we had a Barbeque on our lovely back porch! I've made quite a few friends from Canada and they are great! They actually do say "aye" after a lot of things haha. Chef Allie grilled everything from a soy steak to kangaroo kabobs. It was a great evening just hanging out and chatting with some interesting and diverse people.

The worlds largest Toga Party is held right here in Brisbane so of course we had to go. There had to be at least six thousand people at an outdoor concert area. It was an awesome good time with a massive amount of people! Afterwards there was an after party at Bernie Num Nums so we hung out there afterwards.

Quest pulled through with the best Saturday night I’ve had in a long time. They hosted a pub-crawl! We all wore white shirts and markers were passed out so we could write on everyone’s shirts. Since we are all international students, we took turns making jokes about other countries. My shirt has "I love fried chicken" while Allie's says, "I'm American and I wish I could read." We began at the trusty RE and ended up at the biggest dance club I’ve even been to in downtown Brisbane called the Met. I made quite a few friends that night and it was great!

One of my high school teachers, Mrs. Loxton, moved to Brisbane with her husband after I graduated so I got to have lunch with her on Sunday at Mt. Cootha, which overlooked the entire city of Brisbane. This city is huge and incredibly diverse and beautiful!

Unfortunately we had to come back to reality because classes started on Monday! My schedule is great because I have an afternoon class Monday, class all day Tuesday, all day Wednesday and none on Thursday or Friday. I am the most excited about my Palaeoceanography class and I am very nervous about my Philosophy class, I’m not really much of a free thinker.

Two weeks in and I’m beginning to feel like I have a new home. The only bummer has been the almost constant rain. It so hot and humid for summer that rain is inevitable but we’ve only had one clear sunny day so far (and yes I got burned). The younger drinking age has been fun to explore but thankfully Allie and I are pretty level headed most of the time so we stay safe but have a good time. I am definitely beginning to miss my family as well as my hairdryer (it blew about 30 seconds into the first use). It looks like I’ll be living the next five months all natural, and I couldn’t be more excited to be doing that down undaaaa! Cheers for now!