PSA: I AM ALIVE. (also, escapades in Byron Bay)

Hello, blog friends. It’s been a while. My apologies, as I’ve been quite elusive lately; I blame it on a chronic cast of Wanderlust, a disease more commonly known as Notblogginguenza that’s brought on by too much travelling/being a nomad/not studying. Exam time has finally rolled around—JUNE. WHAT.—and I’m still stuck in late February/early March on this baby. It’s been more of a “study” abroad/study? abroad/abroad experience in the last few months, and I’ve finally gotten myself to crack down. I’ve made a deal with myself that I cannot eat any more Tim Tams (THE HORROR) unless I catch up on putting my Aussie adventures down on (digitalized) paper. So, for the sake of my Tim Tam cravings, here we go!

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Classes began, and let me tell you, I am DEFINITELY going to miss the Australian university structure as soon as I dip back to the U.S. It’s the same sort of pattern as classes back in Madison—a two or three lectures plus a tutorial (discussion) for each class—but it’s organized in a way that allows a student to take two classes that occur at the exact same time. Basically, if you have a schedule conflict with two or your classes you don’t have to worry about rearranging your entire life. This is good on its own, but what makes absolutely stellar is that every single lecture is recorded (at least, all of mine and all of my friends’ classes were) and were put online along with notes—if you can’t make a class because it conflicts with another, you don’t have to worry about falling behind. In addition, rather than having assignments every night, I just had some readings and a weekly discussion post; instead of midterms and quizzes every so often, we had essays to turn in (personally, I enjoy writing outside of class rather than taking timed quizzes/tests in class so this was the PERFECT situation for me). It puts much more responsibility on the student, but I also think it’s much less stressful and I really like it.

Anyway, enough of that “study” stuff and more of the “abroad”!

On Saturday, March 2nd, I went to the city for a “Friendship Ceremony” to meet Graham Quirk, the Lord Mayor of Brisbane!… well, kind of. Classic Brisbane weather reared its ugly head again and decided to downpour the entire day. Naturally I forgot my umbrella at home so I decided to get my official “certificate of friendship” mailed to my place instead. It ended up working out because the ceremony, held in King George Square, was right across the street from Queen Street Mall, and I spent the rest of the day in shopping heaven.

 

Not a fan.
Not a fan.

 

After the first two weeks of class, I decided to start to get much more involved in some of the clubs I signed up for. JACS (UQ’s Journalism and Mass Communication Society) held a launch party in the Valley on the first Thursday night of March, which was a blast! I went with Sam (from New York) and Shannon (from New Jersey), who are both journalism majors as well and we danced the night away. The day after that party, QUEST (the Queensland University Exchange Student socieTy) took us on a trip to the lovely hippie-surfer town of Byron Bay, located at the very tip of New South Wales (not too far of a drive from Brisbane). Besides being an absolutely beautiful spot for some sun and surfing, Byron itself is an incredible city (a.k.a. you can find me living there someday). It’s very modern, clean and upbeat, yet at the same time it has an amazing relaxed, bohemian vibe.

 

A lizard on the beach volleyball court of our hostel in Byron.
A lizard on the beach volleyball court of our hostel in Byron.

 

Some of Bryon’s surfers below the lighthouse, which stands right on the edge of the most easterly point of Australia.
Some of Bryon’s surfers below the lighthouse, which stands right on the edge of the most easterly point of Australia.
Byron Bay from a lookout on the cliffs above.
Byron Bay from a lookout on the cliffs above.

 

Beautiful Byron.
Beautiful Byron.
The iconic red and yellow flags and surfboard of the lifeguards at Byron Bay.
The iconic red and yellow flags and surfboard of the lifeguards at Byron Bay.

On the first night we were in Byron, I even won a surfing lesson from a random QUEST drawing! A few of the Badger girls and I hit the beach early the next morning with the most stereotypical Aussie surfer ever to exist as our teacher, and it was a total blast! Word to the wise: Surfing requires A LOT of upper body strength. Like, a lot. And even more patience. But after a few hours in the waves, I finally started to get the hang of it and all of the hard work was worth it!

Doug (a Badger), Annie (from New York) and I—not exactly the same surfboards we used to tame the waves with, but still a ton of fun! (photo credit: Alex Coppo)
Doug (a Badger), Annie (from New York) and I—not exactly the same surfboards we used to tame the waves with, but still a ton of fun! (photo credit: Alex Coppo)

Needless to say, most of our Byron trip was filled with the same sort of thing: surf, tan and swim during the day, dance our butts off and ride shopping carts down the street at night. By far one of my favourite weekends in Australia!

After Bryon, I snuggled into my class schedule and started developing a daily routine. Brisbane was feeling more and more like home as the weeks went by and I met more friends in this beautiful country. Even then, I was sure of these two things: One, it was going to be difficult to leave. Two, I’m coming back to this country sometime in the near future after my study abroad time is up.

But at this point, let’s not think about the whole “leaving” thing, please?

I finally started to settle into a life in Australia as soon as I moved into my new place the week after Byron Bay, and soon it seemed like the only ones who could tell I was once an awkward, lost foreigner were the kookaburras laughing to themselves on the telephone lines down the street. Plus, the heavy rains in Brisbane were finally starting to let up, and the river levels were going down again—then again, what do you expect when you build a city on a floodplain (see below picture)? The weather was finally gorgeous, and I was able to wander around the city and get to know it much better (FYI, wandering is hands down THE BEST way to explore). I was almost to the point where I knew the city like the back of my hand. Best feeling in the world when you’re on your own in a new country.

The new apartment—besides being SOOO much cleaner than the previous place and having far less ants crawling up the kitchen wall (not OK)—was located right off of Boundary Street (woo!). Even better, however, is that my flatmates Alina and Thea are probably two of the nicest people I have ever met. Alina studies design at Griffith University, a smaller school on South Bank right next to the botanical gardens. Thea, like me, studies journalism at UQ. Both are second-year students, and have seriously made my Australian experience so much better (a HUGE thank you/hello to both of you if you’re reading this!). An added bonus? Alina works at a pizza place and Thea works at a coffeehouse… and it just so happens that my two favourite foods are pizza and coffee. WIN.