Hello hello!! I have been home for 8 weeks now. I have fully adjusted back to life and am no longer jet lagged (thank god). It is hard to believe that I was in Australia not that long ago. It feels like yesterday, but also a lifetime ago. I am looking forward to my next Australian adventure (which I hope is soon). I hope everyone is doing well! I am FINALLY going to talk about my final days in Gold Coast, Australia 🙂 Sorry for the delay.

As my other blog posts have told you, I was notified on Tuesday, March 17th, 2020 that I had to be out of the country no later than Monday, March 23rd, 2020. This meant I had 6 days to say goodbye to friends, do anything that I hadn’t yet, book a flight, and pack all of my belongings. It also meant that I had to kiss my trip to New Zealand with my friends goodbye 😦 I do plan on going back to NZ as soon as I can though!

The last few days in Australia were nothing that I had expected, but I still enjoyed every second. Everyone was stressed out with having to pack up their belongings and deal with flights being canceled. Campus began to implement social distancing. This meant no in-person classes (not that I was going anyways…oops), standing 6 feet apart to order food, no seating at Lakeside, hand sanitizer everywhere, etc. At this point in time, a lot of our friends had left already, so only Alyssa, Lillian, and I were still in AUS. On Thursday, March 19th, 2020, the three of us went to the SkyPoint Tower in Gold Coast!! This tower is 322.5 meters tall and is one of the tallest residential buildings in the world. There is an observation deck at the top level (level 77). They also offer a climb to the top of the tower, which is what we did! If you are a Bachelor fan, this is where Peter Weber and Madi Prewett went on their date!! Our instructor was actually the one who brought them up there that day! According to her, Peter was very flirty and the couple were just kissing constantly (tea, I guess). But enough about Bachelor drama haha 🙂

The instructors helped us into our suits and showed us how to work our harnesses. We clipped onto the railing with our harnesses. This kept us safe for the entirety of the climb. We took an elevator that brought us from the ground level to level 77 in 42.7 seconds!! We followed our instructor out of the observation deck and up some stairs to the top. She took pictures for us during the experience and gave us some background on the tower.

The view from the tower was amazing. We could see all of the Gold Coast and beyond. The Gold Coast is very special because not only does it have city life, but it also has beautiful hinterland. Here are some pictures of my friends and I at the top!! (It was VERY windy at the top)

After our climb experience, we walked around Surfers Paradise for a while. We popped into some gift shops and grabbed a drink at the Beer Garden (which is decked out in Corona merchandise…ironic). Afterwards, we went back to campus for a while before going out to dinner that night.

Friday morning, I got up early to say goodbye to my roommate. She was driving back to Central Queensland and was leaving at 6AM. I said goodbye to her and then I was all alone in my room. To be fair, most of the dorm was empty at this point. Later that morning, we said goodbye to Lillian 😦 We got brunch together and wished her luck on her journey to Chicago. Lillian and I go to the same university so I am looking forward to meeting up with her again when we are both back in DC! Alyssa and I hit the beach Friday afternoon. We went to Broadbeach and hung out there for a few hours and enjoyed each other’s company. That night, we went down to Surfers Paradise again so that Alyssa could get her tattoo!! (Don’t worry, Mom. I didn’t get one…although I did think about it). She made her appointment and then we hung out at a bar for a short while until it was time!! She got a small wave on her ribs so it didn’t take long and she did so well! It looks great and she loved it.

Saturday morning, I met up with Alyssa and we got brunch together. Saturday was the day that Alyssa was leaving 😦 and she was leaving campus around 2:30PM. We spent the morning walking around campus and reminiscing on all the good memories that we had made. It was really sad to see her leave, but I can’t wait to see her again! It is great to know that I have a good friend out in Iowa/Minnesota 🙂 I can’t wait to visit her when it is safe to travel again. I spent some time on Saturday night packing my own things and cleaning out my room.

Sunday morning, I got up early and headed to Tamborine National Park. I hired a driver to pick me up and drive me there. It was about an hour drive. My driver was very friendly and had many stories to tell. I was supposed to go to Tamborine National Park the following weekend with my abroad program, but obviously that was canceled. I still wanted to go so I went on my own 🙂 He dropped me off at the mountain and I began hiking. I hiking along a waterfall and it was beautiful. I spent some time at the bottom of the waterfall, enjoying the day. After a while, I hiked back and called my driver. Tamborine National Park was unlike any other mountain I had visited before. There were plenty of people who lived on the mountain (it was a little town) and it had lots of activities for families to go on vacation. You could see Surfers Paradise from the top of the mountain. I was really glad that I made the trip up there.

Monday arrived and I was leaving around 4PM. I got my last workout in at the gym that morning, finished packing my belongings, and cleaning out my room. It was a pretty sad day. I was definitely soaking in my last moments in Gold Coast, but it was also hard to not be a little sad. I was definitely not ready to leave. Like I said before, I really want to go back and spend a lot of time in the Gold Coast again. I’d love to live there for a year or two at some point in my life.

I met my bus driver at 4PM and we picked up the rest of the passengers before heading to Brisbane International Airport. We finally arrived and I checked my bags. It was a pretty easy process and they didn’t ask me many questions besides: Have you been out of Australia in the last two months? Did you pack your own bags? Are you aware of everything you are carrying?

I met my friend Maggie at our gate. We booked the same flight from Brisbane to Hawaii to Boston. Maggie and I graduated from high school together. I am so glad that I had a friend to fly with. It definitely made the experience a lot better. I slept through most of the flight from Brisbane to Hawaii. In Hawaii, we went through customs and security, which wasn’t to difficult! We boarded our flight to Boston and it was the longest 9 hours of my life. I did not sleep at all since I was on Australian time. I arrived in Boston at 5:34AM on Tuesday, March 24th. I was filled with mixed emotions. Excitement to see my family and Oliver. But, also sadness because I wanted to be in Australia with my friends living our best lives.

Oliver picked me up after I got my bags from the baggage claim and it was so good to see him 🙂 He drove 3 hours to pick me up and quarantined with me for 2 weeks at my house. He definitely made the transition back to life in the United States a lot easier and I am very thankful for him.

It has been 8 weeks since I have been in Aussie and I miss it every single day. I can’t wait for the day I book my next flight to Australia. I highly recommend visiting Australia at some point in your life 🙂 Especially in January!!

I want to thank everyone that has read my blogs! It means a lot to me 🙂

Until next time, Australia. Thank you for everything and for showing me all of your beauty. I’ll be back 🙂

Bonus: Here is me about a week after being home, going on a walk in the cold Massachusetts weather while wearing my Bond hoodie 🙂

Note: I will be including some coronavirus/quarantine memes throughout this post to keep things ~fun~ (I do not take credit for any meme posted)

Hi everyone!! As I mentioned before, I have safely arrived back in the United States. I have been home for 5 days now and I am doing well. I am still struggling to get on a normal sleep schedule and the quarantine definitely is not helping the situation. Not having a regular schedule to keep up with is making it hard to not sleep at odd times of the day. Since being home, I have been doing some schoolwork (or at least trying really hard to find the motivation to), running, going on walks, and sleeping.

I had a very safe and easy flight back to Boston. I departed Bond Uni at 4PM on Monday, 23/3/2020 and arrived in Brisbane about 90 minutes later. When I approached the line to check my luggage, I was asked a few simple questions, including: What country are you a citizen of? Why are you in Australia? How long have you been in Australia? Have you left the country at all in the time you’ve been here? Did you pack all of your bags by yourself? Are you aware of everything that you are in possession of? After answering, these questions, I was ready to check my bags. The line was maybe 3 minutes long (not bad at all).

After checking my luggage, I walked for probably about 12 minutes until I reached my gate. At my gate, I met up with my friend from high school who was also flying back from the Gold Coast to Boston. It was really nice to have someone that I know on the flight with me and to keep my company throughout the trip. We ended up boarding our flight 1 hour late (we suspect because they had to do a deep cleaning of the plane). We then waited on the plane for over 45 minutes…there’s an interesting story behind this. But, let’s just say that a certain college student (that I personally do not know) decided to drink a lot and then talk to the airport staff. He quickly got kicked off and they had to waste time searching for his bag underneath the plane (yikes). Anyways, after that, we FINALLY took off. Approximately, 75 minutes after we were supposed to.

I slept for most of the first flight since it was night time in Australia. I woke up not long before we landed in Hawaii. Customs and security were relatively easy at the Honolulu airport. I’d say the biggest shocker was coming back to the United States and experiencing rude and aggressive airport staff again. In Australia, they were always so nice and helpful. It’s sad that I can’t say the same about most American customer service workers. We got through customs and security in about 45 minutes and then went to find food, since we hadn’t eaten much of the plane food.

Before we knew it, we were boarding our flight to Boston. This flight was LONG. It was set to be only about 20-30 minutes longer than our previous flight, but it felt so much longer. I didn’t sleep much on this flight since it was mid-day in Australia time. I maybe dozed off for 30 minutes, but that’s about it. I watched a lot of movies though. We landed at 5:34AM in Boston on Tuesday, 24/3/2020. Since arriving back in the United States, life has been very weird (because of the coronavirus, but also because adjusting back is difficult).

I knew that adjusting back to life in the United States would be hard. It has been even harder to do it with the state that our world is in. I was totally unprepared to come home when I had to. I was planning on having a lot more time in Australia, finishing my classes, and had a few more adventures planned. I was prepared to leave on April 17th. I knew that by April 17th, that I would be accepting of my abroad experience being over and I would be ready to return home then. However, my experience came to an end on March 23rd instead.

I was nervous to fly home. Being on a crowded plane and going through customs and security (where thousands of people are passing through everyday) is one of the last things I wanted to do. I had no idea what to expect or what I would walking into. I had heard horror stories of the airports when people had flown back weeks earlier than I did.

I knew that home would be different. It has made adjusting back to life here in the United States that much harder. Now, I am not one of those people who goes abroad and comes back and says “WoW aBrOad CHanGeD mE, I Am sUCh a DiffFeREnT pERsOn!!!!”. But, I will say that going away for a extended period of time and exploring a new country with new people does have an effect on you. Especially since I was not ready to come home yet. I feel like I have unfinished business in Australia. Leaving the country almost felt like a break-up. I felt like I was being torn away from something I loved without a choice (I mean that is what happened essentially). I am so happy that I chose to study abroad in AUS. I am positive that I made the right choice. I am especially glad that I chose Bond Uni. Since my uni started earlier than most Australian universities. I only have 2 more weeks of “online” school until I am done for the semester. During these 2 weeks, I just have to put together a presentation and complete 3 final assessments.

Normally, when I am home in Massachusetts, I am very active. I drive around a lot and make my rounds to my favorite places and make sure I see all my family members and friends. So far, the only place I have been able to go to is the track/trails to run. I am practicing social distancing and am not going out to places (other than to just walk/run) until I am sure that I did not get the coronavirus while traveling. So naturally, the transition has been difficult. Especially when I was coming form Australia, a country that hadn’t reached that point yet. However, since I have left, things have changed rapidly in Australia. They have begun to restrict travel and are sending incoming travelers to designated quarantine stations for 14 days. It is expected that the borders between states will close soon. So, I am glad that I got out while I could and when flights were still available.

I miss Australia terribly already. It was hard for me to feel emotional about leaving when I was still there. I think I still couldn’t really fathom leaving, even as all my friends began to leave and I started packing my belongings. It was when I landed in Boston that it all hit me. Sometimes now, I close my eyes and picture various places in AUS perfectly and I get hit with the emo (AKA big sad feelings). Leaving Australia felt so different than leaving Massachusetts to go to college or GW to go abroad. I knew I would be back soon every time I left MA or DC. But, I don’t know the next time I will be in Australia and it breaks my heart. I know that I will be making efforts to return sometime in the near future when the world is in a better state and I have graduated college.

I’m missing my aussie life. I miss night walks to Lakeside for dinner and sitting outside by the string lights as I eat and talk with my friends and listen to absolute BOPS play through the speakers. I miss walking into Bond Express and buying a snack. I miss morning walks to the gym and sweating so much (and smelling so bad) and then immediately taking a shower when I get back to my room. I miss the UV levels of 10-11. I miss the sun and even the rain (which is saying something). I miss taking my flip flops off when it rains so that I don’t slip on the ground. I miss taking the bus down to the beach and laying out in the sun and getting absolutely WRECKED by the waves. I miss getting on planes and trains to travel to new destinations. I even miss sitting in my classes (OK THAT IS REALLY SAYING A LOT). I miss my FREEZING dorm room where I was cold even when I was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt while wrapped in TWO blankets. I miss Bachelor nights in the common room and yelling at the TV with my friends. I miss seeing the same people around campus every day and at dinner every night (Alyssa will know what I mean). I miss being tan and feeling the sun radiating on my skin. I could go on forever, but I will spare all the readers that have lasted this long.

The next few months are going to be interesting as the condition of our world changes. It is hard to even think about what may or may not be coming. I understand the danger of the virus and it is why our programs were shut down and students were told to leave the country. Unfortunately, everyone across the world is missing out on things that they were looking forward to right now. In my opinion, everyone has the right to grieve missing out on those things. This virus has an effect on everyone, regardless of whether they are directly or indirectly impacted by the virus. Right now, I am grieving the loss of the remainder of my study abroad experience and the adventures that were awaiting me. I am sad that I didn’t have the chance to return to GW and surprise my friends by flying directly there as I was supposed to. I am worried about what the next few months have in store. Everyone is worried and everyone is missing out on things. The important thing right now is that people do what they can by social distancing and staying home so that we can fight this virus sooner and get back to our normal lives as quickly and as safely as possible. Support your local businesses. Wash your hands. Call your loved ones that you can’t see in person right now.

Sorry for the little rant right there. To any of my friends that have made it this far through this post, feel free to reach out to me to rant about anything during this difficult time because your feelings and struggles are valid. Thanks for reading this far!!! I appreciate you!!

Next post: my last days in Gold Coast 😦

Hello everyone! I am safely back in the United States (very bittersweet). I arrived a few days ago and I am currently writing this at 3:30AM because I am not tired. I thought I was getting back on a regular schedule, but it turns out that I was wrong. I figured I would take this time to write about my trip to Melbourne that I promised!

The weekend started on an interesting note. On Thursday night 12/3/2020, Alyssa and I were having dinner and preparing for our trip to Melbourne early the next morning. We were leaving dinner when we ran into two of our friends. Neither of us expected what they were about to tell us and we were in shock. They told us that both of their home universities had requested that they return to the United States immediately. They were both very upset and confused as their universities were very vague with their emails. We told them to keep us updated on the situation throughout the night.

After talking to them, we instantly started freaking out. If their universities were sending them home, there was no doubt that more and more universities would begin to do the same. It was not until that night that I started to understand that the coronavirus was serious and our time was limited. We walked back to our rooms stressed out beyond belief. We had no idea what any of this meant. At the time, many people thought that their universities calling them home was ridiculous.

We spent that night with a group of friends, including the two girls who would be leaving that weekend. We stayed up very late to say our goodbyes and to spend quality time together. I am very glad that we did.

The next morning, Friday 13/3/2020, Alyssa and I left at 5:30AM for the airport (yes, we did fly on Friday the 13th during a pandemic, but luckily nothing bad happened (which is an achievement for the two of us). Some of you may be thinking it was crazy of us to get on a plane at this time, but you have to understand that we were still completely unaware of the severity of the virus at this time as things in Australia were still normal and the country had made it clear that no restrictions were in place. At this time, Australia was functioning regularly. We had an easy two hour flight to Melbourne that morning. When we landed, we got more bad news. Alyssa’s roommate was being called home too. It was getting more real by the minute. We decided that we were going to have the best weekend that we possibly could as we knew our time in AUS was running out.

We arrived at our hostel 2 hours before check-in so we walked around the city for a bit and tried to keep our minds off the uncertainty of the virus. We checked in at 2PM and both passed out from exhaustion (we stayed up so late the night before our early flight). After napping, we got dressed and found a place to eat dinner. We went to bed early that night since we had a long day ahead of us.

Saturday morning, 14/3/2020, we woke up at 6:30AM for our 7:45AM pick-up. We were headed out onto the Great Ocean Road!!! Our first stop was in Torquay, the beginning of the Great Ocean Road. Our tour guide made us banana bread, so we ate while looking out at the beautiful ocean view.

We made a few more small stops during the morning portion of the drive, including one to spot some wild koalas (we saw 4!!). The views from the bus were stunning as we drove on the winding roads along the ocean. On the bus, we learned a lot of interesting things about the Great Ocean Road! Here are some of the things I learned:

• the road is the world’s largest war memorial. It was built by WWI veterans between 1919 and 1932 as a memorial for their fallen soldiers.
• the road is 243 km long (~150.67 miles)
• the Great Otway National Park (which we visited) is a cool rainforest where dinosaurs once roamed.
• History of Loch Ard Gorge: the location of a famous shipwreck (the boat can be seen by deep-sea divers), in which the only survivors were two 18 year olds, Eva Carmichael and Tom Pierce. Tom saved Eva and they spent the night in the “Love Cave” until the next morning when Tom went to find help. Tom eventually proposed to Eva (as he had been in love with her for some time), but she declined and returned to her home country, Ireland, because she couldn’t stay in Australia as it reminded her of the deaths of her family. (Our tour guide had a lot of fun telling us this story)

Our lunch stop was in Apollo Bay, Victoria. This little town was adorable. It was lined with beachfront shops and restaurants. The ocean was beautiful and it felt like we were in our own little world there.

We continued on the road, making a few more small stops, but my favorite stops were the last two: the Loch Ard Gorge and The 12 Apostles.

The Loch Ard Gorge was STUNNING. I could’ve spent all day there. There was so much to explore and so many angles and heights to view the area from. The next time I go back there, I want to picnic there and spend hours just taking in the views.

The 12 Apostles were just as amazing. The geological features of the area truly amaze me. Fun fact: there are not actually 12 “Apostles” there and eventually there won’t be any left.

We had a long bus ride back to Melbourne that night (luckily we slept most of the way) and arrived back at our hostel around 9:45PM.

The next morning, 15/3/20, we had a much needed later start to the day. We found breakfast and began walking around the city. We explored the famous street art alleys (Hosier Lane and ACDC Laneway). We took a lot of pictures, you can see for yourself below.

We did a lot of walking this day, as we trekked across the city to the Queen Victoria market. It was crowded with people so we did not stay long. We were still on edge about the uncertainty of the coronavirus. We walked back to the hostel and again, we both passed out and took long naps. That night, we explored the city again. We walked a few blocks to Vapiano’s (a classic GW restaurant that some of you may be familiar with) and had dinner. We spent a lot of time there laughing and talking about our abroad experience so far.

On Monday morning, 16/3/20, I got up early and went for a run. It was SO MUCH FUN. The most fun I had had on a run in a while. I loved exploring new areas for running and Melbourne reminded me a lot of DC. There are people biking and running along the Yarra River in Melbourne constantly (big Potomac river vibes!), so I felt at home. I went for a chill 5K run and took in the scenery around me. It was a beautiful morning for running and the coolest run (62 degrees) I had had since leaving MA.

Later that morning, Alyssa and I took the local train to Brighton (a suburb in Melbourne). Brighton was nothing like I expected. It was a very quiet town, but the houses were mansions. They all had fancy gates and you could easily tell that the people who lived in this town has MONEY MONEY. We walked a few blocks before reaching Brighton Beach, the home of the famous Brighton Bathing Boxes. We spent a lot of time appreciating all of the different boxes, the perfect weather, and taking lots of pictures with the different boxes. Each bathing box goes for typically $300,000-330,000. So like I said before, these people have MONEY MONEY.

Afterwards, our hunger started to set in and we both craved acai bowls. We found the nearest place on Google Maps and headed there. It was a 1.5 miles away so it was a bit of a walk, but it was completely worth it. After enjoying our bowls, we headed to St. Kilda (the next town over). St. Kilda is another cute beach town. It is home to the famous Luna Park, penguins, boats/yachts, and windsurfing. We spent some time there appreciating the day and view of Melbourne from afar.

Later that night, we went out in search of a place to eat. We ended up at a small Italian restaurant and walked around a lot afterwards, since it was our last night. We saw many interesting things that night and we had a lot of fun just walking around and exploring. After exploring, we picked up our favorite cookies from Woolies (I am going to miss these cookies so much) and headed back to the hostel. Little did we know, the hell that was awaiting us.

That night, I fell asleep around 11PM since I was pretty tired from all the walking. Alyssa shook me awake right before 1:30AM and told me to check my email. ANDDDD there it was. The email. I have discussed this email already in my previous blog post so I won’t go too much into it, but I was awake all night. I was laughing at the situation because I just didn’t have the capacity to be sad yet.

That day, we tried to enjoy our last moments in Melbourne, but it was hard. We knew that returning back to Bond was going to bring a lot of stress and there was no way to prepare ourselves for that. We returned to Gold Coast safely and met up with our remaining friends that night.

Overall, I had a fantastic weekend in Melbourne!! I am so glad that we were able to fit the trip in just in time. I can’t wait to return to the Great Ocean Road one day and hopefully spend multiple days driving along it. @The Great Ocean Road, don’t worry, I’ll be back for you 🙂

Post completed at: 5:00AM (on the dot). Jet lag is cute

Next post: reflection on my abroad experience and my travels/adjustment back to the United States.

Hello, friends and family! When I started this blog, I never would have thought that I would have to write a post like this one. It has been officially confirmed that I will be returning to the United States in a few days. It breaks my heart to end my journey early and unexpectedly. Here are my thoughts and feelings over the last 2 weeks and what is coming in the next week for me.

I knew I’d be sad to leave this beautiful country. However, I was expecting that sadness to come on April 16th and 17th of 2020. Instead, I was hit with the news on March 17th, 2020. I was somewhat expecting it, because of everything I have seen in the media, but I wasn’t prepared for everything it would bring. For weeks, I’ve heard of the coronavirus. In the last two weeks, I’ve seen things escalate. I watched Clemson University send kids home first, many who attended Bond Uni with me. Then there was a period of silence. Everything went on as usual. Everything was fine. Then all of a sudden, there was chaos. I heard of the universities at home shutting down and sending kids home for two weeks and eventually the entire semester, including my own. I heard of all the study abroad students in Italy and then all of Europe being sent home. I watched my friends studying abroad in Latin America return as well. I constantly thought “It must be my turn next. I am just bidding my time”. My family told me how my high school was shut down and people were stocking up on food. I got a lot of confusing information and stats from the media. I heard so many things and I didn’t know what to believe. I tried to not think too much about it and just enjoy my time in Australia. However, the virus quickly became the only thing that anybody talked about for weeks. It was so hard to comprehend everything and I definitely wondered why I was still here, but I certainly had no desire to send myself home.

I think it really hit me on Thursday, March 12th around 6:45pm, how real this all was. That’s when two of my friends told me that they were being called home by their home universities. At the time, everyone thought that was extreme for their universities to do. I said goodbyes that night. Goodbyes that I didn’t plan to say for weeks. The weekend got worse. Every hour, there was something new. I started to expect an email any second. I was on edge and anxious all the time. I slept horribly. I dreaded checking my email every morning. However, I didn’t let these worries stop me from living my life. But they definitely impacted me. I started living everyday like it was my last. I didn’t take anything for granted. On Tuesday, March 17th, 2020, I woke up at 1:20am to an email from GW. The email had finally come. They asked me to come home. I didn’t sleep much that night. So many things ran through my mind. I didn’t know what to expect because the email was so vague.

The next morning, my program was in touch with me. I was told that my program and Bond planned to stay open and that I could stay if I requested to do so. I contacted GW and relayed this news. I felt relieved for about 2 hours. Then came the next email. The final email. My program was shutting down all programs in Australia and New Zealand. That was it. It took me a while to come to terms with this news.

I had been coping with the anxiety and stress that this virus has brought by making light hearted jokes and memes. It was the easiest way to deal with it. Many people my age have been handling things this way. Not because we are insensitive to those affected by the virus, but because it’s a coping mechanism (maybe not the best one, but it is how we have gotten through hard times). I am fully aware of the toll that this virus has been taking on people worldwide and my heart is breaking for everyone across the planet. I sympathize with everyone that is being impacted by this virus and wish you all the absolute best moving forward. I feel for those that have tested positive or have loved ones that have. I feel for the high school and college seniors that didn’t get to have their last sports season, their last in person class, their last lunch block, their prom, or their graduation.

I didn’t cry for a while after reading the email. Things like this normally take me some time to fully comprehend and have emotions about. It was on my flight back to Melbourne, that same Tuesday afternoon, where it all sank in. I’ve found that flying on airplanes while listening to sad music always hits me in the feels (and probably isn’t my best idea, but oh well). I’m actually writing this on my plane back to the Gold Coast from Melbourne right now and will be posting it later.

Part of the reason why this entire pandemic has been hard to understand is because things have been so different in Australia. School has been functioning without any differences besides the dining hall employees always wearing gloves. People have been out and about, living their regular daily lives. Restaurants and bars are completely functioning as usual. The only sign of a pandemic that I’ve seen is the stores being out of toilet paper. Even when Tom Hanks tested positive only 3 miles from where I go to school, things did not change here. Schools are still in session and people are working. However, the cases in Australia are increasing every day.

I definitely have not come to terms with this experience ending just yet. I have no idea what awaits me in the United States. But I know that traveling home may be one of the most frightening and stressful experiences that I walk into, especially because it comes by force and without a choice. Although, I have accepted that it is probably the right decision to go back home and be with my family during this time. I’ve heard many horror stories of what people have gone through after landing back in the United States recently. I am currently preparing myself for the worst.

Despite all the negativity that is being spread throughout the world right now, I know that I will be okay and am remaining as positive and optimistic as I can possibly be. I want to thank my friends and family for their support through this difficult and confusing time. Thank you to GW Club XC for giving me the friends that have offered me endless support and love throughout this semester and in the past. I want to shoutout the seniors on the club team who I will miss so much and who won’t get their last track meet. I hope to run again with you all soon (@Jack, I expect a Hains Point run when I return to DC). Thank you to Oliver for always listening to my rants and being there for me throughout this entire semester. Lastly, a HUGE thank you (and I miss you already) to Alyssa, someone who has quickly become one of my best friends in just 11 weeks. I’m so thankful that this experience gave me some hard goodbyes. I really couldn’t ask for more than that.

The next time I write, I’ll be back in the United States. That is when I will share about my recent trip to Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. I will also share about my experience entering the United States. I am taking the next 5 days in this beautiful country to live everyday to its fullest. I will definitely be back in the near future.

Thank you for reading. Stay safe, everyone. Support each other during this time of uncertainty. I’ll be in touch soon.

Lot of love,
Ali

Helllooooo! I am still a bit behind on sharing my adventures on here, but I should stay caught up moving forward (no promises though). Last weekend, I went to North Stradbroke Island with my study abroad program and it was an amazing experience! We really got to experience more of ‘straya! The trip was planned so that any of the students on the Arcadia programs at Bond Uni, Griffith Uni, or University of Queensland could go so we were with a bunch of new kids! The other universities had only been in Aussie for 2 weeks compared to our 2 months!

We met our driver, Stew, at 2PM in front of Bond University on Friday (28/2/20). He drove us in a bus for 80 minutes to the ferry dock in Brisbane, where we would be taking the ferry to the island. We got there 1 hour and 40 minutes earlier than the kids from the other schools, so we got out of the bus and explored the area a bit. We boarded the bus again and got ready to get on the ferry at 4:30PM. We drove the bus onto the ferry and once we got moving, we were able to get off and enjoy the ride. My friends and I sat on the top of the ferry and enjoyed the view and the breeze for the 45 minute ferry ride.  

We got to our accommodation around 6PM and were assigned to villas. My friend Alyssa and I ended up getting an entire villa to ourselves! This means we had 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and living room to ourselves all weekend! We settled in and got ready for dinner. We met the group an hour later for dinner that was pre-ordered by our program. We both got the mushroom risotto and it was DELICIOUS! After dinner, everyone was tired so we went back to the villa. We did not have wifi or cell service (GASP!) at the villa so we watched a few episodes of Spongebob on TV and then passed out before 9:30PM.

The next morning (29/2/20), I woke up at 6AM and decided to explore. I walked down to the beach and it was stunning! Our villa was only a 3 minute walk to the beach. I was able to get perfect cell service on the beach so I caught up on my missed messages and had a nice morning walk. After a while, I headed back to the villa and changed into running clothes. I ran 3 miles on the beach and got very sweaty, so I cooled off in the pool afterwards. I headed back to the villa to shower and make breakfast (and wake up Alyssa). HOWEVER, I was greeted by a GIANT spider web with a spider chilling in the middle of it when I got back. I banged on the glass sliding door until Alyssa woke up and we knocked down the web.

We got ready for the day and met everyone at 9:30AM. We split up into 2 groups and started the day! My group got to go kayaking first! Alyssa and I got a double kayak and had fun rowing around Brown Lake. We even stood up at one point and did some funny dances (and almost fell off). After kayaking, we had a BBQ lunch with hamburgers and fruit while relaxing on the sand by the lake.

Next, we were off to the North Stradbroke Island Museum on Minjerribah. We got to learn about the aboriginal people from Straddie and watch a modern aboriginal man play the didgeridoo (an instrument developed by the aboriginal peoples of Northern Australia) and he was really good!! He also taught us 2 aboriginal dances! After leaving the museum, we had a snack break before getting back on the bus.

Around 2:30PM, we went for a short hike at Point Lookout. We saw kangaroos, the North Gorge, and the beautiful beach front. After finishing, we got to have ice cream before heading back to the villa. We then had free time so Alyssa and I hung out at the beach and relaxed before getting ready for dinner.

When we got back to the villa, we had a nice surprise waiting for us. We had no running water (unless you count the very slow drop that came out of one of the showers). Which meant, that after a long day in the sun, we had to go to dinner feeling gross. We turned it into a joke though and joked about how we had no water or cell service. The main issue was that we were very thirsty and had no water to drink because the entire island was out. At dinner, we both had the mushroom risotto again.

That night, we decided to walk the beach and we could hear some good music coming from a wedding nearby so we danced around on the beach until we got too tired and went to back to the villa.

On Sunday (1/3/20), we met up with the group at 8:30AM and split into our groups again. My group went to a park and painted boomerangs. It was very relaxing and a good way to start the morning. After painting them, we learned how to throw them and we did that for a while. Around 10AM we got into the bus and headed to the beach for a surf lesson (my 2nd one). The waves were pretty good and I was able to get up a few times. After a while, I got tired so I relaxed by laying on my board and floating in the ocean.

After surfing, it was time to pack up. We got back into the van and went to a park to relax and have lunch before heading to the ferry. I was exhausted so I was happy to head back to Bond. I fell asleep for a while on the bus back to Bond, which was nice because it made the ride go by fast.

I have been busy here at Bond Uni with my classes, but mid-sem is finally over since it is now week 9! This means that I only have 3 more weeks of (real) class!!! The time is flying by and it is crazy to think that I will be home in less than 6 weeks! I have a lot more adventures awaiting and I am very excited!

Here are some pictures of Alyssa and I surfing in Coolangatta last weekend since I don’t have any pictures of us surfing on North Stradbroke Island:

Some of you may be wondering about the coronavirus and it’s effect on my study abroad experience. As of right now, the only students from my university that have been sent home have been those studying in Italy. Recently, some study abroad students from Bond Uni also had to leave because they were told to do so by their own home universities (please don’t do that @GW). The cases in Australia have been managed well and the country has a low risk according to the CDC. We are planning on being able to finish out our programs in Australia. It has been a little scary since I never know what each day will bring, but my friends and I have been remaining optimistic! I am still getting emails everyday, but I hope that conditions remain the same and that I am able to successfully finish my semester here and return home safely in April 🙂

Next adventure: Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road!!!!

Welcome to the Whitsundays!!! Some fast facts on the Whitsundays Islands: the islands are a collection of 74 islands off the coast of Queensland. The islands were formed by volcanic activity approximately 30,000-50,000 years ago. The Aboriginals of the islands were the Ngaro people, one of the earliest groups in Australia. The islands were named after Captain Cook when he sailed through in 1770 and named the passage between the northern islands, the Whitsunday passage. Approximately 700,000 people visit the islands annually and the islands are home to the southern portion of the Great Barrier Reef.

On Wednesday, 19/2/2020, we packed up all of our things and got ready to explore the Whitsundays and Airlie Beach! That morning, we went to Bond to consolidate our things into 15lb backpacks. We got a short workout in and Oliver got to swim in the beautiful outdoor 50m pool at Bond! We took the train to Brisbane to catch our flight. The train is slow moving so it took about 1 hour and 40 minutes to get to the domestic airport in Brissy.

We caught our small flight out to Proserpine that afternoon and landed 80 minutes later! The Proserpine airport is very very small. It has 3 gates. We were welcomed with a large fish tank resembling the heart shaped reef in the Whitsundays! We caught a 40 minute shuttle bus to Airlie Beach and settled into our airbnb! Airlie Beach is a small little town. It’s main purpose is to serve as the port for the Whitsunday Islands, but it is absolutely adorable. It was also very hot there since it is north of Gold Coast. It was about 80-100 the entire time we were there! Wednesday night, we walked to Woolies to pick up groceries for the rest of the week. We made sure we got to bed early since we had a full day of adventures and sun ahead of us!

We got up bright and early on Thursday (20/2/2020) because it was SKYDIVING DAY! As many of you know, I skydived earlier in Byron Bay, but the experience was so amazing that I had to do it again 🙂 Sorry Mema 🙂 We got picked up by the skydiving company and before we knew it, we were in the harnesses and walking on to the plane! Oliver and I were last to board the plane (along with our instructors of course), which meant that we’d be first out! Oliver was sitting right up against the clear sliding door so he was first to jump and I jumped no longer than 10 seconds later! The view from the plane was absolutely stunning and it was just as beautiful when I was free falling in the sky.

I am so glad that I went a second time in Airlie Beach because I got to see the Whitsunday Islands and the beautiful blue water from the sky. It was truly an experience that I would recommend to everyone! My instructor told me that it is time for me to get my certification, so maybe after I graduate college, I’ll get that done 🙂 After landing, Oliver and I were so excited and full of adrenaline and we held onto that for the rest of the week.

After skydiving, we hit the lagoon in the center of Airlie and relaxed. It was a beautiful afternoon to swim and enjoy the sunshine. The lagoon is a giant outdoor pool by the beach where everyone hangs out and relaxes. That evening, we got dressed up and went out for some good food at La Marina. Our food was ready very quickly and it was so delicious! (Thanks Mom!!!) After dinner, we walked to a SUPER cool playground like no other I have ever seen! The only way up was to climb a bunch of ropes (not the easiest thing in a dress and flip flops). At the top, there were 3 slides to chose between to get down. We had a lot of fun and were even joined by other 20 year olds. Before heading back, we grabbed some gelato, then hit the hay because we had ANOTHER adventurous day coming up.

On Friday morning (21/2/2020), we had another early morning wake up call. We were headed to the Great Barrier Reef!!! We boarded the boat right after 8 AM with about 68 other people + 6 crew members. The boat and the crew were amazing! They had the entire day planned perfectly and were incredibly friendly. We had breakfast and snacks on the boat as we cruised out to Whitehaven Beach. We finally arrived around 10:30 AM. We got off the boat and hiked up to the Hill Inlet Lookout! We even saw a huge spider in the forest during the hike!! It was a very sweaty hike up to the lookout, but absolutely worth it. The view was to die for, but I’ll let the pictures tell you all about it.

After the hike, we went down onto the beach and put on our stinger suits (they protect us from jellies) and Oliver struggled a bit with his to say the least…. We got to see a cow-tailed stingray and a lemon shark (along with lots of little fish!). Whitehaven Beach is a very special place. It’s sand is the purest in the world, being 98% pure silica. It was the softest and whitest sand that I have ever seen (hence the name of the beach). The water was the clearest water I will ever see. It is illegal to take sand from Whitehaven (except for the inevitable) and the only time that there has been a legal export was in the 1970’s for the Hubble Space Telescope. The sand does not retain heat so you can walk on it without burning your feet (but that didn’t stop us from getting a lot of color while on the beach).

We had a BBQ lunch on the boat that was delicious and about an hour later, we were in our snorkeling gear and jumping into the ocean! We explored the Great Barrier for about 90 minutes and we had a blast! Oliver was diving down and swimming in between the reefs and we saw so many fish, clams, and different types of coral! We were the first people out of the boat and the last two to get back on and we could’ve stayed much longer.

After snorkeling, we were exhausted so I fell asleep for a while. Everyone on the boat relaxed and drank until we reached shore around 5 PM. Oliver and I were pretty tired after 10 hours at sea, so we spent the night relaxing and made dinner, while treating the damage that the sun and saltwater did to our skin.

The next day (22/2/2020), we packed up our things and cleaned the airbnb and spent the day walking around Airlie. That afternoon, we flew back to Brisbane. It was a long journey, but we eventually got back to Bond Uni around 9 PM. Sadly, this meant that our week together was ending 😦 HUGE sad face. We ordered some pizza and watched a TV show before passing out from exhaustion. The next morning we were up at 3:30 AM and Oliver caught an uber shortly after for his 6 AM flight back to Syndey.

We had a fantastic week full of adventures and I am so glad that he was able to come visit Australia! I could not have asked for better weather or a better person to spend the week with.

Next blog: North Stradbroke Island. Coming soon!!

Enjoy this last picture of us snorkeling!!

Hello hello! So sorry that I have not written in so long 😦 I have been traveling a lot and we just had midterm season so I have been very busy, but I am excited to have time to write again! (Warning: The pictures will do most of the talking in this post!)

2 weeks ago, Oliver arrived in Aussie!!! He flew in from DC and after 3 different flights (and 30+ hours of traveling), he landed in Gold Coast on Sunday, February 16th, 2020 around 11:45 AM! I was so excited to see him, even though he scared me at the airport by coming up from behind me. We spent that first afternoon relaxing since he was jet-lagged and then we had dinner on the beach in North Burleigh!

On Monday 17/2/2020 (it has been hard getting used to writing the date like this), we woke up at 4:50 AM and watched the sunrise on the beach. Around 10 AM, I gave Oliver a tour of Bond Uni! It was a lot of fun to show him where I have been living and he loved it! We had lunch at Lakeside (the dining hall) and I watched him struggle to open a ketchup packet (they are very different here). I also got to show him how the cross walks work, the correct side of the sidewalk to walk on, and other little things that you may not expect to be different but are, and it makes a difference!

After lunch, we went to Burleigh and I showed him Burleigh Heads National Park and Tallebudgera Creek! We went to jump off the bridge there and saw a few stingrays swim underneath us! We waited a few minutes before jumping and then jumped together twice. Oliver also enjoyed swimming between shores of the creek. Later that night, we explored a little bit of Surfers Paradise before grabbing groceries from Woolies (a supermarket) to make dinner. It was a beautiful sunny day in Gold Coast and a great way to start the week of adventures!

On Tuesday 18/2/2020, we explored Currumbin Animal Sanctuary and spent a little over 4 hours there. There was SO much to do. The first animal we saw were bin chickens (formally known as Australian white ibis), which are basically the raccoons of Australia. They are known for rummaging in the garbage, which is why the Aussies complain about them.

Next, we headed to the koalas! We both got to hold a koala and it was so cute! Afterwards, we spent a lot of time with the kangaroos. Many of the kangaroos had joeys in their pouches so we got to see the mothers taking care of them and we even saw one mother kick her joey out of the pouch for feeding time! It was a really hot day, so a lot of the kangaroos were keeping cool in the shade. At the sanctuary, they let a lot of their animals roam around freely, so a lot of the kangaroos were just hopping around in the grassy areas, along with an emu who was just minding his own business.

We got to watch a short crocodile behavior show, where we saw a 5 meter saltwater croc that was over 800 kilos and ol! Other animals we saw included, wallabies, Tazmanian devil, dingos, lorikeets, echidnas, red panda, capybaras, tree kangaroos, a lot of awesome birds, and so much more! It was so much fun to see all of the native Australian animals that I have always learned about!

That night, we made dinner then went for a swim in the pool before passing out after a long and hot day at the sanctuary. We had beautiful weather in Gold Coast and the timing could not have been more perfect! Before Oliver arrived, it rained from February 2-February 14, so I was ready for some sunshine! 🙂

I am going to split this week into 2 separate blog posts so click on the next one to hear about the rest of the week and our trip to the Whitsundays! More pictures from our adventures below!!

Hello everybody! I have had a very busy and fun 2 weeks since I lasted posted! So I have a LOT to update you all on! Two weekends ago, my friends and I booked a quick last minute trip to Brisbane. Brisbane is the 3rd largest city in Queensland and has the closest international airport to the Gold Coast. We got to Brisbane by catching the bus to Robina Station on Thursday afternoon. From there, we went down to the train platform. None of us had taken the train before so this was totally new for all of us. The public transportation system here is called Translink and it worked similarly to the Metro in D.C. The bus cards and train cards are the same, making things easy. The train ride to Brisbane was surprisingly cheap (cheaper than it would have been in the U.S. for sure). We got on the train and it took about an hour to get to Brisbane. The views from the train were great though as we traveled through the suburbs and the train was comfortable and quiet.

When we arrived in Brisbane, we made our way to the Airbnb, which was in an apartment building with about 40 floors! Before even going to the apartment, we went to the top floor, which had an infinity pool, the gym, and an AMAZING view of Brisbane. We were all in awe when we saw it and couldn’t wait to swim in it later.

The room we were staying in was just as nice. It had two bedrooms, each with a queen bed, 2 bathrooms, a beautiful kitchen and living space, and a balcony that overlooked the city.

During our 2 days in Brisbane, we explored the city, ate some good burgers (shout out to Betty’s Burgers), walked around the shops, swam in the infinity pool, watched some movies while eating ice cream, and enjoyed each other’s company. We were all happy to get away from school and do something different.

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We got back to Bond on Saturday night and rested because the next day was….AUSTRALIA DAY!!! Before I begin about Australia day, I want everyone to know that I am only stating the facts about Australia Day and not speaking from personal opinion. Australia day is celebrated on January 26^th each year. The day marks the anniversary of when the first fleet of British ships arrived in New South Wales at Port Jackson in 1788 and Governor Arthur Philip raised the flag of Great Britain. Australia Day marks the European colonization of Australia, however there were already people living here, just like there was in the United States. It is easy to tell that because of this there is some controversy over the celebration of Australia Day. Many Australians refer to this day as “Invasion Day”. Every year, people rally for the Indigenous Australian people and call on the government to change the date.

Australia Day was a fun day for my friends and I, regardless of the fact that it was Australia Day. It was a beautiful day so we hit the beach and spent most of the day there.

Fast forward 4 days and it is Friday, January 31st, 2020 – the day that I would be going SKYDIVING! Skydiving is something that I had wanted to do since I can remember. 8 year old Ali is freaking out that I got to experience this for the first time in AUSTRALIA! Skydiving has always been at the top of my bucket list, so when I got the opportunity to do it in Australia, I absolutely could not say no. I got up bright and early and we were all boarded onto the bus by 7am. There were about 30 of us on the trip that would be skydiving that day. My friend, Alyssa and I signed up to jump together and then we waited for about an hour to be called. Once we got called, there was no time to think. We were quickly told to take all jewelry and watches off and put the skydive pants on, while being put into our harnesses by our instructors. Before we knew it, we were getting into the plane. The view from the plane was stunning. I couldn’t take my eyes off the world outside as we flew higher and higher. Next thing I knew, my instructor had secured our harnesses together and the professional solo jumpers in front of us were diving out of the plane.

The moments before jumping are a blur in my mind because everything happened so quickly, but I remember screaming “oh my god” repeatedly as we inched closer to the edge. Falling was nothing as I had expected. My stomach didn’t drop like it does on roller coasters. Instead, I just felt like I was flying and floating in the air. I didn’t have a single worry. I didn’t even think about the possibility of the parachutes not working. I was so happy. My smile was so big and I was enjoying every second of the experience. After a minute or two, my instructor pulled the parachute and he let me steer it. I couldn’t take my eyes off the world below me. I can still see it in my mind and I can’t wait until I do it again (yeah, I’m kind of in love with it now so I think this may become somewhat of a regular thing for me….oops). When it was time to land, I followed the protocol by lifting my legs up so we could fall in the seated position, but right before we reached the ground, my instructor told me to stand up because we were falling perfectly so I did and we stuck the landing! Side note: my instructor was absolutely amazing. He was hyping me up the entire time and he was a lot of fun.

Photos by Skydive Byron Bay Australia

Afterwards, Alyssa and I were ECSTATIC. We were jumping around with so much excitement and adrenaline and we kept that going for the next few hours. We didn’t stop talking about the experience, oops.

We then took a short bus ride to the hostel that the rest of the group was at in Byron Bay. The hostel was cute with a giant courtyard with 2 hot tubs. Our room had 8 beds, so we made some new friends that also go to Bond! After settling into the room, we changed quickly and grabbed food since we hadn’t eaten all day and it was now 2pm. We then met up with everyone else and went on a 3 hour hike to the lighthouse in Byron, which is known for being the most easterly point in Australia! The views were once again, AMAZING. But you guys can see that for yourselves by looking at the pictures!!

Later that night, we had food and the entire group went to a glow paint bar (which was pretty #cheeky). I went to bed early this night since I had had a LONG, but exciting day and I knew the next day would be the same.

On Saturday morning, Alyssa and I were scheduled to snorkel at 7:30am. We had breakfast and met our small group to walk to the snorkel place. They showed us a short video containing all the information that we’d need to know. Including, a segment about all the dangerous and deadly animals that we could in counter, which was a bit scary (spoiler: we were completely safe and fine). We got geared up and headed to the beach to meet the boat!

The boat ride was a lot of fun. We got to Julian Rocks (where we snorkeled) in about 5 minutes and jumped into the water immediately. We actually flew over Julian Rocks the day before while skydiving! While snorkeling, I was able to see a bunch of colorful fish, a sea turtle, a manta-ray, and a friendly shark. Unfortunately, about 45 minutes into the snorkel, I started to feel a bit sea sick from the rough waves, so I got back on the boat. However, I didn’t miss much since another girl ended up throwing up in the water so the group’s snorkeling kind of ended there (but I didn’t throw up so yay!). We headed back to land and I started to feel significantly better. We spent the rest of the day swimming and relaxing on the beach!

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On Sunday morning, I got up at 4:50am with Lilly and we hiked back up to the lighthouse for sunrise. We were able to make it there in 45 minutes since it was just the two of us and it was a great way to start my morning. We got back to the hostel around 7am, had breakfast, and then we both took naps. Around 11am, we hit the beach again for a few hours before heading back to get changed. We spent the last few hours in Byron by walking around town, exploring, and enjoying the scenery that Byron has to offer. At 4pm, we got on the bus and headed back to Bond! We got back to Bond at 4pm too. This is because Byron is in NSW which does daylight savings time, while Queensland (where Bond is) does not.

Overall, I had an amazing two weekends in Brisbane and Byron Bay! I have been picking up on a lot of Aussie things and have started using a lot of their slang. Sending lots of love to my family and friends back home and all my lads at GW!! I know I didn’t talk about school at all in this post, but it is going well, don’t worry! (It just isn’t as exciting to write about)

Coming up: in 10 days, Oliver will be here! So you can expect a blog post about our week together and all of our adventures next! @Oliver – Can’t wait to see you and show you around AUS! 🙂

G’day everybody! (Yeah, that was cringey, I know, but I had to do it) I arrived at Bond University on January 7th, 2020 so I have been here for 15 days now. So I figured it was time to write about the place I am calling “home” for the next few months! To start, Bond Uni is absolutely gorgeous! The university is ranked #1 for student experience in Australia and it shows! It has been fun becoming a Bondie (as they call us). Their mascot is the Bullshark, since the waterways here are known for having bullsharks in them. So it is highly recommended that we never try swimming in them!

When I arrived at Bond, I had no idea who my roommate would be. I was told that it could be someone in my program, another international student, or even an Aussie! I was a bit nervous unlocking my door on the first day as I had no idea what to expect. Luckily, I was greeted by my very friendly Aussie roommate! She is a freshmen from Central Queensland, starting her first semester at uni.

The first few days at Bond, were packed with orientation events for us. I attended many welcome events, from free dinners/lunches, a nature walk, a Burleigh beach trip, trivia night, scavenger hunt, etc. The events definitely kept me on my toes and I am so glad because it gave me things to do and opportunities to meet new people. I would say that trivia night was probably my favorite though.

Pictures from Springbrook National Park! We came here during orientation for a short walk.

The first few days were a bit awkward, trying to make friends and figure out where everything was (spoiler: I have made friends and can navigate campus now). But I knew this would be something I would experience when I applied to study abroad, so I was ready to embrace it. There are 2 other girls in my program from GW, but I didn’t know them until I arrived in Sydney. It was good to know that I had some support from other Colonials if needed though. Overall, I would compare the first few days here to the beginning of freshmen year of college (so I knew I could do it again).

Bond @ A Glance

Bond is a young university, but it is already making impressions throughout Australia and the world! The university is celebrating 30 years, having been established in 1989. As I mentioned earlier, the university is ranked as the #1 university in Australia for student experience. The university is well known for their large international student body with 46% of students being international! There are 4,000 students that attend Bond with 51% of them being postgraduate students. This means that only about 2,000 students are undergrads!

It has definitely been a noticeable change going from GW, a university located in downtown D.C. with 28,000 students and 12,000 of them being undergrads. Additionally, many Bond students commute from home, making the on-campus student body even smaller than 2,000. I am definitely enjoying the change though. Campus is much more calm and you get to know people a little better. However, my experience so far being at such a small school, definitely emphasizes that I made the right choice when I choose GW (a perfect sized school for my college career, yay!). I would say that I have adjusted to life at Bond pretty well. I have settled into my routine and the campus is beautiful so I have no complaints 🙂

Food at Bond

The dining plan here is very similar to GW’s. We have a certain amount of money on our ID cards and we can use them anywhere on campus to purchase food. I would say that I was pretty equipped for this dining plan coming from GW and having lived on the VERN freshmen year (iykyk). There is one difference between GW’s dining plan and Bond’s though. For every food purchase you make, you get a % of it put back onto your card. This helps students avoid food insecurity at the end of the semester. I would say that so far, my favorite food to get here is to order from the wrap/salad bar at Lakeside. Additionally, TimTams are big here and all I will say is that I am going to miss them a lot when I go home. So I will definitely be filling my bag with them when it is time to come home. My friends and I have tried a few of the local food places as well and have had good experiences at all of them.

School and Classes (wait, I’m not just here to travel?)

As much as I would love to be here just to travel and experience everything Oz has to offer, I am taking 4 classes this semester. I’ve started my second week of classes and they all seem like they will be good! I am taking electives to fulfill my psychology minor and exercise science major requirements. Lectures are only once a week for 2 hours and their tutorials (discussions) are once a week for 1 hour. So in total, I have 12 hours of class a week, which isn’t bad at all. I have Tuesdays and Fridays off from class, which is nice because I can continue my streak of never having a Friday class in college 😉

The classrooms are beautiful here. Bond Uni ensures that each student has a comfy chair and plenty of desk space to enhance student experience. Bond runs on a trimester schedule, unlike any other university here. This means that students graduate in about 2-2.5 years. They have semesters starting in January, May, and September. This made Bond perfect for me since I didn’t love the idea of going to school from late February-end of June at any of the other universities in Australia.

Pictures of Bond!

These are some pictures of the center of campus! Campus is beautiful and a nice change of scenery for me

Gold Coast

The Gold Coast is stunning. There is so much to see and do here. The beaches here are amazing and each one is a little different. So far, my favorite has been Echo Beach. Echo is a little beach tucked away behind Burleigh National Park. The water is clear and the sand is soft. This beach is located in Burleigh, which is a suburb of the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is also well known for Surfers Paradise. Surfers Paradise is a beautiful beach with high-rise apartment buildings, that is also known for its nightlife. The Gold Coast has a lot of waterways, setting it about from many other places in Australia. There are over 550 miles of residential waterways throughout the city. We have some here around Bond too! Some other suburbs of the Gold Coast include, Robina (where Bond is!), Coolangatta, Currumbin, Coomera, Broadbeach, Varsity Lakes, and many more.

The Gold Coast is located about 40 miles southeast of Brisbane and is on the north border of New South Wales, but is in the southeast corner of Queensland. The city has 43 miles of beaches, many of them being the most popular surfing locations in the world, making it home to lot of professional surfers! The Gold Coast has a humid subtropical climate, making summers very hot and humid. It has been very humid every day here (making running a little difficult sometimes, but I’m managing). About 10 million people visit the Gold Coast every year, which doesn’t surprise me, since it is a beautiful place with lots to do.

Adventures and other pictures!

This weekend, my friends and I headed to Burleigh National Park with no expectations of what it would be like. The minute that we arrived, it was evident that the views were even more breathtaking than we imagined. We explored the park and I was continually amazed by everything we saw. The ocean was clear and bright blue. The vegetation consisted of a million shades of green with wild turkeys roaming around the walkways. We eventually reached the end of the park which lead us to a bridge that kids were jumping off of and a beautiful beach (Echo Beach). So of course, we went bridge jumping and spent the afternoon there. Towards the end of the afternoon, we even saw a small beach wedding! (It was absolutely adorable) After the beach, we went out for dinner at a cute mexican food restaurant. Overall, it was an awesome day and I am looking forward to exploring the Gold Coast more and having more days like this one!

Other Things I Have Been Doing

• running, figuring out where to run, what times are best to run, and how to run in the constant humidity
• going to the gym (typically in the mornings)
• exploring campus
• exploring the beaches
• having Bachelor nights with friends (yes, Dad. I still am going to watch the Bachelor here. I even figured out how to use GW’s vpn all by myself!!!)
• hanging out with friends
• exploring the different suburbs of the Gold Coast // downtown beach areas (because they are all very different)
• going to class (*sigh* yes I am going to class. Which I am actually really enjoying!)
• writing this blog
• planning trips and getting excited to travel in the upcoming weeks!!!
• keeping in touch with my friends and family 🙂

I hope the winter weather is treating everyone at home well! I can definitely say that at most, I only have alligator tears about missing out on that. Thanks for sticking through another blog post! 🙂 I’ll be back soon with more updates!

With love,

Ali

The answer is no.

Many people have asked me about my proximity to the bush fires. (Warning, this will be a word heavy blog post)

Australia is about the same size as the United States. However, many people do not know this. Traveling from Sydney to Perth is about the same as driving from NYC to LA. Australia is the 6th largest country in the world behind Russia, Canada, China, the USA, and Brazil. It is also the smallest continent and largest island in the world. For me to fly from Sydney to the Gold Coast, it was an hour and 25 minute plane ride or ~524 miles! This is like to driving from Boston, MA to Fredericksburg, VA (+23 miles). So this means, if a fire is burning in LA, it isn’t going to affect you if you are in NYC. And same thing for me here in Oz.

Bush fires have always been part of the ecology and environment in Australia and happen every dry season. We just have not heard about them as much in previous years, because they haven’t been bad in about a decade. The term “bush fire” is based on the concept of “the bush”, which refers to sparsely-inhabited regions of Oz. Bush fires are uncontrolled, non-structural fires that are burning in a grass, bush, or forest area. Indigenous Australians even used fire to clear grasslands for hunting purposes and to clear tracks through thicker vegetation (only during times of high rainfall). The most intense fires typically occur during heat waves and droughts. It is easy for the fires to spread in the hot, dry, summer months in Australia The bush fires that have resulted in the largest loss of life are often named, such as the 2009 Black Saturday Bush fires and the 2006 December bush fires. Bush fires are typically seen from October to March (the hot/dry months).

The main states affected by the bush fires this year have been New South Wales and Victoria, however, there have been at least some smaller bush fires in each state this season. It is estimated that 29 people have died (4 of them were fire fighters) and an estimate of 18.6 million acres were burned. Additionally, it is predicted that half a billion animals have been affected by these fires. It is estimated that about 1/3 of the koalas in NSW have died and that 1/3 of their habitat has been destroyed. However, koalas are not endangered because they are spread out throughout the country. Species that have niches are at risk because their entire habitat can be wiped out. These species mainly include certain birds and frogs.

There are a few reasons why bush fires start. Lightning is one of these reasons. Lightning in areas experiencing drought can easily start a fire. Humans also cause these fires. Sadly, over 20 people were arrested for starting fires this season. The fires this year are so bad because Australia has been experiencing a severe drought. Additionally, there was a heatwave in December 2019 that had the highest national average temperature in history. The strong winds have caused the fires to spread quickly . Some experts have stated that climate change has made things worse for the bush fires, but this a more complex topic that I won’t get into here. But there are plenty of articles online about it if you are interested!

The state and federal authorities have been working for the last few months to fight these fires. There have been over 2,000 fire fighters responding to the fires. Australian military forces have been working alongside the fire fighters as well. Additionally, the United States, New Zealand, Canada, and other surrounding countries have sent fire fighters/military personnel to assist.

In the last few days, NSW and Queensland have received a lot of long-awaited rain. The locals have been rejoicing the return of rainfall to their lands. Over 100mm of rain hit Queensland yesterday (and that isn’t even counting the rain on Thursday). According to online resources, the area has not seen rain like this in 15 years or any rain really since last March! I can definitely vouch for them and say that it rained A LOT! I have never seen rain like this in my entire life. On Thursday, we had a BBQ with our abroad program and as soon as we got off the bus, it suddenly down poured on us. I have seen heavy rain before and have certainly been drenched head to toe, but this was NEXT LEVEL rain. I took my flip flops off (or thongs, as they call them here) and sprinted probably about 600 meters to the little beach pavilion that we were having our BBQ at. It took less than a minute to be absolutely soaked through (even with my raincoat on!). A few minutes after arriving, the rain stopped and we had our BBQ (which was a lot of fun). On our way home, we missed the rain by maybe 30 seconds as we got to the bus stop just in time. However, we did have to run from the bus stop back to the dorms in the rain. So I got soaked again.

It rained the rest of the night on Thursday. But, on Friday morning it was hot again. Friday night, around 9pm, the rain came down again. And MUCH harder this time. It sounded like drummers were banging on the roof from 9pm-5am. I woke up around 2:30am due to the noise and took a look out the window. About every 30 seconds, the sky would light up from a lightning strike, followed by thunder. It was truly incredible to watch. Some areas on campus were flooded early Saturday morning. There is rain predicted throughout the upcoming week (however this can be very unpredictable so we will see what actually happens). NSW also experienced rain the last few days, that has helped the fire relief. I am very happy for the people of Australia that their lands have finally been blessed with the rainfall that they so desperately needed.

There have been many people and foundations donating to the bush fire relief here. Pretty much everywhere you go in Oz, you’ll see a donation bucket for the fires. Countries like the United States, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Canada have also been very generous in their efforts to aid the relief efforts. Many of them sending fire fighters or military personnel to Australia to assist in responding to the fires. However, it is going to take a long time for repairs to be made. Many people have completely lost their homes and have been left with nothing. It is estimated that over 2,600 homes have been destroyed, with 2,100 of them being from NSW.

I suggest that everyone look up photos of animals that have survived the fires and photos of the fires themselves to get a better idea of the trauma that Australia has been facing for the last few months. I will warn you that some map images will make it seem like huge fires were burning in every part of the country, but those images are showing the entire season and any fire that was reported. So, yes it may appear like Brisbane and the Gold Coast are on fire, but I can assure you that they are not.

So the answer is no, I am not near the bush fires right now. Even during the time that I spent in Sydney, I was completely safe. It has been a very interesting time to be in Australia and I am looking forward to learning more about the culture and the land throughout my abroad experience. If you are interested in donating to support injured wildlife and the restoration of their homes, here is a link to donate to the World Wildlife Fund of Australia: https://donate.wwf.org.au/make-a-donation/one-off-donation#gs.t5hk3b