Easter Break Adventures

So, being a terribly poor broke student and no where really to go this Easter weekend, my best friend Sam cordially invited me to spend the break over at her house in Helensvale. For those people who don’t where it is, it is located at the Gold Coast in Queensland. So naturally I freaked out, seeing as how the Gold Coast is a prime tourist spot for Australia. The best part is, I can either go to the beach (a 30min travel), three different theme parks (all are about 20min-30min away), or I can go the NRL stadium for $25. In fact, I just did the latter.

See NRL is the Australian football, but don’t worry it’s a whole simpler than the American version. Pretty much, you just pick up the ball and run towards the end zone for 4 points. If you get tackled to the ground just pick it back up and toss it to another player on your team, but be warned you only get 6 tries before the other team gets it. So on your last try it’s generally acceptable to kick it as far away from your opponents as possible. Also, when you get a ‘try”, when you scored, you get a chance to kick it into the field goal for another 2 points. This keeps going on for 40 minutes straight, with no pausing, for two halves.

Unfortunately the team I was supporting for lost by only 7 points technically, but you can only score with 2 or 4 respectively. Well, at least it was fun and exciting to see it in first person. Plus I got a picture with some random person, who liked my accent. I can’t wait for all the other things, plus when Sam was telling me the player positions she gave me a real good laugh about one position. The conversation went something like this: “See that person, Matt Sramam, he’s the hooker”. “Wait a minute, he’s a hooker?!” “No, but he goes to people’s behinds…””Sam, no offense, but I think all of them do that.” Any who, I can’t wait for snorkeling and the theme parks!!

Life In Australia….so far.

So, I have been living in Australia for about five weeks now and am loving it. While I have been very busy studying my courses here at UQ, that is obviously not what I do all day. So, a big part of my day goes into being very social, because I personally feel that as an international student I have the duty and honor to meet all sorts of different people while I stay here. I would not be able to do that very efficiently without living in one of the residential halls here on campus, which I am so proud to say that Pitt has taken me in. Sure, Purdue does have residential halls, but there are a lot of differences.

Since there are only 400 people staying in the 4 separate halls, you tend to meet more people and form a tighter bonds. We have meetings every Monday at 8pm just like Purdue has for its residential clubs, but their’s are open to everybody. We also are very competitive in everything we do, because there is an award for your hall for everything! And I mean everything! This varies from sports to academics to just plain old silly awards.  It really just helps everyone to get to know everybody and sort of bond really. Plus, it helps rile you up when it comes to Halls competing. on every Wednesday night and relax with a barbie afterwards.

Purdue is awesome too, but awesome in a different way. At Purdue you have senators you elect, which helps muster people into leadership positions and there are big sponsored events every week or so.  Also, Purdue is a lot bigger, which means nicer dorm rooms and the opportunity to meet a new person every day. I feel really blessed to be here and be able to see these differences first hand. I hope with the knowledge I gain from witnessing these differences, that I can come back to the States with valuable insight on what we can do to help better my uni.

Why Australia?

That’s a good question for anyone who might be asking, so I will return it with another question: Why not Australia? Australia for me was where the international beach party filled with crocodile hunters and other crazy sport enthusiasts go. I could just sit back and watch everyone horse around with a kangaroo or two. You do not need to worry about being cold, because it is always an sunny 70 degree weather  and I mean all the time,  with a bunch of beautiful gals running around everywhere. Also, the best part was I did not need to learn another language in order to go there and enjoy my time. Truly, this is paradise. Still not convinced? Why not snuggle up with a koala bear when you feel lonely and need some comfort.

I know not all those stereotypes are true, for instance I have heard koala bears are actually vicious, but for the most part this sold me on going. I have always wanted to study abroad. My mom and I always wanted me to go studying abroad somewhere since the summer right before my freshman year here at Purdue. My choices at the time were somewhere in Germany, Great Britain, or Australia? Well, I figured I had enough of German in my life to not go studying abroad there. I took four years of German in high school, lived in Berlin for four years due to my father being stationed over there while he was in the army, and some of my grandparents have lived there. So, I figured if I do have the amazing opportunity to study abroad it would not be there, because I am really not going to get the full effect of struggling to learn a new culture and learn more about myself.

Then it was just Great Britain or Australia? Now, I have always loved being outdoors and I was comparing several programs with the pictures they provided on the several sites just showed me how wonderful and beautiful Australia is. Plus my best friend, Laura Martin, actually went to Australia for a week and showed me all these cool trinkets and things that she got.  I loved the currency because of the texture and the unknown people on it. So, naturally I went with Australia. Now, when it came to programs my mom made decided to do exchange, if I did not choose that then I would not go. Also for my major, animal sciences, Australia has very hands on programs when it comes to the learning.

Whether it’s studying genetics at a horse track or going out into one of their luscious forests to study animal husbandry, Australia has the right program for you. But I actually chose the University of Queensland, because their site was the friendliest and the most straightforward of all the other Universities’ websites I looked at. The site helped me decide what classes I should take and what they could do to help accommodate me. It was a no brainer, so watch out for me Brisbane, because here I come sometime in early February!

The Beautiful Bondi Beach-which I will be visiting March 3!!!