My first two months in Australia so far have been amazing, unbelievable, exciting, extraordinary, all of the adjectives. I can’t believe I am already close to halfway done and to think I was so nervous coming here, not knowing what to expect. The pre-orientation in Cairns was unlike anything else. We learned about how Australians literally shorten every word (i.e Brekky for breakfast, bevvies for drinks, arvo for afternoon, etc.). We also got to see the Great Barrier Reef which was so cool in itself, especially being a Marine Biology major. It’s not dead yet, but the various fish species we saw was no where near what it should have been. I got to scuba dive for the first time as well, it was so different from snorkeling. I loved it! I am definitely getting certified when I return to Rollins. I also bungee jumped in the Daintree Rainforest. I was semi-peer pressured into it, but I am so glad I did it. It was by far the scariest thing I have ever done in my twenty years- and I went twice! There is no other feeling than just free falling at that speed; it was indescribable. The next night there was a bar crawl that our study abroad group went on, this was where we all met our first Australians. Being from Texas, the first question I got asked by them was “how many guns do you own.” The answer was none, but during our pre-orientation we were warned that Australians have no filter when it comes to politics and that owning guns is very fascinating to them since it is so hard to obtain one here. They also said we get asked multiple times throughout the semester who we voted for. (I have been asked three times already.)
The following week was Orientation Week at Uni and it was way different from what I expected but so fun. I made so many Australian friends so quickly, which was not what I had expected. Literally all of the friends I made were all Australian. They were all so welcoming and nice; I definitely thought I would struggle to find a group or even people to “click” with but it happened so fast. Two months in now and I already feel like I have known these people forever. I already cannot even imagine leaving them.