Spring Break Aussie Style

Hello Everyone! Sorry I have not written in a while but I have been traveling for most of the past 3 weeks and so I haven't had much access to internet. Australia has yet to get in the free WiFi game.. most hostels we stayed at had WiFi available but you had to pay for it and it was pretty expensive and pretty slow, so it wasn't really worth it to try and get on, especially when there were so many other things to do. Anyways you're probably wondering how I've been able to travel so much around finals time, but here it actually isn't even close to finals- since our semester started so much later (in late February), I am really only halfway done and so last week we had what was equivalent to Spring Break in America, only of course they don't call it that since they don't even really have seasons in Queensland, and if they did this time of year would be considered Fall rather then Spring. They call it "Lecture Recess" and the weekend before we had a 4 day break for Easter, so most of us study abroad students took advantage of the time off and went exploring.. all over Australia. I don't have time right now to write in detail about everything I did so I figured I'd put it in bullet point form and add some pictures- but overall it was one of the best couple weeks here and it was really cool to see more of Australia, meet other backpackers, and just generally have adventures! 

- Over Easter Weekend we went to Airlie Beach where I spent one night and then left for a 3 day 2 night sail around the Whitsunday Islands, where we snorkeled, went for fullmoon bushwalks, and stopped at Whitehaven beach, probably the most beautiful beach I've ever been to. The sand is 98% silica and it's the sand they used to make the Hubble Telescope- it even squeaks when you walk on it!

On the sailboat at sunset. 

At a lookout before hiking down to Whitehaven Beach. 

-After going back to school for 4 days, we left for Sydney!! We walked around the city and the Sydney beaches, where there are no stingers but the water is cold! At night we hung out at our hostel or went to King's Cross, Sydney's infamous redlight distract where the best nightlife is. 

In front of the Sydney Opera House. 

Touching the Sydney Opera House!!

-After 4 nights in Sydney, we left for Byron Bay, a super chill little surfer town where we hung out on the beach, went sea kayaking with dolphins and turtles, and went to visit a nearby hippie village called Nimbin.

About to go sea kayaking with dolphins. 

-After 3 nights in Byron Bay, we travelled up the coast to a place called Surfers Paradise in the Gold Coast. I was expecting it to be small and laid back like Byron, but it was actually much bigger. It's kindof like Australia's version of Miami Beach or Vegas, with skyscraper hotels, casinos, amusement parks, and all kinds of themed shows and tacky night clubs. It was fun but I definitely preferred the atmosphere in Byron Bay! If anyone reading this blog plans to go to Australia I'd put Sydney and Byron Bay at the top of my recommendations!

-After the Gold Coast we spent 1 night in Brisbane before heading back to Townsville. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to spend in Brisbane but we walked around the area our hostel was in which included Brisbane's Chinatown, and made friends with other backpackers staying at our hostel. 

A Normal Week

        This week was pretty much ordinary. No storms or cool trips. The weather in Townsville has been absolutely beautiful lately though, which makes staying in town not bad at all. This Saturday and then again on Monday after my morning I class I finally got to take advantage of living on the coast of tropical Australia and went down to the beach. Floating in the ocean on a sunny, 80 degree Monday was a nice reminder of why I decided to spend 6 months halfway across the world from my friends and family. Especially with the rain I was beginning to get a bit homesick, and I was beginning to wonder why I'd thought it would be a good idea to miss out on so much stuff happening at home to come to a random city where it rained all the time. But now that the weather is nice, I'm able to go to the beach and be instantly reminded that no matter how much I love St. Mary's, missing one semester to be able to hang out on a palm-tree studded beach after class was probably a good decision :).

        School is also going well- it's midterm week here but fortunately mine weren't too bad. Volleyball on Tuesday night was fun. So far my team, the UniSlayers, is undefeated! I'm not sure how much of that (if any) is down to me, but it's fun being able to brag about it. It's been a long time since I've been committed to any kindof sports team and it's actually really fun. Tuesday's nights are definitely something I look forward to. In fact my team all gets along so well that we've even started to meet up on weekends to play beach volleyball at the Strand. 

        Work at the cafe at Uni is also going well. I've been assigned to register the last few weeks which I much prefer to grill- far less opportunities to burn myself! The only problem is that they have different names for coffee drinks here (i.e. latte, cappuccino, etc mean different things here) so when people ask me what's in some kind of drink, I sometime have no idea myself. That and the money is kindof hard to get used to. They have $1 and $2 coins here but the $2 coins are tiny. The biggest coins are actually the 50 cent pieces... that makes no sense right?! So I am always catching myself about to give someone the wrong change. The other day though, my friend found some American money in her bag and it looked and felt so weird! I guess I didn't realize how quickly something you've used your whole life can become foreign if you don't see it for 2 months! 

        I've been hanging out more with my housemate Adam, because I decided I need to spend more time with Australians. Although still a student Uni, he is quite a bit older so we don't have much in common but I've been bringing my laptop to the living room to Facebook rather than sitting holed up in my room, and over our computers we talk about random stuff. He's kindof a tech nerd (he's studying IT), and I couldn't know (or care) less about programing and that kindof stuff, and he's pretty equally uninterested in biology, so it's funny, whenever either of us tries to tell the other person about our schoolwork, we just smile and nod. But he's got a good sense of humor and likes to try and get me mad by making fun of America. The other day he tried to tell me that per capita Australians are better athletes and have won more Olympic medals. As if!

        Last Saturday I hung out with another new Australian friend, Leah, who's originally from Tasmania. It was fun getting to stay at her apartment because she has a really nice place with a huge balcony overlooking the city, and we cooked dinner, dyed our friends hair, and watched Sex and City and Charlie St. Cloud. It was like a middle school sleepover but it was fun and a nice break from the usual Saturday carnage. 

        Most of my friends here are still American, which in some ways is kindof unfortunate but in other ways it's to be expected. It's hard to make friends with Australians when you're only here for 5 months and when it's so much easier to relate to other study abroad students because they are experience the same things as you (excitement, frustration, homesickness)  and interested in doing the same things (stupid touristy stuff, traveling). So far I really like the Australians I've met though, and am looking forward to meeting more. In fact, a friend of mine who studied abroad in Sydney 2 years ago has put me in contact with two of his Australian friends who I'm now talking to on Facebook and plan on meeting up with when I visit Sydney over Lecture Recess (Spring Break) in two weeks. They seem really cool and I'm excited to be shown around Sydney by people who live there. 

        Alright well. I'm pretty tired from working all day and I have class tomorrow morning so I will write more later. This weekend is Easter and we have Friday and Monday off so I'm going to the Whitsunday Islands, off the coast of Airlie Beach about 4 hours south of here. I'm doing an overnight sailing trip and going snorkeling and the weather is supposed to be good so hopefully I will finally get to see the Great Barrier Reef as it looks on all the postcards!