What an experience at UQ and in Australia! Over the past few months, I have surely had a wonderful study abroad experience while at UQ. I’ve enjoyed such UQ opportunities at Mates@UQ, ICC sports and events such as rowing, basketball and Dance Fest, and college life at IH. Concerning Brisbane, I’ve ridden the City-Cat to downtown, walked down Queen Street, ventured to South Bank, and attended the Ekka.

On the 19^th, I will be leaving IH for Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. After soaking up a week in the sun and spending Thanksgiving by the ocean, I’ll head to Melbourne. For about three weeks, I’ll spend my time in Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney. In mid-December, I will be going to New Zealand for a South Island adventure (I’ll spend Christmas there…somewhere). Then just in time for New Years, I’ll go back to Sydney in the morning of New Year’s Eve to spend an unforgettable New Years in Sydney. A few days later, I’ll be back in the USA in DC. After a couple days rest and eating everything I can imagine (well, actually I have a list of foods I can’t wait to have when I go back), I will be driving back to school at USC. In total, it’ll be about 45 days to cover both Australia and New Zealand. I’ll be traveling with just my school backpack, which will surely be a challenge and an adventure. I’m incredibly excited to continue to explore Australia and see New Zealand.

Finals. I hope I passed all of my classes, I think I did. After a few months of trying to understand the grading system at UQ and what Tuts are looking for, I was able to apply what I’ve learned. I was a bit surprised how strict the exams are, it reminds me of taking the ACT/SAT or AP exams. Desks are evenly placed apart and announcements about time, all the forms, and more are done over a microphone. I had one of my finals in a Building 27A, which is like a field house (its where we played basketball, so 3 courts of room). I have to say, with my first final, the forms were a bit overwhelming at first. One thing I didn’t exactly like was how there were volunteers administering the test (or maybe they’re not volunteers but faculty members that I have just never seen before). Since they were volunteers, they couldn’t answer any of my questions about something related to the content of the test. Though, I asked one woman if she could define a word for me and she said she wasn’t sure if she was allowed. I just wish I would have been able to get some clarity on a few questions.

During finals, I also went to the Gold Coast, or Surfers Paradise. I’ve been in Australia for months and haven’t really seen the ocean; I finally did! It was gorgeous and very relaxing.

There are some topics I haven’t covered yet, the currency and the libraries at UQ. I love how the bills here are colored, it makes it so easy when finding the right bill to pay with. Though, I don’t like how the $2 coins are so small (they’re about the size of a penny), they’re so easy to lose!

I’ve also spent a little bit of time at the libraries at UQ. They don’t organize their books by the Dewey Decimal system, so it was a bit of a challenge at first to find a book. I’ve also checked out a movie and tried to check out a book. You can’t put your name on a waiting list for movie here, so it took me about a month or so of routinely checking to see if they had this one movie (it was a film production of one of the pieces of literature I read in ENGL1800). Also, I tried to check out a book but never got it. The way they do it at UQ is that you waitlist for a specific book. So someone could return the book you want, but there is a separate list for each book; there is no master list by the title. That’s kind of hard to explain, I hope you readers understand. I’ve also done some studying, but really found it too loud at times. The libraries really cater to group work areas, which is great, just not when I want it to be really quite. The buildings also have really open floor plans, so one can typically hear what is happening on the floor above/below them.

Thanks to everyone at UQ that has contributed to a wonderful experience. I also have to give my parents a shout out- without you both, I wouldn’t be in Australia on this crazy adventure. Thus far, I’ve had a wonderful time. I’ve learned a lot about UQ, Australia and myself. I would certainly recommend studying abroad to any student. It has really broadened my view and has just made me a more well rounded person.

G’day mates.

-KLG

p.s. Today I’m finally going to Lone Pine to hold a koala and see some of the native Australian wildlife like kangaroos!