I’m writing this blog on saturday at the end of study week and I can’t say I’ve done much study. Panic hasn’t set in yet but it looks like it could be a rough couple of weeks for me ahead.

On a more positive note I went to fraser island this week on a three day camping trip which was pretty spectacular. It’s the largest sand island in the world and probably the coolest place I’ve been in Australia to date. The only way to get around fraser island is in a 4×4 which is really cool. We spent the first day swimming in lake mckenzie and saw the rainforest on the island which was pretty awesome. The weather was really nice as well which made it even better.

At night we sat around the campfire drinking and looking forward to the days ahead. Ciaran and me were joined by a couple of people from international house katie from canada and joscha from germany so we had a good crew.

After an early wake up call, we began our drive along the beach to eli creek and another lake located beside a huge sandblow. You were able to run down a hill of sand into the lake which was pretty cool especially when the sun was seriously hot. At the entrance to every place in fraser island there’s a sign warning you to be careful of dingoes which are wild dogs who have a history of attacking humans(yet another piece of wildlife you have to worry about here in Australia). We also got to see the Maheno shipwreck which washed up on to the beach and has remained there ever  since.

We then  travelled up the beach to another lake in the heart of the island where the waters really warm and glows red so that was pretty cool. After that we headed back to camp and fell asleep pretty early because of all the travelling. One of the best features of the  island is the fact that it’s so untouched, there’s no roads or infrastructure there which makes it feel as if you’re stepping on unchartered territory.

Day three was another really enjoyable day as we got to climb to Indian heads to look down on the clear blue waters of the sea. The locals say you can usually see sharks but unfortunately all we were able to see was a few stingrays. You’re not allowed to swim in the sea off fraser island because of the amount of sharks that swim around there which is a pretty surreal coming from Ireland a place where the most dangerous wildlife consists of a few bees.

Finally we finished off in the champagne pools for a bit of relaxation before heading back to brisbane in the evening.  Getting back to the study now, first exams on Friday so wish me luck.

Thanks,

Darragh

So my first semester at UQ has ended and what a semester it has been. Its gone ridiculously quick and I’m so relieved to have another semester at this great university plus I’ll get to enjoy the Australian summer inbetween.

Recently however I’ve resorted to a good bit of procrastinating when I really should be getting the head down for the upcoming exams. I still have study week next week though so all’s not lost. With continuous assessments commonplace at UQ none of my exams are worth over 50% which although I can’t say I enjoyed all the assessments throughout the year I’m beginning to see the benefits of them now. Study week in UCD( my home uni) is normally manic with everyone trying to cram in everything they learnt or should or learned throughout the semester in the space of a couple of weeks due to the fact that there are barely any assessments throughout the year.

The way my exchange program is structured all I need is to pass and get 50% due to the fact that only my credits transfer and nothing else so the exams shouldn’t be too difficult for me. Its crazy to think that I’m going to be on summer holidays in less than 3 weeks when people back home are only settling back to college( I’m not complaining though).

This week I also attended a few Halloween parties which were really good fun, I’ve noticed that Halloween isn’t nearly as big as it is back home. Back home in my neighbourhood you’d always see kids trick or treating around the place whereas over here no one really does it. Students still dress up but they definitely don’t embrace it as much as back home which suits me fine because I’ve never really been a Halloween fanatic.

Last wednesday I also took up a new sport, bowls( I kid you not). Myself and a few mates went along to the final mates at UQ event which took place at the bowls club in St Lucia. With free food and a chance to play a new sport who could say no. Overall I really enjoyed the couple of hours at the bowls club and I reckon we’ll be back.

In other news yesterday I took part in a golf queensland long drive competition. The event was really well organised with free lunch, drinks and a mini golf round all included. Unfortunately I didn’t win but I did however win a free golf lesson which I was pretty happy about, maybe next semester I  can go one better.

Although next week is study week myself and my housemate Ciaran have decided we need to get another trip going so hopefully in my next blog I’ll be able to tell you all about it.

Thanks for reading,

Darragh

Just had the hardest two days of my exchange to date. In insolvency law we had to do a final take home exam worth 50% of the course in the space of 48 hours. It was probably the hardest exam I’ve ever done but the good news is I managed to get to the other side of it in one piece.

When the exam was handed out at 6pm I immediately regretted taking it so easy work wise on exchange to date but looking back on it now it actually wasn’t too bad. I pretty much made myself live in the library and lived off weetabix in order to hopefully get that coveted pass. My exchange doesn’t count towards my degree so the only thing I need to worry about is passing everything and getting enough credits.

As I havn’t done much bar study and go out so far this week I’ll use this time to talk about the subjects I’m doing at UQ and how the standard compares to back home. As I said earlier I’m doing insolvency law as well as international humanitarian law on the law side of my degree. As I”m considering doing something business related when I’m older insolvency law is a good thing to know. IHL on the other hand is really interesting and I really enjoy the class, the topics are very broad and range from when you are allowed to kill someone at war to examining torture techniques. Due to the fact I’m only allowed to do electives at UQ most of the people I’m studying with are a bit older than me and at time I definitely feel out of my depth, it probably doesn’t help that I’m not doing much study either though.

In relation to the business side of my degree I’m studying Human resource management and Marketing. At the start I’d be lying of I said I wasn’t a bit skeptical about the relevance of HRM but the subject has definitely grown on me and I’m starting to really enjoy it. Marketing isn’t too bad either and I like the way most of the assessments are in groups so it forces you to develop your interpersonal skills as well. My two business subjects are at the other end of the age scale in comparison to law with most of my classmates in either first or second year so its really interesting working with people younger and older than me. Overall I’d say the standard at UQ is probably a bit higher than back home particularly in relation to the law side, at home you only need 40% to pass whereas over here its 50% so here’s hoping that 10% doesn’t come back to haunt me.

My parents and sister are coming over to meet me at christmas and we’re planning on going to sydney for new years and then new zealand after that so just in the process of booking my flights for that, can’t wait! Oh and on another note myself and my Irish roommate Ciaran just booked a scuba diving course on groupon for only $150 available anytime over the next 12 months so I’m excited to get using that.

Thanks,

Darragh

Last weekend the beach volleyball club organised a trip down to byron bay for all its members. Although my memorys a bit hazy I think its fair to say that everyone had a very enjoyable trip with late night drinking, swimming in the sea and of course volleyball making up a great weekend. Byron bays a pretty cool place and I’d encourage every exchange student to make there way down there at least once while there in Australia. The beaches are great, nightlife is pretty good as well and then of course the weather is nearly always perfect, if you happen to be a surfer as well you’ll never want to leave.

Back to normality now though unfortunately and with exams looming everyone at UQ is starting to feel the heat. My exam situation isn’t the best, as you can see from all my previous blogs all my travelling hasn’t exactly left too much room for studying so I’ve been just about staying afloat so far but the plan over the next few weeks is to get my head down and start doing a bit of work so I can enjoy my summer without worrying about the exams.

On a more positive note though I’ve just booked tickets to the Australian open next year to see my favourite player andy murray  battle it out for his first grand slam title in Melbourne. I’m planning on staying in Melbourne for about 5 days so I have plenty of time to see the city while I’m there.

Straight after the exams I’m also thinking of doing some work on the cotton farms in New South Wales. Travelling all around Australia doesn’t come cheap so I’m thinking of working there for a few weeks so I can raise some serious cash and put that all into my summer travelling plans.

Thanks for reading,

Darragh

Just back from the unigames on the gold coast where i represented UQ in a 4 day golf event. The event was really well organised with a great balance between taking the sport seriously enough but also emphasising having a great time at night in the place the australians call “brisvegas”.

We arrived down on sunday morning before the opening ceremony in dreamworld and after dropping off our bags and getting a quick bit of practice on the coloniel golf course we headed straight to the opening ceremony. Our accomodation was right on the beach which was pretty cool, its not often you can head straight from the golf course to the beach and we duly took advantage of that throughout the week. The opening ceremony in dreamworld was really enjoyable. It was the first time I’ve been to dreamworld and the fact that the unigames had the whole park to themselves meant the queues to all the rides were really short which was great.

After a good nights sleep on Sunday( I wish) we then headed to the coloniel golf course at 6am to begin the tournament. It was a shotgun start at 7.30 which was pretty rough at the beginning but it meant we had the whole course to ourselves which was pretty cool. The course had tons of water which made it pretty difficult and lets just say the pro shop made a killing from golf balls throughout the tournament.

After 4 rounds and a couple of nights out I was absolutely wrecked but I really enjoyed getting back to playing some golf so it made getting up in the mornings that much easier. When I arrived home in Brisbane tiredness got the best of me though and I slept for a good 12 hours straight.

Overall UQ finished in a credible 5th place in the golf considering the top two universities were on home soil and had a significant advantage. I’d like to say thanks to all the UQ staff and all the unigames organisers for running such a successful event and I would encourage everyone to take part in the unigames while on exchange. The unigames gave me the chance to meet loads of people from all around Australia which was really interesting to see how they compare to the locals in Brisbane.

Thanks again,

Darragh

Just returned from New Zealand in what can only be described as the trip of a lifetime. We arrived in Christchurch on Friday morning and left on Tuesday morning so we had a limited time frame to get everything we wanted done but I feel we managed to cope with the time constraints well.

Arriving into the earthquake devastated Christchurch the first thing that hit us was the air temperature in comparison to Brisbane. After being in Brisbane for 2 and a half months everything under  15 degrees seems chilly. We immediately left Christchurch and headed down the south island to our main destination Queenstown. I would highly recommend renting a car if you’re visiting the south island as the car journeys through the mountains are full of scenic views and the public transport is pretty much non-existent. It was a long 6 hour drive to Queenstown but with the spectacular views along the way it passed pretty quick. Besides, every journey I make seems pretty short in comparison to the mammoth 24 hour flight to get to UQ from Ireland.

On Saturday morning we decided to visit milford sound a few hours south of Queenstown to explore the amazing fiordland in New Zealand. For once bad weather was a blessing as the torrential rain caused huge numbers of waterfalls to form around the fiord which resulted in some spectacular sights.

After a long day at the fiord we then headed back to Queenstown to watch Ireland take on Australia in the rugby world cup. The town was buzzing and so was I when Ireland managed to record a historic victory over the Wallabies. As an Irishman living in Brisbane the victory couldn’t of tasted sweeter and I’ll be sure to give all the Australians I run into over the next couple of weeks plenty of abuse. The following day still on a high we decided to jump off a bridge( with ropes attached of course). The bungy jump took place on kawarau river and I can honestly say it was one of the scariest and adrenaline pumping things I’ve ever done. All the instructors there were equally as delighted as I was with the result the night before and I was getting congratulated so much it felt like I played in the game myself.

Our day didn’t end there though as we flew up a mountain in a helicopter( not too shabby) and then rafted down to the bottom. By the end of the day I was wrecked from all the activities. The action didn’t end there though as we drove to fox glacier for the final day of our trip. The drive once again was truly awesome and I can safely say I’ve never seen anything like the landscape I saw before. What followed was undoubtedly the highlight of the trip, a skydive over fox glacier. With the weather acting up in the morning we were worried we wouldn’t be able to do it but luckily the clouds parted for us to once again jump to our deaths. Luckily the parachute worked well and I landed on firm ground from 12,000 feet 5 minutes later. It was an unforgettable experience and I would encourage everyone to do it at least once in their lives.

Without a doubt I’ll be back to New Zealand before I depart from the southern hemisphere and I would encourage every student on exchange at UQ to visit the place at least once.

Thanks for reading,

Darragh

Firstly I’d like to apologise to all my loyal readers( if I have any) for the lack of blog posts recently. After living it up in brisbane for the past couple of months eventually all my assignments for “uni” caught up with me. In the last couple of weeks I’ve had to do a marketing presentation, write a report on the presentation and then find the time to write a 2000 word essay for international humanitarian law, about as much fun as it sounds.

However on the plus side I got to check out all of UQ’s academic facilities and overall I can’t speak highly enough of them. Every library is filled with brand new mac computers with both OS and Windows operating systems so they suit everyone. Back at home I’m so used to having to trek my laptop into college every day whereas over here there’s always a computer that I can work on. Everything about the libraries at UQ are designed to make studying as enjoyable as possible with clean desks combined with really comfortable chairs always a good combination.

I’ve now completed all my various assignments and everything went pretty well so I’ve decided to reward myself with a trip to New Zealand next friday. Hopefully in my next blog I’ll be able to tel you all about my skydiving and bungee jump experiences provided I don’t “bottle” it.

However I’d be lying if I told you all I did these past couple of weeks was study, I also made my weekly appearance at the RE, improve my volleyball and wakeboarding skills while also finding the time to make it to a broncos game. As rugby league isn’t very big in Ireland it was great to take the opportunity to check out what all the fuss was about. Brisbane ran out convincing winners and overall I really enjoyed the match especially the several “monster hits” taking place every series of plays. Apparently every time you get tackled in rugby league it’s like running into a wall at 30km/hr.

On that note thanks for reading,

Darragh

Had a busy week this week with the famous Ekka races kicking it off on Wednesday where I witnessed first hand the aussies fondness for day drinking. It was a long day as we woke up at 9am to get cracking into some goon so we were all in good form heading into the races to hopefully clean out the bookies. Unfortunately for me I won absolutely nothing as horses with names like suchabimbo and having a laugh lived up to their reputations with down the field finishes. We finished the day in where else but the R.E and all in all I had a really memorable and enjoyable day.

By Saturday morning I had just about got over the effects of Wednesday before the social fours tournament organised by the beach volleyball club took place, the emphasis of the event was on the social side of beach volleyball as drinks and sausages were provided to keep everyone going throughout the day. Unfortunately my group of four didn’t make it out of our section as we lost a couple of tight matches, it didn’t take the gloss off the day for me though and I’d like to thank the beach volleyball club and Stubby for organising the event.

Finally my week ended this morning with some wakeboarding, it was once again a really enjoyable experience, although as I write this I’m currently resting a few injuries picked up during it after a couple of bad falls. It comes with the sport though and I’ll definitely be back as I can feel myself getting better each week which is what keeps me coming back.

Cheers for reading,

Darragh

Last saturday quest organised a trip to the hinterland for the lucky few who got up at 10am on monday morning, not an easy feat when you’ve been in the R.E the night before. Luckily I got there just in time to get one of the last tickets though so all was good. We started off at 8am on saturday morning tired but by the end of the two hour bus journey we all couldn’t wait to experience something more cultural than the inside of a pub in Australia. We got the chance to walk through the bush even managing to see a snake on the way, witness some incredible views and swim in one of the many rock pools. On the way home a bush fire started out of nowhere so we really did get to experience everything. Overall it was a really rewarding experience with the potent combination of experiencing new things as well as meeting new people always a good mix.

The week then finsihed with some wakeboarding on sunday before another visit to the R.E on sunday night, I’m absolutely knacked now but it was all worth it.

Adios,

Darragh

Throughout my first few weeks in brisbane everyone I met kept telling me I had to go down to visit byron bay, a surfers paradise located at the most eastern point in Australia. After a few weeks settling in to brisbane I decided I should finally check out what all the fuss was about. After a 2 hour bus from brisbane we arrived at byron at around 10 o ‘clock. What greeted us was a real hippie town located within a 5 minute walk from the beach. After checking in to the hostel we headed down to the beach, it didn’t disappoint the sand was really nice and the weather wasn’t too bad either so we spent the day on the beach soaking it up. Byron bay is a really popular spot for surfers and it was really enjoyable watching real surfers go about navigating the waves, I’ve never surfed before but after heading to byron it’s definitely something on my to do list.

At night we headed out to a place called cheeky monkeys which has a real backpacker vibe to it and we all had a great time there, one thing I noticed about byron was that everyone was really laid back and it was a total contrast to Brisbane which was nice to experience. For anyone heading to Australia a stop off to byron bay should definitely be top of there priority lists.

On sunday I took up wakeboarding in the brisbane river for the first time as well, after looking up the brisbane river on wikipedia I’d be lying if i said i wasn’t a little worried about running into a shark on the water. Wakeboarding like beach volleyball is also a really social club and I had a really enjoyable time getting up on my first time and everything only to land head first in the water 10 seconds later. After a few minutes though I really starting getting the hang of it and my fear of sharks evaporated as I tried to stay on the board for as long as possible.

Cheers,

Darragh

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