Once again (this seems to be a recurring pattern), I have to apologise for my negligence when it comes to blog writing. These past weeks have been really hectic! After some awesome Halloween parties – my first time celebrating Halloween, was quite an experience -, I really had to start Studying and Paper Writing (capitalised for importance). My SWOTVAC week was therefore quite uneventful in that every day was the same – spent in the Bio Science library to try and finish everything. My three assignments and one exam were all crammed in three days (7-9 November), so it was quite some work getting everything done in such a short amount of time. Still, I shouldn’t complain, since at my home uni I never actually have a week off before exams. I can’t imagine how I managed that until now, haha!

In any case, I finished everything and handed in my final paper last week! I’m happy I don’t have to stress anymore, but on the other hand I feel a bit sad that I’m done with uni now. It’s started to feel like home…

Maybe it’s nice if I tell something about my exam Discrete Mathematics that I had on Tuesday last week, to indicate how BIG the differences are with examinations in the Netherlands. At my home uni, I usually do an exam with a maximum of 100 people. We enter the lecture hall, leave our bags in a corner and sit down. Then, we simply write our exams.

But here it was quite a different experience! My exam turned out to be together with about four other courses – which means there were around 700 people in the hall! I was quite overwhelmed at first, and after I discovered that we actually got seat numbers, I gingerly sat down. There was a huge digital clock projected on the wall that told us exactly how many minutes and seconds we still had left. A woman was speaking to us through a microphone about the details we had to fill out and all the other stuff that was not allowed during an exam. There were so many rules – and we kept being reminded of them. The strangest thing that happened was that one of the surveillanten asked me to take the label off my water bottle. I understand why all of this is necessary when there is such a huge amount of people in one room, but it was a totally new experience for me.

In any case, the exam was alright. I was a bit scared at first (maths has never been my forte, but I had to take a science course to fulfill my “general education” requirement back home), but I tried my best and just hope I passed – fingers crossed!

My time in Brisbane is almost up… I’m leaving for a month of travelling with my boyfriend tomorrow. We’re first going to Fraser Island for a couple of days and then we’ll travel downwards along the coast, to Sydney and Melbourne among other places. From Melbourne we’re going to fly to New Zealand and stay there for then days. And after that, unfortunately, I have to fly back to Brisbane and then back to the Netherlands… But I’m trying to distract myself from this thought, haha! I’m really looking forward to the travelling and seeing more of Oz. I’ve been running around this past week trying to arrange the trip, buy important things and pack my backpack and suitcase (fortunately I can leave the latter in Brisbane and pick it up on my way back to Holland). Honestly, I don’t know how I gathered all this stuff!

I’ve also said my goodbyes to many good friends – quite sad! But guys, if you’re ever in the Netherlands, you know where to find me…J

Anyway, I hope you’ll all have a fantastic break and I’ll try to update on my travels! (Have to see how that goes / whether it’s possible.) I’m still having difficulties uploading pictures, so that may take a while. In any case, it’s been great writing blogs here and sharing some of my “abroad experiences” with you!

It seems like time goes at a different pace in Australia. Suddenly, here I am – the semester is almost over, just three weeks until exams… Four weeks of travelling, and then going back home again… The thought makes me sad. However, I’m going to make the most of the time I have left here! And the past weeks I have been doing some pretty awesome stuff!

Midsemester break: Cairns
For the midsemester break, I went to Cairns for a week with two friends. It was a three-hour flight up north, where we were immediately hit by the increase in temperature. (Guess that’s something to get used to now the temperatures are rising in Brisbane as well…) Cairns itself isn’t a very beautiful or exciting city (mostly filled with tourists and backpackers), but it is an ideal place to go to other places from. One of the highlights of our week was the two-day rainforest trip that we did. We were driven to all sorts of rainforests and look-out points in the Daintree, where we could walk around and were taught about various plants, animals and history. Overnight, we stayed in a hostel near Cape Tribulation. The cape was named by Captain James Cook, who experienced a lot of misfortune near this coast and wrote in his memoirs about his “trials and tribulations” … There were a beautiful, quiet beach and some lovely creeks in the vicinity, and we had plenty of time to explore those before being picked up the next day. The highlight of the next day was most certainly the crocodile cruise. We saw only one crocodile – but still! Our guide told us about the mangroves and other plants and animals inhabiting the river.  On the way back to Cairns we even saw a cassowary – cool!
Another must-do when being up north is going on a cruise to the Great Barrier Reef. We did a one-day tour to Frankland Island, about an hour from Cairns by boat. Throughout the day, there were various activities on offer. We were taken out onto the sea to go snorkelling from the back of a small boat. This was so cool! I had never snorkelled before, and it was great to see the corals, the fish (amongst which tiny tiny jellyfish), seaturtles and even a small shark… We swam back to the island, where we did a guided island walk and were shown all the different animals on the island.
Besides exploring Cairns, lazing in the sun and meeting with the local backpacker population, we also visited Kuranda, a small village high up in the rainforest. While Kuranda itself wasn’t particularly exciting (it is mostly geared towards tourists and has lots of souvenir shops), the journey back was all the more memorable. We went back by Skyrail, a 7,5 km-long journey over the rainforest by gondola. The view was great, and we were able to stop along the way to have a look around and take some pictures. This is definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area!

Moreton Island Adventure Weekend with QUEST
From the 7-9 October I went to Moreton Island with QUEST for a weekend of adventure! Moreton is 98% national park and is thus very green and quiet; tourism is limited. With a big group of 70-odd people we stayed in a small village close to the beach. The beaches were beautiful and we spent a good deal of time just soaking up the sun and going swimming. On Friday, we even got close to a group of about seven dolphins – we were so close! That was a very special experience.
Throughout the weekend, we did snorkelling and sandboarding in different groups. My group was scheduled to go snorkelling on Saturday morning, but it stormed pretty badly, so it was cancelled. Instead, we were taken to the lighthouse, up on the cliffs, from where we saw seaturtles, rays and dolphins. We also stopped by at a beach where we could see breaching whales in the distance! And the best part was when we went to a freshwater lagoon. The rain was still pouring down, but our guide thought it was a good idea to go swimming…this was a lot of fun (although a little cold).
On Friday and Saturday night, we had a bonfire on the beach, where we could roast marshmallows and get to know each other better. We could see so many stars! All the lights on the islands switch off in the evening, so there were a lot more than in Brisbane.
Because of the Saturday storms, we had to fit in both the snorkelling and the sandboarding on Sunday (for our group at least). We first went snorkelling near shipwrecks . There were heaps of fish who had made their home in the shipwrecks, and we got to feed them. We were glad we were wearing gloves, because some fish mistook our hands for a piece of bread.. .  We got to swim inside the shipwrecks and have a look around – pretty cool.
Afterwards, we immediately left for sandboarding. We went to a big sand plain (aptly called “The Desert”) by ute and got our sandboards. These turned out to be nothing more than thin wooden planks…scary! Still, we climbed up the dunes and were taught how to lie on the board (face down on your belly) and slide down. It was a great rush!  The slopes were pretty steep and although I failed to master the art of keeping my mouth closed (i.e. I ate a lot of sand) it was so much fun! After all of us had gone down a couple of times, it was time to head back to the ferry… We jumped in the ocean to wash off the sand (more or less), took some group photos and then it was really time to leave. We watched the sunset from the ferry as it brought us back to the mainland.
It was a great weekend meeting new people and discovering new places  It’s a must-go if you like pristine, quiet beaches and spotting sea creatures.

Since this blog entry is getting rather long, I will continue it shortly to tell you about other activities, uni and end-of-semester-stress. Have a great week everyone!

PS: I seem to have trouble uploading pictures again…sorry! It’ll hopefully be fixed soon.

“Of the ten most venomous snakes in the world, eight inhabit this island.” This was what we heard when we arrived on Stradbroke Island (Straddie for locals) and were greeted by our tour guide for the day. What a warm welcome! Fortunately, he assured us that he would take care of us…

Just a few hours earlier, some sixty very sleepy Questies had gotten on the bus to catch the ferry to Stradbroke. The ferry ride, while very hot (especially to those from the northern hemisphere, like myself) was lovely and gave a good view of the island. After being greeted by the indigenous guide, he talked us through the history of his culture, that of the local Goenpul people. Afterwards, we painted boomerangs! After being shown some examples (like the infamous ‘killer boomerang’), we got right down to it. I don’t think I should make boomerang painting my profession, but it still was heaps of fun. While our own boomerangs were drying in the sun, we were invited to try our hand at throwing some! And let me tell you; it is DANGEROUS – especially because some of them came back, while others didn’t. There was never a safe spot to hide from the throwing madness…

Killer boomerang!

Watch out!

Next on the programme was a tour of the area. We went to Point Lookout which offers a gorgeous view of the lower-lying beaches on Stradbroke. We also visited some cliffs overlooking the sea, and we spotted whales (!), sea-turtles (!) and some of us were lucky enough to see a stingray (not me alas…). We were told an interesting and somewhat creepy story about Wailing Rock, where lots of mishaps and accidents have been happening since an old woman died there.

After taking many beautiful pictures and learning more about Goenpul culture, the local wildlife and dangerous fruits, we ventured to one of the beaches for some fun in the sun. The waves were huge, according to my standards – although an Aussie guy said he could make more impressive waves in his bathtub… A quick swim later, we headed back to the bus, which took us on the ferry. On our way to the mainland, we finally saw what we had been waiting for all day – dolphins! (Granted, it was only one. And I just barely saw its tail disappearing under water. But still!)

After this long day we were dropped off in the city and at UQ, sunburnt and clutching our hand-painted boomerangs. It was a wonderful day; it was interesting to learn about the local indigenous culture while at the same time exploring beautiful Straddie. Thanks to QUEST for organising this event!

On a different note; my bags are all packed – I’m ready to go to Cairns! (As well I should be, because my flight leaves in 12 hours…) Off to a week of rainforests, beaches, reef trips and pure relaxation… I am going with two friends – one of whom is April, who desperately wanted to be named in this blog

Everyone, enjoy the midsemester break! See ya later!

(Thanks to Michaela for the pictures! :))

My sincere apologies for not having updated in ages! The big fat university deadline monster has swallowed me entirely the past couple of weeks, so that all I could see were articles with incomprehensible letters and numbers and the screen of my beloved laptop. Fortunately, the worst is over for now, so it’s time for a BIG update! To make this blog somewhat understandable (and also because I seem unable to write blogs that are short), I’ll divide it into a couple of parts:

- THE NECESSARY (EVIL)

Although the first weeks of uni weren’t particularly busy, suddenly my first essay deadlines were there! Luckily, I managed to finish everything after a week’s worth of producing words. My Discrete Mathematics exam turned out to be the greatest challenge and I found out today I just barely passed – so if there are any discrete maths-geniuses reading this, please contact me! The next few weeks will be a bit more quiet hopefully…

- THE FUN

Fortunately, I also did plenty of fun stuff! (Being an exchange student in itself is a great justification for putting aside the books – you’re only here once, so you should see everything, right?) Most notable would be Riverfire for me. This is the annual firework show that opens the Brisbane Festival (which is still going on). I think you would be able to see it all across the city centre – it’s a huge event. However, I was told that the view from Kangaroo Point was especially lovely, so I went there with a couple of friends. Kangaroo Point is perched atop the cliffs that overlook the city and was thus a good vantage point. There were heaps of people who had been waiting all day to get a good spot. The show itself was amazing. I’d never seen so many fireworks (6,500 pieces, I was told) – and most of them were fired from the tops of skyscrapers. This 30-minute event was accompanied by an appropriate soundtrack and a generally great atmosphere. After some ferry troubles due to the immense crowdedness, we fortunately managed to get home.

View from Kangaroo Point (unfortunately, my camera couldn’t handle the fireworks)

Another possibly less exciting but equally lovely happening was a trip to the Botanical Gardens with some friends. I had already visited the those in the city a number of times (in the Business District, near QUT), but it turned out that Mount Coot-tha also has some very nice gardens. Unfortunately, me and my roommate made the mistake of assuming that the gardens were actually close to the Mt Coot-tha look-out over the city, which is all the way on top of the mountain. Turned out, they were actually pretty far down the mountain … After riding a bus for free (bus drivers here are so friendly!), however, we finally got to the gardens. They are huge! There are not just gardens, but rainforests, parks, lakes, greenhouses and some very nice themed sections – such as a Japanese garden and a bonsai room. And the best part: it’s all for free! (Because let’s be honest – Brisbane is expensive and students generally don’t like spending too much money.) We had a lovely picnic there (unfortunately, a band that was performing there just left as we arrived) and walked around. We actually managed to get lost in the rainforest (sort of) as the sun was slowly setting – exciting stuff!

Another thing I have to mention is the musical that I saw last Friday by UQ’s own Underground Productions – The Battle of Brisbane. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be great! Very entertaining, funny and just very well done – it was just a shame that it wasn’t sold out!

It may seem that my experiences these past two months have been nothing but positive, but of course, there have been downs as well as ups. I do miss home sometimes. I miss things like affordable whole grain bread, my bike and my parents (in no particular order), but the homesickness isn’t as bad as I had expected it to be before I came. The reason for this is all the friendly people I’ve met! My roommates are simply great – we spend a lot of time together just talking nonsense, cooking together or doing fun stuff. The people I meet at uni are equally great. Although I had trouble at first meeting other people during tutorials and lectures, I have now got used to the size of the campus and have made friends in and outside classes.

More broadly speaking, it’s just a great experience. It’s kind of cool to leave everything behind and “start afresh”, getting acquainted with Brisbane and building a social network.

- THE (NEAR) FUTURE

As we are approximately halfway the semester, we will have a week off to “rejuvenate and relax” (according to my Australian Cinema timetable). For most exchange students, this means TRAVELLING! I’m going to Cairns with a couple of friends, which is a heavenly tropical paradise (or so I was told) 1700 kilometers north of Brisbane. We will fly there and back and stay at a hostel. What with exams and all, we haven’t been able to plan everything yet, but we are definitely going snorkelling/diving at the Great Barrier Reef and we will have a rainforest tour. More about this later!

This Sunday (the 18^th) , QUEST organises a Cultural Tour on Stradbroke Island. I heard that we are going to meet the traditional landowners at Stradbroke and are going to learn how to throw a boomerang! I will definitely give an update about this after Sunday.

All in all, I’m definitely having a good time here! Will update soon, but for now, enjoy the nice ‘n sunny weather!

Since it’s such a perfectly miserable rainy Sunday today, I think it’s time for an update! I’m currently perched on a very comfy couch in my living room with papers and articles scattered all around me. This is the result of a minor panic attack that I suffered when I found out that my midsemester tests and essays are approaching at a frighteningly rapid pace. It’s sometimes difficult to remember that you have to study when you’re enjoying yourself so much… Also, I’m working on writing/rewriting some poems for my poetry course, which has turned out to be lots (heaps) of fun!

But back to where I left off last time. I know that my fellow bloggers already described the trip in detail, but I just want to stress that the Gold Coast Hinterland trip with Quest was so much fun! We visited several look-outs and had a “Forest of Dreams” tour, where we encountered glow worms and befriended and fed red-blue parrots.

We also hiked along a very nice valley and spent some time at a waterfall, where a couple of exceptionally brave souls took a plunge. We walked back to the bus, which drove us to the Natural Bridge, a place where water has shaped rocks in such a way that they resemble a bridge with a cave underneath. It was a very nice day and perfect for meeting friends and new people. The only unfortunate thing was our bus (bus 1). There was something wrong with the gearbox which made the bus seem to go backwards rather than forwards at times… But we survived!

This week has been relatively quiet with regards to trips. I finished some uni assignments, met up with some friends and enjoyed the ever-sunny (except for today, that is) Brisbane weather. I decided not to go to the Ekka, but instead tried to catch some of the fireworks. This didn’t go according to plan (I just couldn’t see them!), so hopefully I’ll have better luck at Riverfire in two weeks…

There were many birthdays this week, so those had to be celebrated with parties J. I was told that house parties are very un-Australian, but they sure are popular among exchange students! That’s how I learnt something new about German culture – when somebody turns twenty-five, they are given boxes for their birthday, because they are now an “old box” (I guess the German translation would make more sense here). Again, I met lots of wonderful people from all different backgrounds, which is probably what I enjoy the most about my exchange so far. Everyone is so open and friendly – it’s great! I feel quite at home here the thought of having to go back to The Netherlands in four months already makes me rather sad… Fortunately, I’ll still have some time to travel and explore the rest of Oz after the semester.

Hopefully I’ll have some more interesting stuff to talk about next time. In the meantime, I’ll just continue enjoying my lazy Sunday…

My dreams are filled with koalas. They are everywhere, clustering together in small groups, moving as if to attack me. I look around anxiously as I hear a monkey-like sound behind my back. A kookaburra. It’s advancing towards me, its beak pointed accusingly at the sandwich I’m eating. I turn around – and can see a car coming straight at me. Its driving wheel is on the right side. Of course. I should have known to look right, then left before I crossed the street…

Hello Australia! I am Sophie, and the next couple of months I am going to write about my life as an exchange student in Brisbane at the University of Queensland. I am Dutch (from Maastricht University), nineteen years old and will spend my fifth semester here in Brisbane. I do arts – mostly philosophy, literature and art. So, now we’ve got the necessary introductions out of the way, I’ll try to summarise what has happened to me over the past month or so that I’ve been here.

I chose to go to Brisbane largely because of the course offer and the well-organised website (although I’ve heard opinions differ on that…); also, from the pictures, Brisbane looked pretty cool! I was excited to go, but at the same time, I was TERRIFIED about leaving my home country, friends and family behind for half a year. The days before I left, I remember thinking: “What have I got myself into? I must be crazy!” However, once I arrived, these feelings soon dissipated. I mean, the first thing that I saw when I left the airport were palm trees! Also, I was struck by Brisbane’s beauty – its tall buildings, many parks and of course the Brisbane river with its many bridges. The UQ-man meeting me and a couple of other students at the airport was very friendly and welcoming and brought me to my hostel (Brisbane Backpackers Resort, it’s quite good!). There, I met up with a friend who I knew from back in The Netherlands. And then, our room-hunting began! We attended a Getting Started session and an Accommodation Session at the UQ campus and off we went. Through the UQ Accommodations website, we found many ads for places to stay, so we simply called a couple of landlords to make an appointment. Some of them even offered to pick us up and drive us home – that’s what you call service! After seven house visits, some of which were very funny (especially the house where the living room had been literally turned into a gym!), we settled on a cute share house in St. Lucia, quite close to campus. There we’ve been living with two housemates, an Australian and a Colombian guy.

The first weeks at university were pretty daunting and sometimes I struggled to find my feet. I had a lot to think about – figuring out my courses, finding my way around campus, and of course making new friends! Fortunately, I managed all of that. O-Week (orientation) was especially helpful with regards to my course selection, but there was also an official welcoming ceremony for international and exchange/semester abroad students. This was fun! We were encouraged to stand up whenever our country’s name was called, so that the room could see how many people from each country were represented. (Only seven other Dutch people, of which I’ve met only one so far…) There was also a morning tea and a barbeque to get to know each other better. Some people I’ve met there have become good friends; it’s so much easier to meet new people when they are as eager as you to socialise!

In terms of my study load, I’ve had a pretty relaxed three weeks. I’ve chosen the courses Australian Cinema, Poetics, Readings in Art History and Discrete Mathematics. Although I have heaps* of classes (every day of the week), homework hasn’t been piling up fortunately. But that reminds me – I have to hand in two assignments later this week! Maybe not so relaxed after all…

The way of studying is pretty similar to my home university’s. I study at a college where everyone is able to pick and choose their own courses based on their main interests – and that is basically what I could do at UQ as well. Furthermore, the tutorial-lecture system is roughly the same. What I really have had to accustom to, however, was the size of the campus! Everything is so big – the campus is more like a city in itself. By way of comparison: the faculty I study at in The Netherlands has just 600 students and only one lecture hall! Always armed with a map of the campus, however, it turned out to be not that difficult to find my way around campus.

Of course, I’ve done more than simply study and attend classes. There are plenty of things to do in and around Brisbane, so I’ve been busy seeing and doing everything while I’m here. I have explored Brisbane – the lovely Southbank with its museums, parks and Street Beach; the city centre with its skyscrapers, tourists and many Vodafone shops; Fortitude Valley (“The Valley”), although I must admit I haven’t gone out there yet; and of course the areas surrounding the campus, St. Lucia, Indooroopilly, Toowong … There are many things to see! I also went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, where you can cuddle a koala and have your picture taken. (Facebook is currently flooded with pictures like these, very cute.)

I’ve also made a daytrip to the Gold Coast with a couple of friends. It’s easy to get there by train and bus (takes about 1,5 hour) and it was very relaxing to lie on the beach at Surfer’s Paradise and working on a tan (am still pale though, unfortunately). The rest of the Gold Coast that I saw didn’t appeal to me much – the place was a bit too gaudy, too fake-Hollywood for me. But the Gold Coast is big, so I definitely have to check out the other bits as well!

Moreover, my housemate (who happens to own a car!) took my friend and me to the Sunshine Coast, where his parents live. The Sunshine Coast is located to the north of Brisbane and stretches along the coast. There is pretty nature as well as pretty beaches. We visited the Glasshouse Mountains, where there is an awesome look-out over the huge forests and mountains. We also went to Underwaterworld (a kind of zoo for sea creatures, where sharks are swimming just above your head!) and to the Australia Zoo. The latter was quite special – founded by the late Steve Irwin, it has many crocodiles and (Australian and other) animals. We saw a “croc show” and had a great day exploring the beautiful park. Of course, we also visited one of the Sunshine Coast’s beaches, and finally we saw some surfers at work! (Strangely enough, they’d been lacking on Surfer’s Paradise.) All in all, it was a great weekend and made me eager to explore the rest of Australia!

I’ll leave it at this for now – it’s simply too much to tell at once! However, I’ll soon tell you about the other things I have experienced here in Brisbane. I’d better start on those assignments – uni’s calling!

(…My computer seems to have some difficulties uploading my photos. I’ll try to fix this asap and put the pictures up!)

* Trying to incorporate some Aussie lingo into my blog here!