A trip to Surfers Paradise!

No, but literally. This past Saturday, a bunch of us decided to take advantage of our free weekend and travel down to what they call the "Goldcoast" to Surfers Paradise. Or as we came to see it-- the Miami of Australia. I was very excited as 1) Who doesn't love the beach and 2) It would be my first time touching the Pacific Ocean from this part of the world (Bucketlist check!).
The trip down was fairly easy. We caught a bus to a train and then another bus to the beach! The sun was out, the sand was gloriously luscious- perfectly soft white spherical crystals, and the water was absurdly cold. Some of us dared to swim, but I however chose to nap :). Pretty standard. We spent the entire afternoon there basking in the sun and of course taking a bunch of pictures.

Once the sun began to set and the nightly chilled wind picked up, we left the beach and walked around the city. We window shopped a bit exploring your standard beach gift shops, and then we ate some Fish and Chips, which is apparently an absolute must down in the 'Coast. It was a unanimous consensus that the fish and chips at this small restaurant called "Bens" were the best we have ever had. Absolutely delicious!!! With our stomach's full and sunburnt cheeks, we decided to call it a day and retreated home. Like before, the journey was long, but simple. Bus>train>Bus. (Though for some of the people in the group the journey home was not so easy.) Nevertheless it was a glorious day in coastal Australia.

Until next time!

Learning the Aussie ways

**Long post. Have been drafting it for a few days now, finally had some down time to do it! ENJOY:)**

After a long weekend of traveling from all different parts of the world, all 48 of the students in my group safely touched down in our final destination: Brisbane, Australia. By late Sept. 18th (Sunday evening) we had all arrived to the Benson Court Motel eager eyed and open minded, anxious to learn what the following 3 months held for us. That day, however, was a bit anti-climatic. Not that we weren't extremely excited, it just felt that we had arrived unnoticed. Though come to think of it, it may just be that we are all just so spoiled from the traditional Stanford opening day welcoming committee that we come to expect the same theatrics every where we go (::sighs:: #stanfordproblems). Regardless, sunday was a very low key day. We got a little taste of Brisbane. We walked around a well known shopping mall and then were able to find some dinner at a Thai restaurant, not that it was difficult because it seems like Thai restaurants here are like Starbucks in America-- they are literally at every corner. After that, most of us retreated back to the hotel. Some people went out to a pub near by for an hour or so but I unfortunately didn't have it in me to leave the motel, so I was out by 9pm.

Monday: We wake up to a homey continental breakfast. Many of us, including myself, venture to try the infamous "veggiemite." Though I'm usually pretty open to new foods, this popular spread that our Aussie friends are so fond of, is actually quite foul. Well at least I can say that I tried it. After breakfast the International studies liason of the University of Queensland and several other important people that have made this program possible met us at the Motel. (And received our welcome that we were all hoping for the day before). They took role and introduced themselves as they began the treacherous task of learning all 48 of our names. They then introduced the transportation system. Very important!! because the next couple of weeks will greatly depend on our ability to move around the city using the public services with ease. The transportation system of Brisbane as I have now come to see is phenomenal. The "translink" services include buses, trains, and a ferry. Yes, a ferry. You see, Brisbane is built on/around the Brisbane River, an extremely windy body of water that is quite central to this Australian city. The buses/train services are pretty standard. There are bus stops absolutely everywhere. Here in Brisbane, however, you must "hail" the bus, much like you would a taxi. Which means that you must know what route you want depending on your destination before you get on a bus. For example, here at my homestay, I take the bus 209 all the way to University of Queensland. The ferry works pretty much the same way, though there is only one route-- up and down the river. Though there are many stops along the way, the ferry is not ideal if your final desitnation is far into the suburbs. Even so, the ferry actually moves surprisingly fast, and during sunset hours its quite nice to be able to be on the water en route home or simply to enjoy the ride. What is so great about this system though is that one price fits all. The Program gave us all a pre-paid "go Cards" (which many of the locals have) with enough money to transport us to and from school for the next few weeks. We simply "touch on and then off" whether we're using the bus system or the ferry. Its quite convenient and easy! After only a few days we have all began to master the Brissie transportation system with only a few hiccups here and there :).

The beginning of the week was basically your typical orientation. We met all the staff members that made this program possible as well as the professors. The professors all gave their preliminary intro lectures which only further heightened our excitement for the quarter. The UQ staff involved in our program are absolutely wonderful. The professors are engaging and appear to be truly dedicated to giving us the best educational experience we will ever have. The Uni (short for University of Queensland) itself is beautiful. We have all enjoyed our daily dose of such a gorgeous international campus.  It is centered around a giant grassy quad that they call the "Great Court" much like Stanford's "Main Quad." On our way to class, we pass several lakes where all different types of animals roam freely. And when I say animals, I don't just mean your standard pigeon, or squirrel, I mean wildlife!! Just to name a few (I only know most of these thanks to my wonderful peers and their stellar zoology knowledge) : Ibisis, the ducsk, egrets, geese, water dragons and even fresh water eels!!! The wildlife as you can see even in the University is unbelievable down under. I am also constantly impressed by the way that the students/aussies respect these animals as much as they do. So much so, that the ducks and friends all around the campus feel extremely comfortable approaching us.
Anyway: in order to give you a quick rundown of how my week has been I will list some of my favorite things about Brisbane /obvious differences between America and Australia:

1) It may just be that we spend most of our time at an International University, but people here dress so TRENDY and extremely nice all the time! During out scavenger hunt that our professors organized for
us we were told by locals that it was very easy to categorize us as Americans as we roamed around campus looking for the different site on our hunt. Wearing running shoes and t shirts while not at the gym, traveling in large packs, and being extremely loud were among the things that gave us away...

2) Like our British counterparts, Aussie's drive on the LEFT! This comes as a problem for several reasons. A) Every time a car makes a right turn, my heart skips a beat because all I see is cars in MY lane, and this of course just leads to unnecessary anxiety. B) As a pedestrian with a mind and body accustomed to driving in America, life is ROUGH people! All those years of ingraining in your head to look left and THEN look right before crossing the street, gone, vanished- NOT HELPFUL! Here in Australia, you must look right first or else suffer a less than ideal consequence.

3) Brisbane is perhaps one of the cleanest cities I have ever seen. Granted it is fairly new, but I am still so impressed by the clean sidewalks, streets, and FRESH air. Littering just does not seem to be a problem, one of the many examples that Aussie's do a lot more to take care of their environment on a day to day basis than most Americans.

4) On that note, practically all Aussie homes have a double-flush option. Not quite sure what the technical term for that is exactly, but basically you conserve water by using the "liquid" only flush vs "solid" (when applicable of course). They also have switches on each outlet so that when that outlet is not being used you can simply turn it off. Small simple steps that can make a difference.

5) CHANGE is actually worth something here. They have a dollar and even a 2$ coin!! So we've been having to get used to hanging on to our loose change. It's sort of odd though, because the 2$ coin is the smallest and the 20cent one is the biggest. Ironic? Speaking of money, the bills are so pretty!! They feel like fake monopoly money too. But don't be fooled, because it is worth more than our own American dollar...

A few of us on the ferry on our way to class!!

View of beautiful Brisbane from the ferry on the river.

We had an amazing weekend! So that post will come soon too :)

Cheers!

Hang out with kangaroos? Check!

I have a much longer more detailed way overdue post in fabrication right now describing our entire first week... but my friend Casey just put this picture up and I just needed to share it.

This past friday a large group of us decided to take advantage of our free afternoon and go to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary-- an incredible zoo, home to many indigenous Australian animals such as platypus, kangaroos, crocodiles, and of course, koalas. The picture above shows Casey and I with the kangaroos. This park puts every petting zoo to SHAME! Never in my life did I think I would ever see a kangaroo, much less pet one and feed one. Unbelievable, gorgeous animals.

Post to come soon!!

Cheers!

And I'm off!

(Sidenote: I wrote most of this on my flight from Auckland, New Zealand to Brisbane, Australia on a Word document, because even though we had the 5-star treatment on the plane, internet was not accessible. I am now sitting in the Benson Court Motel on Sunday 3:44 pm local time in Brisbane Australia where I'm paying a few dollars for 1hour access to wifi. So time being of the essence, here goes nothing:)

My first blog post!!!  In an effort to successfully chronicle the following 3 months, I will do my very best to keep this blog as updated as possible not only for the benefit of my mother who I’m sure is “farrreaking out,” as I travel across the world, but also for my own benefit so that I may one day look back and reflect on my adventure throughout beautiful coastal Australia. Warning: albeit entertaining, I have a tendency of being super cheesy... roll with it.

Here's a quick snapshot of my travels:

I had a 9:45pm flight from SFO to Auckland. I spent most of Friday taking care of a few housekeeping items such as printing out important flying documents and saying goodbye to friends at Stanford, many of who I won't see until April. As the afternoon turned to evening, the usual pre-trip-shit-I’m-late-do-I-have-everything-packed frenzy ensues. Alysha and her mama who was also departing (back to Canada that is) drove me to the airport and of course we hit traffic. Once at the airport, Lysh and I share a dramatic goodbye, and she warns me to avoid sharks and other animals of that nature. Despite the massive amount of street cred that I would inevitably get for surviving a shark bite, I promised to do my best. Once in the airport, both the checkin and security screening went extremely well, almost too smooth. I met Alysha’s mom at a bar and we shared a glass of wine before going our separate ways. The international side of SFO felt like a whole new world. It was cleaner, the stores were classier, and an attendant was present to greet you at every corner. I felt like I was a pretty big deal... I finally arrived at my gate and as I come down the escalator I take a peak outside and notice probably the most enormous plane I have ever seen. A double decker premium Air New Zealand airplane. At this point, I was begging that by some fluke I was upgraded to first class. But alas, I was destined to spend the next 11:30 hours in economy seat 58K. It was a window seat, and I had my own entertainment screen so I was very excited nonetheless.

All the flight attendants were extremely welcoming and had the coolest Kiwi accents. The Safety video was actively absurd. A quick shout out to my teammates: the All Blacks starred in this safety film and so you can only imagine how that went down, “To an airline that loves Rugby and its customers.” Well, cheers to that. I was definitely not in Kansas anymore, or the US for that matter.

My meal, which I raved about for hours to my fellow classmates in the program, was one of my favorite parts of the flight. I wasn’t particularly hungry but it was 10:45 at night, and I wasn't sure when the next opportunity would arise for me to eat, so I asked for the lasagna. Because I was on an airplane, I didn't have that high of expectations, so you can only imagine my incredulous surprise when the flight attendant hands me a tray with not only a warm yummy bowl of lasagna and a side roll, but also with a side salad and a sort of bread pudding for dessert. Also on the tray sat an empty coffee cup and an empty small plastic champagne glass. A separate beverage tray came by and so I indulged and asked for red wine. After all, how often do you fly to Australia? We concluded our fancy shmancy dinner, with a hot cup of tea and/or coffee. Needless to say, I felt very spoiled. Best airplane dinner I have ever had by far.

After dinner I watched Bridesmaids. Hilarious movie, actively laughed out loud. Good thing most people had ear phones in...  Soon after my exhaustion kicked in, and the night got the best of me. The stars were out and the Pacific Ocean was beneath me. I kept the window open because the view was absolutely beautiful even from an 11inch clouded windowpane.

About 7 hours later, when I woke up, the pilot in his awesome Kiwi accent informs the passengers that we were 1 hour away from our destination. We arrived at 4:30am on Sunday Sept 18th. Let me remind you that I left on Friday Sept. 16th so I casually didn't live Sept 17th. Where that day went, God only knows. Probably lost in the Pacific somewhere...

We arrive in Auckland and my classmates and myself found ourselves with quite a long layover. It was 6am local time and about 3pm for us, so naturally, we go to a bar. Most of us are under 21 so the fact that we were all able to purchase alcohol was of course exhilarating. The Irish travelers were impressed at our aggressive start to our morning. We then do a bit of window shopping just to kill the time.  I guess you could say we were milking the tourist card for all its worth.

Eventually, we boarded. The flight to Brisbane was not as exciting as the first. I watched Pirates of the Caribbean and sat wide awake eagerly awaiting my arrival in the land of veggie mite and kangaroos.
Australia here we come!

Until next time! That is when I get internet again...