People's Day

This past week of school was a short one as we had a day off for a public holiday! Everyone in the state of Queensland had Wednesday off so that they had the opportunity to attend Ekka. Ekka, short for the word exhibition, is Queensland’s largest annual show. Formerly known as the Royal Queensland Show, Ekka has been a tradition in our state since 1876. It was originally designed to be an opportunity to show off the latest agricultural and industrial achievements in the state of Queensland. Today, Ekka more resembles a state fair in that it has sideshows, animals, musical acts, and agricultural displays. Ekka attracts over 400,000 people per year, and is the reason that I didn’t have to attend class on Wednesday, “People’s Day.”



Ekka represents the best of Queensland, but I decided to use my holiday for a road trip to discover Queensland’s finest for myself. After renting a car and accidentally discovering a great pancake place, Troy, Steve, Ashley, and I set out for Girraween National Park. Besides transport from the airport, this was the first time that I had been in car in Australia, Because Australians drive on the left side of the road, I was excited to claim the passenger seat (on the left side of the car, rather than the right) and execute my roles as co-pilot, navigator, and designated DJ.



Navigating through the city in a car was pretty difficult, and I definitely did a better job navigating once we got onto the straight, country roads. Ashley and Steve slept for most of our drive, but I enjoyed taking in the views of the Australian bush. This was one of my first experiences in Australia that lined up with my expectations of “exploring Down Und-ah.” As we got further inland, we saw more red dirt, more cattle farms, and more wild animals (besides those pesky ibises).



As we got further away from the city, we saw more and more roadkill. We saw heaps of brown fur laying on the side of the road, which looked a lot like deer at home… until I noticed their long, thick tails. I was heartbroken to realize that these were dead kangaroos on the side of the road!

"I don't know why they put the animal crossing signs in such high traffic areas"

When we had about one hour left before arriving at the national park, Troy let me take the wheel! I was surprised at how easy it was to drive on the opposite side of the road. Granted, I was only pretty much driving down straight roads, but I think I did pretty well! I only struggled to remember that the blinker was on the right side and that it was the windshield wipers on the left.

I don't think I've been this excited to drive a car since I got my learner's permit

When we arrived at the national park, we chose to hike the Pyramid Trail, which was level medium/ hard. I think it was the hardest hike I’ve ever done because at the end we had to walk straight up the face of the rock with an elevation of at least 60 degrees. Also, it was quite windy at the top of the mountain so Ashley and I ended up crawling up the mountain to make sure we weren’t blown off it!



The view at the top was absolutely stunning. I debated for a bit whether Haiti or Australia had a more beautiful view from the top of the mountain, but I didn’t come to any conclusion. At the top of the mountain was a huge boulder that defied the laws of physics, as it looked like it was balancing on one little point.

Thankfully, we found an easier way down before heading to Lake Moogerah to watch the stars and see the Milky Way! I couldn’t get over how clear the stars were. It would have taken me all night just to count the number of stars in the smallest corner of the sky. While I sat and enjoyed, Ashley and Troy were dedicated to taking the best photos of the stars. (My iPhone was absolutely useless in this feat, so I’m borrowing their pictures to post here). They were even able to capture shooting stars in their photos!

Photo credit to Ashley! This what the stars actually looked like at Lake Moogerah!

Meanwhile, Steve found a wild koala in a tree! I had seen the koalas at the koala sanctuary, but I made it my goal to find one in the wild. Every time I went on a hike, I’d look for koalas’ signature parallel claw marks on the eucalyptus trees and keep my head up in hopes of seeing their little grey bodies curled up in the trees. When Steve said he found one, I no longer cared about the stars in the sky, and I ran over to see the koala. We could only really see it when we shined our flashlights at it so I was very torn between trying to get the best view of him and not wanting to disturb him. After fawning over the koala for a couple minutes, I decided to take a couple steps back and let him enjoy his eucalyptus in peace.  

I don't know if you can tell I'm excited....

By the time I felt like I had gotten my fill of the stars and the koalas, I was feeling tired and cold so I decided to try to nap in the car. We didn’t leave for a couple more hours as everyone finished up their pictures and took a little rest. On the ride back to Brisbane, we were extra careful of kangaroos crossing the road. We saw two hop right in front of the car!


Although I was more than ready to jump right into bed by the time we returned to the city, we decided to stay for sunrise at Mt. Coot-tha. We could see the entire city from the top of Mt. Coot-tha, and we watched the city lights against the night sky fade as the sun rose just in time to remind me that I had to attend a lecture in just a couple hours.

We returned to Urbanest for a quick power nap before my first lecture of the day. The exhaustion was absolutely worth the excitement of the previous day, and I was happy that I chose to spend “People’s Day” with some pretty cool people!

Steve, Troy, me, and Ashley taking a break about half way up the mountain at Girraween National Park!

Byron Bay

This weekend felt like the Ultimate Party (the name of our tour group was very fitting for the weekend we had) in Byron Bay. I went to Sydney with Ultimate Party, so I knew to expect a non-stop weekend in Byron Bay. The fun began on Thursday night when Ari, one of my good friends at Gannon and favorite travel buddies, arrived from Melbourne where she is studying for the semester. After catching up for a bit and introducing her to my new friends in Brisbane, we decided that Ari needed to experience the Brisbane night life for herself. 

It wasn’t long before we were boarding a bus to Byron Bay the next morning. On the bus ride there, we stopped to check out Coolangatta Beach and Snapper Rocks, and I felt kinda special having been there before. When we finally arrived in Byron Bay, we realized we were starving so we made a beeline to a local burger place. I decided to try the special, which was a kangaroo burger with beetroot. The meat reminded me of the venison burgers that my dad makes at home. It was absolutely delicious, but I always feel torn eating one of my new favorite animals.

As soon as our tummies were full, we went right to the beach. Byron Bay is a total beach town, like Noosa where I was a couple weeks ago. Although both are beach towns, Noosa and Byron Bay have totally different vibes! In Noosa, I felt like there was an unspoken dress code (something like polos and Sperry’s for guys). Byron Bay had a strong hippy vibe and lots of street art, so it was totally fine for me to walk down the streets in just a bikini top and shorts. I was able even to get into the bars in BIRKENSTOCKS!!!!! Although I liked Noosa, I loved how comfortable Byron Bay felt. I was even able to fall asleep on the beach, which usually doesn’t happen as I tend to feel antsy on the beach. After a solid beach day, we went to Cheeky Monkey for dinner and a paint party.

I found a place that loves Birkenstocks as much as I do!

The next morning was an early one as we woke up early to jump out of a plane... I had been reminding myself for 3 weeks that I would soon be going skydiving, but it didn’t really hit me until we arrived on site. I guess the best way to describe my emotion when we arrived would be giddy, rather than nervous. I thought of my mom telling me that she FORBADE me to skydive unless I bought the video and pictures, so I bought the photo package (and the insurance policy for good measure). Once we checked in, we watched planes take off and land (carrying slightly less cargo). I started to get nervous as I watched the tandem skydivers land because they descended so quickly!

Soon, it was our time to get harnessed up. We got some quick instruction before boarding our flight. Surprisingly, I felt very calm on the flight up. I like flying in general so I enjoyed looking out the window from 14,000 feet up. My skydive instructor, Walt, even pointed out humpback whales breeching from the plane. I was reassured to find out that Walt had been skydiving for 17 years, and that he had jumped once already that morning!

When we finally reached our max elevation, a rush of excitement entered my body just as the cold air entered the plane. Once the first person jumped out, everyone else filed out very quickly. I thought that being the second last to jump out would make me even more nervous, but everyone was sucked out of the plane so quickly that I didn’t have time to regret the decision.

When it came to be my turn, I dangled my feet over the edge of the plane and got into position (called the “Big Banana” position, which required me to have my legs bent and feet tucked under the plane, chin back so that my head rested against my instructor’s chest, hips thrust forward, and hands holding the harness). The first couple seconds out of the plane were the most horrifying, and I remember the initial panic of realizing that I was falling. I didn’t close my mouth the entire time I was free-falling because I was screaming as we spun through the air! I’m not sure how long we were free-falling before the parachute was pulled, but it didn’t feel very long. I was glad that Walt pulled the parachute before the ground appeared close and relieved that I didn’t have to worry about bugs flying into my mouth once free fall ended.

There was so much to take in on the way down. We had a view of the entire coastline, one of my friends even said that he could see the distinctive Gold Coast skyline as he descended. Everyone else said that they looked for whales, but I don’t think my thoughts were clear enough to look for specific things. I started to get nervous as we got closer to the ground, remembering how intimidating it was to watch the landings from the ground. I lifted my legs and landed safely on my butt, as planned.

When I got to the ground, I thanked Walt for remembering to pack the parachute! Then I ran over to the rest of the group where we all high-fived and enjoyed our adrenaline rushes. I could feel the excitement in my gut and mostly in my heart. I was left with a feeling of “OK, WHAT’S NEXT?” I felt ready to try everything and was excited that I was supposed to have my first ever surf lesson that day. It was only 9:30 AM by the time we were done, but I felt more awake than I had in a long time. I thought about how skydiving is a more effective stimulant than the caffeine in coffee and therefore, a much better way to start the day! On the shuttle bus back to the hostel, Ari texted me to tell me that she had just woken up and finished breakfast, and I giggled at the thought that I had checked something major off my bucket list as the rest of the Byron Bay crew was waking up!

When I got back to the hostel, I had a couple of hours to kill before the surf lesson. I knew that if I laid down, the adrenaline rush would die out so we decided to try to hike to the Cape Byron lighthouse. Instead, we ended up at a flea market that we found on the way there. I was actually glad that we didn’t make it all the way up to the lighthouse because I remembered that we had to squeeze in lunch before our surf lesson as well. After our Açai bowls, we went to our surf lesson!

Post-beach nap, pre-surf lesson selfie

While I felt that skydiving was an amazing experience that I was glad I tried, I felt like I could actually see myself sticking with surfing and getting good at it! I found that getting up and balancing wasn’t too hard, but paddling and timing the waves was the hardest part. I was actually surprised that I was able to stand on the first wave! We surfed for about 3 hours and I was exhausted by the end – my arms couldn’t have paddled me any further even if I did find the perfect wave! My soreness and bruises on my legs prove how physically demanding surfing is!

Even though I desperately needed a solid night of sleep, my roommates and I decided that we were going to wake up at 4 AM to check out the meteor shower that was to be happening that night and then stay up for the sunrise! I was pleasantly surprised that all 8 of us woke up in time – and at least 10 other people in the group joined us as well. I only saw one shooting star, but it was cool to see all the stars from the beach. From there, we walked up to the Cape Byron lighthouse. The land that the lighthouse is on is considered to be the most easterly point of Australia, and I was amazed by the fact that we were able to see the sunrise before anyone else in Australia and most of the rest of the world!

After we checked out of the hostel, we boarded the bus to leave Byron Bay and head towards Nimbin. The “hippy vibes” that we noticed in Byron Bay were amplified in Nimbin. Nimbin feels like a little utopian society, very unlike the rest of New South Wales. One of the things that makes Nimbin so unique is its marijuana counter-culture. Marijuana is illegal in all of Australia, but this rule is rarely enforced in Nimbin. In addition, there are strong focuses on sustainability and self-sufficiency within the community, and I noticed a strong appreciation for Aboriginal cultures in that little town. I was excited to hear a didgeridoo being played as I walked down the streets!

We returned to Brisbane, where Ari would be staying for one day longer before returning to Melbourne. I had to make sure that Ari experienced the best of Brisbane in just one day, so we did a quick excursion to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and around the Southbank area. This was the first time that I was able to show my new home off to a visitor, which was a very exciting experience.

Overall, I’d say “exhilarating” and “exhausting” were two good words to describe the weekend!Before I left, I had my family help me come up with an "Australian Bucket List" of sorts. Aunt Marci's contribution was "to find a Hemsworth brother." I think I missed my best chance would have been in Byron Bay, where Chris Hemsworth lives, so I guess I missed my chance. Nevertheless, I had an amazing experience in Byron Bay.

Sunsets and street art in Byron Bay

First Impressions of Uni Life

I have officially spent a whole month in Australia! I cannot deny that I miss my family, especially as both of my parents have birthdays this week, but overall, I haven’t felt much homesickness! I have my friends and roommates to thank for this, as they are always eager to explore Brisbane or make plans for later in the semester. We have all gotten into a rhythm of offering up ideas of weekend excursions and breaking into smaller groups based on interest. So while I’m in Byron Bay next weekend, the rest of my friends will either be in Sydney, Cairns, or Noosa. Although we are great together, I am thankful that we are all comfortable making our own plans.



We all started class together last week at ACU! Although I am already one week in, I definitely don’t feel like I am in school mode for a few reasons. First of all, we only went over introductory information in most of my classes. There aren’t too many expectations so far considering that my grades are almost entirely determined by a couple projects and the final examination for each class.  

The other reason that I don’t feel like I am in school mode is because I am only on campus for about 3 hours per day. This is such a dramatic shift from home, where I literally LIVE on campus. Now, I show up just for lectures and tutorials, then go right back home. On Thursday, Leanne, Liz, and I were frustrated that the amount of time we spent getting to and from school almost exceeded the amount of time we actually spent in our Nutrition Tutorial. I have to give myself one hour to get from Southbank, where I live, to the ACU campus. To get there, I have to take a train for about 30 minutes, then take a shuttle from the station to campus. I usually take the train with friends so it is not too boring, but I tend not to mind the commute when I have to do it alone.



I have adjusted to the commute, but I have yet to adjust to the nature of campus. In the United States, campus is the center of student life rather than just a location of learning. At Gannon, I can always count on the fact that I will see people I know walking around, getting food, doing a workout and attending club meetings. Therefore, just being on campus itself is a good way of integrating yourself into the culture of the school at home. Here, however, students attend their classes, maybe study for a little, then go home. Club meetings are usually held elsewhere, as I found out when I considered joining the netball team.



The other main difference between university life at home and “uni” life in Australia, is that classes here are subdivided into lectures and tutorials which each meet once per week. Rather than having a class meet multiple times within the same week like at home, each class meets once per week. This allows me to have Mondays off, which I am very excited about.

Below is my schedule at ACU this semester!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
	8 AM- 10AM Nutrition Lecture	10 AM – 12 PM Australian Literature Lecture	12 PM – 2 PM What Christians Believe Lecture	10 AM – 1 PM Theories of Human Nature Lecture & Tutorial
		12 PM – 1 PM Australian Literature Tutorial	3 PM – 5 PM Nutrition Tutorial	1 PM – 2 PM What Christians Believe Tutorial

For sake of comparison, this was my schedule last semester at Gannon! The amount of time in class is similar, but classes only meet once per week at ACU.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9:05AM– 10AM Sociology	8 AM –8:55 AM Patient Encounter	9:05AM– 10AM Sociology	9:30AM–11 AM Philosophy	9:05AM– 10AM Sociology
10:10AM-11:05AM Animal Physiology	9:30AM–11 AM Philosophy	10:10AM-11:05AM Animal Physiology	3 PM – 4:30 PM Public Speaking	10:10AM-11:05AM Animal Physiology
	3 PM – 4:30 PM Public Speaking

Lectures are designed so that professors have about 2 to 3 hours to offload the information that students need to learn. Lectures are not usually mandatory, as most are recorded and posted online, but my student visa requires me to attend at least 80% of my classes. Tutorials are designed to be a smaller forum in which to ask questions, and they are usually about an hour long. At ACU, my lecturer and tutor are the same person for each subject that I am taking, but I don’t think this is the case at larger universities.



My Nutrition class reminded me a lot of my Gross Anatomy lecture at home because it was set in a large lecture hall. Thankfully, however, I found that its subject matter was easier to comprehend. Although they last longer than at home, the classes I am taking at ACU are keeping my attention. I am finding my Australian Literature class to be especially interesting. One of the first questions that the professor asked the class was “who has read anything that qualifies as Australian literature?” I was very surprised that I was not the only person who did not raise her hand! In fact, more than half of the class had never read a book that was written by an Australian author or dealt with an Australian subject. In this class, we aim to analyze how the issues such as race and gender flavor the Australian culture, and I am excited to be able to use this class as a means to truly understand the Australian culture. I will have to read and analyze an Australian novel for my final exam in this class (currently, I don’t know of any and am very open to suggestions).



 On the first day of my Australian Literature class, we discussed “the Australian identity” as it is portrayed through literature.

According to this slide, which I stole from my professor’s powerpoint, the Australian national identity is relaxed, characterized by mateship (like a generalized friendship that exists between all Australians) where a sport is a source of national pride. We cited examples of how these characteristics fit the Australian national identity. For one, students call their professors by their first names (so we can thank Simon for these slides). Also, Australian society tends to be relaxed and embrace mateship because it is non-hierarchical. I was interested to find out that Australians tend to respect blue collar workers more than white collar workers, which is the exact opposite of life in the United States. I was also surprised to learn that class in Australia is entirely different from financial status.



I found my Philosophy class to be very interesting as well. Usually, I dread philosophy. However, I liked the way that my professor encouraged group discussion. He reminded us that philosophy is a reasoning skill to be developed rather than a bunch of information to be memorized - (“philosophy is knowing HOW rather than knowing THAT”). In our Tutorial, he asked us to consider the role of education, and we considered the difference between instrumental education (education that is good for another goal) and inherent education (education that is good in itself). His final message to us before dismissing the tutorial was to appreciate the value of inherent education, which stuck with me, especially as the classes I am taking at ACU are far outside the realm of my major at home.



 In fact, the role of a Physician Assistant does not even exist in this country so I have to explain that I am studying to be a healthcare provider that plays a role somewhere in between that of a doctor and a nurse! I guess the good news about not having Physician Assistants in Australia is that I am guaranteed to come home at some point -- so don’t worry, Mom!