Australia is amazing. It is crazy to me how at home I can feel in a place more than 6,000 miles away from where I actually live. Thinking of my time abroad so far, two words come to mind: adventure and relaxation.

There are so many adventures to be had here. Of course, there are the big adventures like traveling up to see the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), heading down to Sydney or over to Thailand. But these big adventures have so many surprises within them. When we traveled up to Cairns to see the GBR, we also spent two days hiking around the national parks in search of waterfalls to swim in. Memories of sliding down natural water slides are as vivid in my mind as seeing the Reef for the first time.

But even daily life has its adventures here. Since the Brisbane River winds up, down and around all the suburbs, I often take a ferry to places I need to go. One of my favorite trips is taking the ferry into the city for the weekly farmer’s market or for the hidden suitcase sale (it is something like a traveling thrift shop).Classes here at the University of Queensland are an adventure in their own right as well. Most students in Australia commute to school and also work most of the time. Although it was hard to make friends with Australian students at first, they have come in handy. The locals know the best places to get coffee and the quietest place to do homework in the middle of the day.

Being in Australia has also reminded me that it is okay to relax and not plan out every detail. At home, I am a double major and am in countless clubs, but here my friends and I can decide we are headed to the beach for a weekend the night before we leave. I reckon I have adopted this calmer mind-set from the easygoing attitude of the Australians.

All in all, I could not have made a better decision for a place to study abroad in.