I left winter in Illinois to catch the tail end of a record-setting heat wave on Australia's east coast in 2013. I touched down at SYD with no housing set up beyond a brief hostel reservation (a common situation, I would learn), nervous and excited for my first experience outside the contiguous United States. To say it was life-changing it would be both underselling it and regrettably cliché. Even though the culture-shock was tempered by Australia's similarity to the USA, I met people from all over the world who offered me new perspectives that I'm not sure I would have been afforded otherwise.
Thirty-five Hours of Oz
A pink squid near the surface of the South Pacific Ocean over the Great Barrier Reef
One frivolous week a few friends and I decided to rent a car and drive up the coast. We stopped at all the best spots, but it was a rush, and sometimes it felt like it might have been a mistake. I maintain, however, that the beautiful beaches, forests, coastal islands, and especially the Great Barrier Reef made it all worth it, even if we were left questioning a few decisions during the thirty-five-hour straight shot back from Cairns to Sydney.
Indigenous Australia
Australia's indigenous history is rich and long, and it is fortunate that some of it has remained in the aftermath of European colonialism. I was excited to have the opportunity to learn about this aspect of Australian history in a class I took at UNSW, and towards the end of my time abroad I had saved up some money and I went into the outback to see Uluru, and this was absolutely a highlight of my semester. Uluru has a fraught history with colonialism and tourism, but I really valued the experience (no, I didn’t climb it). This was also my first time traveling outside of Sydney alone, and it allowed me to both connect with new people I met on the tour and revel in the history and culture that surrounded me.