Jude Wiggins, Geography, University of Queensland.

On 1st July after 361 days away from home I left Brisbane and the University of Queensland. It’s crazy how quickly a year can pass. I’ve had the time of my life but at the same time I was definitely looking forward to going home!

There are lots of things that I am sad to say goodbye to in Brisbane.. The sunny weather, the unusual animals, the beautiful University campus. But most of all saying goodbye to my friends has been the hardest. When you’re living so far away from home your friends become your family. You share every experience with them and so not knowing when I’ll see some people again is really quite upsetting. Although I now have friends who live in Peru, Brazil, America, China… all over the world! Therefore I think it’s time to start planning a new adventure!

There have been times when I’ve felt quite homesick and so I was looking forward to going home. A lot has been happening at home whilst I was away… my sister had twins and my brother and his wife had a baby so I have three new nephews to meet! Also a lot of my friends are graduating from University and so I wanted to be at home to celebrate with them.

To anyone considering going to UQ or Australia for their year abroad I would tell them to just go for it. There have definitely been ups and downs but the positives outweigh the negatives. Study abroad is something you need to experience for yourself!

Bye Brisbane! Its been ‘too easy’