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One week in tropical North Queensland
By Logan Tilley, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia As the Australian summer holiday begins, my journey of exploring more of the Australian East Coast continues. I decided that I wanted to visit the gateway to tropical North Queensland, Cairns. For a very long time this part of the country has been what I dreamed of seeing in Australia and I am now finally getting over to it from Sydney.
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Australian winter: tis the sea-sun
By Georgi Fogarty, University of Queensland No matter where you are in the world, there will always be that short-lived sigh of relief between the last assignment and the start of exams. Fortunately for me, coming towards the end of my time in Australia motivated me to seize this fleeting moment devoid of academic stress and do something useful with it. So once my last few assignments were submitted and I had returned from Stradbroke island (which you can read about in another of my recent blog posts), I had decided that I am no longer a mainland person and started researching my next getaway. Having recently explored the…
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Student housing – the more the merrier?
Georgi Fogarty (University of Queensland, Australia) Housing can be one of the biggest worries when moving abroad, especially when you don’t particularly know anyone that’s going out with you. As a bit of a social butterfly, I had my sights set on a living situation that would allow me to meet a lot of people -ideally university halls, or a share house if not. Unfortunately, university halls were extremely far out of my budget which initially worried me as that’s where I’d envisioned myself; halls seem perfect as everybody is in the same boat of not knowing anyone. So in a slightly less than ideal but fairly common situation,…
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Touching down in Oz: first things first
By Georgi Fogarty (University of Queensland, Australia) It’s obvious that when you move to the other side of the world, there are going to be some big changes. Jetlag, time differences, climatic, academic and cultural disparities had all been weighing heavily on my mind in the last few weeks approaching my 25-hour flight from Manchester to Brisbane. But strangely, what took me by surprise the most upon landing was the amount of time it took for me to adjust to the fact I was in Australia and no longer in England.
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Safely Arrived in Brisbane!
By Jude Wiggins, Geography, University of Queensland, Australia. This weekend marked the 3 month anniversary of my arrival in Brisbane and I have no idea where the time has gone! (Also, sorry for the late post!) The first few weeks I was here I stayed in a hostel so that I could view houses, find somewhere to live and also sort out things like an Australian bank account and phone number. Staying in the hostel was really fun as there was always someone new to meet but it was relieving to find my own house and get properly settled into Brisbane. I managed to find a beautiful house with an…
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Semester 2 at UQ
By Serena Graham (The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) By the start of semester 2, I was feeling much less of a tourist, and Brisbane felt more like home to me. I went into this semester feeling a lot more relaxed now that I already knew my way around, and it was a lot less scary than the start of semester 1. Time had flown so fast, I couldn’t believe that I only had four months left, so I tried to make the most of my remaining time down under. I scheduled my classes so that I was only in uni three days a week, which meant I could regularly…
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Saying Goodbye to Manchester and Wales
By Jude Wiggins, Geography, University of Queensland, Australia Even though my flight is tomorrow morning, it still doesn’t feel like I’m going to live in Australia for a year. Despite all the goodbyes, my booked flight, and my (overweight) packed suitcase I still can’t accept that I’m really leaving! I’m due to fly from Manchester to Abu Dhabi, and then onto Brisbane from there. In total it should take me just over twenty-four hours. For the first week I’m in Brisbane I’ll be staying in a hostel, just until I get onto Australian time and can find somewhere to live!
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Summer Holidays Down Under
By Serena Graham (University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) P.S. … This blog post is about my summer holidays in Oz (December 2014 – March 2015). I’ve been extremely busy in the past couple of months so I haven’t had the chance to upload it until now! As the semesters in Australia start in March and July, I’ve had to do semester 2 first and then semester 1, which means I had a three month gap in between semesters. During this time, it was really hot and at times got to around 40 degrees. I seriously regretted choosing a house without air conditioning! Over the holidays I did a bit of…
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My first semester at UQ
By Serena Graham (The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) I wrote this blog just before Christmas but totally forgot to post it – sorry it’s late! So it’s the end of my first semester here at UQ and it’s been amazing. Time has flown so fast I can’t believe I’m nearly half way through my year here. It’s summer now in Australia and temperatures have reached up to 40 degrees, which was quite unbearable. I’ve had such a busy few months, and have been lucky enough not to experience homesickness (thanks to Skype it’s so easy to get in touch with everyone back home!). So here’s an update of everything…
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Australia 2014
By Kate Bowmar (University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) So, for one of my final blog posts I have made a video that summarizes what studying abroad in Australia and at the University of Queensland is like. Most of these pictures and videos were taken on field trips with the University and on five-week trip of the east coast. I hope that this is helpful for anybody wondering about whether to go to UQ/Australia or not, and to anybody who is doubtful, please go! You will have the best time of your life! Kate Bowmar
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Arriving in Brisbane – Hostels, Exploring and Housing!
By Kate Bowmar (The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia). So a week ago today, I was boarding my first solo flight from Heathrow to Brisbane, Australia. Therefore, in my first blog post I’m going to talk about my experiences and what I have been doing over this last week! Leading up to my departure I tried to keep myself very busy – I was lucky enough to be at Wireless festival the weekend before leaving for Australia, which was the perfect way to finish my time in England (until Christmas) and say a tearful goodbye to all my friends and family. My main worry about my time in Australia is being homesick and missing my…
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Surfers’ & Straddie
By Karl Vikat (University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia). Lightly sparse news on the blog lately, times have been really busy, but I have been able to collect some notes and reminisce about the last month in the process, so that hopefully you’ll get a good feeling of what’s been going on. The first weeks were loaded with socializing and meeting a great number of fellow exchange students and local Aussies. I spent the Sochi ice-hockey finals surrounded by a sea of red, joyous Canadians, celebrating a double threepeat with their women and men both winning gold to a tune of ‘O Canada’. On the second weekend I finally got a look…
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