A Life Down Under: First Adventure

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."

-Henry Miller

My first week of classes (week two) was interesting to say the least. I started my Monday at 8a.m. with a two hour Photography lecture, followed by my Photography tutorial--which is a smaller one hour class designed to give students more interaction with professors, another two hour lecture in Personality and Individual Differences, and ended the day with an hour Photography lab. The first day was rather exciting and exhausting, but it was nice to have a solid schedule once again. Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with only one class as the tutorials had been cancelled for the first week. Luckily, I have my Thursdays and Fridays off for relaxation, traveling, and even homework.

(My photography lab...I haven't used a Mac since grade school!)

During the week I attended Wednesday by the Water, which is basically a free barbeque that students can grab some lunch and on Friday I attended club sign on day. Here I signed up for badminton club and Bond Student Philanthropy Council. I was interested in the Philanthropy Council because it participates in volunteer opportunities around Australia. To start off Bondstock, a week for student elections of different bodies around campus, the school was treated to an amazing fireworks display over the lake.

(Bonstock Fireworks)

Week three proved to provide even more entertainment as I attended all of my classes and became more involved on campus. This week was the start of different clubs and organizations. On Wednesday I attended Res Wars and represented the AC Red Devils. Res Wars is a friendly competition between the residential buildings on campus. This week’s event was dodgeball, as each week is a different event ranging from sports to trivia. The Red Devils outnumbered the rest of the residential areas and had a majority of the Americans…let’s just say it might not have been a fair fight, but it was fun! Following Res Wars, I played some badminton. Granted I have not played badminton since junior year of high school, I wasn't too bad. The second game I played was with three boys, it was rather competitive to say the least.

(Bond Uni's Badminton Club)

Yesterday (Saturday) I ventured out of the city and took a road trip with my friends. We rented a car and drove up into Hinterlands to Springbrook National Park. This day trip sure was an amazing one as we walked about twelve kilometers (7.4 miles) to some beautiful landmarks from different angles.

(The start of our Springbrook hike)

We ventured up even further into the mountains to see some different lookouts and then back down to view a natural bridge and the glowworm caves at night. I think my favorite part of the day, despite the bats flying in and out of the cave, was seeing the glowworms…they were amazing! We stopped to look at the starts and ventured home.

(Stars in the sky)

Ending on a good note, I drove down the winding mountain back to the Uni. My second highlight of the day was driving…on the left side of the road!! At first I was a bit nervous and only hit the windshield wipers twice (as they are opposite cars in the States), but there really wasn't much to it. I can’t wait for the next adventures to come!