If you were to tell me a few years ago that I would be living in Australia for over a year during a pandemic, I would not have believed you, but here we are. It was in late 2019 when I first flirted with the idea of studying abroad for a semester. It was my first semester at a new college at West Chester University and yet, I was already devising a plan to leave. Studying abroad is not something I ever considered doing until this moment. I never left the country before, long plane rides over vast areas of the ocean unsettled me, and I had never been away from my friends and family for that long. A few years ago I would not have known where to begin and could probably write a novel of concerns off the top of my head. However, being in a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend who lives in Australia provided me with all the motivation I needed to apply for a study abroad program there. It was hitting two birds with one lucky stone, really. I would get to spend precious time with my boyfriend and attend an overseas university, where I would meet new people who were different from the same old thing I was used to. It was something that would push me out of my comfort zone and I mean, who doesn’t want to go to Australia?
The application process was quite drawn out, expensive, and time-consuming, but it was so worth it. I can recall spending day after day cramming in time to fork over bill payments, filling out and signing countless forms, and getting approval for classes in between the ones I was already taking and work. While studying abroad is not cheap by any means, I would recommend anyone interested to look into their options before casting the idea off. I always perceived studying abroad as a thing rich kids did with their parents’ trust fund money, but it was not much more expensive than your average semester at a home university. There are so many scholarships you can apply for. Though I missed the deadline for most of them, one of the ones I was able to apply for earned me $2000 to go towards funding my studies. If you stay on top of it and apply to many scholarships early, you could potentially fund your entire cost of tuition that way. Other options include saving up money over time, taking out loans, or using your financial aid. I have no regrets about the cost of my program, it certainly beats sitting at home in the Pennsylvania snow, wishing I was living more.
Throughout this whole process, which took a few months, I somehow managed to barely think about it. I did not want to worry about flying or what the university will be like or if I will seem like an idiot when I do not understand what the hell Australians are saying to me. I wanted to deal with it when I got there, which is what I did. I did, however, prepare by trying vegemite before I left, which is absolutely revolting and is, in my belief, just an elaborate prank Australians are playing on us, much like the notion of “drop bears”. In typical me fashion, I waited until the night before my flight to pack up my life for 5 months, and little did I know, it would be much longer than that. I could see the worry in my father’s eyes and my mother’s excitement for me as they drove me to the airport. Once I was there, it started to become real. The trip to Australia is quite a long journey; it was about 24 hours in the air split up by two flights. My flight from Philadelphia to San Francisco was delayed, so when I landed at my layover, I was frantically sprinting to my gate. The airport was confusing, I had no idea where anything was and at this point, the buzz question was “have you been to mainland China within the past 30 days?” When I finally got my bearings, I shoveled down some overpriced avocado toast and arrived at my gate about 15 minutes before boarding. I could already overhear Aussie accents on some of the passengers who were returning home.
To my dismay, this second flight was 14 hours nonstop. I paid $35 for an aisle seat so that I could go to the bathroom with impunity and I was pleasantly surprised to be provided with two vegan meals. I can remember waking up every few hours, swearing that we were almost there, only for the screen in front of me to reveal that we were not even halfway across the ocean yet. One benefit of excruciatingly long flights is that you become so sleep-deprived, the turbulence leaves you unfazed. You make peace with the odds of sleeping in the air or the ocean. Shortly after arriving on Australian soil, I was whisked away to a four-day orientation program in Byron Bay. For those who are unfamiliar, Byron Bay is a very bohemian town, packed with surfers, and a chill attitude. People might look at you weird if you wear shoes. For me, I was weeping with joy at the abundance of vegan options. I stayed at a hostel with six roommates, who were all lovely. As someone who never dormed in college, this was the mini authentic college experience I never got. Throughout this time, we experienced the nightlife there, with two clubs close by, and each day we would do different excursions in groups. These included learning how to surf at Evans Head Beach, visiting a wildlife sanctuary, learning about aboriginal culture from an aboriginal teacher, and going on a bush tucker walk. We went for a bush tucker walk with the guidance of Cockatoo Paul, one of Australia’s bush survival experts whose irreverent, cheeky persona may have scared some of the other Americans. A bush tucker walk means to scavenge for food in the forest or jungle, so we were shown which foods we could survive off of, such as certain berries and plants. Cockatoo Paul taught us how to make bracelets out of grass and then we took turns throwing boomerangs and spears at a target. While here, we had a little feast of food that they made for us. My personal favorite was the wildlife sanctuary, where I got to see kangaroos in the flesh and held a koala named Timson!
Leaving Byron Bay was bitter-sweet; I had a good time with my roommates and lived so many unique experiences in those four days, but I could not wait to get settled into my city apartment in Brisbane. My apartment had a beautiful view of the bridge connecting the CBD to South Bank and everything just looked so much more beautiful, clean, and safe compared to Philadelphia. I don’t have heart palpitations when getting on public transport here, it is simply the normal mode of transportation. I started my classes at the Queensland University of Technology and it was so strange attending school in another country. Since I’m a Communication Studies student, most of my classes necessitated group work, but everyone was so easygoing and pleasant to talk to. In my experience, Australians seem to be much more approachable in general, compared to Americans, or at least east coast Americans. Amusingly, my accent would always be pointed out and that would strike up a conversation about where I am from and why I am here. I wish I got more time to actually attend university in person, but suddenly COVID-19 was spreading across the globe and was no longer just something you heard about happening in China. My study abroad program was abruptly canceled, which caused a momentary freak out on my part, as I was devastated and desperate to stay in Australia. Upon checking my emails one night, I received messages from my study abroad program and my home university that my program is canceled, to return home to the US immediately, and that Australia placed level 4 travel restrictions, closing its borders to all international visitors. To put it bluntly, you were advised to leave immediately or risk being stuck in Australia for an indefinite amount of time, as international flights were being shut down.
After bawling my eyes out a bit, I realized that I had the option to stay and finish my program in-country if I signed a waiver taking on the full responsibility for my studies abroad. I headed down to my study abroad coordinators, filled out some forms, and committed to staying in Brisbane for the rest of the semester, unsure of what the border situation would look like in a few months. Little did I know, the international travel situation would hardly change for the next year. At first, things were not too different, but my classes moved to an online format. Then, there was the COVID-19 lockdown, which sparked panic among toilet paper consumers everywhere, apparently. It was strange to experience such excitement and activity in the first month and a half, then suddenly everything came to a standstill. However, it was during this time, where we were stuck inside, prohibited from attending shops or restaurants or doing any tourist activities, that Australia ceased to feel like a vacation and began feeling like a second home. I reveled in ordering takeout food without tipping, cultivated a love for cooking, and became a Master Chef Australia stan. I started to acquire a whole new vocabulary of Aussie slang, which honestly is like learning another language. I ate classic Aussie (vegan) meat pies and sausage rolls. I traded my beloved Wegmans for Coles and Woolworths. I realized I wished public transport was more accessible in the US and got used to the metric system (I know, it’s a better system). Riding on the opposite side of a car and the opposite side of the road began to feel less jarring. I also actually have health insurance here, which I cannot even get access to in the U.S. Every American is familiar with the game of chicken you play with your health and your wallet, desperate to avoid going to the doctor at all costs. Thank god I do not need to worry about a doctor’s visit costing a fortune here.
Since international travel was suspended for a considerable amount of time, I needed to apply for and was granted another visa, since I was unable to return home at the end of the semester. This gave me another 6 months in the country; I was over the moon. Shortly after the brief lockdown in Brisbane that may have lasted for a few weeks or a few months, it is all a blur, the city came back to life again. Australia was lucky and handled the pandemic really well. There have only been 29,000 cases in the entire country, compared to the U.S’s 943,000. I felt blessed to spend my time in Australia at this time in history, of all times. As of the time I am writing this, Queensland has just 7 active cases, and that is considered a spike, with normal levels being at zero. Because of this, Australians have been fortunate enough to live life nearly unimpeded by restrictions or mask mandates, especially in Queensland. Movie theaters, amusement parks, gyms, museums, tourist attractions, and restaurants are all open with a simple request that people maintain a certain distance apart. I have been fortunate to visit an amusement park, go to the beach, the movies, and eat out without a second thought this year. Masks are not mandatory and no one wears them, as COVID-19 cases are sparse under the country’s closed border policy. However, those stuck on the opposite side of the border and Australians prevented from leaving the country are not so lucky, as tens of thousands of Australians are stuck overseas, unable to return home. Mothers, fathers, children, and spouses all kept from entering, creating tears in families and relationships who have had to endure over a year of separation, with no visible end in sight.
Once August rolled around, I was due to return to my home university but lucky for me, they had switched to an online learning format due to the pandemic, which has struck the U.S hard. I already scheduled my classes for the semester when I had every intention of returning home and living in a U.S time zone. However, once I actually started my classes while still in Australia, I needed to attend zoom meetings for classes that would start at midnight and finish at around 6 am. There is a fifteen-hour time difference between Brisbane and the Philadelphia area. Thankfully, I had professors who were understanding and I was able to work things out with most of them so that I could actually sleep at night. Fast forward and I actually ended up taking two semesters of online classes from my home university while in Australia, along with two virtual internships which, you guessed it, all ran on American time.
Australia has been a delight from the moment I arrived here. I love the warmhearted people, the beautiful scenery, and their strange tendency to call everything by a different name. Due to travel restrictions, I have not been able to venture into other states to visit tourist hotspots like Sydney or Melbourne, but I look forward to doing it one day. My favorite spot in Queensland so far is the Gold Coast, home to beautiful beaches like Surfer’s Paradise. When you walk alongside the beach, it’s reminiscent of Hawaii, with its clear blue water, palm trees, and the array of shops and restaurants that align the beachfront. Also along the beachfront on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays are Surfers Paradise’s Beachfront Markets, which sell an array of products, many of which are local. I spent my first Christmas in a hot, tropical environment. One thing I do prefer from back home is Christmas in winter, where it snows and you can snuggle up by a fireplace and a cup of hot cocoa. Sweating on Christmas just feels wrong, but a change was nice and the second the holidays are over, the cold is always the bane of my existence. You always want what you don’t have.
It is strange how Australia has become like a second home and if I were to return home now, I know I would feel like something was off. A lot of aspects of Australia seem to just be better ideas, like including the tax on the price of everything from the jump, instead of being surprised at the checkout. Getting services like your eyebrows or your hair done or even just going out to eat is much more enjoyable without having to stress about tipping and I adore the coffee culture, which is more conducive to small, independent coffee shops thriving over-commercialized tourist attractions like Starbucks. The coffee really puts whatever we have back home to shame and seem like sewer water. While I love back home and miss my family and friends, the second I ever leave this place, I know I will feel the same pining to go back. I guess if there is any downside to this experience, it is knowing that I will always long to be in two places at once; a nomad without a final destination.