Australia

Australia is one cool country. I went there about two summers ago by now, and it was one of the best trips I have ever taken. There I was getting dropped off at the airport about to fly alone for the first time. I have always been somewhat scared of flying... especially alone. It is funny because my first time flying alone and my destination is halfway around the globe. Needless to say, after this trip I got over my fear of flying and the worries of flying alone. It was so worth it though. However, I did lose one of my bags on my transfer through New Zealand. I landed in Sydney with my dad waiting at the airport because he had already been in Australia for a few weeks previously with his class from UNCW. It was great; Sydney is the prettiest city, and I loved every minute while I was there. One of the only downsides was the fact that it was winter in Australia in July, but it was not too cold. My friend actually came with me too but we had different flights the whole way to Australia, and he arrived a day after I did. We all stayed in Sydney for a few days, but my father had a condo in a town called Wollongong which is about an hour and a half south of Sydney. The condo was pretty nice but it was a temporary place to stay while my dad taught this class for a duration of about five or six weeks. Wollongong was also a really cool place. It definitely had a "beach town" feel even more so than Wilmington where I am from. The beach was just down the street from the condo and th waves looked incredible. The view at the beach was amazing because much of the coastline in this area was more like rocky cliffs without much actual sandy beach spots like I am used to. Then we flew to Cairns which is a city in Northeast Australia. The worthwhile experience I had here was to be able to go out on a dive boat to a section of the Great Barrier Reef and go scuba diving. I saw a giant sea turtle that had to be as big as I was. On the way back to the US, we stopped in New Zealand for a few days and stayed in Auckland. Auckland was an awesome city, and I became a fan of the national rugby team there called the "All Blacks." This explains why I have a coat that says "All Blacks" on it if you have ever seen it and did not understand what it was. I returned home after about three weeks, but these three weeks were some of the most enjoyable weeks I have ever had. I am yet to travel to Europe, but I am confident Australia and New Zealand will always be two of my favorite countries. I am partially planning on studying abroad in Australia, but this is till up in the air. But if anyone ever has the chance to travel to Australia or New Zealand, I highly recommend it.