So hello from the other side! The other side of the world that is.
I may be a bit behind the bandwagon by starting a blog a month into my Australian adventures... but oh well! I have been posting a lot of photos recently and I am sure lots of you are very interested in the stories behind all these crazy photos! What better way to keep you informed than by starting a blog. (This also gives me an excuse when I forget to write and call all my lovely friends and family back home).
Let's begin with a quick recap. I have been in Perth, Australia now for a little over a month. I arrived in mid-February on my Study Abroad Exchange trip and I am studying at Murdoch University. After two weeks of orientation, we got straight into the swing of things. I am taking four classes, two in Marketing, one in Psychology, and one in English & Film. So far I am enjoying most of them but the workload here is very different from back home. We spend a lot less time in classes and we also have a lot fewer assignments that are worth a lot more marks. This means I spend a lot of time learning the material on my own. It has taken some time to readjust to this but I think I am starting to get the hang of it.
I am staying in the Murdoch University Village which is right next to the campus. Unlike back home in the States, the RA's are really awesome people. They are here to help make sure everyone is adjusting well to university life, but they also help organize lots of fun trips and activities! So within the first weeks of school, I found myself visiting King's Park, some of Perth's clubs, beaches, Adventure World, the casino, Caversham Wildlife Park, and I even took surfing Lessons. No wonder my parents think I am here on holiday and not busy getting a degree... With some of the amazing new friends I have made down-under, we also explored the neighboring town of Fremantle (Freo), the Perth Mint, a Shipwreck Museum, and quite a few coffee shops.
During the first of three study breaks, I partook In a camping trip up the northwest coast. WOW. Words cannot describe how amazing this trip was. If I had to choose a few I would probably start with, breathtaking, gorgeous, wild, and wet. Definitely wet. We had three days straight of non-stop rain which unfortunately meant we had to cut the trip short by one day. I'll be honest with you, I wasn't too upset about going home a tad early. I underestimated just how difficult it was going to be camping for 10 days straight, especially with the amount of driving we had to do. However, this being said, I wouldn't have let any of this stop me from seeing the raw beauty of the Australian Outback. A special thanks to Nick, Craig, and Al from Australian Adventure Travels for being amazing tour guides. I believe the most northern point we traveled to was Kardinya National Park. This is one place I will have to see again. One day was not enough time to take in this spectacular place. p.s Thank you, Kate Mckay, for mapping out the trip on google maps... you saved me a lot of effort ;)
So. It's been 2 weeks now since I got back from this spectacular trip and life has started to return back to its normal pace. This past weekend I went on a wine and brewery tour. The Swan Valley area is full of vineyards, breweries, distilleries, as well as chocolate, nougat, and nut factories. I was also able to catch up with some wonderful family friends who took me out to Penguin Island. Contrary to expectations, the island isn't really full of penguins. They actually spend all of their days out in the water which means the visitors on the island rarely actually see them. We were, however, able to see a few of the rescue penguins being fed. What a treat! Overall, a fabulous day spent catching up and I am looking forward to seeing them again soon.
Anyway... I should probably get back to the school work I was supposed to be doing before I had the brilliant idea to start this blog. I hope this gives you all some insight into my adventures thus far and stay tuned for more in the weeks to come!
Love and miss you all. xoxo
Charlotte
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