Ultimate Australian Experience

I've been home for over a month now and I still think about my Australian experience every day. The location--Cairns in Tropical North Queensland--is amazing and has everything you could possibly want: pristine beaches, excellent mountain hiking, a lively night life, a relaxed atmosphere and of course, the Great Barrier Reef. We were housed at the student lodge across the street from the university and the students there welcomed the five of us Australearn students and included us in all of their activities, taking us out, showing us around town, inviting us to their beach bon fires. I made more friends, and close ones at that, than I ever thought possible in 3 weeks. The class, though not quite what I was expecting academically, was really interesting and I learned a lot about community development on our 4 day camping trip into the bush; we visited an aboriginal community as well as Cooktown, the first non-indigenous settlement in Australia. It definitely brought me closer to the other students in the class, as well as to the other four Australearn students. In addition to the field trip, we also had the opportunity of visiting a sea turtle rehabilitation center. If I had to pick the one best thing about this program, it's that it gives you so many opportunities that a normal tourist would never have.