Griffith Uni Gold Coast

Where can I start? I had wanted to go to Australia for years and was finally there. Arriving in Sydney was the perfect way to start with TEAN setting up everything for us to do over the next few days including going to a wildlife park, dinner where we ate Kangaroo, a tour of Sydney, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, going on the Coastal Walk, and taking part in the TEAN Amazing Race.

Then after these few days it was off to Gold Coast where I stayed at Griffith University Village in a five person apartment with 2 Australians and 2 Americans, 1 who was also part of TEAN. The Village is a great way to meet Australian students, but it's also a way to meet students from all over the world. Another great thing about it is the location. It's about a 5-10 minute walk to class and a 20 minute bus ride down to the beaches and Surfers Paradise.

One week after arriving in Gold Coast I began classes, all of which were almost entirely Australian students. It was pretty easy to make friends with them, as long as you took the initiative. Each of these classes were so different than those at home, I only had a midterm, a paper, and a final for grades. It's a little overwhelming at first with everything counting so much but I found as long as you go to the class and sort of keep up with the work you're almost guaranteed to fine.

There are so many great things about Gold Coast like the beaches, nightlife, as well as being centrally located on the east coast making it easy to travel to different cities.

These 4+ months were the best of my life during which I was able to go all over Australia. I became scuba certified in Gold Coast before going on a live aboard trip on the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns, traveled to different National Parks around the Gold Coast, and drove across The Outback during spring break with some friends where we climbed Uluru just to name a few.