Choices

Decisions Decisions

I made a lot of choices in the process of studying abroad.  First, I narrowed down my options and chose to study in Australia, specifically at UQ in Brisbane.  After being accepted, I chose to live with 2 girls from USC.  I met Marybeth and Haley through our study abroad orientation, and after finding out we had mutual friends and similar ideas about where to live, we found a share house and decided to be roommates.  Sort of a snap decision, but definitely the best decision I could've made.  Hopefully they'll agree :)

Glad we aren't sick of each other yet :)

Some of the other choices I made in coming to Australia included:

• what kind of travels I would do on the way to Australia, during my semester, and on the way back (tough to figure out sometimes, but so worth it)
• getting a job (more on this later)
• and, of course, because I'm studying abroad, what classes to take at UQ (also pretty happy about this one)

Every day, we make choices.  We all know this.  Some of them are small, seemingly insignificant, like "What should I eat for breakfast?"  Easy decision.  Nutella toast.
"Where should I go with my friends tonight?"  It may take a few minutes to decide, but it doesn't really make a big difference.

For example, I took some time to decide on which classes to take at UQ, but it didn't make a huge difference in the end.  I prioritized the time and schedule of the classes first, and then tried to choose some subjects that were interesting to me.  The best part of this decision-making process is that I'd saved some of my core classes and electives from freshman year to take abroad!  Try to DO THIS if you're going abroad, too.  Also, I ended up taking 5 classes instead of 4, which I wasn't super excited about at first, but it'll really lighten my load senior year.

But... some decisions are much more complicated.  "How should I spend my money?" "What am I going to do this summer when I'm only home for 4 weeks?" "Where should I live next year?"

These choices take more time to decide and involve a lot more factors like money, lifestyle, and other people.  They can sometimes put pressure and stress on us.  However, it's a good thing we can also choose family and friends who will support us, talk through decisions with us, and be there on the other side of whatever choice we end up making.

Coming to study in Australia was a pretty big decision.  Even after I decided to come here, it took a LOT of time getting everything organized and feeling prepared to make such a big move.  Now that I've lived here for 3 months, that study abroad application I sent in a year ago doesn't seem like that big of a deal.  It was just another step for the journey of exploring a new country.

Job-Hunting

Before I flew across the ocean, I applied to some part-time jobs in Brisbane.  I used seek.com and UQ's job website to find possibilities.  I sent tons of emails to various coffee shops and daycare centers that looked suitable, and I waited for responses.  I hadn't gotten any offers by the time I showed up in Brisbane.  Most places had either hired new staff over their summer months or didn't want to hire me because of my short-term stay here.  Eventually, I came across the placement options that UQ has and got in touch with the placements office, and they gave me a list of contacts they had at agencies that have previously had student interns.  I applied to 3 of those places as well, but after coming to Brisbane and making it to the 3rd week of the semester, I was still out of luck.

Then I got a call from BBS Communications.  I was very excited to hear from this PR agency, especially since I was having trouble finding somewhere else to work.  I'd heard good things about them, and everything I researched about them seemed great.  Two weeks later, I started my internship at BBS.  I knew it'd be awesome opportunity, despite the fact it was unpaid, and I decided to accept the position and get some valuable work experience in Australia.

I've really enjoyed it so far, and I have one week left!  I go every Thursday for the whole day, and it's such a neat experience to walk around the city with all the professionals heading to and from work.  The people at the BBS office are so hospitable, helpful and fun.  They have so much knowledge and passion for what they do.  I hope to visit them when I make a trip back to Australia some day :)
So, after some trying and waiting, and weighing of pros and cons, I definitely made a good choice.

So even though being busy in Australia is not at all the same level of being busy at USC, there are some weeks that are tiring.  In the midst of a busy week, sometimes the best choice of what to do for a few hours is simply to lay in bed and write.  Nap at the beach.  Watch a movie with my roommates.  Text my friends at home or call my family.  That's the best kind of laziness, and I'll absolutely consider that living to the fullest.  I just can't do it too often or I'll miss out on what's happening outside my door.

Life is Short

We can do so much with our time (or we can do a whole lot of nothing).  Life is short.  I shouldn't need a reminder to make the most of every day (although sometimes life does give me a nice slap in the face reminding me that I only have so many hours in a day.)  Ultimately, we just need to stop thinking about it so much and get out there and live, right?  Easier said than done.

Throughout my time here, I've noticed that I've had to forego a lot of little extra luxuries.  Things that you really don't need but sometimes just want, like a manicure, your favorite alcohol, or fresh bagels rather than an 85 cent loaf of white bread.  I notice small things I'd love to have from home like a favorite blanket, a big comfy couch, and a kitchen where all the appliances actually work.  These things are just a little more noticeable than at USC because Australia is more expensive in general.  Decisions regarding time and money are a little easier in Columbia, a place that's my home for 4 years, not just 4 months.




Ultimately though, these little things don't make a big difference in my day.  They're just nice to have.  There are other things I need to do with my time and money that I wouldn't even get a chance to do at home, like fly to Sydney for a weekend or scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef.  The opportunity to be in Australia for a whole semester, to travel, and to meet new people is infinitely greater than getting a pedicure or having a nice blender in the kitchen. :)

The People You Choose

One of the best choices I can make every day is to talk to people.  Get to know them, ask them questions, see what I can learn from them.  You just never know.  I met some girls at the koala sanctuary the other day who are on an Environmental Journalism trip from UT Austin, and one of the girl's uncles helped build the Arch in STL!  How cool is that?

The people I've chosen to spend time with in Australia have completely made my experience here, just like the friends I made in high school, my friends from camp, and my best friends from USC, have made my life spectacular and have shaped who I am.

I chose to study abroad during this 2nd semester of my junior year and so did 5 of my closest girl friends.  Three are in Australia and two are in South America.  The rest of our group of friends is back in South Carolina, and although all of our experiences are different this semester, I'm so glad we actively choose to keep in touch.  I'm lucky to know I have all of them to go back to.

Just in case you haven't seen enough cheesy quotes in awhile, here's one from one of my favorite authors, Sarah Dessen.

I love the people I've chosen to spend time with, to keep in touch with, and to have as a support system.  I could not be more grateful for my friends and family back home, and I am truly fortunate to have found people in Brisbane who are also wonderful and who have become a new family to me.

I'm proud of the choices I've made throughout college to get me to this point, and I'm also pretty content with the choices I've made about how to spend my time this semester.  Of course, not every choice is the right one and not every result is perfect, but I guess that's part of learning.

Thanks for reading.  Check back again in a week to see what I think of Melbourne and Adelaide!

Can't wait to reunite with Finn & James after 2 and 3 years of being on the other side of the world!

Be Excellent.

xoxo

Jo Jo

The Final Stretch: Reflections

(written on Friday morning, May 20 | posted on Sunday evening, May 22)

Clock is Ticking ... 

I've now been away from home since February 12. I'll be home on June 28. I've been in Australia for 90 days. I've been a student at UQ for 11 weeks. I have 2 weeks left of class.

1 month and 5 days left before it's time to fly home.








It doesn’t seem like much time left at all, and I often think about how sad I’m going to be when it’s time to leave Brisbane behind, and with it, all the wonderful people I’ve met and places I’ve seen. However, 5 weeks is also plenty of time to do a lot of the things I still want to do.









Before I continue with this post, I should give you a little warning. As you can tell by the title, this post is simply me reflecting on my experience up to this point. Sure, I’ve been doing it little by little all semester- writing things down memorable moments or quotes, taking photos and videos, etc.- but now is a perfect time for me to really thinking about my time here, what I’ve done and what I still want to do. To think about the people I’ve hung out with and the interesting things they’ve taught me. To appreciate how lucky I am to have had this experience, and how grateful I am to my parents for making it happen, to USC for providing the door to this opportunity, to my family for keeping in touch with me and wishing me the best, and to my friends back home for not hating me for all the kangaroo pics I post ;)





ONE MONTH LEFT

Right now I’m sitting on the train with 4 of my housemates, and we’re taking a little vacation to Noosa. Twenty of us will be there soaking up the sun, swimming in the ocean (even though it’s “winter” here), searching for wild koalas in the national park, and enjoying the food and wine festival. The following two weeks will be full of writing papers and finishing my final portfolios in order to turn in my 5 final assignments all due within 3 days.  Balance.

Finally, I’ll top off those busy weeks by celebrating in Brisbane with my friends and then heading off to Melbourne, Adelaide, and Bali for a two week adventure.  I’ll get myself back to Brisbane where I’ll have 4 days to get everything together- my clothes, my souvenirs, and all my emotions.

I’m very glad that none of you will be with me in the airport. I’ll surely be more of a mess than I was in Chicago back in February.

But, don’t worry, some of my tears will be happy tears, too. I really am looking forward to going home, just in time for Luke’s 16th birthday (and America’s 240th birthday! woooo!). I’m most excited about sleeping in my bed, snuggling with my puppies, laying by the pool with my family (cheers to 2 summers in 1 year) and of course, eating my favorite (not favourite) FOODS.

REFLECTIONS

Alright, so that’s a lot of looking ahead. Clearly I love to plan and am always happy to have some things to look forward to, but what’s important right now is right now. The present is happening and I’ve got to cherish it.

Am I too sappy yet? It’s about to get sappier.

Reflection time is mostly for my own benefit anyway, but I do want to share some things that I’ve been thinking about a lot. My goal this time is not to give advice, but to simply share some things I've learned or found interesting. I’m happy that you were interested enough to read this post and that you’re still with me at this point. Hopefully, I’ll say something that you enjoy or something that makes you think, but that’s for you to decide.


University

Every time I pull up to uni on the bus and walk down the path next to the lakes, I'm struck by the beauty of campus and what a blessing it’s been to come to school here. I think about how much I love USC and how awesome it is that I now have 2 campuses that I can proudly call "my school."


Friendz

Every time I come home from being out for the day and I walk upstairs and sit on the porch with my housemates, I’m so content spending time with them, laughing, talking and acting like we’ve been friends for years, but at the same time it feels like we’re still at the beginning of getting to know each other. It's a strange dynamic, but I absolutely love it. It also makes me jealous of the people who've been here for a whole year and not just a semester. However, one thing to note is that this time with my housemates doesn't make my friendship with friends from home feel any less important. If anything, it makes me miss them. I just wish all the people I love could all meet each other at the same time, ya know?


Sights

Every time I ride the bus or walk across the Victoria Bridge after work, I smile at the city life around the river as the lights reflect on the water. Muddy as it may be, the Brisbane River (and the activity surrounding it) is a beautiful sight, and one I never get tired of seeing. Sometimes I'll see a gorgeous sunset on the river, and as I stop and take it in (and take a photo) I like to watch the other people walking on the bridge as they react to the view. A lot of them just glance at it, some stop and watch for a minute or snap a picture, but people rarely smile up at it and really take it in.

But why not? Smile big. Let your jaw drop at that view. Dance to the beat pumping through your headphones as you skip across that bridge. #YOLO am I right?

Thoughts

All these things are wonderful and I certainly don’t want to take them for granted. However, I need to remember that I can have experiences like that every day. Wherever I am. Whoever I’m with. Sure, Australia is special in a lot of ways that St. Louis or Columbia are not, but the reverse can be true as well. I've just got to find those amazing things and appreciate them when I do.

All the time, young people come back from travel experiences, or even just work experiences and situations where they live away from home, and rave about how they've changed drastically, they’ve become a better person and they have a whole new perspective on the world. I would say I somewhat agree with those things, but I would also argue that that's a little too cheesy at times (and that's coming from the cliche queen over here). It's true for a lot of people, but I don't think it's a blanket statement to stay travel is life-changing. Sure, everyone changes a little when they travel, and each person starts their journey coming from a different background, but some may change a lot more than others.

Don't get me wrong. I have changed a lot this semester, in relation to things like my knowledge of other countries, the things I choose to focus a lot of time and energy on, and even my eating and cooking habits. Travel is an amazing thing. Sometimes I feel like this life I've been living in Australia is a parallel universe or a completely different world than the life I lived in the U.S.  It's like I have two separate lives that don't know about each other... but that can't be true because the person I am in one life entirely affects who I am in the other life.  So I believe I'm essentially the same person I was 3 months ago.   We're supposed to change and grow, especially when we're young. But I think what's more important personally for me to take away from this experience is about the little things.  Don't let the silly little things bother you, don't take the important little things for granted, and enjoy the amazing little things you can find everyday.


Be Excellent.
xoxo Jo Jo.





This is just my opinion based on the experience I’ve had so far in Australia. Yours may be very different, and I hope that when you have the joy of traveling, or of any other cool experiences, you can share what you learn with other people.


THANKS FOR READING MY EXTREMELY SENTIMENTAL POST. #sorrynotsorry

A Quest for New Experiences

There are many pieces of advice I could give to a student going on international exchange, and I probably will share as many as possible by the end of the semester, but I'll start with one of the most fun and tangible things you can do.  If you're coming to Brisbane, join QUEST.    (click on links like that one for any extra info you might want to see!)

All stunning photos with Quest logo taken by Jordan Condon. Click this photo for his webpage!

QUEST (cleverly named for Queensland University Exchange Student socieTy) is a student-run society based at UQ that brings together international students, as well as Australians, and gives them countless opportunities to explore Australia. These activities include:

• a bar crawl and pub nights (where you get to know the city and hang out with other members of the club a.k.a. "Questies")
• a day trip to the Steve Irwin Zoo (because I haven't seen enough koalas yet)
• a 1 day sailing trip (great excuse to try sailing)
• a weekend trip to a popular beach or island along the coast (Byron Bay, Moreton Island, etc.)
• a weekend camping trip (because Australia's beautiful beaches need to be complemented by the "bush"; next weekend we'll travel a little bit inland and camp out in the woods!)
• the ever-popular East Coast Trip over mid-semester break (a tour of adventurous activities from Cairns back down to Brisbane)
• and more...

Every event I've been to so far has been filled with fun people and exciting activities (and, considering the fact we're in Australia, let's be real- you will always have the chance to drink if you're in the mood for it.)

Even though QUEST is based at UQ, you don't even have to be a university student.  You just have to be interested in a little adventure and a lot of fun times socializing with other exchange students.  I guarantee it will be worth your while (and your $10- only 10!) to become a member of this cool club.  Then, you choose which events and trips you want to go to and pay separately for each, and all the trips are discounted with group and student rates.  As much as I love to peruse over travel sites and plan trips, it's pretty nice to have a trip completely planned for you once in awhile.

If you're going on exchange to somewhere else in Australia, or anywhere in the world for that matter, try to find their version of an international/exchange student social club.   I would love if we had something like it at USC. (the closest thing we do have however is OUTDOOR REC! They're great. Check them out here.)

If I haven't convinced you yet to join an international/adventure club, I'll give you a nice realistic picture of what QUEST is like by telling you about my favorite event so far: our weekend trip to Moreton Island.

QUEST Moreton Island Trip

April 15-17, 2016

I loved this trip so much.  This is one of the times that you look at your savings and think "Do I want to spend money on this or something else?" and when you do decide to spend the money, you go on that trip and you don't look back.  It's all worth it.

Our weekend tour was booked with Sunset Safaris.  They pretty much run the tourism of the beautiful, sandy, wild place that is Moreton Island.  And they cooked all of our delicious meals for us, which was a pleasant surprise, so island life was pretty good that weekend.

Day 1:

• 4 Wheel Drive tour on a bus with everyone (pretty much the only way to see the island)
• Swimming in the lagoon and beach (even though it rained, it was fantastic)
• Sand boarding (hilariously fun)
• Shipwrecked theme party (self-explanatory)

Day 2:

• Day kayaking (so clear and easy to see around the Tangalooma shipwrecks)
• Snorkeling (I didn't do this but it looked awesome)
• Night kayaking (LED lights in the boats, out around the same place we day-kayaked; would strongly recommend)
• Bonfire and party on the beach (the most Australian thing I've ever done: sat on the beach around a bonfire drinking boxed wine, looking up at the gorgeous stars and listening to a band play)

Day 3:

• Beach day (the best thing to do after a long and busy weekend)
• Ferry back to Brisbane (a great time to blast some music, bond with old and new friends, and watch the sunset)

 

According to the QUEST exec board, their organization has grown a lot over the past few years.  It's been very well recognized and esteemed at UQ's campus, and the number of non-UQ members is growing as well.  I actually saw it on Facebook and heard about it from the USC students I knew who went on exchange to Brisbane.  They were all very enthusiastic about the good memories they had with and because of QUEST people.

If I was back in the states right now and you were a prospective student for the University of South Carolina, one of my biggest points of advice would be to get involved.  I've given you a similar suggestion here if you go on exchange, but I just picked one organization that I've really loved so far this semester instead of showing you a big list of options.  However, most schools you go to, there will be lots of options.

Most people who know me at USC will say "Jo Jo's so involved."  That is very true, and I love that about myself, but over the past 2 1/2 years at USC, I've learned to balance and prioritize what I want to spend most of my time doing.  As I prepared to come to Australia, I knew some of my biggest priorities (besides passing my classes of course) were traveling, meeting a variety of people, and trying new things.  QUEST is a great combination of all three.

I am really looking forward to my last year at USC full of participating in the organizations I've become so passionate about over the span of college so far.  However, being on exchange has been a nice change of pace.  I've mentioned before that I saved some easier classes to take abroad, and I only have class 3 days a week- I'd be crazy not to take advantage of that.  As we've learned, there are countless things to see and adventures to find wherever you visit, work, or live.  In the brief time that I get to live in Australia, I'm glad QUEST has been a big contributor to the experiences I'm having here.

Every day, do one thing that scares you.