This will be the final blog post about my experience in Australia. I had neither the time nor energy to write it during my last few hours in Australia, so I am writing it during my long layover in Los Angeles' LAX airport.
Right away, I have to say that I love Australia. Prior to arriving, I feared that arriving during the semester break would mean that I would not make friends here in Australia. And that was indeed true. But when the students came back on campus, a few of them quickly took to me and I befriended them. I participated in the pub crawl that the guys at my college had on a state holiday. It is the best I have ever been on. It started at 6am, went on till about 3pm and ended with one of the guys getting a cut on his head and the police being called to throw us out of a place. You can't beat that.
Due to three reasons (no friends, being cheap and afraid of cold weather), I did not travel to other parts of Australia or New Zealand. Despite this, I learned and experienced new things. I got introduced to rugby union, rugby league and a little bit of cricket. I held a koala, fed kangaroos and was scared by a hungry and mean emu. Though I'm not a stargazer, I could not help but notice how clearly you can see the stars. I saw strange new birds and other creatures. Heard sounds of all varieties.
The purpose of my time in Australia was to do some work. While the work never fully panned out because I was not given access to a system I needed to use until my second-to-last day, I did manage to get something achieved that both my supervisors and I could be happy with.
Though my experience was not truly mind-blowing and my life here was very restful, I enjoyed my time here. Because of how far it is to get to Australia, I am not quite sure when next I'll visit Australia. But revisiting Australia will have to happen after I revisit England and possibly Spain.
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/
