Vanessa Pratt, Global Business Institute: Sydney Summer 2023
To anyone interested in studying abroad in Australia, specifically Sydney, I would 110% recommend maximizing their experience by saying “yes” to opportunities outside their comfort zone, given their financial and personal limits. Some of my favorite moments in Australia have involved situations in which I was thinking about saying no because I was tired or thought I wouldn’t enjoy it. I can also confidently say other students shared similar experiences.
If the student has the opportunity to take part in an internship, I am a strong supporter of immersing themselves in the host country’s culture, while also gaining a resume booster. I absolutely loved my internship with the environmental non-profit PlantingSeeds and gained so many great personal relationships out of it. Even though I was expecting more of a marketing role in the organization, I am beyond grateful that I went out of my comfort zone to attend the education sessions at local Australian public schools. I will admit that I was scared to interact with children who tend to have no filter, but I learned so much about hands-on teaching and left feeling inspired to make the world a better place for future generations. At the first education sessions, I noticed myself struggling to continue conversations with kids who answered “I don’t know” to any question I had, but by the end, I was able to enthusiastically continue the conversation by asking engaging questions and making helpful suggestions that still promoted their own creativity. On the other hand, in the office, my fellow employees were extremely positive and excited to get to know the interns. We exchanged a lot of information about our home countries (almost half of the staff did not grow up in Australia) and how things are in Australia. They were also eager to have us explore Australia, giving us tips for places to go, as well as taking us out for food at the best local spots. I felt as though I was even closer to the staff who attended the education sessions because we bonded over the uncomfortable moments that can come with working with the unpredictability of children. Even outside of work, we hung out with our employees for leisure!
As an introvert at heart, I was nervous to put myself out there to meet so many new people during the very first couple of days of the program. Thanks to CAPA’s planned events that everyone in the program attended, I was able to quickly connect with like-minded people excited to explore our new home. One of the greatest highlights of the entire trip was the twelve-person planned trip to Cairns, Queensland. Somehow, we were all able to stay in the same housing, explore the Daintree rainforest, go snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, and catch the same flight back to Sydney. Staying in the same house with one bathroom for three days with people who were complete strangers less than a month prior was definitely daunting, but we all had the time of our lives.
Another unconventional trip highlight included the eight-mile hike turned thirteen miles. At 8:00 am, eleven of us decided to venture to Royal National Park via a two-hour train to take on the mountain peak to the sea floor and back to the Figure Eight Pools trail. Assuming there would be open restaurants or convenience stores at the train station to grab food from to eat midway through the hike, we were disappointed to learn everything was and would be closed the entirety of the day. We still decided to journey on with the limited snacks we had in our packs. This hike had everything. From beautiful overlooks of the crystal-clear ocean water to towering eucalyptus forests to never-ending rocky steps, to grassy bushland, to white sand beaches with palm trees, to tide pools you can swim in, we were able to see so many beautiful parts of wild Australia. Riding on the mental high of conquering what we thought was the entirety of the hike, the Uber drivers were unable to pick us up from the designated pickup point, so we had to walk four miles back to the train station, running on the fumes of whatever breakfast we had. The train ended up not coming for another two hours, so we all sat at the platform playing “20 questions” until we were finally able to ride back home. Although this day was full of many highs and lows, almost everyone said it was one of the best parts of the trip.
There are countless other moments where I am eternally glad I said “yes.” Because I forced myself to tackle new opportunities, I am now able to tell cool stories of the amazing things I did abroad such as biking in the rain at midnight across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, swimming in the typically crocodile-infested waters of the Daintree, jumping off the terrifying Manly Cliff, canyoning with a random family in Cairns’ waterfalls, eating rubbery octopus for the first time and liking it, scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, seeing the wild wombats of Maria Island in Tasmania, and so much more.
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