Submitted by Gabriella Van Winkle on the 2019 spring semester program in Sydney, Australia…
In a few days, I will have officially been in Sydney for a whole month! I can now see just how fast this semester is going to go. In the beginning, I was missing home a lot and wishing that the days would go faster. Now, I have opened my eyes to this amazing opportunity in front of me and I want to take it all in. The day will come fast enough when I have to leave and all of my friends and family will be there when I go home, so why rush the days in such a beautiful place?
This past weekend, our program took us to the Featherdale Wildlife Park and on a hike through the Blue Mountains. After almost a month in Australia, I finally was able to see some kangaroos and koalas! The Wildlife Park had many other animals as well such as wallabys, wombats, Tasmanian devils, dingos, echidnas, and emus. Having never seen any of these animals before, it was an amazing experience. We got to walk around with the kangaroos, pet them, feed them, and even take selfies with them!
After we walked through the Wildlife Park, we took a hike through the Blue Mountains. I am definitely not a big fan of hiking, but the views made it all worth it. The mountains and all of the scenery was breathtaking and unlike anything I had ever seen before. We had a wonderful tour guide who told us so many amazing facts about the land and what it used to be like or be used for. We were able to see the amazing view of the famously known Three Sisters, a rock formation out in the mountains. This has been my favorite part of the program so far and I can’t wait to see all of the other amazing views that Australia has to offer.
