After 30 hours of travel I finally arrived in Bunbury, Australia. The city is a lot smaller than Montreal, and a lot warmer too. My exchange family was so welcoming and took care to make me feel right at home. Georgia is so sweet, I couldn’t have asked for a better exchange partner!

After resting from my long flight, we visited an Australian wildlife park where I got the chance to see all the lovely Australian animals. I even saw some Redbacks, a type of poisonous spider native to Australia. One of the highlights of my trip to the wildlife park was getting to feed a kangaroo, something I had been really looking forward to.

Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School is such a change from LCC. Their campus is very spread out so that to get from class to class, you have walk outside as all the courses are in different buildings. Everyone here has been super friendly and I’ve made many great friends. My favourite class is food technology, where we cook delicious meals and get to eat them afterwards.

Last week there was a swimming carnival at school. Instead of going to class we went to the swimming pool for swim races and relays.  We were split up by house, and you got points if someone in your house finished in first, second or third place. The house with the most points at the end of the day won the carnival. It was such a fun experience!

Going on exchange was probably one of the best choices I’ve made. I’ve been here for almost a month and my exchange has been going by so fast.  One time, we drove up to Perth, the capital of Western Australia.  There was a sculpture competition on the beach, and I was able to see some beautiful Australian art. It was amazing to see all the detail these artists put into their work.

Last weekend we stayed in Yallingup, which has some of the most beautiful beaches in all of Western Australia. Needless to say, we spent most of our time at the sunny beaches, where we tried (unsuccessfully) to ride the waves.  The next day we visited Ngilgi cave, named after Ngilgi the good spirit who lives there, according to aboriginal legend. It was a spectacular sight; the underground limestone cave was lit up in all different colours and stalactites hung down from the roof.

I’ve been here four weeks so far and have loved every single moment. I can’t wait to see what new adventures are to come! – Alexandra Gardilcic ’16