I have officially been in Australia for two weeks now, but it feels like it has been two months. Not in a bad way, it’s actually quite the opposite. Since being here, I have done things that scared me, experienced exciting and new things, made simple life adjustments and learned that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. The fact that it has only been two weeks tells me that I was right, Australia is the place for me.

As a solo traveler, it was terrifying to leave my whole life behind to fly across the world, where I know absolutely nobody and absolutely nothing. But with great risk comes great reward, so when I first arrived in Sydney and settled into my apartment, I met five (two roommates weren’t here yet) of the best people I have ever met. I live with four boys and three other girls — two boys from Michigan, one from Germany, one from France, two girls from Maryland and one from Iowa — and they are all my best friends.

One of the cool things about being a solo traveler is that literally every single person you meet is new, so you make friends fast (and you kind of have no choice). This has taught me a lot about myself because I have to trust fairly early on, be extremely open-minded in every encounter I have and be willing to skip the surface level conversations and work to form a connection fast. My roommates made that easy, and I am so grateful to be with them for the remainder of my semester here.

In my first couple days here, I was getting used to public transportation because a lot of the beaches are far from where we are. As a suburb girlie, it was torture. There are so many different options and numbers of buses, so I am always amazed when we actually get to the destination. We went to Manly Beach first and it was stunning — the surfers, the waves, the blue water and the beach was alive with every activity you could think of. It was a pinch-me moment that reminded me that I had made it.

After three days, I had a field trip for my Australian wildlife and management class, where we traveled to Stroud Field Station to camp for a couple of days. I originally had mixed feelings about this trip because everything was so new all at once, and I was finally getting used to it, just to have to leave it again. I was also nervous to go alone and be surrounded by local Australians who all knew each other.

On the morning of the field trip, I walked over, and everyone was just standing around, waiting to leave. I was near this girl who was just on her phone and not really talking to anyone, so keeping in mind that I have a whole weekend with these people and needed to share a tent with someone, I just asked her name. And that’s how I met Mikayla, my first Australian friend. We talked about life and sat together on the bus. Across the aisle sat a boy watching the Chiefs game, so of course, I took that as my conversation starter and met Emerson. Finally, at the field station, I connected with Anne, who is the sweetest soul, and Martin, who is very, very quiet, but I think secretly loved hanging out with us. This became my little group and my field group, plus they are all in some of my other classes, so yay!

The field trip itself was a dream. We set Elliot traps and funnel traps throughout the bush, set up camera traps — according to our videos, we captured a residential brushtail possum — went frogging, learned how to treat snake bites and caught birds with mist nets. Off the record, we fed some of the Funnel web spiders (the most dangerous spiders) around our camp, which was awesome. At the end of the trip, my professor laughed when he realized that I had only been in Australia for about four days, saying that I really jumped into the deep end with this. I think that is the best way to do it.

In the last couple days leading up to school starting this week, I met up with Emerson, and he showed me around the local beaches. The beaches everywhere in Australia are insanely gorgeous and I will never get over it. I took a solo trip to Coogee beach and got the public transportation down. I did so much shopping to get materials I need, and I got to buy my first ever wetsuit for my coral reef ecosystems class.

I met up with a couple other international students to meet them and make some other friends. I called home a couple times, and each time I called, I realized that, yes, I miss the people very, very, much, but I am truly happy here. I went skydiving and it was so surreal and the craziest experience. I went to a local bar and tried a sausage roll with my roommates. I tried “lollies,” Tim Tams, Vegemite, Lamingtons, lolly bananas and Cadbury Chocolate — some were life changing, some were terrible.

I made a list of all the cafes I want to go to while I am here because the cafe culture is so prevalent, and they all look good. As a coffee lover, the coffee here just tastes so much better, too. I have been exploring my area by running and going on long walks. I have eaten so much sushi, but it is so cheap and so fresh, how could I not!

I think I have found my place, and I have so easily transitioned to being here that I know Australia is going to be a great place to call home for now. There is so much more to come as I start classes, and I can’t wait to dive into my experiences at UTS!

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: University of Technology Sydney